Living without ....
Every so often I veer away from self depreciation and slip into a slightly more introspective mode and tonight Is one of those nights. I've been looking up recipes online to contribute to the gyms nutrition page and its got me thinking about living without.
All throughout my twenties this was a foreign concept to me, I did not live without. If I wanted it I ate and yes I was miserable but I never say the connection between the misery and the food. Besides if things got me down too much I could always have some cake or chocolate .
Somewhere around my mid twenties I became aware that wheat was not my friend and that eating a lot of it made mr feel unwell. So I did what any sensible wheat dependent person does and kept on eating it. Sure I couldn't imagine a life without wheat, what would I even eat?
I was already a vegetarian eating a limited
Range of vegetables so unable to contemplate any alternative I soldiered on in denial until about two years ago when I started trying to lose weight and I gradually began to cut back.
During the week I snacked on rice cakes with peanut butter and was miserable because it wasn't bread but on the weekends I might have pizza or a bread roll or brownies or a jam donut and sometimes I'd eat a few of these things kidding myself that what really mattered was my 80% commitment to wheat free living but all I was doing was showing my body what it was like to have a break from wheat and then giving it more wheat than it could handle.
This continued for several months and I was eating wheat and sugar ( buns, cakes, breads) which made it worse plus I was in a very stressful situation and suddenly my wheat related problems went from being mild discomfort to serious pain but still I didn't give it up. I missed days off work and at one stage I could barely walk and I kept going back to the doctor about it to be patronized and advised to eat cake ( for the protein) by now id cut wheat out and eventually i became so unwell I was admitted to hospital.
This was not fun or pleasant but it was
The wake up call I needed. I was Afraid of living without wheat but if spending a week In hospital taught me nothing wales it was that I never wanted to go back there and if I didn't take a long hard look at my diet that it was an inevitability.
So I stopped feeling deprived and started Looking at viable alternatives to wheat.
I ditched the rice cakes and their miserable cardboard like texture for
Ryvita and discovered gluten free treats. I ate spelt occasionally, It's still wheat so I have to go easy. I cut out fizzy drinks and juice and jellies and became a chocolate snob ditching cadburys for green and
Blacks. Slowly, oh so slowly I have been introducing new foods into my diet. As my four year old niece likes to say. I'm trying new things
Recently I cut sugar out, yep all sugar and I'm not sure if it will be permanent but I'm giving myself 6 weeks to detox ( I'm two weeks in ) and then we'll see how I feel
but if you had tried telling me two years ago I could live without wheat I'd never have believed you and if you'd told me 6 months ago I could go two weeks without sugar I'd have laughed,
Things change, I've discovered booja booja dairy and sugar free ice cream
And coconut slices which taste just like sugar without containing and I'm finding a whole range of other foods and recipes that tell me I'm not living without because I can still have nice things and sweet treats and savoury snacks but my idea of what these things should be is changing for the better.
All throughout my twenties this was a foreign concept to me, I did not live without. If I wanted it I ate and yes I was miserable but I never say the connection between the misery and the food. Besides if things got me down too much I could always have some cake or chocolate .
Somewhere around my mid twenties I became aware that wheat was not my friend and that eating a lot of it made mr feel unwell. So I did what any sensible wheat dependent person does and kept on eating it. Sure I couldn't imagine a life without wheat, what would I even eat?
I was already a vegetarian eating a limited
Range of vegetables so unable to contemplate any alternative I soldiered on in denial until about two years ago when I started trying to lose weight and I gradually began to cut back.
During the week I snacked on rice cakes with peanut butter and was miserable because it wasn't bread but on the weekends I might have pizza or a bread roll or brownies or a jam donut and sometimes I'd eat a few of these things kidding myself that what really mattered was my 80% commitment to wheat free living but all I was doing was showing my body what it was like to have a break from wheat and then giving it more wheat than it could handle.
This continued for several months and I was eating wheat and sugar ( buns, cakes, breads) which made it worse plus I was in a very stressful situation and suddenly my wheat related problems went from being mild discomfort to serious pain but still I didn't give it up. I missed days off work and at one stage I could barely walk and I kept going back to the doctor about it to be patronized and advised to eat cake ( for the protein) by now id cut wheat out and eventually i became so unwell I was admitted to hospital.
This was not fun or pleasant but it was
The wake up call I needed. I was Afraid of living without wheat but if spending a week In hospital taught me nothing wales it was that I never wanted to go back there and if I didn't take a long hard look at my diet that it was an inevitability.
So I stopped feeling deprived and started Looking at viable alternatives to wheat.
I ditched the rice cakes and their miserable cardboard like texture for
Ryvita and discovered gluten free treats. I ate spelt occasionally, It's still wheat so I have to go easy. I cut out fizzy drinks and juice and jellies and became a chocolate snob ditching cadburys for green and
Blacks. Slowly, oh so slowly I have been introducing new foods into my diet. As my four year old niece likes to say. I'm trying new things
Recently I cut sugar out, yep all sugar and I'm not sure if it will be permanent but I'm giving myself 6 weeks to detox ( I'm two weeks in ) and then we'll see how I feel
but if you had tried telling me two years ago I could live without wheat I'd never have believed you and if you'd told me 6 months ago I could go two weeks without sugar I'd have laughed,
Things change, I've discovered booja booja dairy and sugar free ice cream
And coconut slices which taste just like sugar without containing and I'm finding a whole range of other foods and recipes that tell me I'm not living without because I can still have nice things and sweet treats and savoury snacks but my idea of what these things should be is changing for the better.
Comments
Post a Comment