A tale of 2 pizzas

Wow, I think it has been about 3 weeks since I have posted on my blog!  I will admit it is hard to keep up, especially with how busy our lives can get.  But nevertheless that is no excuse!  I have so many things to talk about since my last blog! I have new ideas, new revelations, and new recipes for living gluten-free that I can't wait to mention!

Since going gluten-free, my husband and I have experimented with a few recipes and ideas.  But sometimes, as you know, there comes a time when you just are not prepared.  Sometimes, no matter how much you plan and prepare for food, you get home from a wrestling tournament at 10:00 with nothing to really eat.  Are we the only ones that happens to?  Normally, in our non-gluten-free days we would resort to our all-time favorite stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut (I know yuck).  But instead of giving in to temptation, we decided to experiment with the gluten-free options in our wonderful capital city of Springfield.  Who says you can't order pizza on a gluten-free diet!  We actually have 2 restaurants in Springfield that offer gluten-free pizza: Monicals and Godfather's.  Because we are on a journey to determine ways to eat gluten-free in our community, we made the ever so tough decision to try both pizza places and compare the two.  So we tried both pizzas, not in the same evening obviously, but over the course of a few days and we discovered a few advantages and disadvantages. 

First, I will take a moment to discuss Monicals gluten-free pizza. When calling in our order, we were offered only 1 size option, which was 10 inches.  Now this might be enough for 2 people, but not when you have a very hungry wrestling coach who needs mucho calories to maintain his weight. Not fair.  Anyway 10 inches simply is not enough pizza for the two of us, but that was only size option as the crust came pre-made.  We decided to order sausage, but as far as toppings go there is really no limit to what you can order! After about 20 minutes we ventured out to pick up our gluten-free pizza, restaurant style.

 Overall, this pizza was okay.  It was somewhat of an acquired taste, but one could definitely tell the difference between the gluten-free crust and the regular pizza crust.  We were not completely impressed with this option, and the cost for the 10 inch pie was around $12.00.  Next up was Godfathers!

Godfather's gluten-free pizza was similar to Monicals in that the only size option you could order was 10 inches.  The cost was close to $11, but with tax almost exactly the same price as the Monical's option.  However, when we picked up the pizza we found something very interesting on the pizza box!

Do not cross contaminate!! I loved this sticker!! I thought that was a nice way to show gluten-free eaters that they are paying close attention to special diets.  This meant many points for the Dietitian observer.  We chose pepperoni as our topping, but again all toppings were unlimited as they were all gluten-free options.  This pizza actually scored better than the Monical's option.

Doesn't it look more appetizing? This pizza tasted better, and the crust seemed more like "real" pizza crust.  Therefore, when comparing the two gluten-free pizza joints in town Godfather's pizza came out ahead.  As with many gluten-free cheat foods, they just don't taste the same.  Yet sometimes you need the option to have pizza, or brownies, or a cookie and when the time strikes it is nice to know that those options exist in Springfield. 

Carbohydrate Metabolism from a Dietitian's perspective

Glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, glycogenesis, glycogenolysis are all processes that which carbohydrates are metabolized into the body.  You eat something containing carbohydrate, it is digested, absorbed and they used for energy, right? Well it's sort of like that, but WAY more complicated which is why I spent a whole semester of my undergraduate degree learning about the biochemical pathways in which food is metabolized.  One of the reasons I love being a Dietitian is that I have been taught the intricate ways in which our body uses food.  When I look at a piece of bread, I don't just think about making a sandwich with it. I think about how my body is going to break it down, digest it, absorb it, and then use it for energy during my workout later.  Food is fuel! I am about to embark on a chemistry lesson, so if you aren't interested in learning about how our bodies metabolize carbohydrates, an excellent source of energy, navigate away from my blog because you might become bored very soon. 

