I’ve struggled with weight for a while now. I figured once we moved to Baltimore and things settled down, the weight would start to peel off but it hasn’t. It’s been a very frustrating issue. Hubs has been frustrated because he has watched daily while I get more and more depressed about it. I’m in Baltimore and my job is awesome. I’m not under a substantial amount of stress and I don’t pig out or eat out much. Why the hell can’t I lose weight?
I have tried pretty much every diet on the market including Weight watchers, Jenny Craig, Atkins, South beach and even Juicing (which actually did have some success but I just don’t enjoy spending most of my day on the toilet and it made issues I’ll discuss in a minute worse) All ended with the same result: I lost a little weight but it would just come back. I even went to and continue to go to the gym regularly but the weight wouldn’t go anywhere.
A few weeks ago, I saw a fight on Facebook about this book called “Wheat Belly”. Being a fan of the movie “Fat Head”, I had heard about the book but never thought much about it. So, I decided I would look into it. Now, I will admit that most of these books arguing for or against specific diets are all biased in some way but I have decided that no one knows what we really should be eating or there wouldn’t be so many different cases for or against a particular way of eating. Thinking about it this way allows me to read all sides and figure out which works for me.
“Wheat Belly” makes the case that all gluten and wheat is bad for you. The whole wheat causes your sugar to skyrocket, confusing your pancreas into releasing more insulin than it should. Most of the fat build up occurs around your mid-section (my biggest problem) and the author, who is a cardiologist, provided many cases where his patients would go on a diet full of whole grains, be physically fit and active and still not be able to lose weight. Reading the book got me thinking. When I would go on diets, the first thing I would do is stock up on whole wheat foods like pasta and breads. Maybe the guy was onto something. (For a long time now, I’ve struggled with a lot of migraines. I’ve also struggled with digestive issues, IBS being the worst one. I’ve managed to control it but it has been getting worse as of late. I haven’t been able to eat ice cream or anything with a milk base for almost two years. Froyo is ok but it can only be one or two bites before I’m on the bathroom floor in pain. It’s frustrating. The only thing that I haven’t tried eliminating from my diet is wheat. Eliminating dairy somewhat helped but the issues are still there)
I decided I was going to try to eliminate gluten and wheat from my diet. Hubs got on board so I figured maybe it would be possible to maintain. Last Monday, we made the change. I was at my heaviest I have ever been in my life and in just the last week,. I didn’t have a single migraine and they are (at least) a once a week occurrence. I’ve hardly had any of the IBS issues or gas pains that are a part of my daily life. I even feel more energetic. Hubs is feeling the same way as well. The best part? I’ve lost close to 10 pounds.. in a week! So, it looks like we are going to stick to this for a while. Stay Tuned.
Charm City Allens 