Wheat belly be gone, and it isn’t about being trim.

I had never heard of wheat belly before until a friend shared an article about it with me through Facebook. This is the end of my second year going gluten free and the first place I noticed weight loss was in my core and abdomen. I had described the feeling when I ate bread, or any wheat/gluten products, as leaving me feeling bloated, my internal digestive system irritated, and it truly felt like my internal organs were inflamed. And they were inflamed, with Visceral Fat, an intra-abdominal fat that develops between the organs in the abdominal cavity.

Take a look at a wheat belly before and after photos of a man and a woman who have banished wheat/gluten from their diet.

Lose the wheat, lose the spare tire. Pictures taken exactly 1 year apart. (Image source: Wheatbelly.com)

Rob, from Wheatbelly.com ran 20 miles per week and did a diet suggested by Runner’s World for 5 years. No matter how hard he tried, he says he could not lose the spare tire. Then he ditched gluten, and all gluten products, and within 3 months he began to see a big difference.

Remember that going gluten free doesn’t mean just giving up bread, although bread is a major culprit in the creation of wheat belly. Gluten hides in most processed foods. Unless the packaging states “Gluten Free,” it isn’t gluten free. But be careful with Gluten Free foods also, they tend to be high in sugar.

Elaine shows off her trimmer core due to elimination of wheat (Image source: Sparklepeople.com)

Here’s another wheat belly before and after photo of Elaine on Sparklepeople.com.

Remember you do not have to be Celiac or have a gluten intolerance to suffer the ill effects of gluten. In fact I tested negative to a blood test for gluten intolerance. But when I eat bread, or anything else containing gluten, the results speak for themselves.

I still slip, yes I do, and eat the bread in restaurants, I might have a cracker or two with cheese. But without a doubt, there is something causing inflammation of my abdominal organs when I over do it.

Picture from New York Times article on Feb. 2 2014 “We need GMO Wheat” by Lusik and Miller

Although wheat that has allegedly been genetically modified in the US has not been sold since 2013, there are accounts of GMO Wheat fields been discovered and law suits from farmers against seed giant company, Monsanto. The company touts itself as a sustainable agricultural company.

Not everyone is up in arms about the ability to genetically modify wheat,  thereby making it a hardier crop. The New York Times argued that in order to keep the cost of bread and pasta products down, American farmers need to devote more acreage of farm land to growing GMO wheat.

Visceral Fat (Image source: Bethenutrition4all.com)

So what? So what if wheat is genetically modified to make it more sustainable? According to Naturalnews.com, a Brazillian study found that the absorption of gluten proteins alter the body’s endocrine and exocrine processes which alters our metabolism , and we gain weight.

This isn’t about calories, this is about how gluten, even if we intake less calories of it, increases visceral fat in the abdominal cavity. The sudy, which was performed on mice, showed that the mouse on a gluten free diet lost weight, whereas his counterpart enjoying gluten foods gained it. Remember, the fat is called visceral fat or intra-abdominal fat, and you store it right in your belly, between your organs.

You don’t have to be wheat/gluten intolerant or have celiac disease to have wheat belly. But chances are, if you continue eating wheat or gluten you could develop more serious health problems such as, cardiovascular problems, diabetes, breast and colorectal cancer, gallbladder problems, high blood pressure, metabolic syndrome, hormonal imbalances as well as irritable bowel syndrome. So this isn’t about being trim in the mid-section, its about staving off diseases later on in life.

What can you eat without going crazy reading labels? Fresh organic fruits and vegetables. I am pretty bad at this, so this is my new 10 week challenge: Gluten Free and lactose free as well as eating my daily allowance of fruits and vegetables.

Here’s how I am going to do it. I purchased the Nurtibullet, like a small powerful blender, and twice a day, breakfast and lunch, I have a blend of fruits and vegetables, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory. Here’s a sample of what I have, for anti-inflammatory, and you can try and mix it in a blender. Recipe is from the Nutriliving.com website.

Ingredients

The Nutribullet Blender (Image Source: Funkysmoothie.com)

½ Tall Cup Lacinato (Dino) Kale

½ cup(s) Cherries (pitted)

½ Banana

½ tsp. Turmeric

¼ tsp. Cinnamon

1 chunk(s) Ginger

1 tbsp. Chia Seeds

Coconut Water

Give it a shot, try your blender, but the difference will be how smooth the ingredients are when done in a Nutribullet. I’ll keep you posted here as to how I progress over the next 10 weeks, that will take us into Friday, June 6th.

To keep up to date with my progress, just type Nutribullet Week 1, or 2 and so on into the search bar on the top right hand corner of this blog. I’ll share recipes, how I feel and my physical transformation, if indeed there is any, over the next ten weeks, once per week.