Carbohydrate metabolism begins with digestion in the small intestine where monosaccharides are absorbed into the blood stream.  Blood sugar concentrations are controlled by three hormones: insulin, glucagon, and  epinephrine.  If the concentration of glucose in the blood is too high, insulin is secreted by the pancreas. Insulin stimulates the transfer of glucose into the cells, especially in the liver and muscles, although other organs are also able to metabolize glucose. In the liver and muscles, most of the glucose is changed into glycogen by the process of glycolysis (anabolism). Glycogen is stored in the liver and muscles until needed at some later time when glucose levels are low. If blood glucose levels are low, then epinephrine and glucogon hormones are secreted to stimulate the conversion of glycogen to glucose. This process is called glycogenolysis (catabolism). 

If glucose is needed immediately upon entering the cells to supply energy, it begins the metabolic process called glycolysis (catabolism). The end products of glycolysis are pyruvic acid and ATP.  Since glycolysis releases relatively little ATP, further reactions continue to convert pyruvic acid to acetyl CoA and then citric acid in the citric acid cycle. The majority of the ATP is made from oxidations in the citric acid cycle in connection with the electron transport chain. During strenuous muscular activity, pyruvic acid is converted into lactic acid rather that acetyl CoA. During the resting period, the lactic acid is converted back to pyruvic acid. The pyruvic acid in turn is converted back to glucose by the process called gluconeogenesis (anabolism). If the glucose is not needed at that moment, it is converted into glycogen by glycogenesis. 

This, in a nutshell, is carbohydrate metabolism.  Do you see why we need carbohydrates for energy? Do me a favor, and do not go on a carbohydrate restricted diet.  Instead, focus on the types of carbohydrates you consume.  

Entering into a new realm of gluten-free cooking

I apologize for the delay in posts, but the stomach flu bug hit our house and my gluten-free cooking was put on hold for a few days.  But as of yesterday we are back in business! I have to say I missed my everyday cooking experiments...I look forward to trying out new recipes, especially when I am not confident that they will taste exceptionally good. It's not fun if you know what the outcome is going to be! Just like Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better."  Maybe that is why I enjoyed chemistry so much in college? 

The recipe I made Sunday night was most definitely an experiment.  I tried a household favorite, which is not an exaggeration by any stretch of the word.  I attempted gluten-free pizza.  Many nights Tommy and I have enjoyed our stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut.  I cannot lie...even though I am a Registered Dietitian I still cheat on my diet.  I am not the food police.  I am just like everybody else! Anyway when I ventured out to do the grocery shopping Sunday afternoon, I made a pit stop at Food Fantasies, the ONLY "grocery" store in Springfield that carries a variety of allergy-specific food items.  I wasn't really searching for anything, just mainly browsing, and I stumbled upon gluten-free pizza crust mix. I had a few brands to choose from, but I decided to pick a mix by Chebe mostly because it was the cheapest at $2.99 a bag.  When you squeezed the contents of the bag it felt...interesting to say the least.  Gluten-free pizza here we come!

We first preheated the oven to 375 degrees F. The back of the gluten free pizza crust bag displayed a list of ingredients to add to the mix, which included eggs, olive oil, milk and a few random spices. Once everything was mixed together, I kneaded the dough for about 5 minutes, gave Tommy the rolling pin, and delegated the task of rolling the dough out on the pizza stone. To be honest, this recipe was fairly easy.  I was concerned the most about the taste, only because it was up against a few pretty tough critics.  The toppings we decided to add included pizza sauce (which is an obvious ingredient but I had to state it), low fat mozzarella cheese, diced tomatoes, and grilled chicken pieces.  



I have to admit, it looked like it would taste pretty good! Our pizza only needed to bake for about 20 minutes, most likely because we have a Crosley stove which is the oldest brand of stove I know.  They don't even sell them anymore...yet ours is still working! How does that happen?? Our oven is a beast and it only takes half the prescribed time to bake anything.  So after 20 minutes this is what was produced:

Final verdict was it tasted pretty good!  It's definitely not Pizza Hut stuffed crust, but I will admit I preferred the taste of the gluten-free counterpart.   I don't miss the way I felt after eating a greasy pizza slice, and I definitely don't miss the havoc it wreaks on my stomach.  Overall, this gluten-free substitution was a hit!!

