On March 17th this spring I gave up eating wheat and dairy. Based on what I read earlier in this thread and the encouragement from Laura and Psyche, I gave it a try. For six weeks I was scrupulous about what I ate and not a speck (that I could discern) of wheat and dairy was consumed.
I did not have a lot of aches and pains to start with, a big part of which I attribute to eliminating almost all sugar from my diet nine months before, so I did not notice a big change in my bones and joints, nor did I find any changes in my asthma. But, I did find that after about 4 days my energy level was increasing. After about 10 days I had a remarkable increase in energy and mental clarity. It was as if some depressive fog was lifted and I felt lighter, clearer, energized, and present. My desire and need for caffeine essentially disappeared, and I no longer craved carbs--especially in the afternoon when I would have a very noticeable physical low. Before I eliminated wheat and dairy, I felt tired a lot--not a lack of sleep tired, but a "no energy" kind of tired.
Another benefit is my skin is clearer, cleaner, and rosier looking, and I am told by close friends that my eyes are brighter and the dark circles under them have gone. I also feel less bloated, almost all gas eliminated, and my intestines are not inflamed. In the past I was diagnosed with diverticuloses and became very sensitive to the “normal” feel of my bowels—only it wasn’t until I quit W & D that I realized what I thought was normal was actually constant low level inflammation with spikes at times. After stopping W&D my belly became flatter and I did not have gas, and that constant slightly irritated feeling in my guts was gone.
During the last two weeks of May I ate a little wheat and dairy for two reasons; one because I wanted to test what changes I would have if I ate it again, and this was the perfect time to do it as I had been on the diet long enough to experience the good changes and my work load was so intense during the last two weeks of May that I literally did not have time to shop and cook and pack lunches. In the course of two weeks I ate two flour tortilla wraps, two sandwich buns, three dinner rolls and my first piece of New York pizza/”opium,” + - 6 cookies, a little cream, 3-4 oz of cheese, and a piece of cheesecake/”cocaine.”
I had no discernible immediate response to adding these foods back, but the tiredness, lack of energy, gas, and irritated bowels, crept back into my life. For the last week I have been back on a diet free of almost all sugar, all wheat, barley, oats, and all milk products except for a little butter two or three times a week, and the good changes are back! So that is it for me—no wheat or dairy in my regular diet, maybe on a rare very special occasion with friends, a small serving of something, but the longer I go without it the easier it gets to live completely without it, and I used to be a person who said, “ if I could only choose one food to live on it would be bread.”!
By the end of June my house guests, and vacation time will be over and I will have a quiet period of 7 weeks home alone and only teaching two days a week. My plan is to do the strict detox diet during that time and see what further benefits I can experience.
Good luck to all of you with your healthy changes.
shellycheval
