Wheat free update

**Long post alert...

I'm not a girly girl. I'm practical, sensitive, artistic... But I would definitely not call myself a shopper. I hate clothes shopping. I have short legs and finding tops and bottoms that work is an ordeal. You can buy pants that are labeled "short" or you can get items altered. Apparently, the clothing industry thinks that all women are approximately 5'-8". What does this all have to do with wheat free eating??? Well, I've lost some weight. Isn't this a thrilling post... hahaha... My nanny kiddos went camping last weekend and I had a little extra time on Friday; I was on a mission. It went alright which is surprising considering when you're actually looking for clothes, you NEVER find anything you actually like.

But I digress, back to wheat free eating... it is going well. I've spoken with my doctor and for the moment, we're treating it like a wheat allergy verses something more involved like the diagnosis of Celiac disease. I've been wheat-free since about mid-April. I've spent the last few weeks trying to educate myself on the topic. Gluten-Free Girl's blog has been a great resource of stories, links and recipes. I do all the grocery shopping for our home and will take the extra minutes to read ingredient labels. All of them.

I don't seem to have a problem with oats. If I was on a strict g-free diet, I couldn't consume oats {or I'd have to acquire special g-free oats}. This is good news because Brad and I are currently obsessed with these {Irish} oatmeal pancakes. I substitute the flours with a wheat-free/gluten-free flour. And how can you go wrong with honey and Greek yogurt- yum! {My friend Vana makes her own Greek yogurt.} We've been enjoying stuffed potatoes, too. We top the potatoes with CSA farm veggies. You can use the Greek yogurt as sour cream. Brad and I are both from the Midwest and we enjoy our middle-America comfort food. I have a mac-n-cheese recipe that I still use. I just substitute the wheat noodles with corn noodles and use wheat-free flour. Tacos- with corn tortillas- are okay for a wheat-free diet, too. I made a yummy blueberry + banana bread last weekend. Again, same recipe just different flour.

I took a clothes shopping break and checked out Rose's Bakery + Cafe last Friday. It's a gluten-free establishment. The soup and g-f french roll was pretty tasty. But I wasn't quite sold on their other goodies. I brought a few treats home to sample.

All in all, I am seeing improvements. I've lost weight, my stomach doesn't ache after almost every meal, I have more energy and my skin has improved. Though I think it is a combination of going wheat-free, drinking lots of water, walking more and maybe taking a gluten-free multivitamin {Trader Joe's}. I've learned that some vitamins contain wheat, who knew.