GLUTEN FREE PART 1

The greatest wealth is health.  ~Virgil

Ok, this is big. It’s not only a big self-discovery that may resonate with you but it’s big that I am admitting this. Last week I did something that I never thought I would do. I went to the bookstore and purchased a book. (That’s not it) I went home and put an Oprah magazine in front of the cover so not even my husband would know what I was reading and I read this book from cover to cover. The book is called ‘Sexy Forever’ by one Suzanne Somers. Yes, I am taking advice from Chrissy Snow. And you know what? It has already changed my life for the better. (That is what I get for being a judger of former sitcom stars giving health and lifestyle advice. If Henry Winkler comes out with anything I’ll be first in line)

Ms. Somers claims to be able to help you ‘fight fat after forty, Shed the toxins, shed the fat’.  She had me at fat.

I saw her on The Today Show, (YouTube it!) And what she was saying made sense.

What she said was what I have been hearing from my Dad for years but I really didn’t think it was affecting me at all. I felt good, I looked good. I am young(ish) and I exercise and eat well 90 percent of the time. (Possibly 85) And all of the sudden over the past 8 months it’s like someone found an air valve and started to slowly blow me up. I looked sort of the same, my clothes still fit although not really comfortably depending on the TIME OF DAY. (That’s important) Even my watch, that used to slide around on my wrist like a bracelet was tight and leaving a red mark on my arm. (For how long until I actually noticed I have no idea.) I was so busy trying to find inner peace; I didn’t see that my outer body was going into crisis mode until it was glaring.

Suzanne asked Hoda and Kathilee are you tired of eating salad and killing yourself at the gym to either maintain status quo or not see any results at all? (I think Kathilee said something like, “I know Hoda is!” wink, wink) And all women for years have gotten is that standard line given to women of a certain age, ‘That’s what happens!’ My mom used to say to me all the time, ‘By the time you hit menopause they will have invented a cure for it.’ (Well, btw we are still waiting for flying cars too.) Not that I am menopausal, BECAUSE I’M NOT! (Defensive?) But apparently I am….its hard to even type it, peri. BLUCH! It sounds awful doesn’t it? Well the good news is according to my new BF Suzanne is even if it may sound awful, it doesn’t have to be awful.

She explains that the ‘thickening’ that happens to women after a certain age where there boobs get bigger and their backs get bigger and the weight that just seems to keep coming and doesn’t come off so easily is not “Just what happens” and we don’t have to suck it up and kill ourselves at the gym to still not be where we want to be. Its actually a body bloated with toxins from this ‘environmental assault’ she says, we are living in. She goes on to explain that our body has a job to do and everything we put into our bodies has to be used, stored or eliminated. Toxins are foreign substances that the body doesn’t know quite what to do with so like all well meaning annoying over zealous do gooder it says, “I’ll store this in your fat for you!” Gee, thanks.

So our deodorants, shampoos, face creams, cleaning products, pesticides, synthetic pillows, mattresses, air pollution chemically enhanced food, nutrient deficient soil we grow our food in and everything else we live with on a daily basis is making us fat. When we spend so much of our lives ingesting all these toxins we develop intolerances to certain foods or at least things that are in certain foods. Our body is TRYING to tell us what to do and we are not listening.

These days we are all living until we are in our 80’s and 90’s but our quality of life is leaving us much earlier and it doesn’t have to. As we age we lose certain estrogen related hormones that keep our metabolism up. Combine that with our toxic food and world we live in and our bodies start screaming to us that something isn’t right! Hormonal health she claims is the way to weight loss.

She goes on to talk about natural hormone replacement therapy but my head wasn’t in that yet although I plan to keep this book handy for the future. What I was interested in was the skinny factor. (Hey, sorry I am human and I want to look good. If good health comes with it…BONUS) So she says have blood work done and find out what you are allergic to or have an insensitivity to and you can eliminate those things from your diet, eat organically and you’ll be thin. VIOLA! So I am giving it a try.

I admit that I usually will mindlessly eat because if 1 slice of pizza is good then 2 will be better! Life is short, I justify, I don’t care no one is going to dictate what I eat I am going to enjoy myself! But at my own expense. Then I ignore the side effects of my body saying to me please don’t! Like feeling bloated after I eat a harmless turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread and suddenly the pants I put on in the morning feel bad by 1pm.  Or my “bathroom time” is out of whack. There are a million signs telling us what is wrong. We just have to listen. So I haven’t gotten the blood work done yet but I will. I did however talk to my friend Cathleen who is very knowledgeable and mindful about such things and we also share a lot of similar ‘ailments’ so we compared notes and I realized I might have gluten intolerance. She asked me do you feel like it effects your breathing as well? And I was quick to say, “No, I don’t think so.” Because I wasn’t calling because I was interested in my health I was interested in my pant size. And then I actually thought about it for more than my 2-second attention span that I usually give to my body’s mechanics and I said, “Actually, I do struggle with my breath but I just assumed that’s just the way I am.” Isn’t that funny what we just accept things that we really shouldn’t in so many aspects of our lives? Mother’s especially, I think, don’t pay enough attention too themselves they are always spending time taking care of everyone else to notice what is going on in their own bodies until it becomes to late.

Cut to the chase, on Thursday I cut glutens, (anything with wheat), out of my life and four days later I have lost 5 pounds. Thrilling isn’t it?  I already try to purchase organically grown produce and meats, etc. What is the best part is that I now have a better understanding of how this mind, body, spirit connection thing really works. I put milk in my coffee and noticed my stomach went crazy. Could dairy be next?? (Or GASP coffee??) And I don’t feel like I am depriving myself of anything because there are so many alternatives out there. I have passed by boxes marked ‘GLUTEN FREE’ forever and never gave it a thought. If I pay attention to my health my body is happy and if my body is happy then my mind gets happy. If my mind is happy then no matter what happens in life, I can face it. Strong body, strong mind, happy heart. Thanks Chrissy Snow, you wise sage.  Mr.Roper had you all wrong.