Good luck, and click on the Nutribullet link to buy one and get one free. This is about eating raw, organic, power foods, and banishing processed and gluten filled foods to see if we can lose the wheat belly. Don’t forget to ingest you daily allowance of protein, and you can calculate that here.

 

Gluten and Lactose Free Days 35 to 45

Don’t strike a match and open all the windows. Mom’s just had a slice of white bread.

When did I start to notice that I had problems digesting certain foods? That is a question that I get asked often. The truth is I have noticed certain things for many years but thought that it was normal.

When your tummy bloats after eating white bread and you’ve eaten white bread for most of your life, then that’s just “the way it is.” You’ve never known anything else so that’s part of your “normal.” When I really began to pay attention was about seven or eight years ago.

My mother passed away in May 2004. My healthy eating and excercise regime fell apart during her 9 month undiagnosed battle with cancer. It wasn’t until the very end that a diagnosis was made. About six months after her death I decided that it was time to get back on track. I started the South Beach Diet plan.

Dr. Agatson’s book explained how certain foods turn into sugar in the body, white bread and potatoes being some of those foods. On the diet I felt good, I lost whatever weight I had gained and resumed my workouts. Mentally and physically I started to feel better.

When you’ve been on the diet for sometime you can sway from it occasionally to enjoy the forbidden foods. This is when I noticed bloat and gas pains when I ate certain foods. There is no polite way to say this, but I’ll try. Sometimes the gas was so bad I could have easily turned our Toyota minivan into a convertible. Not very ladylike, and let me tell you, it’s a sure-fire way to get your family angry at you! Enough said.

It has taken me about five years to get to this point. It was a long, brutally fought battle. My cousin, who has coeliac disease said, “You just feel so good when you stick to gluten-free foods.” She’s right. Discomfort should not be a side order when you eat.

This week I tried Larabars which are gluten-free. I wasn’t crazy about them. A little too sweet for me and the consistency was doughy. Did I just say something was too sweet?

My cousin who is coeliac also told me to check out Coeliac.com which is a great resource for learning what foods are gluten-free.

I have stayed with the Mineral Fusion line of skin care and hair care products. Although Renpure is gluten-free, my hair is curly and needs the hydration that Mineral Fusion provides. The Mineral Fusion products sold in boxes sometimes come with a $3.00 coupon.

Here’s what Days 35 to 45 have looked like for me:

Gluten and Lactose Free Days 28 to 34

This is a lot harder than it seems. I can’t imagine how it must be for people diagnosed with Coeliac disease or a true gluten intolerance.

As always, the diet is easy to follow when you stock your own kitchen with gluten and lactose-free products. Eating out poses huge problems. I have also been thinking about people who have severe food allergies to peanuts or eggs and dairy. You have to be consistent in your food choices and dillegent. But this also gets very boring over time.

I want to be able to go to a restaurant or a picnic and say, ‘You know, I going to have ice-cream with that banana bread pudding!’ (I did yesterday!) Being limited in your food choices is no fun. Variety is the spice of life as they say, and here you’d need to plan ahead, read food labels and be aware of what is naturally gluten and lactose-free in order to adhere strictly to this diet.

I am begining to realise that the lactose actually has had more of an effect on me than the gluten. Anytime I have had lactose, my stomach goes bonkers. I also attribute the lack of severity to my seasonal allergies to the lack of lactose in my diet.

Here’s a quick update of gluten and lactose-free foods that I have tried this week. Whole Foods gluten free bread, give it a miss, I hated it.

I love the Glutino Yougurt Covered Pretzels, love them too much as a matter of fact. Are they lactose-free though? I’d better check that out.

I also discovered that tea actually comes gluten free! Who knew? That’s next on my list, gluten-free tea. Beer also come gluten free, just in case tea doesn’t do it for you.

The Udi’s Millet-Chia Bread, gluten free was tolerable, but only just. So I am back to my favorite, Udi’s Cinnamon Raison Bread, worth the money and delicious. Whole foods carry both types of bread.

I also wanted to mention that in addition to the Mineral Fusion line of skin care and hair products that I have been trying, and loving I might add, I have also discovered that Renpure makes shampoo and conditioner that are gluten free, paraben free and sulphate free. The Australian line is quite good, and when you use your Bed, Bath and Beyond $5 off or 20% coupons are also very reasonably priced. Give the Brazillian Keratin line a miss though, no matter how reasonably priced it is! I tried it once and returned the whole three bottles, shampoo, conditioner and the keratin treatment. My hair was frizzier than ever even after using this stuff; not worth the time, effort or money.

