Gluten Free Sucks

No really, this blows.  I guess I didn't realize how often we went out to eat at restaurants or what type of restaurants we normally visit.  But the places we frequent might have 50 items on the menu, and the only gluten free options are the 4 salads listed.  Whole sections on the menu for burgers, pasta, and sandwiches.  And 4 salads tucked away in the corner is all that's gluten free.

With the kids out of town last week, we did get to go to places that serve food they don't eat.  Our favorite turned out to be Jasmin, a middle eastern bistro.  I love middle eastern food, and this is the first place I've found up here that rivals the Pita House from Greenville.  Hummos, pitas, falafel, gyro meat, chicken shwarma, tsazeki sauce, bring it on.  Love it, I could eat it every day.  And the only flour is in the pita which really isn't that bad or hard to avoid.  Most middle eastern and asian restaurants serve a gluten free base with rice or something instead of flour.  Sushi with rice, chinese or hibachi with rice, or indian food with basmati..... I have to stop now before I ruin my lunch workout and hit the buffet instead.

The problem is that our kids don't eat any of it.  We can't take them to any of the places that serve any of the foods I just mentioned.  Bigun did actually try lo mein recently, and claims that she did like it.  But I guarantee she'll forget that the next time we try to get chinese takeout.  And why do we only seemingly encourage her to only try the most unhealthy versions of multicultural foods?

Saturday in Charleston we did find the coolest place yet down there, Brick House Kitchen.  BHK had a special event going on outside, so we were able to get inside to order off of a special menu.  I ended up getting some grilled buffalo shrimp with mixed greens and grilled potatoes and it was all perfect.  No flour anywhere, the portion size was perfect, price was right, it was perfectly cooked (and it's easy to turn grilled shrimp into rubber), the decor was great and they had the Grateful Dead playing.  You never find a place like that, and I can't wait to go back.  If only it wasn't 5 hours away.

So yes after 2 weeks of going completely gluten free I tried re-introducing the white stuff.  It keeps getting worse.  Without eating any flour, my energy levels plummeted.  I mean I had no gas in the tank, ever.  Workouts got sluggish but not really bad.  But just the daily work routine and keeping up with the kids put me to sleep.  And, ironically, I also had sleep problems.  Sure, the symptoms that I was trying to get away from went away, but I'm not sure if it was worth it.

The positives from that two weeks included dropping 8 lbs, mostly from the belly fat.  Also I didn't have any kind of digestive issues or headaches (well, one headache but that's not flour's fault).  And I felt pretty good at first, but then it started a steady decline that got very deep.

Then Thursday was a pita, Friday was a pizza, Saturday and Sunday were biscuits.  Sunday also had some leftover pizza.  Overall this is still not much flour.  But the symptoms started to come back by Monday.  Heartburn through the weekend, regular headaches, and a new skin problem on my right foot.  The worst thing so far happened this morning.  I wanted to try my old favorite oatmeal breakfast again.  I made it and it was tasty.  But before I finished I felt like I was not going to be able to stand up again.  It was just sitting so heavily in my belly I felt completely disgusting.  Not cool, oatmeal, not cool.  It also didn't keep me feeling full as long as the meat & eggs usually does.  It was seriously disturbing.

So basically in conclusion I really feel the need for change, but still don't know what the right thing is to change.  I can give a thumbs up to gluten free but I know it's not sustainable long term and I don't think I have an "allergy" or an "intolerance" to wheat.  Wheat Belly is an amazingly boring book.  I only read non-fiction and love it, but I have really struggled to get through the first 14% of this book. 

There are other options.  I did really well as a vegetarian last year so I might go back to more of a plant-based approach.  I have started getting hooked on Ultra Runner Podcasts and was really intrigued by The Fruititarian, a guy who eats nothing but whole raw fruit, and tons of it.  Scott Jurek's new book is also getting high on my list.  Lots of fun things to consider. This year I have to fuel for speed instead of endurance.  I'll figure it out.