Tangential Arguments

Part of doing a 30 day challenge includes being prepared. Of course I came up with some ideas up front as to what a challenge might consist of, but I have to know what’s really involved to know if I can really commit. So for the last couple of weeks, including some time between 4:00 and 6:00am, I’ve been putting some thought into whether or not I could really commit to being gluten free for an entire month.

There’s been a lot of debate recently about what effects gluten has on the body. There have been books written and debated on whether it has a significant impact on weight and general health. There seems to be evidence that points to a positive impact on weight for individuals affected by celiac disease, but a potential negative weight impact for unaffected people. I’ve heard theories that just replacing foods that generally have gluten in them with their gluten-free alternative has a negative impact due to the loss of nutrition since these foods are essentially suped-up white bread. I have a theory that the people who tend to see a positive impact on changing their diet to exclude foods that contain gluten make a more broad lifestyle change. Instead of eating foods that are further processed to remove gluten, I think they tend to eat more whole foods – produce, fruits and vegetables, meats, eggs and even dairy, which don’t naturally contain any gluten. (Side note: I don’t think there’s anything natural about sausage and apparently many celiacs don’t realize that some of what is included in sausage may contain gluten.) If the people who know a lot more about food sciences than I do can’t agree, how the hell should I know if a gluten-free diet will be good for me? Here’s how. A little experiment.

February being a slightly shorter month makes me feel like I can try and tackle a challenge that seems, upfront, like it might be a little bit more difficult. At first, it seemed like I was talking about a diet overhaul. I quickly began to realize that the slow-carb diet principles that I’ve somewhat adopted over the last year have kind of been training wheels for this challenge the whole time. I began looking at labels and starting to really notice what I’m putting into my body. Many of the meals that I’m eating contain little to no gluten as it is. The one meal that I don’t generally control is lunch, and that seemed like it would pose the biggest challenge, but not a show stopper. So with that knowledge in hand I feel comfortable saying that for the duration of February I’m going to see how gluten, or it’s removal from my system, affects me. Just me (actually not just me, I’ve enlisted a bit of help.)

Included as part of changing my diet for the month will be more overall food awareness. Having this on my mind whenever I think about food will cause me to do a little bit more extensive research which I think will go a long way in helping me determine whether this experiment ends come March 1 or lives on in some incarnation after that. Before making any kind of overall health change, at that point, it would probably be wise to talk to my doctor (who doesn’t exist), but I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.

So what will the self-imposed rules be for this experiment. Well obviously, no gluten. It’s not that simple though. There are a lot of foods that are not considered gluten-free solely because they are processed on machinery that is also used to handle foods that contain gluten. It’s akin to not mentioning on a label that the food in front of you was made in the same facility as peanuts. I don’t plan on being that hardcore. Indirect gluten that doesn’t actually necessarily exist is on my OK list, for example, some protein bars that contain oats that were made in the same facility as something that contains gluten. Another exception will be cheat days. I haven’t exactly decided how I’m going to handle this yet, but I’m generally not going to make myself feel like I’ve failed if I eat something that contains gluten on a cheat day. I would be interested to test both how eating something bad for me affects me during this dietary change as well as how eating something that could be considered healthy, like some sandwiches, but contains gluten affects me. So there might be some planning that goes into how to make that happen within some sort of controlled environment.

Based on these general thoughts, come February 1 I will be gluten freeish…. for at least 28 days. As a side effect I might save some money since I will have to start bringing my own lunch to work. Quickly, here’s my plan of attack for a normal day. RIght after I wake up, I’ll make and drink a protein shake. Prior to actually getting ready for work an hour or two later I’ll have breakfast which will consist of some sort of eggs/bacon/veggies or a fruit/veggie shake, depending on if I have access to a proper blender by then, and if that ends up being sustaining. I’ll eat a small lunch at the usual time and then a protein or granola type bar a couple of hours later. For dinner I’m planning on continuing with some sort of meat/egg/veggie stir fry that I’ve been eating lately. They provide a lot of options and a lot of different flavors while helping me with my challenge.

I’m feeling confident that I will be able to sustain this long enough to test some theories and see how I’m affected by gluten. Let the self-experimentation begin.

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