Hello and Happy February!
Speaking of a new month, my dog obsessed self can’t decide which of my calendars is more awesome: the yoga for dogs one in my kitchen, or the underwater dogs calendar in my office….
With the start of February came a dietary change for me: Starting February 1st, I’ve gone gluten free for a month. So why am I, a lover of pasta and bread and all things whole wheat, making a commitment to not consume gluten for an entire month? Let me explain. WARNING: This post is a total over-share, but I’m going for it!
About 5 years ago, I developed psoriasis, a chronic skin disease that causes skin cells to grow too quickly. It makes you really itchy and results in these icky red patches of skin. The causes of it are kind of fuzzy and general — including high stress levels (which I don’t think I have) and it being hereditary (no one else in my family has it). Fortunately I only have mild psoriasis, which I feel really grateful for because the pictures you see when you Google the condition are so severe and horrible. I really feel for those people and feel fortunate that my case is mild and usually in covered spots on my body, but lately it has been popping up in new places. It has always been on parts of my scalp, but recently the inside of my left ear started getting it (yes, only one ear), and I developed a spot of it on my right armpit (yes, only one side), which I thought was a bug bite at first. It’s like there’s no rhyme or reason to where it develops.
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It’s an annoying condition because it comes and goes. Numerous times I’ve been prescribed different creams or sprays, have used them a few times, my psoriasis went away, I was ecstatic, and then 8 months later it randomly comes back.
Ever since I can remember, I’ve had allergies. Typically I get a lot of sinus headaches and itchy eyes and nose, but recently I’ve been experiencing allergies where I’m just so itchy all over the place. Around the same time that my psoriasis developed, I also starting getting what the dermatologist thinks is dermatitis around my eyes. The doc’s opinion was that it’s an allergic reaction that shows up around my eyes since the skin is so thin there.
What I’m saying in a nutshell is that I have these pain in the butt skin and allergy issues, which I believe are all inter-related. I use a spray, steroid cream and pills for my allergies and itchiness that help to keep things somewhat at bay…but I’m a healthy, young person and don’t really want to live taking pills every day. Looking at it holistically, I think that I may be subjecting myself to something my body is allergic to. I was gifted a few “food as medicine” type of books over the holidays, and they all listed gluten to be a possible culprit of psoriasis for people who have a sensitivity to it. I believe that it’s worth exploring a gluten free diet to see if this could be the cause. It might be, it might not be, but at least in going gluten free for a month, I’ll find out.
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Though I knew the basics of what foods gluten can be found in, I hadn’t realized the extent of it until doing a bit of research last week. Going food shopping a few days ago was a bit difficult. It felt like everywhere I turned, there were foods that I typically buy that contain gluten. It really is one of the main staples of the Western diet. Some foods I usually eat that contain gluten include:
- Cereal
- Certain oatmeal
- Veggie burgers
- Flour tortillas
- Crackers
- Pasta
- Seasoned rice
- Bread crumbs
Luckily I was able to find a lot of substitutions for things, and I think it’ll get easier as the weeks progress. I eat a ton of fruits and vegetables, which are naturally gluten free. Dairy products are typically gluten free as well. If nothing else, I feel like this experiment will broaden my horizons, introduce me to me new foods, and make me much more aware of how much gluten I normally consume.
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I’m determined to stick with a gluten free diet for the month of February to see if it makes any changes in how I feel. I’ll be keeping you all posted on how it’s going, what I’m noshing on, and of course, my gluten free culinary creations.
Questions: Have you ever followed/do you follow a gluten free diet? Do you have any allergies or skin conditions?
Gluten free friends, feel free to give me some words of encouragement!
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” – Hippocrates
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh I LOVE the underwater dogs calendar….love that book! I’m so sorry that you found out you have psoriasis 🙁 That must be really tough. I really hope going gluten free steers you in the right direction to help your problems!!
I know, that calendar is hilarious!! Thanks girl!
I’m anxious to see how the month goes for you. I’ve actually been researching GF myself for the past couple weeks and thinking about trying to go GF as well to see if it makes a difference. I don’t really have any major health issues or anything I need to take medication for, but I try to be proactive in my health anyways. As I was researching this weekend, I read that unexplained infertility could be from gluten! Since this has been an issue for me for years, it’s kind of enough reason for me to at least TRY it! My hubby and I were looking through the store last night too as we were grocery shopping, and just looking more at ingredients and trying to see if there were GF substitutions for the things we eat – pretty much everything you listed. haha. There definitely ARE substitutions, but I really noticed a jump in prices! People always complain that organic and healthy foods are expensive, but when we started eating healthy, we didn’t notice THAT much of a difference (I mean really, doritos and oreos are expensive!), but going to GF is REALLY a lot more money! Just between the whole wheat pasta and GF pasta, it jumped from $2.99 to $5.69! Crazy!
Interesting, I had never heard that tidbit about infertility and gluten.. Even though there’s a lot of research being done, I think that there is just so much we don’t know in terms of how foods may affect our bodies and cause problems/disease/mood swings/etc. Yeah I did notice that it’s pricey because it’s kind of niche. But it’s worth it if it makes positive changes in our lives right!
Ok. We HAVE to be related! I have eczema that flairs up from time to time due to things like stress, extreme cold , etc. Plus, I have tons of allergies and stomach aches all.the.time. I thought about going gluten free but I haven’t been able to make the plunge. I’m going to be watching your gluten free month very closely. I can’t wait to hear all your updates! i hope you start to feel better soon!
Seriously, I’m convinced that we may be long lost twins…. we are so much alike in so many ways! Yeah I hear ya, I had thought about going GF for months before just forcing myself to commit to it for a couple of weeks to see.
I’m interested to see how this affects your skin! I’m gluten-free (as you know) but have dealt with skin issues my whole life which unfortunately was not resolved from going GF but it did help a ton with my digestion and and energy. I love seeing people about to improve their health through food so do keep us posted!
Thanks for your input my GF friend!
Hi Nicole…I always read but never comment on your blog, but I wanted to chime in about this. I went gluten free a year and it has made such a difference in how I feel, and I lost weight to boot. I’m looking forward to seeing if nixing gluten helps you too!
Thanks so much for reading and commenting Lori! I appreciate it.
Nicole – get the cookbook “Cooking for Isiah.” It’s all about a mom who’s a chef whose son develops a serious skin condition. She takes gluten out of his diet, and it works. We’re doing that here for Andre after a chiropractor/holistic dr recommended it for ADHD. It’s not THAT hard. But finding gluten free food at the supermarket that tastes good is trial and error.
Thanks for the book recommendation! Yeah I’m certainly trying different things out and talking to my GF friends to find the tastiest GF foods out there.
Gluten free would be so hard for me to do. (Although, I bake our bread anyway, so maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to start baking with alternative flours). Hopefully, if you do have a gluten intolerance, it’s mild… so you could still eat some favorites and just less overall. Kudos to trying to find a better solution than simply medication. Good luck this month!
Exactly! I figure if I do have an allergy, it’s not going to kill me to eat my favorite foods that contain gluten here and there, as I’ve been eating it my whole life. Speaking of bread, I have got to come up with/find a great recipe to make GF bread.!! Thank you Larissa.
Curious to see how this goes! I’ve never done gluten free before, but have considered giving it a month long trial run before. Also, I love the Hippocrates quote at the bottom of your post!
I love that quote too 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing this. I too suffer from skin issues, including psoriasis, so I know firsthand how frustrating it can be. I’m interested to see if a gluten free diet helps at all!
Thanks for sharing Ali. Well I will certainly keep you posted!