Gluten Free Pasta Trial #1

Gluten is a hot button topic these days. But. Is it really bad for everyone like some popular authors are trying to convince us?  Or is it really okay for those of us bread loving fools?

If you have celiac disease, an auto-immune disease, you're already aware of the terrible pain and damage that gluten causes. That's why it's a given that celiacs must avoid gluten completely. 

But there are some people without celiac disease, who do have gluten sensitivity. Their symptoms vary. But, if gluten is the cause, the symptoms will be dramatically reduced when eliminating gluten.

One thing for sure: avoiding gluten is not going to make you lose weight or magically make you healthier. It's just not.

That being said, I decided to do a little experimentation in the gluten-free world for those of you who do need to eat gluten-free.

My massage therapist, Rebecca, gave me 3 different gluten-free pastas to try. The first one I tested was a corn, quinoa, rice, and fiber blend by Garofalo. I was making a homemade marinara sauce, so I wanted the pasta to be hold up well under the sauce. 

Yummy! This blend got a 5 star rating (out of 5 stars) by our family for taste and texture. In fact, it may taste even better than our usual whole wheat pasta! It held up perfectly under my sauce. Even the leftovers the next day reheated perfectly. 

Make Your Motivator a Positive One

In tears, a woman shared her memory of getting stuck in a dress while trying it on. (She'd even grabbed a bigger size than she usually wore; she knew she'd gained a bit of weight.) The zipper broke: it wouldn't budge at all. She swallowed her pride, and had to walk out in the dress to find a saleswomen. She had to be cut out of the dress!

Another woman's neighbor asked when her baby was due. She wasn't pregnant. She'd just gained 25 pounds.

You've been avoiding mirrors and cameras. Unfortunately, you just saw a recent photo of yourself and hardly recognized yourself. How is it that photos add 15 pounds to you but not to anyone else in the photo?

Whatever your "Oh, Yuck!" experience was, these events can make great motivators to start dropping body fat and getting healthier. The trouble is, these negative motivators don't last. 

Once you've been on your weight loss plan awhile, and pounds and sizes drop, you feel better about yourself. The negative motivator dissipates. It's important to create a positive motivator before this happens. 

Identify the positive things you're aiming for with your weight loss. One gal told me she wanted to be a "Hot Momma" and be able to walk on the beach in a bathing suit without worrying about what she looked like. Another told me she wanted to be strong and active enough to get down on the floor with her grand kids to play, and get back up with no trouble. And, I'd like to be able to play golf when I'm 107.

Now, instead of running away from your "Oh, Yuck!" experience, it's time to pull yourself toward what you really want. Envision yourself as that Athletic, Happy person, that Strong, Svelte person, or that Active 100 year old! Now, practice doing the things that support you becoming that person. Practice doesn't mean perfect. Practice simply means you're working to form the habits you'll need to become the person you want to be. 

Playing the Role of Helpless Victim?

You want to lose weight. You keep trying to lose weight. But, you can't. It's out of your control. Seriously. Your husband made your favorite lasagna for dinner. You'd planned to eat only tuna on salad. You couldn't help it; you had to eat too much. And, there's that co-worker who purposely brings homemade brownies and cookies in to work every time she bakes just to sabotage you. And, if only you didn't have to go home every day, cook dinner, deal with kids, and all the chores that need to be done. Then, maybe you'd have enough time to exercise and lose weight. Everything that interferes with your weight is really beyond your control. Not your fault.

Stop. Let that self-talk go. It's easier to make excuses and play the helpless victim. It's harder to find time to do what needs to be done to take care of yourself and lose weight. Healthy cooking and exercise take time and commitment. But, that's the real path to successful, healthy, weight loss that stays off.

Want to be a success with weight loss? Time to give those big girl/boy panties a big tug upward!! 

• Remember that with each situation that arises, you have a choice as to how you will react.
• Prioritize your wellness needs. If you don't, it's easier & easier to be the helpless victim, eating unhealthy foods and becoming a sedentary couch potato. 
• The more frequently you see your own actions as being controlled by other people or situations, the more you relinquish your own power of decision making. 
• You always have a choice. Yes, you can eat 2 pieces of pie because Aunt Bess made it just for you, feel stuffed, and feel guilty. Or you could have a small slice and tell her how wonderful it is, and how full you are. Choices.
• Allow no food, person, or situation to have the power to make you eat.
• No one determines your values or priorities except you.
• Make the best choice you can at the moment. Breathe. Relax. Move on to the next choice... 

Next Time: Mindful Holiday Eating!

 Easter happens once a year. If we went overboard and overindulged with candy and other holiday foods once a year, we'd be OK. If it stopped there. The trouble is, between all the holidays and birthdays Americans celebrate during a year, there aren't many non-holiday days for mindful, healthy focused eating.

You know, we really need to practice mindful eating all the time. Calling a day off from listening to your body doesn't play out very well. Yesterday, too many people undoubtedly decided to let the day go, and ended up head first in the chocolate eggs, jelly beans, extra servings of cheesy potatoes, ham, and desserts. Without a thought as to what their body was trying to tell them. I heard phrases like "sugar coma." Moans from overeating. And, heard that people were unbuttoning pants or changing into stretching waist pants. Hmm...

Maybe next time, mindful eating can be part of the celebration. The cool thing about it is that you can choose to eat anything you want, enjoy it, and you'll never end up with pain from overeating.

Our family enjoyed making dinner together: lamb, scalloped sweet & white potatoes, grilled asparagus, fresh strawberries & pineapple, with a light lemon cheesecake topped with mixed fresh berries on top. 

Less Wise and More Mindful

Most people end with 4 wisdom teeth. Teeth that are a big expense for parents of teens to remove before they erupt so they don't mess up thousands of dollars of orthodontia work.

Then there are those few that don't have any. Like my husband. Don't ask me why, but he just never ended up with any. I always kidded him that's why he needed to get his PhD---not enough natural wisdom. Ahem.

Then, there's me. Unique. I had 4 wisdom teeth that taken out at one time in the dentist chair when I was 21.  I wasn't even sent home with prescription pain killers!  I remember my husband convinced me that scotch would work just as well. It must have helped. I don't remember.

After my 5th wisdom tooth was removed, I must have been labeled an oddity. Then, my dentist started those full scan mouth X-rays. Yep. I had a 6th one fully developed and directly above the last molar on one side. Odder still. Then, some funky things started to develop...

...and Friday, I had oral surgery to remove that silly 6th supposedly wise tooth (Why are they called "wisdom?" teeth) Of course, instead of the usual 2 roots, it had 3. I can't do anything by the books. The oral surgeon warned my husband of bruising, and the need to explain a possible black eye as a result. (Yes, I'm looking colorful today!)

And, eating's been a pain. The nurse suggested ice cream, yogurt, jello and sent home a sample of Ensure. I've tried soup, cream of wheat and polenta. But, I have a hard time opening my mouth very wide, let alone chewing (Yes, me!) So, when I tried eating salmon and lettuce tonight, I just got too tired of eating. Seriously.

I guess the bright side of all this is that is forces mindful eating: extremely small bites, chewing very carefully, & resting between bites. But, I really don't recommend polishing mindful eating skills this drastically!