GLUTENous... you know.

I'll do my best to keep the tirade to a minimum in this blog but be forewarned.

I love food. LOVE IT! In fact, I won't be ashamed to admit that I sort of have this irrational fear of starving and tend to overfill my tank far too often than not. I'm not exactly sure where that stems from... but that'll have to be another post.

As you can see above, a delectable morsel of Key Lime Pie remains from The Fredericksburg Pie Co. Melissa and I went there recently to stay at a lovely B&B while we escaped from Hurricane Ike.

You may have thought that I did, but I assure I did NOT misspell the title of this blog entry ;-) Gluten (not glutton) is a protein found in the endosperm of wheat, rye, and barley.

I've decided to try my hand at eating a gluten free diet... to no avail. So, a "gluten-light" diet (dubbed, by my beautiful bride) is what I'm striving for at the moment. You see, gluten is in EVERYTHING. Much like corn. I've known about corn syrup, and corn syrup solids being in most commercially available products for a while. I try to avoid them whenever possible. I'd much rather have something with the real deal of sugar rather than some government subsidized grain crop. (100% juice please! :-)But I digress...

As I was saying, wheat is in everything! Or at least that is the way that I feel. Trying to eat gluten-light/free is a VERY daunting task. Wheat is even in beef jerky!!!! How is that possible? Well, it's an ingredient in Soy Sauce which is usually used in the jerky process. No more pizza dough that I am famous for... (at least not the traditional kind). No more baked goods... no more pasta... no more fun. Well.... not entirely true, but it feels limiting.

All of this started by reading about eating right for your blood type. For the most part it seems pretty spot on. So, I thought I'd give it a try.

The Key Lime pie was a splurge for me in this new diet because Melissa and I tried to get pie at the Fredericksburg Pie Co. the last time we were there, but they ran out of pie!!!!!

I'm still eating gluten, but not necessarily outright. It's definitely been severely minimized. For example wheat is in soup (flour), taco seasoning(flour), the previously mentioned beef jerky, and countless other foods as a hidden component. In addition to minimizing gluten intake, I am also taking probiotics to aid digestion. Why go to all this trouble you may ask? Well... just to see. I like to research things to the best of my ability... so I'm researching how this affects me. Gluten is supposedly supposed to slow down my metabolism, and I just want to keep that from happening.

The best shape I've ever been in my life was when I was doing "brick" workouts and sticking to a triathlon training schedule. Maybe I should just get back to doing that and eat whatever the heck I want to. :-)

All the best to you. I'd love to hear any nutrition thoughts you may have.

~G

God's gifting...

First of all, let me say how much of a gift my wife is to me. God has blessed me BIG time with her! :-) She's is my number one fan, my supporter, my partner (in everything), my cheerleader, my friend, my sister-in-Christ, my encourager, my iron to sharpen me, and lately... my teacher.

Melissa is a pro at laughter. It was one of the VERY first things that I noticed about her- her laugh. She knows how to seize the moment for spontaneous silliness. In a lot of ways I need to learn how to lighten up and if I could sit back and just observe her joy.... well, it'd help me let go of life's weighty-ness for just long enough to want to join in the dance with her. One of my favorite things and when she just throws her hands in the air and says "Pick me up!" Although, most of the time... there doesn't even need to be a word exchanged for us to both know what is said. If there is one thing in common that we have, it is how to have fun.... Okay, two things- also, our unspoken language that is ours alone. *smile*

I don't get to laugh with her nearly as much as I would like to, and I think that if there was more time for playtime we'd both be all the richer for it.

She makes me laugh. What better gift could I receive? Well, maybe making her laugh :-)

~Greg