23 April 2012

Bonus of GF living

As Spring settles into New England I am finding in the last few weeks that my usually horrid seasonal allergies are nearly nonexistent! Over the last decade or more my allergies have been getting worse each year.  After a weekend away at the beach late last month I came home to notice my hives, which I believe are connected to my out of control rosacea, have eased up considerably and my environmental allergies haven't bothered me.  It has been a couple of weeks since I took an allergy pill and two of the last three days I have spent around my brother's German Shepherd, who I am rather allergic too, with minimal sniffles and a few hives on my jawline but nowhere near what they once were.  I have to  thank my gluten free lifestyle for this change, I am noticing my immune system is really getting a much needed break from chronic inflammatory responses!  It has definitely sold me on a NO *cheating* GF way of life.  Of course I cannot see it as cheating, because I feel so much better now that it feels more like intentional poisoning than cheating.

In recent weeks I have been working on reducing carbs, when I want my pizza I have been making crusts with almond, sorghum and garbanzo flours.  I have found a Udi's multigrain bread that I like that isn't as high in carbs as most others I've seen and keep a loaf in the freezer for the occasional sandwich.  I am highly frustrated with the weight gain since going GF,even a month after stopping my GF alternative to the extent I was eating them and instead eating much more low carb-lots of veg, some protein...It will get easier when growing season kicks in and I can pull fresh veg from the garden!