An Interesting Discovery

*Please disregard any typos, repeats, or things that don't make sense in this particular blog entry.  I've been sick for days, and about 5 minutes ago I took some NyQuil to help me sleep tonight.  

So there I was, with permission to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted it.  I also had the guidance of the Gospel.  And, as circumstance would have it, I discovered a fascination with whole grains.

I don't know about you, but "whole grains" in my mind generally translates to "whole wheat" or, occasionally, "oatmeal."  I figured there had to be more out there, and I wanted to discover possibilities.  I went to Good Earth and bought some quinoa, a couple different types of rice, and some oat bran.  I enjoyed them all.  Quinoa, in particular, has a fun texture.  Plus, I really enjoyed making muffins from scratch using the oat bran.  Yummy stuff!


*Ooh... the NyQuil's starting to take effect.  

Of course, I also ate a lot of wheat products.  After all, the stuff is everywhere.  Ev-er-y-where.  I mean, there are very few recipes, and probably even fewer boxed foods, that don't contain white flour.  Which, of course, is made from wheat flour.  This translates to eating wheat almost every single meal of almost every single day of my life.

But that's not a big deal, right?  Except for the argument that everything's over-processed and "the whiter the bread the sooner you're dead" which I've heard all my life, wheat flour is still pretty healthy.  Get whole wheat flour and make your bread yourself, and you're among the healthy elite. 

Except that I was paying attention to my body.  For the first time in my life, I was paying attention to how my body felt before and after eating.  You know what I discovered? 

I know.  The buildup is killing you. 

My body doesn't like wheat.  Wheat turns my stomach to knots and inhibits digestion.  Usually, the knots aren't awful.  Usually, the guilt of eating outweighed the discomfort in my midsection, and I would just bemoan the fact that, once again, I'd eaten too much, or the wrong food, or put too much butter on my bread. 

Once I let go of the guilt and the...

*Huh.  That's some powerful stuff.

What was I saying?  Oh yeah.  Guilt.  Once I let go of the guilt and the fear that, for me, surrounded the food, I was able to actually listen to my body and to what it was telling me.  I think it's a significant step towards a beautiful relationship with this body I've been riding around in for 29 years.

Long story short, I stopped eating wheat.  I stopped eating white flour.  I dove into oatmeal and oat bran and rice flour instead.

So far, it's only been a week.  Two?  One and a half.  Ish.  But within an hour or two of every meal, I feel the difference.  My body feels cleaner.  I feel stronger, and healthier, and even more able to think.  My digestion has improved, and even my hips don't hurt as much.

*Is anybody else's room spinning?

For most people, eating wheat is probably a good thing.  For me, it's not.  But I like feeling freer and stronger and knowing that my body is working as it should.  That outweighs the need to change my diet.  And while I am changing my diet, I could start eating wheat products again if I wanted to.  The point is, I don't want to.  I like the feeling, now, of having my body working.  I may lose weight.  I may not.  Right now, I don't really care.  Right now, I'm eating for a healthy body right now.

And that feels good.

*Also, I need to go to bed now.