Food: It’s Time For A Change

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

That pretty much describes my eating habits in the last year. And guess what, no surprise, nothing different happend. No weight loss. Continued lethargy. Food based mood swings. The whole gamut.

Recently however, I discovered that I have been having a negative, digestive ‘reaction’ to eating pasta, bread or any sort of wheat product. Walking around all day with a sick and often bloated stomach or worse trying to sleep with what felt like a stone in my intestines all night long after having eaten merely a few noodles was really becoming painful. So when I finally did a test of pure elimination, it was a no brainer. No more pasta. I realized I had been powering the pastina because it was fast to cook and most of all cheap. Cheaper and easier to cook than the foods I really enjoyed like high quality proteins, leafy greens and juicy fresh fruits. And on top of it all, the quantities being consumed kept increasing as I was always hungry and not very satisfied. In truth, even growing up Sicilian, I never ate macaroni more than twice a week. I was always amazed at my friends who ate it nearly every day for lunch or night for dinner. Put off by pasta recipes, bread filled sandwiches and carb gorging. Maybe the influence finally rubbed off for lack of time or energy to really nourish.

Now don’t get me wrong, every time I simply walk, see or happen to think about a plate of fettucini, I salivate. It’s hard loving food and giving up the things that really give your palate pleasure. But the new after-effects are suddenly so much more desirable. And wow, what a difference a grain makes.

I started by switching from wheat to quinoa and it just made sense to my body. Everything tasted better and lighter. Replacing simple carbs with vegetables entirely hasn’t been so bad either. My taste buds are coming alive again. Food is beginning to taste like food again. And making choices about what I am not putting into my body is a huge money saver. I don’t even look at most of the things on the shelf anymore.

And even better, eliminating the gluten has not only made me less hungry, but has forced my body into overcoming that body fat plateau that it just wouldn’t budge from.