The Gluten Free experiment

Here’s an update on my gluten free experiment that lasted a little less than a month. The back story on why I decided to avoid gluten is that one day, after eating two whole-wheat tortillas, I felt a major loss in concentration and found my brain was a bit foggy. Randomly, I researched the connection between gluten and “brain fog.” I found some resources regarding a possible connection but mostly websites were dedicated to people suffering from celiacdisease. Many people are affected by gluten and don’t even know it. They can go many years attributing problems to other things like a weak stomach or a misattributed food allergy without realizing it’s gluten that’s the problem.

With all this in mind, I decided to embark on a no gluten experiment for a month to see how it would affect me mentally and physically.

For almost a month, I was replacing gluten with substitutes like gluten free bread, pasta, pretzels, cookies, etc. It wasn’t very hard avoiding gluten, but there were some temptations. Two examples jump out in my mind—one being the bread basket at restaurants and the other pita bread with classic Middle Eastern or Indian food. What do you dip in hummus when you can't eat pita bread? It can seem very trivial at first glance but I discovered when you’re deprived of something, it’s when you miss it the most. It's also when you decide to replace it with other equally calorific things such as sweets, chips, and crackers. I normally like to snack here and there but I found myself eating a disproportionate amount of snacks during this time.

To be honest, in the end, I didn’t notice too much of a difference. My stomach reacted no differently to avoiding gluten than it had when I was eating it.  I felt my “brain fog” was slightly better than before but that's highly attributable to a placebo effect. Either way, I decided that it’s better for me to be gluten aware than avoid it all together. Life is back to "normal" again :)

After teaching zumba last night, I called the husband and convinced him that ordering Papa Johns was the right thing to do. That warm, cheesy, salty pizza with garlic dipping was calling my name all day! It easily could have been because I got a text message from them saying it was TWO for Tuesday… and no, I don’t know how they got my number, but yes, I am not complaining. 

veggie pizza

veggies plus smoky chicken, spicy beef, and pineapples- surprisingly it works!

These two slices on my plate turned into about 5 slices in total. Urgh... and I wonder why my stomach is hurting this morning.

I snagged the chewy and delicious chocolate with white chocolate chips cookie but was too full after all that pizza for the chocolate cake. I'm sure the cake will taunt me as I sit on the couch tonight.

What's better than cinnamon and all-spiced eggs? Nutthin!

The eggs tasted wonderfully cinnamon-y and warm. T'was delicious! 

Agenda:

Gym, afternoon Dietetics informational meeting (sad because I have to miss my usual boxing class!!), teach zumba, RELAX!

Making my mouth water

Yesterday, we went over to the MIL's house and she prepared us an amazing lunch of rice, chicken, beans, egg rolls, and salad. I don’t throw around the word amazing just because she's my MIL; in fact, I would be honest and tell you if the food wasn't that good for one usual reason or the other. Everything was so delicious that I had thirds and left beyond stuffed!

The table was already set when we arrived.

Looking at this right now at 9 a.m. the next day makes my mouth water, literally!

a simply dressed salad with lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots.

this bean dish was very comforting and delicious. It consisted of beans, tomatoes, pureed carrots, and celery.

Seriously.. keep me away from these fried, amazing "egg rolls." I swear I had like 3 but could have eaten 4, 5, 6... There were two kinds, one with meat and the other with cheese. I had 2 meats and 2 cheese. Yuuuumm!!!

This chicken and rice dish was so delicious- the chicken was fall off the bone tender and the rice very flavorful-- I'm not sure what kinds of spices she used, but the rice was so tasty!! So glad she gave us leftovers ;)

assorted cookies and tea for dessert.

After the meal, the rest of the day was spent as a lazy Sunday afternoon. I really wanted to watch the Bears game last night but I had no one to go with :( This is probably my LEAST favorite part about living in the UK. I don't really have anyone to watch American sports with and its kind of a pain for many reasons

1.) Games usually air at 12, 3, or 6, and if its anywhere in the latter time period and it's a Sunday, I don't really want to stay up that late!

2.) We usually have to leave home to watch a game

3.) Only certain games air at specific bar or dining locations

4.) Ordering sports channels online or on tv costs more money

5.) Ordering the sports channels at home doesn't guarantee a game will even be showing! 

On a more positive note: my team won!!

At least a sushi dinner made up for the lack of any football action in the house..

We ordered delivery from My Sushi Club through just eat.co.uk.

