Grain Free Diet – A Diet Change To Consider

Grain Free Diet – a diet change to consider? When I first discovered that gluten was a problem for me, over 19 years ago, I could not even imagine a meal plan without wheat in it! I had grown up with a traditional American diet plan…..bread at every meal. It kind of blew my mind.

Gradually as I made some changes and I noticed that I had always pulled the bun off the cheeseburger…because I like the taste better??? Or, was there more to it? The “Perry Mason” inspector in me started to pay more attention to my eating patterns.

When I put my three children into regular school (I had been homeschooling them so we could go on adventures – skiing for 6 months, etc) of course I faithfully packed their lunches with the requisite sandwich and cookies. Well, a couple of months later, my 6 year old daughter bends over and starts screaming one night (not kidding)!

I rushed her to the hospital. We were just sure that her appendix had burst. The emergency room personnel ran a couple of tests and were prepping her for surgery…..when the results came back negative and her appendix was fine. Hmmmm… The doctor indicated we should just take it out anyway. I politely, but very firmly, declined. She and I were quite attached to her body parts!

We ran all the tests in the ensuing week, all which came back negative. The doctors simply had NO IDEA what the problem was. My sister, Patty, who was studying to be a natural nutritionist, gently suggested that it could be a reaction to food. Hmmmm? So I went to the doctor and she suggested we go on an elimination diet. Yuck! She was 6 – this didn’t sound like the way we wanted to approach this problem. After all, I was a scientist by degree….(biology/microbiology).

Instead, we searched for the best natural/conventional doctor in the US. We found a great candidate in Dr. Colbert from Longwood, Florida….so off we went. He talked with her and tested her naturally for about 5 minutes and then told me that the problem was that when she ate wheat and sugar the resulting combination was burning little holes in her intestines. That certainly explained the screaming!

So, after also having Dr. Colbert do some testing on me, we both went totally gluten free. We began using stevia and honey as our sweeteners whenever possible. I got rid of our natural sugar and wheat products. My two sons, who are 3 and 5 years older than Anna Mae, were not real excited about this!

I didn’t want my kids to resent our new way of eating – so I put my science degree to work creating foods we could make that were great tasting. We would make up a recipe once a week, and then prepare it and see if it tasted good. It was really fun! We had developed a new fun game. I also put my education to work, and started learning the properties of the different flours, sweeteners and spices. This opened the door to a new passion!

As the years went along, we also tried almost every new gluten free treat and product we could get our hands on. Some tasted great, but many of the first were absolutely awful tasting. So, I had to create some excellent foods at home so that my kids would enjoy eating. Also, I found that their friends LOVED the way we ate! Anna Mae would come home from school and tell me how all her friends ate her lunch. She started taking extra to school.

Then, something started to happen that had us mystified. We started to have problems digesting different gluten free ingredients. We felt bloated, lethargic, and began to have our old symptoms again. Anna Mae and I eliminated oats. Then went rice and quinoa. Our list of ingredients was shrinking, so back to the recipe creating I went.

We began to rely more heavily on almond flour. That lasted for only a short time. After moving back up to Oregon from Las Vegas, we became more sensitive to nuts. This was followed by a sensitivity to all grains…. We felt our food world closing in on us! So we mad a bold move and decided to go grain free! I had made the connection between us having seasonal allergies (grasses, etc) and not being able to digest grains, which are grasses! Hahaha!!! Who’d a thunk it!!

In 2015, David, Anna Mae and I relocated across the US to Florida. Anna Mae immediately noticed she could breath much better. I felt better as well. David actually did not relocate to Florida until August, and was thought he was developing ulcers. I took him to see Dr. Colbert, and to my dismay, we discovered not that his big problem was wheat and gluten. He instead found that corn and sugar were his lethal combination. Hmmm, that got me thinking again.

Corn and sugar brought up the topic of GMO foods. Back to the research I went again. A good article on GMO foods that is easy to read is this, ‘Top 10 Worst GMO Foods For Your GMO Foods List.’ If you look at that list, you will laugh, as I have. Corn and sugar are on it. We eliminated all corn and items with corn syrup immediately, but chose to sit on the sugar for the time being. Chocolate is a big favorite of mine and I felt protective of it.

Anna Mae was still having some trouble, though, and we both still felt a bit boated far too often. So, in late November of 2016 I took Anna Mae back to see Dr. Colbert. He suggested sugar free for 3 months. Mae did, and did not waiver. By the end of December, I noticed that she was losing all of the bloating and so on January 1st of 2017, I joined her.

Since that time, the bloating has gone away. We have also noticed that our bodies have naturally lost weight. I am actually now wearing a smaller size than I wore in high school. Both of us have gone down 2 clothing sizes, and it wasn’t like we were really overweight.

This is all fabulous, but the best part – CLEAR THINKING! Now, when I awake, I feel like ALL of my brain cells are also getting up with me and reporting for work! I accomplish more every day now than I used to in a week. I love, love, love this! My mind is open for business….I am now able to develop so much more creative, life-enhancing recipes and dry mix products! The crepes are just the beginning! I challenge you to try them, and turn the package over and read the ingredient list! Yup – you heard/read me right! The ingredients are things that you will be able to know and identify as FOODS, not chemicals!

Going edible grasses free has not only helped my daughter and I physically to achieve the correct body size for each of us, but also to open the door mentally! Grain free…and sugar free combined with what we already knew about being gluten free, has been a total game changer for us!

To recap, if you have seasonal allergies (like us) and react with sinus problems with the grasses when you breath them, then it would only stand to reason that when you ingest them you would have an internal inflammatory reaction, which if unchecked would lead to the development of autoimmune problems.

For now, our crepe mixes and pizza curst mix are available for purchase on our website; www.gfmamas.com.

Have a great day!

-gfmama