Gluten Free - not so bad actually

So, I want to be upfront and say that I think my Dr. puts everyone on a gluten free, casein free diet. Unless you go in there and say, "I feel awesome, in fact, I have no idea why I am even at the doctor's to begin with." Otherwise, no gluten or casein for you. She does test for all common food sensitivities/allergies but if no other culprits show up then no gluten or casein for you. The thing is that after you get these orders, you feel good. Some people feel fantastic. (I just feel good but if you read my blog you know I have a lot of stress due to my kitty's renal failure and intensive care).
The trick is not to toss out your Oreos and just go to Whole Foods and buy gluten-free Oreos. You have to eat more unprocessed foods. Thats what makes you feel better. It's easier than I thought because most of the gluten free fake food is not very good (sorry fake oreos) and its expensive. No one really wants to pay $5 for a small box of not very tasty crackers. So, you turn to the stuff that is yummy. Fruits, vegetables, the gluten free grains like quinoa and rice. I am loving it. I know, weird.
I have been on crazy fad diets before. I did South Beach, Adkins, Sensa, some weird no salt thing. First of all, these were all horrible ideas because I was only trying to loose weights and diets don't work. (I have been over diets and trying to loose weight for a while now so this is not that kind of diet or related to loosing weight.) In all these cases, I would have cut a bitch for a slice of bread/pasta/cake/salt/etc. but since I went gluten and casein free I have not craved anything. Not even once.
Today no one is in the front office but me. If I have to work through lunch, I usually dictate that this means the company buys me lunch and that lunch is chicken strips and blizzard from the DQ next door. You know what I had today? A salad. With Tuna. That is all. Do I wish I could have chicken strips and a blizzard (previously in my top five favorites)? No, not even a little. I am the first person to tell you that I am shocked, SHOCKED, about this. I can't eat any of my previously favorite foods (except wine and dark chocolate, thank the gods) and it doesn't bother me one bit. I have trouble actually accepting this reality. I do see it as a sign that this diet (diet as in what you eat is your diet. Mine is gluten free, casein free and omnivorous) is what my body wants. I think about DQ and something inside me says, "Yeah, thanks for not eating that because that was why you felt like shit all the time." And this might be TMI, but I have had no gas. Seriously, and I eat roughage like kale every day.
Now why does being GFCF work any differently than not eating processed foods like a paleo diet. I am not sure it does. It might be psychological in that I can say, "that food will make me sick" as opposed to "I choose not to eat that." It also does not cut out a whole genre of food. I can have carbs, I can have sugar, I can have fat just not all the kinds of sugar, carbs and fat. I even eat things that some people consider "bad" for you like white rice and corn chips. But when you break down what I eat into the good ole food pyramid my servings of fat, sugar, carbs (and white rice) falls well below my servings of fruits and vegetables. And the thing I am trying to say is that I really want to eat more produce which to me feels like the biggest win of all.
Now, I am sure some people want to know if you will lose weight on a GFCF diet. If you ate a lot of junk and things that made you bloat before then probably. Chris says I look slimmer, but as I said before I don't care for weight loss diets so I don't weigh myself. Since my health issues were all inflammation related then I could just be less swollen. Who doesn't want to be less swollen? Some people with gluten intolerance will gain weight because they were experiencing poor absorption before. So if you think you should try this to lose weight then please don't, diets don't work. If you want to try it and see if you feel better then be my guest. But talk to your doctor first, and consider asking for food sensitivity tests. It would be a shame to give up gluten only to find out that soy is what is making you feel bad.
Oh, and now that I read a lot of restaurant allergens menus, soy is in freaking everything.

Update: Squatty Potty

The Daily What featured this video today.  

Part One: Here

I had actually ordered the plastic Squatty Potty when the nice people over at SP HQ offered to send me one. I told them I had ordered the plastic as a starter model (and because the low price would help convince Chris that it wasn't a horrible idea) but hoped to love it and one day upgrade to the bamboo. They sent me the bamboo! I was surprised and happy. It does look a lot nicer and I actually think the slight angle makes it more comfortable than the plastic. I moved the plastic into our guest bath and put some of the brochures they sent me on the back of the toilet so guest would know what was going on. I am also going to take info to my chiropractor, massage therapist and doctor.

My mom was our first visitor to go into the guest bath and say, "what is this?" I showed her what it was and how it worked and she seemed to be genuinely interested in the benefits, which made me happy.

So what do I think of the Squatty Potty?  I like it. If you are really inflexible it can be hard to get your knees up. Chris let me put yoga bricks under the Squatty Potty and he slides them out and puts his feet on those until he can increase his flexibility. I actually think it makes sitting on the toilet more comfortable on your rear. I am glad that I got one and think Chris is warming up to it. I think the fact he is trying to be flexible enough to use it all the time, speaks volumes. He obviously sees the great benefit to squatting. 

The Squatty Potty

So I had been talking about 10 minutes about the benefits of squatting when Chris finally turns to me and says, "What the hell kind of blogs have you been reading?" Chris doesn't mind most of my hippy dippy wellness ideas but he draws the line at having his bathroom routine disturbed.
I am big fan of Katy's blog over at Aligned and Well. She is helping me lengthen my leg muscles (so is my massage therapist). Katy says that I (and most everybody else) need to do two things that most of us don't do enough of,  walk and squat. There is a lot more to it than that so go read her blog.
Well, I am intrigued by all this and have already got Chris and I on a routine of much more walking (it takes 15 minutes to do our neighborhood including cul-de-sacs) and I wanted to work on squatting. Now squatting is lacking from our routines because people used to "have a squat" all the time. Hint, hint. But now we sit, which is unnatural. So while I was practicing squatting in my living room, I was still sitting in the place that I should be squatting - my bathroom. Then, three times this week I was confronted with the concept of the Squatty Potty. It's a foot stool, that gets your feet up so that you are essentially getting into a squat position while you are on the toilet.
When I told Chris I wanted one, it prompted his comment about my blog choices. I did point out how it tucks under the bowl so he won't be forced to use it, and I think he felt better about things.
Here is the Alignment Monkey's review and giveaway of a Squatty Potty. I entered, but if I lose I will be ordering one anyway.