I thought everything was delicious and probably the best delivery Japanese food we've ordered through Just Eat.

the chicken katsu stayed crispy through the delivery process-- score!! The only downside to this dish was that there wasn't any sauce to accompany the chicken. I was impressed with the amount of veggies that were underneath, everything ranging from peppers, mushrooms, and zucchini.

freebies

chirashi

On my plate was: spider roll, salmon and avocado roll, spicy tuna (fav!!) handroll, eel and avocado handroll, salmon and seabass nigiri-- the salmon was good but I wasn't a fan of the seabass, and a piece of spicy yellowtail gunkan

After dinner, I watched Resident Evil: Afterlife. Yes, I must have been that desperate. At least it was entertaining!

Breakfast time: What's a girl to do when there are no eggs in the house?!? Make buttermilk pancakes of course!

one chocolate chip and 1/2 a regular pancake

doused in real Vermont maple syrup-- nothing beats it!!

Whoop Whoop- I got my delivery this morning! I'm so cheap that I bought a youth sweatshirt in a large size, lol..

Hat- check, Sweatshirt-check.. Bring on October 23 baby!!

The Bonnie and Wild

We had a wonderful lunch yesterday, eating rib-eye steaks marinated in Korean gochujang paste and red miso again.

T's friend was gracious enough to bring over rib-eye steaks for us from Whole Foods.

a little steaks on the stovetop action

I always seem to have a problem of chewy, rubbery steaks when I cook on the stovetop but yesterday's steaks that were really flavorful and tender.

mushrooms marinated in balsamic vinegar and sauteed.

asparagus lightly seasoned with butter and a heavy hand of pepper and sea salt.

triple cooked chips- boiled, fried, baked. T's still trying to perfect the triple cooked chips, as they turned out not as crispy yesterday. I'm thinking maybe he has to fry the bad boys after he bakes them.

This was really a perfect Saturday afternoon lunch.

We headed over to the Belgravia area for our second weekend pub crawl. If you want to see a rich area (money, money, moneeeey!!), check out Belgravia!!

 

We were intending to meet the group at the second pub called The Plumber’s Arms, but when we arrived, we found out it closes on the weekends! After making a call, the group decided to meet at the Shakespearean, a touristy pub right across from Victoria station.

hello cervezas!

I spy, with my little eye....a beautiful rainbow!! I haven't seen one of these in years.. Sigh..

We made our way to the second pub The Antelope and stayed for one glass of wine for muah and a pint for him. No pictures though. I must have forgotten amidst all the chatter among fellow ex-pats. A friend of T’s who seemed to have acquired a mass amount of friends/acquaintances through his diligent networking skills put the pub crawl together. I always appreciate people who do all the gritty work for me, all I have to do is show up! :) Hats off.

We popped into the Grenadier, a lovely looking pub outside and cozy little space inside, but we sadly we couldn't stay..

We hit up two pubs and had to dash because we had a dinner date at The Boonie & Wild, a “part time” restaurant. So, the restaurant is part-time because it’s actually run by a catering company that rents out a fish and chips shop in Chapel Market only on the weekends. The vibe is laid back but the food isn't. I would say that the food is equivalent to a bib gourmand gastro pub. I was impressed by the attention given by our waitress as she really stepped it up, filling our water pitchers, giving us extra bread, and bringing me, the only ketchup left in the kitchen. :)

I've reintroduced gluten back in my life after giving the gluten free diet an experimental shot for almost a month. It was an interesting experiment to see what life is like having to do without wheat, rye, and barley. I'll talk more about it later but I realized I don't have a gluten allergy and I think its best for me to focus on achieving a balanced diet, geared more towards eating fresh ingredients rather than completely avoiding certain things like gluten.

I had the lions share of the bread-- I asked for more after the first bowl was done!

a little white vino to complement our meal

T had the goats cheese and fig appetizer to start. I had a bite of it and it was heavenly-- the creamy goats cheese really complements the figs. I also love the texture of the crunchy little seeds in the figs, nom nom nom!!

I had an equally amazing starter: 4 maldon oysters in a shallot vinigrette= Amaazing and definitely slurpable!!

Our mains were delicious as well, we both had the grey mullet- it looked similar to seabass but it was a bit heartier in texture, and a trio of queen scallops

we had chips and aubergine as our sides. The aubergine was rolled with ricotta cheese and complemented with rocket leaves, tomatoes, and olives.

our first dessert was a selection of four different cheeses, oatcakes, and an pear chutney I believe. All four cheeses were tasty in their own unique way. I was stuffed but somehow, I managed to have one bite too many of each cheese!
Our second dessert was a plum clafoutis with raspberry coulis that had the consistency of a lighter egg frittata. It was quite yummy!

Breakfast this morning was a simple bowl of honey oats cereal with additional almonds and raisins on top.

I hardly ever eat cereal but #1 we've run out of eggs and #2 I'm too lazy to go to the cornershop to get some

 

the cereal made for a nice breakfast substitute

I will never forget: A silent prayer to the hero's of 9/11 and the thousands of lives lost.