Gluten Withdrawal

Fields of Wheat by victorgeere - Flickr

It’s been a few weeks now since I tried to cut gluten out of my diet – spurred on by learning that undiagnosed gluten intolerance can cause miscarriage and hoping to cure my migraines as a happy side effect. It has been anything but easy and like sugar, it’s only when you try to cut something out that you realise how prevalent it is in your diet. Bread, pasta, cereal, gravy, yorkshire puddings, fish fingers, Quorn products…. It felt like everything I ate contained gluten.

Gluten free? Sugar free? Food free?

Story so far… I had a miscarriage, it was my second one, I came across an article on line about a fertility diet that allegedly helps reduce your chances of miscarriage (no sugar, organic diary, no soy, no tuna, organic fruit and veg), so I went sugar free and started following the rest as best I could.

It's a high fertile day

I’ve purchased one of those ovulation testing kits, something I didn’t really want to do; I wanted to fall pregnant quickly and naturally, without any help from the world of science, don’t we all? But it hasn’t happened straight away, and damn right I’m impatient, so if there’s anything more I can be doing, then it’s time to swallow my pride and just do it.

Catching Up

Sugar Free So-So

I’ve spent the last few days feeling below par, struggling with my monthly hormonal migraine. I had hoped that going sugar free would prove to be some miraculous cure for that but unfortunately not. I guess it has only been a few weeks so who knows, maybe next month. I’d love to be able to come out with all these statements about how it cured this problem, resolved that, how I’ve never looked or felt better. Sadly not, not yet anyway, sorry.

Sugar Free Success!

Something really surprising has happened. After months of attempting to quit sugar, I suddenly realised this morning that I no longer crave it. Previously when it came to sugar, resistance was futile, I loved it, I couldn’t get enough of it and I have been this way my entire life. At work there is a tradition of bringing in cakes on your birthday and I work in a pretty busy office so it’s often someone’s birthday. And every time those collections of cakes appeared my sugar free plan went out of the window. I genuinely couldn’t resist. My will power was rubbish!

Until now.

A colleague just turned 30 and a huge collection of cakes has appeared in the office, and you know what? I’m just not bothered. While others are sitting happily munching away, I don’t feel tempted at all. This is so bloody weird! Never in my life have I had a “take it or leave it” attitude to sweet things.

Suddenly being sugar free is no longer hard.

To move or not to move?

Sugar Free Baking – Attempt 2

Mmmmn, lumpy......

Yes, following the disaster that was my sugar free gingerbread men, I picked myself up and decided to try my hand at sugar free buns instead. Once again honey was my sugar-alternative of choice, and once again the results were, well, not all that I would hope for. The mixture itself looked more like greasy porridge and whereas with normal buns part of the joy is helping yourself to left over mixture, I just couldn’t bring myself to even try it!