It’s a real wonder how a few changes to your diet can transform the way your body feels!
I’m sure you’ve heard the saying: YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!
Well I can attest to that!
After suffering with intestinal problems for decades, I was finally diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, a chronic inflammatory disorder, whereby the body’s immune system attacks the gastrointestinal tract.
Statistics show that over 1.6 million Americans suffer from inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and researchers are estimating that between 6 to 15 new cases of Crohn’s disease are being diagnosed per 100,000 people each year.
Being a chronic disease, I decided to try altering my diet and eliminating inflammatory foods to see if it would help with the symptoms, such as severe abdominal pain and cramping, headaches, feeling tired, bloating and at times, diarrhoea.
AND GUESS WHAT, IT ACTUALLY WORKED!!!
I’m not saying that my Crohn’s disease has vanished, unfortunately there’s no cure at the moment, but I found that by altering my diet,I alleviated or eliminated most, if not all of the awful side effects that are associated with this intestinal disease, which are very debilitating.
So let me tell you what I did:
To begin with, for the first 3 months I cut out 3 elements from my diet: WHEAT, DAIRY & SUGAR
Yes you read right: NO WHEAT, NO DAIRY AND NO SUGAR
It was difficult to begin with, I won’t deny it but I’m glad I made this choice as during this process I discovered that I was actually wheat intolerant. You know how many foods have wheat as an ingredient … even soy sauce, some stock cubes and instant soups – who would’ve thought. Right!
Thankfully, nowadays you can find most products GLUTEN-FREE which means NO WHEAT
HOWEVER BEWARE …
A lot of gluten-free foods are jam-packed with sugar and other stuff to make them taste better!
I started reading the ingredients label on all the foods I bought until I became familiar with the brands and products I purchased and knew which were WHEAT, DAIRY & SUGAR FREE.
I’m so glad I started doing this, it really makes you aware of what manufacturers actually put into the products we buy and eat – A REAL EYE-OPENER- TRY IT, YOU’LL BE AMAZED!
During this process I became more health-conscious and I started to cut out processed foods.
I suppose it was a natural progression!
So not only did my crippling stomach cramps vanish, together with the other symptoms but I noticed that my frequent headaches also disappeared as soon as I eliminated these foods from my daily diet.
As a result I also felt better and healthier, as my body started absorbing more nutrients and I was following a healthier diet.
So there you have it. It’s not rocket science. I can only say that by implementing these changes to my diet – eliminating WHEAT, DAIRY & SUGAR, I have massively improved my gut health and overall wellbeing.
As a result, I started experimenting with wheat substitutes such as spelt, buckwheat, and rice flours, dairy alternatives like almond or oat milk, as well as vegan cheeses. Also, I started using maple syrup, which is one of the purest forms of sweetness, instead of sugar.
Lately I have started integrating organic brown cane sugar in baking instead of refined white sugar.
TIP: By the way, if you are going to use pure brown cane sugar, make sure you test it. Many sugars are called brown but they are actually white inside when ground, try it!
One more thing: Since I started this journey years ago, I have become more informed and continue to read a lot about inflammatory foods. This elimination process helped me, and you may benefit from it too. However, that being said, keep in mind that you may also find that you need to eliminate other foods because we’re all different.
So this is a start.
I wanted to share my story with you in the hope that the information may help you too.
I won’t lie, it’s not easy having to give up your favourite foods overnight, but it can be done.
HENCE ONE OF THE MAIN REASONS I STARTED EXPERIMENTING WITH MY FAVOURITE RECIPES AND STARTED USING ALTERNATIVE INGREDIENTS!
And what happens if I’m out with friends or have been invited to dinner and there is no wheat-, dairy- or sugar-free food? What do I do?
Well, since I am NOT allergic but I have an intolerance which doesn’t usually cause drastic symptoms sending me to hospital, I have some but I try not to go overboard. The occasional meal, is OK for me, as long as it doesn’t become frequent otherwise I run the risk of getting my dreaded symptoms back.
FOOD SUBSTITUTES:
Here are some WHEAT SUBSTITUTES: spelt, oat, buckwheat, rice, rye, millet, corn, quinoa.
REFINED SUGAR SUBSTITUTES: pure maple syrup, honey, stevia, barley malt, brown rice syrup, and agave syrup.
DAIRY SUBSTITUTES: vegetable milks (oat, almond, rice, hazelnut, coconut, soy) dairy-free cheeses.
Always check labels as some vegetable milks have added sugar.
So check out the recipes on YUMMYALTERNATIVES.COM and if you have any questions or queries please drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you.
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