Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Wheat-free in a wheat eating world

My entire life I have been an allergy kid, not as bad as some, but I was rushed to the emergency room on more than one occasion. I have hay fever and am allergic to almost all of the outdoors. The only good thing about allergies is that I have never once mowed a lawn. Some might say I'm missing out, but I'm OK with that.

The fall of 2001 M and I moved to Atlanta. Little did I realize that Atlanta is the allergy capital of the world. Did you know people without allergies will actually develop them after moving here!?!? Needless to say, I was miserable. So, after a year of countless sinus infections, I went to see a new Doc, or the quack, as my Dad calls him.

The MD also specialized in acupressure, which is similar to acupuncture. Using this technique he was able to determine allergies that I knew I had and some that I was unaware of. For instance, I knew I had trouble with pollen, but it turns out I am most allergic to loblolly pines, a little ironic I have to say. One of the most prevalent trees in Atlanta, they line 400, they leave the awful yellow covering everywhere in Atlanta, no wonder I was sick! He also said I was allergic to wheat. Wheat!?!?! The stuff I and most of America eats all day everyday. Want a sandwich (wheat), a donut (wheat), pasta, cake, cookies, bagels, all wheat. Anything with flour in it. He said wheat could be the cause of my headaches.

So, fast forward six years, after taking wheat out of my diet, eating it in moderation, or just saying screw it, I'll eat whatever I want, I have successfully removed wheat from my diet since Christmas. Now, I'll admit I've cheated once or twice, but the vast majority of what I put in my mouth is wheat-free. The results have been pretty cool. I've lost about 8 pounds, I think I have more energy, and I know my headaches have become less frequent. All-in-all, I have to say this experiment has been pretty successful and I plan to keep it up as long as I can.

This could mean a life of no bread, no cake, no dessert, no more baking for my friends and family. Watching M cry in the corner as I no longer make any of his favorite baked goods. But, I'm not going to let that happen, I hate it when M cries. Instead, I have started reading up on alternative flours and experimenting even more in the kitchen. With some good results and some pretty bad.

I have two goals with these kitchen adventures:
  1. make stuff that tastes good to me
  2. make stuff that M will eat too, after all he is the picky one.
Wish me luck!

2 comments:

Anneathema said...

A is crying in the corner, too! Actually, if you just bring those wheat-free chocolate peanut butter things you had at Will's house before Xmas... I'll be ok. :-)

If you come visit, we'll make you arrowroot cookies, or whatever it takes.

Zilla said...

I'll make sure I bring some lovely wheat-free treats to the beach. Looking forward to it!

Z