Baking Bread

of which I will not eat one bite.

It's been a year since I decided to eat gluten free. To tell the truth I will have to say it has been reduced gluten, not gluten free. I will still eat bread when I eat out, and a couple of times I have had a serious pasta craving and fulfilled it.

During the past year...

The best scientific thing I have read that supports the idea is that wheat is not the same as it used to be. It has had generations of selective breeding and now is GMO to make it contain much more (I can't remember the %) gluten than it used to. This makes it more suited to commercial baking.

The most significant things about my own health I have noticed are...

I automatically eat fewer carbs. I have not replaced bread or pretzels or cakes and cookies with other carb rich foods. I have done some of my own baking and cooking with alternative flours, but I have not purchased a lot of commercially prepared products. Most of them are rice flour, tapioca flour and other flours that are highly processed and simple carbs, unlike the whole grain flour products I prefer.

When I do go mostly without and then indulge I can see the effects. I get constipated, badly - as in don't poop for a week, become bloated and in pain constipated. If I do this prunes are my friends.

I feel like my joint issues become much worse when I consume gluten. When I had the UU dinner group last week I ate bread, bread stuffing, and cake. Yesterday my knees and hips ached so badly I had to take ibuprofen.

I haven't noticed that gluten is a direct headache trigger. I will say, however, that I have had headaches with less frequency and lower intensity than previously. I did make a label on here for headache triggers that I am going to try to watch.

All in all, I think an effort to reduce the gluten is worth it. It keeps me mindful of my eating and has helped me in the ways above.