Just Say No . . . To Wheat?

Yesterday, I went out to lunch with some co-workers. We went to the Old Spaghetti factories. I ordered whole wheat pasta, and a dish that had broccoli (which was VERY good) on it. I skipped the bread and drank water. I felt proud of myself.

After lunch, I felt horrible. Not food-poisoning horrible but bloated and heavy horrible. I chocked it up to the typical malaise one feels on a rainy day in February at work. Plus, it was a very familiar feeling. I often feel sluggish after certain meals. I figured it was just me.

Later on, on the train, I'm reading a new book recommended to me, "The Diet Cure." About how your poor eating habits and struggles with healthy eating are related to your brain and body chemistry. It details my symptoms and suggests perhaps I have a food allergy - to either wheat (the spaghetti), dairy (the chocolate my boss gave me for V-Day or the cream sauce on the spaghetti) or sugar (which aside from the chocolate, I didn't really have that day). Even later, at home, I'm reading "Women's Health" (which I am TOTALLY a fan of, surprisingly) and there's an article about food allergies and how most people THINK they are allergic to something but they may just be intolerant to it. Or there may be some digestive issues with it. Either way, both the book and magazine suggest not eating the food you suspect you may have a problem with for a few weeks, seeing how you feel, then gradually re-introducing it into your diet in small quantities.

So I'm TOTALLY trying that. Today is Day 1 of no wheat. This sucks as I just bought some cereal and bread at Safeway on Wednesday. But I can substitute - try gluten-free stuff. Eat rice based cereal. Anyways, it is just an experiment. And the cereal and crackers aren't perishable, so I should be okay.

If there is no change with the wheat, I'll start eating it again and try to skip on the dairy (milk and cheese). See how that works.

Wish me luck!