Gluten-free: day #3

Day number two was, again, fairly easy. I even resisted the amazingly-tasty looking strawberry shortcake my co-worker brought in to celebrate another co-workers recent marriage! Honestly, I just told myself I wasn't going to have a slice of cake and it really was not a struggle. Again, I am not surprised. I don't expect to really be tempted/challenged until this weekend. 

I did skip my spin class last night. By about 3pm I was feeling completely stuffy-headed, felt like I was yelling at everyone and couldn't concentrate on anything - which made for a very weird 3:30 meeting with students. By 4pm I felt flushed and feverish, so I decided to go home. Considering I was in bed by 9:30 (which is at least an hour earlier than normal), I think it was a good choice. Although my "cedar fever" was definitely acting up last night (I am assuming it is allergies and not a real cold...), my eczema seems to be finally clearing up. (This is part of my tracking symptoms aspect of this experiment...)

Despite feeling fairly off last night, I still made dinner! We had planned to have pasta with italian sausage and peppers, and, honestly, it was the perfect comfort food for feeling a bit under the weather! And I got to use gluten-free pasta for the first time! 

I said at the beginning that I didn't want to start simply using gluten-free replacements for items and wanted, instead, to focus on healthy, whole foods. And I still believe that. In fact, in Wheat Belly, Dr. William Davis discusses the danger of simply switching out gluten items with their gluten-free replacements. First off, these replacements are still high in calorie - so from a weight-loss perspective they still work against the basic calorie-in/calorie-out formula. Additionally, gluten-free products often replace wheat flour with ingredients such as cornstarch, rice starch, potato starch or tapioca starch. Extensive studies have shown:

...though they [the various starch alternatives used in place of wheat] do not trigger the immune or neurological response of wheat gluten, [the products] still trigger the glucose-insulin response that causes you to gain weight. Wheat products increase blood sugar and insulin more than most other foods. But remember: Foods made with cornstarch, rice starch, potato starch, and tapioca starch are among the few foods that increase blood sugar even more than wheat products.

Dr. William Davis, Wheat Belly, pg. 72.

 So there are various reasons to not simply replace gluten items with gluten-free items. I hope to view things like gluten-free pastas and sweets as I view their gluten-containing counterparts: as a treat or occasional meal. 

Last night was one of those nights. As I had mentioned Mr. X had requested one of his favorites, and he rarely requests any meal, just happily eats whatever I make (or unhappily if it contains beets...). He knew I was considering trying out the gluten-free diet, so he said he would even try the gluten-free pasta! I found the Tinkyada brand at our local H.E.B. grocery store. They actually had a few varieties, but I picked this one for two reasons: (1) It stated in really big letters "NOT MUSHY," which is the complaint I hear most often about gluten-free pasta, so, honestly, that alone had me sold on this brand; (2) it only had three ingredients - brown rice, rice bran and water - unlike many of the other options that had a host of things I wasn't sure of. I bought the fettucini version and crossed my fingers it wouldn't be too gross. 

And...drumroll...it wasn't disgusting at all! In fact, both Mr. X and I commented that, if we didn't know it was gluten-free, we would have no idea it wasn't normal, old, gluten-containing pasta! I simply placed it in a large pot of fully boiling water, let it boil for awhile (just like normal pasta) then rinsed it with cool water when it was done! Easy-peasy. 

Aside from the gluten-free pasta, I have written about this recipe before here. I made it pretty much exactly the same way, aside from the gluten-free pasta. I also made sure to buy gluten-free spicy italian sausage (luckily easy to find at H.E.B.). 

I also purchased crushed tomatoes without seasonings, so I used an Italian seasoning blend, crushed red pepper and a bit of salt and pepper. I let the sauce bubble on the stove for a few minutes to get the flavors out of the spices. Otherwise, the dish followed the same recipe as my previous post and it turned out as delicious as always.

And it makes a ton, so I brought one bowl for my lunch and left the other for Mr. X. Which brings us to day number three!

Day #3
Wednesday
January 15, 2014

Breakfast
Gluten-free steel cut oats with almond milk, dried cranberries, chia seeds and slivered almonds
Black coffee

Lunch
Leftover gluten-free pasta with sausage and peppers

Snack
Hummus with cucumbers and carrots

Workout
CrossFit

Dinner
Garlic baked chicken with green beans (and possibly a salad...)