Allergy vs. Intolerance

Dietitians are detective by nature.  We examine health problems in the context of food and we determine appropriate dietary changes.  Sometimes, individuals don't react to medical interventions but respond to dietary changes, which is why our job can be so exciting.  Wasn't it Hippocrates that said "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food?"  But it can't always be that clear, which is why determining if a gluten-free diet is right for you might be difficult.  You might be gluten-sensitive, which means your body reacts to gluten in a negative way, but you are not allergic to gluten.  So what is the difference between an allergy and an intolerance?

A food allergy is an exaggerated response by your body's immune system to a food you have consumed. Normally, when your body detects a foreign invader, such as a virus, bacteria, and even an specific type of food, it signals your immune system (white blood cells, chemicals, proteins, and enzymes) to defend against the invader.  Your white blood cells produce what are called antibodies, which attach to the invaders (referred to as antigens) so that they can be destroyed.  But when you have a food allergy this does not happen.  When you consume the dangerous food item, you experience an immediate-onset allergy.  First, your body produces IgE, when is a food-specific antibody called immunoglobulin E.  This is a type of protein.  One side of the IgE antibody senses the food invader and binds to it in an attempt to destroy the particle.  The other side of the IgE antibody attaches to what is called a mast cell, which is an immune cell loaded with histamine.  Mast cells are present in all body tissues, but most are found in your nose, throat, lungs, skin and GI tract.  Therefore, the next time you eat the dangerous food, the IgE antibodies instantly attach themselves to that food, which causes a histamine reaction and other allergy-related chemicals to be released from the mast cell.  Examples of histamine reactions include hives, diarrhea, gastric symptoms, etc.  Sometimes reactions may be severe, such as anaphylaxis in which an individuals breathing can completely obstructed and they can die.  

You might think you have a food allergy when in fact you have food immune reactivity (FIR).  FIR is food intolerance, which is a delayed reaction to eating a certain food.  Examples of FIR include wheat, barley, rye, dairy products, tomato, potato, eggplant, peppers and soy products. The symptoms of FIR are at times similar to those you might experience with an allergic reaction, but the cause is not always immediately identified. Reactions are typically delayed by sometimes hours to days.  FIR does not involve IgE reactions, so histamines are not released and therefore prescribing an antihistamine would not be effective. In FIR, specifically gluten-sensitivity, the body may produce antibodies called antigliadin IgA antibody, anti-tissue transglutaminase antibody, and anti-endomysial antibody.  These antibodies do not trigger histamines, but they can cause chronic inflammation and can eventually lead to the complete flattening of the intestinal villi, which are finger-like projections in the intestines that absorb nutrients.  This then becomes Celiac Disease.  Long-term effects of FIR can include permanent organ damage, tissue damage, and a hyper-activated immune system which can result in inflammation.  

The only treatment for both FIR and a food allergy is complete elimination of the "food invader" from your diet.  If you have not been diagnosed with having a food allergy you might still be sensitive to a certain food.  When eliminating that food from your diet, you might experience an improvement in the way you feel.  Sometimes it's not always black and white, but let your food be your medicine and experiment! 

Spaghetti Gluten-free Style

I was pretty excited about making this meal, mainly because spaghetti is one of my most favorite dishes to have.  But if you are like me, you hate the way you feel after eating all of that pasta and feeling carbohydrate overloaded.  Lucky us because we have found a solution to the problem!  With a little bit of modification to the recipe, you can have your spaghetti without feeling bloated afterwards.  The key ingredient...spaghetti squash! Use it in place of noodles and it makes for a wonderful treat.  Top it off with gluten-free spaghetti sauce (most premade sauces are gluten-free, but don't forget to check the label) and homemade turkey meatballs and you have a great substitution for an all-time favorite comfort food.

You first want to make your meatballs because they will need time to bake in the oven for around 30 minutes.  Here is the recipe for my homemade turkey meatballs. 

