Trash Day

  One Of These Things Just Doesn’t Belong

Fitting 35 grams of fiber into our diet is no simple feat.  Take a look at the label on your store bought loaf of bread. You’re lucky if you are getting 2 grams of fiber per slice. So one sandwich, with 2 ounces of meat, a slice of cheese and a tablespoon of mayonnaise contains… 4 grams of fiber, 405 calories and about 20 grams of fat.  Can you tell I’m a label reader?  Cristy hated my label obsession until she discovered how bad it physically hurts her when she accidentally eats something with wheat in it.  It’s really paid off.  For instance, that 405 calorie sandwich with only 4 grams of fiber isn’t going to sit on your desk or plate all by itself.  What goes great with a sandwich?  A dill pickle = 0 fiber, 0 fat.  It sounds good in combination, but in order to get even close to 35 grams of fiber I would need to eat 9 of those sandwiches.  Ummm…  I don’t think so.  That’s just insane.

So how do we do it?  And avoid wheat products?  Honestly, it isn’t easy and it takes a great deal of commitment, but it’s a challenge worth tackling.  You see, I love my wife.  I don’t have to give up wheat or gluten, but I know how difficult it is to give up something you are addicted to and have it around you all the time.  And don’t kid yourself; wheat use is an addiction worse than caffeine.  It really does trigger some sort of enzyme or something that acts in your brain just like opiates.  I know!  It’s crazy!  Give up wheat products for 2 weeks and then eat something made with it…  I found out the hard way.  The difficulties I was having even have a term.  It’s called a wheat cloud.  I couldn’t concentrate on anything for a whole day.  I couldn’t even make supper.  Me?  Unable to prepare a meal?  It was that bad.

The hardest thing we are still doing is going through the cupboards and removing anything that just doesn’t fit in with our plan.  If it has wheat, our neighbor may soon find it slung over the fence.  If it has little to no fiber, it’s going out too.  It’s just not worth it to eat empty or even poisonous calories just because they taste good.  Good bye onion rings.

Now you see why this isn’t easy.  But, it’s worth it not to have to go to the emergency room at no-o’clock in the morning.  It’s worth it to leave the migraine injections in the drawer and not use them.  It’s worth it to know my wife’s intestines are healing.  It’s worth it to take a little extra time to read the labels and re-learn how to cook. 

 

And I do mean re-learn how to cook.  That’s not an exaggeration.  Take a look at the top picture again…  How the heck do you eat those tiny black seeds?  Why is there a jar of...? What are those?  And how many people even own something to whirl enough protein and fiber into a concoction you can drink without throwing it back up?  I have gotten 26 grams of fiber into one of those drinks, but I had to eat it with a spoon.  And what the heck do you do when you want a sandwich or just a piece of toast?

It’s all trial and error.

The box of King Arthur brand Gluten-Free Bread Mix wasn’t so bad.  It was fairly easy to make, it didn’t taste like last week’s cornbread, the color was uniform and the texture, although a little spongy, was OK, and I know none of it will taste like wheat bread because it just isn’t wheat bread, but I will not buy that brand again.  The nutritional value of the bread was not nearly worth the effort or cost.  There are better options.  We're just going to have to keep trying them.

“Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavor” - William Cowper