About a month ago, I put up this post, in which I talked about how Kendrick and I had decided to try being gluten-free for a month (him for health reasons, me to be supportive because it’s hard to make a major dietary change, and even harder when you’re doing it all on your own). It was an interesting experiment, but not exactly for the reasons I thought it would be.
The thing is, gluten isn’t “bad” for you. I knew this going in; of course – while some people legitimately suffer from diseases (such as celiac, or certain autoimmune diseases) that are exacerbated by the presence of gluten in their diet – gluten itself isn’t the enemy, as much as the companies who are profiting off of gluten-free everythings (which, as an aside, are HOLY expensive) would like you to believe that it is. That said, I’m pretty sure we as a population eat too much of the stuff. I’m definitely sure that I do. Because pasta is delicious.
Before we go on: to say I was 100% gluten-free over the past month would be oh, such a lie. I can’t tell you how many times I slipped up, just because I’m so used to picking at my kids’ food completely mindlessly, and nearly every day – at least in the beginning – I had a bite of my daughter’s macaroni and cheese or a piece of tempura in my mouth before I even realized it. But this mindlessness that I have towards food extends beyond plucking from my kids’ plates; over the past few years I’ve given so little thought to what I eat on a daily basis that all of a sudden having cause to give it even a second of my attention was a dramatic shift…and the effect that this ended up having was actually kind of…cool.
Some examples of my diet over the past month (from the food diary I kept in my iPhone so that I could be all rigorous and persnickety about this post):
Breakfast:
- Greek yogurt with honey
- Smoothie with banana, avocado, hemp seeds, spinach, mixed berries and almond milk
- Smoothie with mango, banana, chia seeds, spinach, kale, and almond milk
Lunch:
- Chicken salad with fresh fruit
- Eel-avocado roll (with gluten-free soy sauce when I remembered to ask for it)
- Avocado and cheddar omelette
Dinner:
- Turkey chili over heritage grains
- Chicken with artichokes and onions over riced cauliflower
- Steak, bean and avocado wraps in corn tortillas
Snacks:
- Hard boiled egg
- Gouda cheese
- Fruit
Now, I have no idea if this is technically a “healthy” diet (and I’m sure I’ll get comments to that effect), but for me? This is INSANITY. My usual approach to food is utter thoughtlessness mixed with a dash of French Fries. I’ve always taken a kind of obnoxious pride in my refusal to eat well; I have no idea why what amounts to a disinterest in self-care would make me proud, but I suspect it stems from a contrary streak that I can date back to when my father insisted I learn about this “Internet” thing and I was all “GOD DAD LIKE THAT WILL EVER MATTER.”
Anyway, consider my lesson learned. Because I’ve discovered that not only “can” I eat well…I kind of…like it (ssh).
What was especially interesting to me was that once I started paying attention to how I ate, it wasn’t even about gluten, exactly. Riced cauliflower, for example (pictured above; it’s the stuff that looks like…rice), is no more “gluten-free” than actual rice…so why did I choose it? Because once I stopped for a minute to think rather than just blindly going for what I was used to grabbing from the supermarket shelves, I realized that I don’t especially prefer rice to cauliflower; in fact, it’s kind of the opposite. That little pause I took before just doing what I’ve always done freed me up to think about what I actually wanted. And beyond that, what might feel good to put in my body.
And now – and this is so weird, you guys – even though I’m eating gluten again (and so is Kendrick; he didn’t notice any change and his doctor gave him the okay), I’m still finding myself sprinkling hemp seeds over salads. I made brownies with black beans the other day. I own chia seeds; they’re right there in my refrigerator, staring at me and asking me to put them in things. WHAT.
Gluten is something I want in my diet because…well, because I like it, and there’s literally no reason for me not to have it, and because to me a trip to a diner isn’t complete without a bagel with lox and a walk down a New York City street is made infinitely better by the presence of a slice of pizza. But this month showed me how often I reached for gluten-based products to the exclusion of other things that are both better for me and that I actually prefer.
(I’m a little annoyed with myself, just so you know: the kind of person who sprinkles hemp seeds – or even knows what the damn things are – is not a person I have ever aspired to be.)
(But I’m also kind of proud.)
(Ugh, health.)
