Thursday, August 1, 2013

No Wheat Experiments

Me and Hubby have been experimenting.   As of March 14 we have been trying to not eat wheat and wheat products.  It was VERY hard for me at first.  I'm the type of person that has to have a piece of bread with every meal or it's just not a meal.  I love pasta, I love biscuits, I love...well, wheat!  But, I love feeling good too.  Since we've been off of wheat, we both have been feeling so much better!  Not as many aches and pains.  Hubby's back and knees don't hurt him as bad and my knees and hips don't hurt me as bad.  Coincidence?  Maybe.  So we decided to go back eating wheat and see.

 You see, every once in a while, we would go off of the "no wheat" diet for a weekend.  Mostly because we were busy and we needed something fast so we would go through a drive thru somewhere and grab something to eat.  Usually it was a sandwich, therefore we ate wheat.  We sometimes would be asked over for supper at someones house and we hadn't told them about us not eating wheat.  So instead of telling them, we just went ahead and ate it.  Usually after a weekend's worth of eating wheat, we would start feeling our normal aches and pains again.  It got me to thinking, were we aching because of the wheat, or because of the activities that we did that weekend?  After a few days of not eating wheat, we would go back to feeling good again.  It so happens that those days we also didn't do as much work around the farm  either.  Hmmmmmmm....

So since I LOVE breads, I thought we would try eating wheat for a longer amount of time to see if it's the wheat or the busy weekends that are causing the pains.  So we did. I started to make biscuits again.  I made pasta again.  I even made some blackberry cobblers.  We have been eating wheat for 2 weeks and........WE FEEL HORRIBLE!!!!!  I have gained so much water weight.  My legs have ached every night when I go to bed.  Hubby has had heartburn and an upset stomach at least 5 times both week.  His knees have started to ache again and, we both don't have any energy to do anything.  We haven't changed anything else that we were doing.  No extra activities, no hard work, no nothing!  Just the wheat was the only difference.  And let me tell you,  we can tell a BIG difference.  So I guess it's no wheat for us again.  We can still have a meal every once in a while, but that's it!  No more all weekenders for us.

Now, it has been a challenge to come up with different recipes that doesn't contain wheat. Wheat is in EVERYTHING!  They do have breads and pastas that are made out of things other than wheat, it's just they are soooo expensive!  $6 for a loaf of bread?   No thank you!  I will make my own.  That is, if I can find a good recipe.  Like I said, it's become a challenge to find foods that are good without wheat.  But, we are doing it.  We have to if we want to feel good.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl,  wheatless.

9 comments:

Robbyn said...

hey, lady, I commend you for doing what it takes for your bodies to feel good!!! I had been off most wheat mainly because I have to control carbs, but I got back into sandwich mode because it's so easy to pack for work. I felt terrible! so in the freezer are still 3 loaves, and they'll probably stay there a while. I'm not convinced wheat is bad for me, I'm convinced something is different about the wheat raised now than in my grandmothers' day...and mostly I rack it up to GMOs, but that's me. We're finding there are a lot of good foods out there if we'll just keep an open mind. Good for you to keep things feeling good!

small farm girl said...

I'm still not convinced that wheat is our problem either. I just know right now, it's causing me problems. I wished I could eat it. I LOVE it!!!!! lol

Phelan said...

Well I will be growing wheat there. So you might try mine to see if it is the flouting processing that is the problem.

sista said...

This is a timely post. We also have noticed a correlation of ill health and eating wheat. Everything from joint pain to acid reflux to pre diabetes. I have always thought people that profess to be wheat intolerant were hypochondriacs. Then I ran across a letter on Mother Earth News from someone who asked the question why there are so many wheat intolerant people when wheat has been around for centuries. Mother lead me to another web site which lead me to another etc, Go listen to this and see what you think. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/undergroundwellness/2011/09/28/wheat-belly-with-dr-william-davis

The first 10 minutes should give you one of those AHA! moments.
One of the things he says is that the wheat our ancestors ate was a 28 chromosome wheat. (read naturally occurring) The wheat today has been hybridized and cross bred to contain 42 chromosomes and does not resemble the plant humans evolved with. Because of this program I went looking for this old wheat and found it being grown locally in Eastern Washington. It is called Emmer wheat and I am now in the process of getting some to try making bread with. Let me know what you think. I am really curious.

Sue

Carolyn said...

I'm pretty sure that Susan at e-i-e-i-omg! is a wheat-free gal, you might want to ask her for some of her favorite recipes!

Lilac Hill said...

I love to bake and still do for my non-celiacs family. I have found the Italian GF pastas very good. You really have to watch the pot because they go from hard to mush pretty quickly. I like to rinse the pasta and while I am rinsing, I heat I some sauce or even extra tomato juice from a jar of canned tomatoes into the cooking pot. Once the liquid is heated I toss in the pasta to coat and then add my regular sauce. I do not like the texture of leftovers, so make just enough. I have not had much luck with loaf breads but like a flat bread (made on a cookie sheet), cut into sandwich bread size and frozen to be used as needed. Good luck, eventually you will find your favorites and really, rice tastes good with pasta sauce.

small farm girl said...

Phelan, I hope you are right. I love eating bread way too much!! lol

Sista... I've read about how much the wheat has changed. Read Wheat Belly, it's a good book! I learned a lot.

Carolyn.... Ya, I seen where she is GF. I'm glad she posts recipes.

Lilac Hill....I've tried the GF pastas. I actually like them better than the regular pastas. Like you though, I don't like the left overs. Although there usually isn't any left overs. I've tried the baking mixes but have yet to find one that tastes like a biscuit. lol.

sista said...

That is who this Dr is. He wrote wheat belly.

HawleyFarms said...

Ugh stupid phone. I had a more detailed comment for you but my phone had an attack lol. But I applaud you for going wheat-free, it is extremely difficult. I am working on grain-free myself, eventually entirely paleo, but so far only making it about a week at a time before I give in. Wheat and corn syrup are in nearly everything bought at supermarkets.