The
other day, a friend asked if I had any suggestions for starting a grain-free
diet. Actually, I do. Here are a few:
1. Make sure that grain-free is the right
diet for you. It’s not for everyone.
I am allergic to both wheat and corn, as it turns out, so I decided to try
grain-free for 90 days to see how it works for me. If you’re not allergic to any grains, then it
might not make sense for you. I’ve started recommending that if you’re
considering a change in diet, first go get tested for food allergies. To get
the results you want, it may be as simple as cutting out foods to which you are
allergic.
2. Read labels. If you choose to try grain-free, you’re going
to have to find out which foods have hidden grains. You will be astonished at
where corn can hide, in the forms of corn starch and corn syrup. Even Campbell’s
soup has either wheat gluten or corn syrup in most varieties.
3. Go through your cabinets, freezer, and
refrigerator. Throw out everything
that has any grain substance in it. I mean everything. Grain-free is hard, and
you will have weak moments. If the food isn’t in the house, you won’t eat it.
4.
Be creative about what you CAN eat.
Once you get rid of your grains, you might wonder what you can eat. The
short answer is meat, vegetables, fruit, and dairy. (I am not talking about the
Paleo diet – that requires you to give up dairy and processed sugar.) Also peanut butter and soy. Chocolate (if you’re careful about what
type). This is the time to mix things
up. I like carrots and mustard, peanut butter and celery, that sort of
thing. Frozen fruit, canned fruit. Focus on protein – it burns more slowly than
carbohydrate, so it won’t give you the crash that follows a sugar rush.
5. Give yourself time to adjust. Eliminating grains is not easy. I do better cold turkey, but you might do
better tapering off. Realize that you will have cravings, and make sure that
you have suitable snack replacements on hand.
Don’t try to count calories or carbs or whatever you’ve been doing,
either. Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re no longer hungry. And most importantly, if you fall off the
wagon, forgive yourself and get back up.
If
you have any questions about any of this, just ask. And if you decide to go
grain-free, best wishes!!
Carrots and mustard? Interesting. I'm going to have to try that. I personally love anything that involves peanut butter (including just using a spoon to shovel it in).
ReplyDeleteThe problem with grain-free for me is the lack of crunch. So carrots are a good crunch, and they get boring just plain. And yes, I love eating peanut butter with a spoon. Or honey. Or chocolate chips. LOL
ReplyDeleteI hear that carrots and peanut butter are also good. A friend swears by them as a snack to keep on her diet.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big crunch person too. I need different textures in my food or it just gets boring. Why I've never been able to stick to any of those shake diets.
I so have chocolate chips downstairs. I want to go down now and dig in to them.