Turkey meatballs
1 lb ground turkey (I used 85/15)
3 slices of crumbled gluten-free bread
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Oregano
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 cup parmesan schredded cheese
1 small onion chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spray a shallow-pain to prevent the meatballs from sticking.  Mix all ingredients together and roll into golf-ball size balls.  Place them into a baking dish side by side. Cover with foil and bake for around 30 minutes.

While the meatballs were baking, I started preparing the spaguetti squash.  Here is what spaghetti squash looks like if you have never purchased it before.

To prepare squash, first pierce sides with a fork.  Cut the squash in half and scoop out all of the seeds.



Place the sqaush in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for about 6 minutes.  Then, let cool it for around 5 minutes.  Next, to produce your "noodles", separate strands of the inside of the squash by running a fork through in the "from stem to stern" direction. This is what you will have when finished!

Finally the last step is to heat up the sauce (microwave or stove), assemble spaghetti and voila!! We have made a delicious gluten-free comfort food!!



A note about the men in my life

Today I want to post about something not food-related.  I want to give thanks for some very important men in my life, God, my dad, my husband, my father-in-law, and my brothers-in-law.  Where would I be without them?  They help me when I need it the most, change my tire when it's flat, rescue me when my car dies, pick me up when I am down in the dumps, and spend countless hours of their free time helping us make home improvements on our house.  I thank God every day for what I have been blessed with.  Not a moment goes by where I don't appreciate the strong men He has provided for me.  Philippians 4:6 "Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done."

Up for dinner tonight, spaghetti made with spaghetti squash and homemade turkey meatballs.  Yumm!!!

Tilapia Time

Something smells fishy, and I think it's coming from my kitchen.  We bought some tilapia fillets this week at Aldi, so I thought what better time than now to give them a try!  I am a first-timer at cooking Tilapia, and I know I made a few mistakes that I will mention and hopefully you can learn from them too.  Here is the recipe:

Lemon Garlic Tilapia

4 tilapia fillets

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon butter, melted

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

pepper to taste

The original recipe called for baking the fillets at 375 degrees F in a glass dish.  Pour lemon juice over fillets, drizzle butter on top, and sprinkle with garlic, parsley, and pepper.  I chose to grill the fillets on our fancy grill pan we received as a wedding gift.  Mistake number one.  Since I have never grilled fish before, I wasn't sure what it should look like, and upon constant flipping of the fillets (which apparently you are not supposed to do), the fish came apart and 2 fillets ended up as tilapia mash.  Mistake number 2.  I grilled the other 2 fillets for around 10 minutes, which seemed to be enough time.  For side dishes I steamed brown rice, which is gluten free, and broccoli.  Overall it was pretty good!

My research proposal

 

Much research has been conducted in the past few years on the effect of carbohydrate intake on cognitive/behavioral outcomes. Due to a rise in mental health disorders and an increase in the prevalence of obesity in the United States, it can be postulated that an influx in the supply of calorically-dense processed foods has attributed to the health concerns Americans face today.  Subsequently, high calorie foods, specifically the intake of refined sugars, has lead to physiological disturbances that result from increased insulin production, increased levels of tryptophan and raised levels of brain serotonin that which result in an increased state of drowsiness, decreased alertness, and a decrease in vigorous activity (Hortan & Yates, 1987).

As stated by the Office of the Surgeon General, “behavioral and environmental factors are large contributors to overweight and obesity, and provide the greatest opportunity for actions and interventions designed for prevention and treatment.”  Environmental factors that can contribute to the obesity epidemic include the home, school, work and community settings, which have been shown to have an influence on our eating behaviors.  When eating behaviors become negative attributions for individuals in our society, and when   they begin to have a direct effect on the state of health in the United States, it can be ascertained that the result might lead to negative mental health behaviors.  Hence, the question arises regarding if poor nutrition habits has caused an increase in mental health disorders or if an increase in the number of mental health disorders has stimulated poor nutrition choices.  

