Our family have decided to go completely gluten and sugar free, to improve our health. First, let's define some terms:
Gluten free: Gluten is found in a number of grains - the most common are wheat, rye and barley. The others are spelt, triticale, kamut and bulgar.
Gluten free but not "gluten-free". These days Celiac disease and gluten-intolerance are more widely understood, which has led to a proliferation of "gluten-free" alternative products. However, most of them are made based on other refined flours - rice, tapioca, corn etc which also have an undesirable effect on blood sugars and health. So we are avoiding not just gluten-containing grains, but most refined grains too.
Sugar free: Sugar comes in various forms - honey, cane sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, molasses, maple syrup and so on. For the purposes of our diet, we are completely avoiding all refined sugars (white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, coconut sugar, maple syrup, HFCS etc) and limiting our intake of natural sugars in the form of fruit and starchy vegetables and possibly an occasional small amount of honey. More on this as we go along. We are using some non-sugar sweeteners in recipes - stevia-erythritol blend and rice malt syrup, but no artificial sweeteners.
Gluten free: Gluten is found in a number of grains - the most common are wheat, rye and barley. The others are spelt, triticale, kamut and bulgar.
Gluten free but not "gluten-free". These days Celiac disease and gluten-intolerance are more widely understood, which has led to a proliferation of "gluten-free" alternative products. However, most of them are made based on other refined flours - rice, tapioca, corn etc which also have an undesirable effect on blood sugars and health. So we are avoiding not just gluten-containing grains, but most refined grains too.
Sugar free: Sugar comes in various forms - honey, cane sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, molasses, maple syrup and so on. For the purposes of our diet, we are completely avoiding all refined sugars (white sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, coconut sugar, maple syrup, HFCS etc) and limiting our intake of natural sugars in the form of fruit and starchy vegetables and possibly an occasional small amount of honey. More on this as we go along. We are using some non-sugar sweeteners in recipes - stevia-erythritol blend and rice malt syrup, but no artificial sweeteners.
In this blog, for now, I will only share my own personal details. If my family are happy for me to, I may share more about them and the effect this dietary experiment has on them at a later stage.
As for me, I turn 45 years old this week. I am about 50kg overweight, have Hashimoto's disease (and thus an under-active thyroid which can make losing weight more challenging), some food allergies (salicylates), and suffer from insomnia, which has gotten very bad over the last few months. I'm totally over it - over not sleeping, over being overweight. I'm determined to change, and knowing myself as well as I do, I know stating my goals and progress publically via this blog will be motivating, as well, I hope, as being helpful to others.
Let's do it!
As for me, I turn 45 years old this week. I am about 50kg overweight, have Hashimoto's disease (and thus an under-active thyroid which can make losing weight more challenging), some food allergies (salicylates), and suffer from insomnia, which has gotten very bad over the last few months. I'm totally over it - over not sleeping, over being overweight. I'm determined to change, and knowing myself as well as I do, I know stating my goals and progress publically via this blog will be motivating, as well, I hope, as being helpful to others.
Let's do it!