The skin, well it is pretty much the same. Not as bad on the jawline and chin area, but now I have breakouts on my forehead. However, nowhere near as bad as when I first started this diet. Let’s face it, I slip on this gluten and lactose-free eating plan about twice a week, possibly even more frequently without knowing that I am slipping. But here are the big milestones for me, it’s important to focus on the positive:

1. I drink my coffee black now.

2. My seasonal allergies are not as severe as they were this time last year.

3. The tummy bloat is defintiely a gluten/ lactose reaction. Good to know, right?

4. My pimples are due to circumstances beyond my control; hormones. I can see that pattern very clearly.

Here’s what the last seven days have looked like for me:

Gluten and Lactose Free Day 24, 25, 26 and 27

The dull headache has persisted badly this week. Last year at this time I sat sneezing, eyes watering and feeling just plain miserable in a restaurant. It was a terrible feeling. Not really “sick” but every symptom feeling like I had a really bad cold that just wouldn’t go away.

Would I lie to you? Peanut M&Ms, gluten free, just about, lactose free, hardly. You gotta live a little too!

This year it is a different story. I think I have sneezed about three times this week. Even though this is supposed to be a very bad tree pollen allergy season, which is the big culprit for me.

The only explanation I can think of is that blood vessels, airways and any other ‘tube’ that transports air, blood, or what ever else, around the body is less ‘gunked up” with gluten. I can’t think of any other reason.

I also contribute the lack of allergy symptoms to less lactose in my eating habits. Milk contributes to mucus production and this is the first year in my 19 years of living in the US that my sinuses and ear canals have not given me any problems in the spring. This is a side effect I had not anticipated from doing this lactose and gluten-free diet.

The skin is slowly improving. However I do notice that the closer I get to my normal monthly cycle, the chin and jaw line breakouts are inevitable. I have read a little more about this and most articles relate these breakouts to normal hormonal imbalances for women, typical of perimenopause. Isn’t life just dandy ladies?

My niece who is an aesthetician in Ireland tells me that if a girl has acne prone skin in her teens, in perimenopause the same culprits, hormones, come back to visit. The bad news is you get pimples in your teens and in your forties. The good news is that because of the excess of oil already in your skin you won’t wrinkle as fast, or as much. Who’s the lucky girl?

Now I don’t know about you, but having gone through my teens with pimples was enough. Having to do this a second time around in my forties is just a pain. The gluten and lactose free diet when adhered to strictly helps improve the condition of my skin. As I have said in previous posts though, that’s hard to to do when you eat out, have a sweet tooth, and you are not a saint. Yes, shocking news, I know, but I would not mislead you! I am not a saint. There! I’ve said it!

Here’s what days 24, 25, 26 and 27 look like:

Gluten and Lactose Free Day 17 and 18

I am still struggling with choises that are gluten free and lactose free when we eat out. However the skin is much improved and the bumps that were speckled across my collarbone and chest area 18 days ago are now gone, as are the pimples on the chin and jawline.

It is very possible that these changes in skin condition are all hormonal, but I am after all 43 years old, today actually! Hooray!

Keeping track of skin changes and intestinal changes is showing me a pattern in how my body reacts to certain foods. I know for certain that cheese, especially cows cheese, is very hard on my digestive system. The gluten free foods seem to reduce an inflammation of the intestine. I keep thinking that gluten is like glue for your insides; it is sticky and clogs things up. Cheese for some reason has the opposite effect. Yeah, I know, it sounds like I am talking complete *&%$ and in a way, what goes in must come out! So I am talking *&%$! But this stuff is important, especially as we grow older.

The big difference I have noticed so far is in my mid-section. It is a little leaner. So here’s to days 17 and 18.

Gluten and Lactose Free Day 16

Ok, I was doing well today until six o’clock rolled around and I saw that round of soft cow cheese in the fridge. It went really well with the Onion Baked Rice Crackers from Sesmark, they were gluten free, but I am betting the cow’s cheese has lactose? Who am I kidding here, it is 100% lactose. Oh well, let’s see what happens to it in the digetsive system.

I went shopping yesterday at Whole Foods. They are having a great sale on Glutino products this week. Almost $1.50 cheaper per pack if you buy two. So I did. The cupboard is filled with gluten free crackers, yogurt covered pretzels (soooooo good) and anything else that was on sale from Glutino.

Shoprite has a fantastic organic aisle that does just as good a job of labelling gluten free foods with shelf talkers. Very precise and easy to shop there too so give Shoprite a try also. Their prices are more consumer friendly than Whole Foods. But you have got to watch for those sales, they are pretty good. Pick up their flyers or click the links to see what is on sale this week.

Hope your day was a good one? Here’s what my day 16 looked like:

Gluten and Lactose Free Day 15

I have been plagued by a headache all day, not related to the diet, related to seasonal allergies. Still, the symptoms are far less severe than they have been in the past.