In addition to the rise in the obesity epidemic, as stated earlier an increase in the number of mental health disorders has been prevalent as well. In fact, according to the National Institute of Mental Health an estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year (National Institute of Mental Health, 2009). Examples of mental health disorders include mood disorders, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, and Alzheimer’s disease.  Such disorders can have a nutrition-related component in the appropriate treatment program. For example, the mental health disorder autism has been researched lately, specifically the effect of a gluten-free casein-free diet on behavioral outcomes.  Research has shown that following a gluten-free diet has resulted in positive behavioral and cognitive outcomes. I feel strongly that the link between the food we ingest, specifically gluten, and cognitive and physically manifestations cannot be ignored.  It is now day 4 on a gluten-free diet and I am feeling more attentive and most definitely more energetic. Coincidence? We will soon find out!

Who you calling a shrimp, shortie?

Tonight I tried something I have never had...shrimp.  I was extremely hesitant at first, but with encouragement from Tommy I decided to bite the bullet and try it.  We have been working diligenty all day trying to finish our bathroom, so time for dinner was somewhat limited tonight. We have been remodeling the master bathroom in our house, and it appears it is taking longer than expected.  Why does that always seem to happen? Anyway, if you want to make dinner in less than 30 minutes like Rachel Ray you should try this recipe.  Actually it's not much of a recipe, but rather a combination of 2 easy ingredients.  I took a bag of frozen shrimp, placed them in a strainer and let cold water run over them for about 5 minutes.  When they were thawed, I sauteed them in a pan, added a bag of steamed vegetables, a little bit of Parmesan cheese, and voila! The easiest gluten-free meal ever! I also made shrimp cocktail sauce and served it chilled. Back to the bathroom we go...

Here is the homemade cocktail sauce I tried.  Mix all ingredients together and serve chilled. It was quite tasty!
Shrimp Cocktail Sauce:
1 cup of Heinz Tomato Ketchup
1/2 teaspoon of McCormick Light Chili Powder
1 dash of McCormick ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon of horseradish
2 teaspoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 large minced garlice clove

Dinner is served...

I decided to try something a little easy for tonight, since this is my first attempt at gluten-free cooking. Obviously I could serve grilled chicken with vegetables every night, but that gets old fast and I truly do enjoy cooking.  Lime chicken tacos sounded fairly easy, and since I pride myself on my fajitas (although they are not nearly as good as my mom's recipe) I thought this would be a good choice to start with.  Apparently this recipe calls for marinating the chicken overnight, but we only had time to marinate for 1 hour, which actually seemed suffice. 

Lime Chicken Tacos

For the marinade:
4 split chicken breasts (boneless)
4 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped
1/4 cup of fresh squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons agave nectar
a pinch of cumin
fresh ground pepper

Rinse the chicken briefly in cold water and pat dry. Place in a shallow glass dish. In a small bowl, combine the garlic, lime juice, olive oil, agave nectar, cumin and fresh ground pepper. Four the marinade over and under the chicken breasts. Cover tightly and marinade for at least an hour; overnight is even better.

For the tacos, I decided to make home-made guacamole.  This is a Grigsby secret and it is an almost perfect topping.  All you need is 2 fresh avocados, picante sauce, lime juice and a little bit of garlic salt.  Core the avocados, scoop out the inside, and mash it up until smooth.  Add picante sauce, a squeeze of lime juice, and a few shakes of garlic salt and mix together.  It's very magical.

The rest of the recipe called for 4 vine-ripe tomatoes, 2 cups of shredded romain lettuce, 1 cup shredded cheese, and 8-10 soft corn tortillas. We grilled the chicken on medium-high heat until it was cooked through and no longer pink inside. This took us about 10-15 minutes.  We then chopped it up into bite-sized pieces and served it with all of our taco fix-ins.  Here is the finished product!

It appeared much more appetizing in person, but overall the final verdict was it tasted great! In fact, Tommy actually related them to the chicken tacos he gets at Chilis.  Now that's a compliment!!  Overall we were pretty pleased with this recipe and I would recommend it to other gluten-free diet enthusiasts.  Day 1 a success!

