3rd week of being gluten-free

This is my third week of being gluten-free. Here is how I have gone this week:

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I had toast for breakfast as I went out to places on all three days. I was fine.

Thursday: I had millet porridge with rice milk and jam. I was fine, too. I sat quietly for half an hour reading afterwards.

Friday: I had cornflakes with rice milk. Thought I was fine to start with, but after a while I started to get niggly inside, then it turned into a stomach ache.

Saturday: I had cocoa rice with rice milk. I was fine with that, which surprised me because I had the same amount I had the first time when I wasn't all right.

Today: I had millet porridge with rice milk and jam. I think because I worked myself into a hurry to eat it up, do things so I can get on with completing a form, that I ended up with stomach pains.

So, here is my summary of what I am going to do. I am sticking to toast whenever I am going out, as that seems to be OK with me. I am not going to have cornflakes for another month, then try them again to see what happens. I have a feeling they will not agree with me then, so will have to forget about eating them. I will continue having the cocoa rice as I like those (my mum doesn't), and might not have so many next time. I need to sit quietly after eating breakfast before I get up to do anything, and I have to not get myself worked up afterwards. I have a sensitive stomach, esp in the morning.

In the meantime, I realise that I rather like the taste of rice milk. It has a nice sweet taste to it, which oat milk doesn't. Gives the porridge a different taste; an interesting and less bland one.

So that is how I am getting on. If you are on a gluten-free diet for health reasons, like me, let me know how you are getting on.

Week 2 of being gluten-free

The second week of being gluten free is now at an end. All was going well until this morning. I had been having millet flakes with hot rice milk and some jam for breakfast on mornings when I wasn't going out and have been fine. Yesterday I had cornflakes with hot milk and I had a couple of slight twinges but nothing drastic that would warrant me dashing to a certain somewhere. Until this morning. Knowing I wasn't going out, I had already been over the road to get the paper, I had millet porridge with rice milk and jam. Half an hour later I got stomach pains and had to dash to that certain room. Now I don't know what to think. Is rice now bothering me too? I shall try it again later in the week, again when I am not going out at all that day. I shall also try cornflakes again later in the week, but not have so many and see what happens. So, I am now extending my gluten-free diet for another two weeks to see what happens next time. I seem to be fine with gluten-free oatcakes, breadsticks and bread and rolls.

I will be back next week reporting on how things are going.

Going gluten free

I have decided that for the next two weeks I am going to be gluten free. Why? Things have been happening to my diet that I don't like and I need to find out what I can and can't eat. It all started a few years ago on a last day of being at a conference. I had toast for breakfast, a roll with my lunch and toast again when I got home early evening. All that wheat didn't agree with my stomach and I had to visit a certain room a few times. Then early this year, I went out for a social meeting and had a dinner of pasta. The same thing happened. I realised that I could no longer eat proper wheat. The last month or so other grains have been having an effect on me. First it was corn. Then it was rye (I usually have ryvitas for lunch) and then it was crackers made from wheat, and lastly it was oats. So, I decided to cut out the corn first for this month, then cut out the rye and now the wheat and oats. There are alternatives. We have gluten-free bread anyway because my mum has coeliac, and I bought some gluten-free rolls by Warburton as well. For breakfast, instead of the oat milk I have, I have started to have Mum's rice milk. I have found a major difference. One day I had porridge made with rice milk and I had no stomach ache, but two days later I had it with oat milk and did have a stomach ache. The rolls are really nice so will buy more of those. For supper in the evenings, when I usually have oat cakes or wheat crackers, I have gluten-free breadsticks (which are yummy with dairy free choc spread), or gluten-free oatcakes or rice cakes, which are nice with jam or choc spread on. So I have choices. So far so good.

I shall report back in a week's time to tell you how I've got on.