Weight Loss

From: stock.xchang

This is a topic I've been wanting to touch on for awhile. It is very important topic in my life and there has been a lot of press lately on whether or not a gluten free diet will help you lose weight. I think many people still see the gf diet as a fad and every health reporter or blogger is trying to find ways to discredit gluten free foods. So far, most of the articles that I've read - about whether or not gluten free eating really is good for you - have made a clear statement about celiacs and why we eat the way we do and why the shelves are full of gluten free labels. As I've stated before and I'll say it again, eating this way is a life style. When one goes gluten free it makes one realize all the bad and good things that are put into the body. When someone wants to lose weight it is no different. Every diet guide on TV, books, and online will tell you to eat more fruits and vegetables and less junk. There is a reason for that, the celiac is just more aware of this simple fact.

My Weight Loss Story
My story began before going gluten free. I was working at a job with a lot of stress and there was always baked goods to eat and they were all place just outside my desk. We always had cakes for birthdays, donuts on Fridays, cookies from the Vice President, gift baskets from clients, catered lunches, and drinks after work. I always tried to eat healthy, but my tasted buds controlled my actions more then my life. I would work out at the gym every other day, running for hours, but the pounds just wouldn't budge. I found out I had a thyroid problem, and taking meds for that helped me feel better, but the weight just wasn't going any where. I was buying only whole wheat everything and still nothing.

Then I got pregnant with my daughter. Kinda hard to lose weight when you have to eat for two. I ate very healthy for my baby and found out that preservatives made me sick so that made me eat very wholesome things. After the baby was born I couldn't shake off the baby weight. I worked out the best I could, which is very hard to do after baby and with a baby, but I tried. It wasn't till I went gluten and dairy free that I started to lose weight. I have lost 10 pounds during each December for the last two years for a total of 20 pounds just during the holidays. I've lost more weight then that since having my daughter. I was 208 pounds right before I had my daughter. I lost 30 pounds after her birth, mostly water, and that left me at 178 pounds. Since then I have lost 25 pounds and counting. I am now back to where I was on my wedding day!

The change wasn't so much from going gluten free, even thought that is a big part of it, but eating right. We now eat more fruits and vegetables and meats. We have very little carbs in the house these days. We do have bread, cookies, and pasta, but they are mostly for my daughter. She eats gluten free too, but being a child she needs carbs to grow, but she loves her fruit alot too. Her allergist was impressed with how well she eats. Gluten free foods are expensive. It is nice that there are gluten free for almost everything on the store shelves, but paying $5 for bread isn't in our budget. So I either make it from scratch or we do without. I've learned that if I keep chips and sweets in the house I'll eat them and most of them. So I don't buy them and buy more fruit and vegetables instead. If I want a sweet snack I'll eat some fruit. If I want salty I'll have an apple with some Sunbutter. If I want crunchy I'll have carrots sticks or roasted edamame.

Eating right, drinking water and working out is nothing new, the experts have been saying it for years. If eating a gluten free life style forces someone to make the right choices when eating then by all means go for it, and your body will be happier too because there will be less processed junk in your body. Now I know a gluten free diet isn't for everyone and that is fine, but if I hadn't discovered the key to being healthy then I would be very over weight instead. Taking care of our bodies is very important, we only have one shot at this life. I can't not see myself eating what I want with the mind set that "Life is short eat what you want." Instead I think of life this way "Life is short, so instead of living in pain and being unhappy with how I look, I'll eat right and maybe live longer for it too."