The gluten test

Ok, I'm finally doing it!  I'm eliminating wheat for 1 month to test myself and see if that is the culprit in a few unwanted symptoms I'm dealing with. I've had blood tests and biopsies and both showed negative for Celiac disease.  But I know a person can be "wheat sensitive" and it can cause inflammation in the body without showing up on a Celiac test.

Going through withdrawal, my body is like a spoiled child that insists on having its way!  It cries when it sees or smells wheat and can't have any!  I have listened to it too long.  I'm telling it to shut up for a while for its own good.  I'm also telling it, maybe, just maybe, if it stays quiet for ONE month, maybe it can have some wheat back in its diet.  I don't know.  NOT promising anything!!  On the other hand, if it feels so much better concerning these worsening symptoms, then it will way out-weigh the withdrawals.  I keep telling myself, "Self, aren't you tired of not sleeping at night?"

Between irritable bowels and a stuffy nose with inflammation--lots of inflammation, and arthritis seeming to develop more in my neck and joints, I want to give it a try.  I've been telling myself that it doesn't matter whether I eat it or not, but I want to prove that to myself.  I may have been fooling myself!  Fooling ourselves is easy to do--especially when it comes to foods we like.  The hardest part for me is my toast in the morning.  I'm sorry but there is NO substitute.  Not in taste and texture anyway.  I've tried all the low carb, gluten free alternatives from the one minute bread, to many others and they just do not make toast with the smell, feel, and taste of wheat.  So I'm telling myself, "Self, shut up! You can't have your toast, and you can't replace it.  You, who have been a creature of habit for so many years, having your toast every morning, will have to say goodbye to it and develop a NEW like."  Trying to replace some things only brings disappointment.  It makes you all the more long for the real thing.  So rather than replace, I am going to have to adjust to entirely new.  They say it takes 7 days to create a new habit.  Who knows.  Maybe by the time I'm done with this experiment, I'll have found new habits and won't care to go back to toast.  And "self" will leave me alone.

Another hard one is pizza crust.  We are a pizza family!  Good pizza crust is an essential part of good pizza! Two that I've found lately that have hit the spot, again, not replacing real pizza crust made with white flour and yeast and all that good stuff, but the taste is so good that I think I have found a NEW taste in pizza once again that I can get used to.  I've done the cauliflower crust and the zucchini crust for pizza and both were very good and I think I will use them often while I make (and smell) the regular yeast dough crust for the rest of my family who still listen to their "self" tell them to eat wheat and are not yet listening to me.  Ha!

Another way I have a quick lunch pizza is to make the microwave almond crackers by doubling the amount for one serving and rolling it slightly thicker, microwaving for 90 sec. and it makes a great thin crispy crust.  Just add your toppings after that and slip under the broiler until all the cheese is melted and bubbly.  Quick and yummy.  Most of the time I just take 4 TBS. of almond meal, 2 tsp. parmesan cheese, pinch of salt, and pinch of splenda (brings out flavor.. not enough to sweeten), and add enough water just to make a stiff dough.  Spray a square of parchment paper with non-stick spray, place it on the paper and using a piece of saran wrap also sprayed on top, spread it out to desired thinness in a square or circle.  Microwave for 90 seconds or until it is crisp.  It will crisp up as it cools also.  If you get it too thin it will break more.  You might have to experiment to get it right.  But it's pretty easy.  In fact, I've used this with an egg on top in the morning in place of my toast sometimes.  Like I said, it does not replace toast, but it is something to put my egg on that is crunchy.

So right now I'm on my third day.  I am noticing that the unrelenting swollen nasal passages are clearing and I'm breathing easier, although I'm still waking up in the night with a blocked nose.  Using a vaporizer is helping.  I have no mucus or congestion, just inflammation that I'm dealing with, which is why I believe wheat could be the culprit, since when I first started low carbing and did cut out wheat, my nose cleared up so good.  When I began getting it back in low carb products with wheat it came back.  So I'm really hoping it's as simple as cutting out wheat.  We shall see.  Of course I'm also using oil of Oregano daily again, so I'm not going to know for sure what is helping, until I am off the wheat for a month and then I introduce it back to see what happens along with continuing the rest of my regimen.  So, we'll see what happens.  I'll report back in a month with results!

Ginny