I will say that I’ve consistently been limiting my wheat and gluten intake and have been feeling much better. I’m not avoiding gluten entirely- I’ve been eating tempeh, farro, pizza, and even accidentally a whole wheat wrap but I’ve been gradually phasing out our wheat staples and phasing in gluten free items. I won’t know if I have an insensitivity until after I see a doctor and until then I don’t plan on completely eliminating any foods from my diet but I will say that I feel a lot better eating less gluten so until I get tested I plan on limiting my intake.

I also came across this article on the Huffington Post that makes me wary about eating wheat in general. Chances are that even if my test results doesn’t show a gluten insensitivity that I’ll still try to limit my wheat intake. Here’s why:

• Wheat contains a superstarch (amylopectin A). We eat a product called dwarf wheat that has been genetically manipulated and hybridized to create “short, stubby, hardy, high-yielding wheat plants with much higher amounts of starch and gluten and many more chromosomes coding for all sorts of new odd proteins”.
• American now consumes about 55 pounds of wheat flour every year.
• Two slices of whole wheat bread now raise your blood sugar more than two tablespoons of sugar.
• Wheat also contains super gluten which is more likely to create inflammation in the body. It can also cause obesity and diabetes.
• When you digest wheat, the proteins are converted into polypeptides called exorphins that act like the endorphins you get from a runner’s high. They can cause addictive eating behavior and binges.
• Even more alarming is the fact that you can block these food cravings and addictive eating behaviors and reduce calorie intake by giving the same drug we use in the emergency room to block heroin or morphine in an overdose, called naloxone.  Binge eaters ate nearly 30 percent less food when given this drug. 

I’m not saying that everyone should stop eating wheat and adopt a gluten free diet, everything in moderation right? But for those of us who do have stomach problems, we need to consider the possibility that wheat may be the culprit.

So what do you guys think? Gluten-free yay or nay?

Yesterday was another early morning. I set out for a 4 mile run followed by a mile swim and still made it to work by 8:30 a.m. I’m really enjoying these early mornings and I have to say that I feel like superwoman afterwards but they leave me so tired for the rest of the day. Any other EARLY morning workouters out there? How do you do it?

Breakfast was a packet of Three Sisters Dark Chocolate Oatmeal with cashews, blackberries, and White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter in a coffee mug with a side of Dunkin Donuts Iced Coffee.

This wasn’t enough so I also snacked on a bunch more blackberries and some dried dates and figs.

Work has been busy this week and I was finally able to break from lunch around 12:30. If it were up to me I would have stopped earlier! I had an unchicken wrap from Soul Vegan, a Chicago restaurant that delivers products to Whole Foods and a packet of beet chips.

The sandwich was good but it was on a whole wheat wrap. I screwed up and bought it when I didn’t see wheat listed in its ingredients. Turns out they didn’t include any of the wrap ingredients on the label. Whoops!

Ian went out to dinner with friends but I needed to read Harry Potter and get to bed by 9 like an old lady pack and do laundry for our trip to Michigan this weekend so I stayed in. I wasn’t too upset, Buffalo Wild Wings doesn’t quite cater to the pescatarian.

Dinner was a salad with tomatoes, tempeh, and goat cheese with a homemade mustard balsamic dressing. Yum!

Dessert was a mini tester of cottage cheese overnight oats (oats, cottage cheese, almond milk, banana, optional sweetener).

Verdict? I liked it and packed it for breakfast Friday morning

I spent the rest of the night doing laundry and trying not to tall asleep in my Harry Potter book. Obviously my Thursday night was pretty crazy.

Any triathletes out there train while working full-time? How did you balance everything (especially sleep!)?

P.S. I also set up a twitter which is big news for me (I was scared of it for so long!) so follow me pretty please I promise I’ll follow you back! @runningwindycty