The invaders...

It was a sad night in the Johnson house...we "let go" of our gluten-containing counterparts.  Bye graham crackers, whole wheat ritz crackers (oh so yummy with a dollup of peanut butter), quaker oatmeal squares with a hint of maple sugar.  See ya later orea balls, the melt in your mouth goodness that fit perfectly into my mouth...you are my arch nemesis and my kryptonite. It's weird how you feel like you have some sort of relationship with your food.  How can a goodbye be this tragic? It is odd that we feel sad about the departure of yumminess that filled our pantry? I believe Tommy would answer no...

Grocery shopping takes on a whole new meaning.  I can't say that I never read food labels, because I obviously do.  But now I am even more particular about it.  Gluten sneaks into pretty much everything we eat, which is why following a gluten-free diet means scanning every ingredient, unless it is a fresh fruit or vegetable because then it is obviously a given.  It's exhausting...and most likely irritating to other shoppers attempting to whiz pass us with their get out my way attitudes.  Excuse us, but we have labels to read so cool your jets people!  Anyway tonight we started our grocery shopping at Aldi, great quality products at half the price with local suppliers to guarantee fresh produce.  No advertisements and the home of the Fit n Active brand (knock off any low calorie/low fat brand but half the price).  We love Fit n  Active! $80 and later a cart full of gltuten-free items, we were pleasantly surprised with our choices.  Off to County Market we went, where Tommy found his alternative to Oreo balls:

We found gluten-free bread, which felt like it weighed 5lbs, and we scurried around for the rest of our items we were unable to purchase at Aldi.  $38 later and we were on our way home to make our first gluten free recipe, lime chicken tacos! Let the cooking begin!!

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Paleolithic vs. Neolithic

This past summer, Tommy, the Crossfit enthusiast and probably one of the most physically fit men I know, introduced me to the paleo diet.  He says to me while we are sitting at Six Flags gorging on a 4th of July picnic feast, "I think we should do Paleo!" Impecable timing. "What's Paleo?" I ask.  He explains to me that it is the diet of the caveman, the hunters and gatherers so to speak.  He says we will eat lean meats, seafood, nuts/seeds, vegetables, fresh fruits, and nonstarchy vegetables.  "What about dairy?" I ask.  No dairy, no soy, no beans, no wheat, no starchy vegetables, and the list continues.  Because I like a challenge and food is a passion of mine, I delightfully agreed to try it.  He says we will "shoot for 30 days".  I wasn't sure why we needed a time frame but I soon realized why.  It's hard!! After about a week of what I like to call cheese-withdrawal I was feeling very angry.  Kudos to Tommy because he seemed happy, skipping around the house and "feeling great!".  Me not so much.  We lasted about 21 days, although I know Tommy could have lasted forever.  He strongly believes the Paleo diet is the best diet for improved athletic ability and overall heatlh and wellness.  I don't disagree with this, but I don't think I could make it without dairy for the rest of my life. 




So again being the Dietitian I am, I did some research about the Paleolithic era.  I soon stumbled upon the Neolithic era, which began in Europe about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago at the end of the Stone Age. This era was intruiging to me because it seemed to have radically transformed the way in which food was acquired. Although many periods of the Neolithic stage exist, the most important shift in culture during this time period is in relation to farming.  During the Neolithic revolution, crop farming and cultivation was first developed. The previous paleolithic ways of hunting and gathering food was replaced with food produced from cultivated land, particularly wheat and barley crops. An increase in sophisticated farming technology began and so did the possibility of producing surplus crop fields.  This meant food supplies in excess of the immediate needs of the community could now be provided.

In essence, better farming technology, better cultivation of the land, and excess food supplies yielded a dramatic change in the way people ate.  Paleolithic ways of eating was replaced by the neolithic diet and a significant shift towards an increase in starch and plant protein was seen.  Hunters and gatherers became farmers, animals became domesticated, and society was forever changed. 