I had my usual Udi’s Cinnamon Raisin Bread with gluten and lactose free spread for breakfast, along with black coffee. For a snack I had a Glutino Apple Breakfast Bar.

For lunch today I ate Dr. McDougall’s Low Sodium Lentil Soup with Sesmark Onion Baked Rice Crackers….absolutely delicious and al gluten and lactose-free.

The sesmark crackers are a great snack and the lentil soup is a great source of protein. When you have these gluten free and lactose free products in your kitchen, it is just a normal day of eating really!

Day 15, apart from this nagging headache, is good.

Here’s what it looks like:

Gluten and Lactose Free Days 12, 13 and 14

I was away from Friday night until late last night, and there is nothing more challenging to a gluten  and lactose free diet than eating out.

I tried to think ahead and packed some Glutino Bars and glutin free crackers, that really was a big help. I also brought my Udi’s Cinnamon Raisin Bread (4 slices) the buttery spread and jelly, both gluten free and lactose free. So breakfast was not a challenge at all.

Lunch and dinner out were difficult, especially because we were eating with a large group, and you can’t very well say to the twenty others who are perfectly happy eating at TGIF, “Sorry folks but there’s little or nothing on the menu that seems gluten free to me.”

How many cobb salads can a person eat in one weekend anyway? I’ll answer that for you, one. The choice for dinner on Sarurday night was limited to say the least.

For lunch on both Saturday and Sunday I had pickles and chicken salad from a place in Princeton, NJ called Hoagie Haven on Nassau street. Great place, so give it a try if you visit Princeton.

Needless to say that I broke down and had peanut M&Ms and a Kit Kat this weekend….I won’t lie to you, they tasted great, but the following day my stomach was in turmoil.

I know there is lactose in the chicken salad because of the mayo, and allegedly the Peanut M&M’s are gluten free, as are the Plain ones, Kit Kat contains gluten but both candies contain lactose, so massive fail this weekend.

The skin is showing signs of abuse too. I didn’t drink enough water, that is for sure. My stomach was in complete distress on Sunday, but here I am, Day 14 and back i my own kitchen. The start of a new week and a new day.

Here’s what days 12, 13 and 14 look like:

Due to the increase in days the values/ratings are now shown on the left side of the chart, the days on the bottom bar and the colors relate to the criteria being measured.

Gluten and Lactose Free Day 11

Not too many changes today. I did try the Cinnamon Raisin Bread and it was delicious.

Also I purchased a new shampoo and conditioner that are gluten free. I will write more about that later right here on this post. There are more options out there than Whole Foods for gluten free and lactose free skin and hair care products….stay tuned!

The dull headache most definitely was due to seasonal allergies. I took some medication for it yesterday and no headache today, so the headache is unrelated to the diet.

Here’s what day 11 looks like:

Gluten and Lactose Free Day 10

The skin has certainly improved over the last 10 days. My energy level is not as high as it was, but I think the rainy, dull weather has a lot to do with that.

Even though I drank a lot of water yesterday I still woke up with a headache, which makes me think that this might be a seasonal allergy season symptom. Still, this is pretty remarkable considering how I looked a felt in previous years.

My mid-section is definitely leaner. The only way I can describe this is due to the fact that I don’t feel bloated. Though gluten-free foods also pack a few more calories, somehow the gluten swells in your system. I do feel better, there is no doubt about that.

I spoke to my doctor about doing this gluten and lactose free diet and even for someone who does not have celiac disease or a gluten or lactose intolerance it is a perfectly safe diet.

I should add that I take calcium and multivitamin supplements daily, so if you feel that this diet deprives you of calcium that’s an option.

Muscle Milk makes a chocolate shake that I love and it turns out that it is milk free and gluten-free. The Muscle Milk Light is only 150 Calories and provides 20g of protein, which is a way to make sure that you are consuming enough of you daily intake. I buy this stuff by the box load at our local Costco. This product is sugar-free, lactose free and gluten-free, triple

Muscle Milk Products

whammy!

Another great place to find gluten and lactose free foods is Shoprite, it also does an online shopping list of gluten free products, pretty handy dandy!. The prices are a little cheaper there in comparison to Whole Foods, so if you are looking for gluten and lactose free products and watching your pennies, start there and compare prices.

This weekend I am going to do some more research on what gluten and lactose are what they do to our bodies. I use the words “inflamed” to describe how my stomach and intestines felt ten days ago. They felt swollen, and tight. No matter how many sit-ups or crunches I did I always had a little tummy. There is less swelling and I just feel more flexible in my joints…..I am a Pilates instructor so this stuff means something to me. It should mean something to you to as stiffening of the joints is what we all seem to accept as part of the aging process, maybe this diet can help slow that process down. Who knows…..maybe I will by August 1st?

Here is Day 10: