My Forced Diet Update

My "forced diet" is what I've been calling my food plan since I started going gluten-, dairy-, egg-, almond-, and sugar-free.  This forced diet was in response to my food sensitivity test results that showed moderate to high levels of intolerances to all those foods. 

I'm 2 weeks into this forced diet and I'm doing ok.  I crave a lot of things that I can't have, but I've not given in to those cravings and have stuck to the plan to eliminate all of those food categories.  I've eaten a lot more fresh fruit and vegetables each day, which is great for my health.  Lentils and beans have become my protein friend along with meat such as chicken, steak, pork, and fish.  Gluten-free breads are ok and coconut milk is a nice treat.  I'm still discovering what I can and can't have as I read labels, but so far so good.

It's hard to say overall if I'm feeling tons better, but I don't have any GI issues- not that I had a ton before, but I have very few now.  I've been working a lot, so I'm tired, but it will be interesting to see how I feel once I'm done working and sleeping a regular 8 hours a night.  I do feel like I have a little more energy and my mood is way improved.  My acne/skin issues have seemed to flare up though, so that's a little strange to me.

And the surprising part- two weeks in and I've already lost 3 pounds! And this is with my regular exercise being down.  I seriously can't believe it.  This is the best weight-loss plan I've ever been on, and I wasn't even trying to lose a whole lot of weight.  The last time I was at this weight was Sept. 2009, when we first got pregnant (coincidence or connected to my lower weight? hmmm...food for thought...ha, ha).  Before that, the last time my weight was this low was high school and that was 15+ years ago.  My body is obviously loving this no processed food thing and I'm loving it too.

And the other good news is that I finally heard back from my dr. regarding my blood work for celiac disease.  Given my high intolerances to wheat, gluten, rye, barley, and spelt, I was nervous that I might also have celiac disease, but I tested negative for the antibodies associated with the disease.  Praise the Lord!  One less health issue on my list.  While I still need to follow a wheat-, rye-, barley- and spelt-free diet for the time being, I'm hopeful that I will slowly be able to add some of them back into my diet in moderation at some point.

So the moral of this story is find out your food intolerances and eliminate them to feel better, or just make up your own elimination diet to lose weight.