Enter Cyrus McCormick.  I bet you haven't heard that name since elementary school! An American invester, McCormick founded the mechanical reaper which brought an end to long hours of hand labor. Eventually replaced by the self-propelled combine, the reaper was the first step of mechanized farming we have today.
In summary, through years of changes and advances in technology, we have evolved into processed eaters.  I hate the term "processed".  It sounds so cheap and stale.  Unfortunately this is how we eat.  I will now slowly step away from the soapbox I am about to set sail on and spare all of my readers a great deal of time.  I could spend hours discussing the ways in which food has evolved and the poor ways in which we eat today. 

**I should take this time to note my disclaimer.  I have absolutely nothing against farming, agriculture, and the way in which land is cultivated.  I thoroughly enjoy food produced through hours of farming and I appreciate every minute of agricultural production work.  And I have enjoyed it for the past 20-something years until I realized what some of it is doing to my body.  I am in no way attempting to verbally bash our farmers. I think they are quite honorable.**

A little bit of history...

It's time for an introduction!  My name is Emily and my husband Tommy and I live in our wonderful newlyed world, enjoying every minute of it.  I am a Registered Dietitian and my husband is a teacher, coach, mentor, and many other things.  I have a passion for food and I can't even describe how interested I am in learning about how it affects our bodies.  I guess that's why I am a Registered Dietitian? I am FINALY finishing my graduate degree in nutrition and unfortunately I didn't get a chance to complete a research thesis.  Full-time job, wedding planning, and living an hour and a half away from school= settling for independent study and countless hours of researching gluten and it's effects on behavior and gastrointestinal manifestations wasted.  Big fat fail, but oh well.  1 year later and I have decided to start my own experiment.  I don't have to get this approved through IRB (Whew) and I get to make all of the rules (sweet!).  Cue entrance of wonderful husband who has cheerfully agreed to partake in this experiment with me.  Did I mention how much I love him?

Here we are pre-gluten-free on our honeymoon :)

So why gluten? What's so interesting about a protein that appears in wheat, barley, and rye?  Seems harmless actually and quite yummy.  Yes, yes it is.  I guess I better start with a little background information. About 2 years ago, after spending most of my adult life running for fun I started getting itchy.  That sounds weird, so I better clarify.  About 15 minutes into my runs, my legs would start to itch.  An itch here, a scratch there, and in minutes I was breaking out into a lovely batch of hives on the backs of my legs.  Allergic to running? No way.  So being the avid runner I am, I continued to run, itch and scratch my way through my workouts.  I did a little research online but couldn't really find anything meaningful.  Then about a year later, during a particularly long run and after about 3 miles of itching I noticed it was getting hard to swallow.  My throat was closing up.  Now I am not a doctor, but I knew this wasn't good so I stopped running and made an appointment with my physician. The diagnosis...exercise-induced anaphylaxis.  What? So I am allergic to running?? Not possible because I had been running for, well, forever. So I did what I do best and that's playing detective.  I researched exercise-induced anaphylaxis and found a connection with a wheat allergy.  I'm not much of a bread-eater but I soon realized I was thoroughly enjoying many bags of honey wheat pretzels before almost every run.  Big fat fail again.  Consequence...I was being told to run with an epi-pen and inject it in my thigh if I start having a reaction.  Seriously? I can barely manage my keys and my iPod and now you want me to carry this shot around every time I run? The more I researched wheat allergies the more acclimated I became with gluten.  I became very interested in learning how food, specifically wheat and gluten, affect the body of an otherwise (I would like to think of myself as) fairly healthy individual.  I realized all of the symptoms gluten-sensitive people have, I have to! It became clear to me that following a gluten-free or even wheat free diet would help me out in more ways than just for the sake of running. Fast-forwad to present day and my thoughts are now becoming a reality.  My husband and I are going gluten-free and I am using this blog to play out our journey. So bottoms up, leave the bread behind, and say hello to a gluten-free lifestyle.