Halfway through January Lifestyle Challenge

By Tatjana van der Krabben

I’m on board with the inflammation theory. I acknowledge sugar and wheat are bad news and only fuel inflammation. Did I give up on sugar and wheat? Not exactly. I cut back a lot and am virtually off sugar and take some wheat. Awkward pause…

For January Lifestyle Challenge I tackled my last source of artificial sweeteners: soda. No ifs, ands or buts here: I cut out soda January 1^st and stand by it. Soda was my is-it-somewhere-6-o’clock-yet? thing. So it was a habit. Giving up on it gave me cravings, first for soda and when I did not cave: sugar. I did cave there a few times, but regrouped after a week. I now sometimes take a glass of sparkling water, as I get tired of flat water, tea and coffee. I have not lost weight or inches, but I feel better. More relaxed, more energetic, despite an insane workload. Apparently I cut something useful out.

Now I’m at a crossroads. About 2 years ago I was leaning towards RAD diet. Unfortunately, as I made progress, I did not feel better. I went from not being much of a meat eater to horrendous cravings for meat in my almost vegan phase. I lacked energy, had trouble with the liquid food bit. I do feel fighting inflammation is key. I also support additive-free eating, which is promoted by RAD, but I needed to find a new way. When attempting RAD I did not even get around to cutting out wheat to the present extend (addicted? me?).  

Stopping all together is hard. It’s not just addiction. It’s about being wheat-free in a wheat world with a wheat-husband and wheat-craving kids. I can’t see it. I get lost in the how and work around it. I buy spelt bread. Technically that’s a type of wheat, only less modified and usually tolerated better. I bought gluten-free pasta a few times. Still starchy, obviously. I also get menu requests with noodles. I tried rice noodles. It’s like eating noodles soaked in wall paper glue! Imagine that in your gut. Yuk! I bought kelp noodles. I cooked them for a great length of time to try softening them. I only got to ‘trying’…

Am I weak? Making excuses? There’s light at the end of the tunnel. You need guidelines, a source for recipes. I now lean towards Paleo/Primal. I don’t know what to think of the specifics like the nightshade veggies or dairy. I’m not there yet. I stopped forcing myself to eat fruit every day. That was a relief. Now I enjoy eating fruit again, when I do. I eat more animal protein. I hate plain eggs, but looked for recipes to incorporate more eggs. That’s working out fine. Meals high on protein, also almond flour or meal, work well for me.  After taking in more protein and healthy fats, I did manage to cut back on wheat a lot.

December and January brought more change. I also stopped taking sugar in my coffee and creamer, since I learned most powdered foods contain aluminum. I also switched baking powers for that in January. I finally allowed the nagging feeling to sink in that the low-fat margarine spread did contain an awful lot of funny ingredients to be that healthy. I did something last week that felt soooo wrong: I switched to real butter from grass fed cows for the occasion I do eat bread. Real butter goes against EVERYTHING I was taught growing up. But it’s yum, satisfying and hours later I need to remind myself to eat again. I also started taking rutin again last week, to see if it does more after quite literally cleaning up my act. What else? In December I changed shampoo. This new one I used to buy for the kids when babies. It contains about half the ingredients my old shampoo had.  

I’ve cleaned up my act so much the takeout pizza from last weekend hit my stomach like a ton of bricks. The scales were unforgiving: 4 lbs up, completely bloated. I looked on the website: Domino’s doesn’t do gluten-free crusts. I will have to make my own. I have a recipe. I do. But I do enjoy the occasional takeout, a I-don’t-have-to-cook day. Cooking from scratch takes dedication and time. And going wheat-free completely and losing my last bit of tolerance for it scares me a little. The less I eat it, the worse I feel when I do eat it. How do you deal with vacations? Day at an amusement park? Visiting people? Always packing your own food? It’s a wheat and sugar world and I’m not ready to be wheat-free and sugar-free in that world. At the same time I try my hardest to – otherwise – clean up my act and detox. It’s working: my legs are feeling better.