45 Days Grain Free
Today marks forty-five days eating grain free. We have had some slips, all have been when we were out and about. We have been in the kitchen more, learning how to bake and cook grain free, egg free, dairy free, soy free and peanut free. We are also trying to reduce sugar consumption.
What is the biggest thing that I have learned about eating grain free?
Reading labels. ALL of them.
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Why Do We NEED to Read Labels?
I never would have thought that seasoning salt would contain grain. Or milk thistle capsules. but they do. The seasoning salt contains maltodextrin. The milk thistle contains cornstarch. And the BBQ sauce contains modified food starch.
Maltodextrin can be made from corn, potato, arrowroot, tapioca, rice or wheat. If I could guarantee that it came from arrowroot or tapioca we would be good, but since I can’t then we have to avoid it.
Modified food starch can be derived from corn so it is also on our no no list.
Cornstarch obviously is from corn. I was not expecting to find it in an herbal supplement and I was definitely shocked to find it here.
Tea. One of my favorites as well. 🙁 I would assume it is just used as a filler in the cheaper brands of tea. Lipton is the only brand I’ve found that uses it, I’m sure there are probably others though.
Other Places Grain Hides
Where else have we found grain hiding? Lunch meat (again as a filler), peanuts, trail mix, Craisin’s and tomato soup. I love this site, Grain Free Living, you can find other places that grain can hide by clicking on the link.
Things We Have Noticed After Eliminating Grains
What changes have we noticed?
For myself:
- I am not bloated all the time.
- I feel lighter and not weighed down after eating.
- I have more energy. I can be fine with a 20-30 minute nap, before if I didn’t get an hour nap I was crashing at 9PM. As long as I get a short nap in I’ll be good until 10.
- For some reason I cannot figure out, my yeast rash has returned. I’m not sure if it is because my body is detoxing, or if I need to do another yeast cleanse.
With Seth my husband and I have noticed several changes.
- He sleeps better.
- His belly isn’t distended, it is soft and doesn’t look bloated all the time.
- At first he lost a little weight he is now gaining and eating everything he is allowed.
- Ben noticed a change in attitude. Seth seems to have less tantrums and is a little more even keeled.
- Lymph Node swelling has diminished. There is still some swelling, but it is much less noticeable now.
We still have a couple of months to go on this grain free journey. In April we have another appointment with our holistic chiropractor, more BioMeridian testing scheduled and an appointment with a pediatric endocrinologist.
Have you been shocked at the things you find when reading food labels? If you are grain free what are some benefits you have noticed since eliminating grain?
Grain Free Recipes You May Like:
I developed a yeast rash the first time I did a 21 day sugar detox and haven’t been able to get rid of it since! This happened to the daughter of someone else that was participating that was nursing too. I have no idea what the correlation is or how to get rid of it and it’s been four months now. So frustrating!
🙁 I was doing really good too! I had gotten rid of my rash for a little over a year. The Trim Healthy Mama way of eating helped me to conquer it the first time. I do eat some sugar now, but I don’t think it is anywhere near excessive. I’m wondering if maybe by eliminating grain we have uncovered some other food sensitivities that I wasn’t aware of before.
I hope you in relief soon, Holly!
EXCELLENT post, just splendid! It is crazy how many places unwanted ingredients can hide. I have been struggling with finding teas that are clean also. I can’t wait to check out the link you posted. I didn’t realize about the molasses! What has been your favorite substitute or lateral shift?
My favorite flour substitute would be either buckwheat or quinoa flour, I think I remember you are following the Paleo diet so those flours might not work with that. I’ve been trying to use raw honey more and less sugar. Raw honey also helps with environmental allergies so I am curious to see what happens in the spring.
I found a really good green tea that I like, it isn’t flavored, but it is real green tea. It is by Prince of Peace. I by it through a local coop but you could probably get it from Amazon.
It is amazing the added ingredients in most processed foods. Another big one is soy, hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated oil. I avoid both. What has helped me is drinking plenty of water as far as bloating goes. Many times dehydration can cause fluid retention.
Soy is one I try to be especially careful with as it aggravates thyroid issues which run in my family.
Since making these changes we haven’t had very much processed foods which thankfully means we have been avoiding the hydrogenated oils. Thanks for pointing out these yucky additives. 🙂
I’m gluten-free, and I’m always shocked when reading labels. I have my normal things that I stick to, but it never fails to surprise me when I branch out!
I know! Things I think would be harmless aren’t. I thought I was doing so good finding a BBQ Saul e that was free of corn syrup, but I completely missed the molasses. Thankfully my husband saved the day before Seth got any. 🙂
Definitely takes some teamwork!
I can’t even imagine having to monitor and change my eating habits as you have for your entire family. I don’t read labels at all, but still I was surprised by some of what you uncovered. I’m cheering you on as well as other people who are making healthy changes in their diets! It can’t be easy.
Thanks Missy!! It has been hard, but all the changes we have seen have encouraged us to keep going. 🙂
That is crazy how many foods have so many items that are no no’s Good luck with everything!
Thanks Jill! I think we are starting to get the hang of it!! 🙂
I admire you for paying such close attention to what your family eats! I definitely don’t look at labels THAT carefully. =) Right now I’m just trying to eat low sugar and low carb during these last few weeks of my pregnancy so I can try to keep my weight gain in check….and I’ve been surprised at how many things are high in carbs… things I never would have thought, like bananas! I can’t imagine limiting all the foods you’ve had to for Seth but it seems like he’s doing great with the changes! You go, mama! You’re doing great!
Thanks Amber! 🙂 I think it is a little easier for us since I was used to reading labels before looking for gluten.
Banana’s are so yummy though!! They were my downfall while pregnant with Seth. Now that I’m thinking about it I bet they contributed to a lot of my weight gain with him, because I could seriously eat one with every meal. Usually I put lots of PB and Cool Whip on them. No wonder…. None o that is as healthy as I thought I was being. :p
I never would have expected to see Grain in the products you mentioned! I am so bad at reading labels, have become such a creature of habit. This whole Gluten free talk has really got me wondering if so many of the problems I’ve had most of my life isn’t possibly attributed to Gluten. I’ll be reading more closely our labels now and trying harder to be more aware of what we are eating.. Right now i’m struggling with trying to find ‘low’ Potassium foods for my husband.. changing routines and habits are so hard. Our favorite pasta (can’t have tomatoes) is off the menu, so is anything cheese… ughhhh!
wow! I applaud you for doing this. We’ve tried changing our eating habits several times to no avail. I was surprised to see that dyes are in so many foods when we were taking dyes out of our diet.
Oh, dyes would be hard too! It has been hard, but it is so worth it!