Gluten Free Week Review!

Greetings Earthlings! I know its probably not the biggest news of your weekend but guess what! I completed my gluten free week! I admit it was not perfect and or without failure but overall it was a great learning experience for me that has actually moved me in the direction of change! I started my gluten free week on April 22 at midnight and by 1 pm on Tuesday I had already poisoned myself with gluten...twice. Your probably wondering how I got off to such a shaky start. Well honestly its no ones fault but my own for assuming the food I was eating was gluten free. On Monday night we decided to have Chipotle for dinner and because of a past discussion I had about corn tortillas I thought that Chipotle's were corn and I ordered a burrito. I was wrong, they are definitely flour tortillas and I should have ordered a burrito bowl like my girlfriend Hannah, who decided to do the gluten free week with me! ( I did not make that mistake twice!) My second error came at dinner on Tuesday night. I went to my parents house after the gym and my Mom had made beef stew one of my favorite dishes! I looked at the stew and it seemed okay as there were only vegetables, broth, and beef in it. I started eating and telling my family about the gluten free week challenge and how I had made a mistake at Chipotle. All of a sudden my Mom looks up and says, "Wait you can't have flour? Well then you just poisoned yourself again because I use a little flour to braise the beef before I throw it in the stew!" Yikes!! Not a great start for me! Mom's Beef Stew - Looks good but the beef was braised in flour!

So I didn't get off to the greatest start as you can see but I definitely rebounded from there. On Wednesday I cooked dinner and made a delicious Quinoa and Black Bean Salad with grilled steak. It was really simple and I had a few of the ingredients at home already. You can see what that looked like below!

Quinoa and black bean salad with grilled steak.

I went out to eat a few times during my gluten free week. Instead of just picking any old restaurant and hoping that they would have a gluten free menu or option, I decided to use Find Me Gluten Free. It was a HUGE help. Not only did it tell me which places had gluten free options but also which ones had dedicated gluten free menus, and reviews; which were helpful in picking out my dish. On Thursday night I met a friend for dinner and we went to Plan B in West Hartford because I saw that they had an entire gluten free menu on Find Me Gluten Free. Another thing I did that shows I was learning was ask for gluten free soy sauce when Hannah and I went out for sushi on Saturday night!

Overall, I realized eating gluten free can be pricey. Hannah and I bought a frozen pizza that was Amy's brand and it was tiny but cost about $6.00 you add that with the $10 for the 4 pack of New Planet gluten free beer and another $5 for the gluten free chips we used for our Cedars Hummus appetizer and it can get expensive grocery shop. I realized its much better to buy raw ingredients and just make dishes yourself so you have leftovers. It's obviously healthier that way too but, sometimes you just crave a pizza or a burger you know what I mean?

Anyway, overall the gluten free challenge was a great experience for me. Both myself and Hannah decided that we are going to continue to try and eat gluten free during the week and then if we are craving pizza or a burger we will have it on the weekends. We both felt great with plenty of energy and much lighter. I think its worth eliminating as many gluten food items as I can because, like as I said there was a noticeable difference in the way I felt.

For Better Living,

-Bill