October 22, 2011
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It's been a week since I went gluten free and it hasn't been too terrible, lol. I've eaten really well over the past week, I must say. While I have felt the urgent desire to quit altogether I remember that it's going to take a while (a few months at least) to adjust to this kind of eating. I consider myself lucky, though. I don't have celiac disease or any kind of sensitivity. I've just been reading about the health hazards (yes, hazards) of eating so much wheat and I simply want to live a healthier life. That being said, I don't need to be so strict. Don't get me wrong, I'm not giving up, but I'm just going to avoid wheat when and where I can on a perpetual basis. Either way it requires me to make healthier choices about what I eat and ensuring that I avoid wheat just like avoiding too much bad fat or refined sugars.
I just tried making these pumpkin muffins out of the book I'm reading. I think they would be good if I hadn't used liquid stevia to sweeten it. I originally wanted to try Xylitol. I have no idea what it's tastes like outside of a stick of gum, but if it tastes good in anything (especially coffee and tea) then the least I can do is something good for my teeth while I'm at it. Sadly, I forgot to pick it up (AGAIN!!) on my way out of work and was at the health food store and thought, Hey! I should try liquid Stevia if they have it! Well, it's disgusting. To me it's not sweet at all, just...gross. Even though it's all natural from the Stevia plant it tastes like chemicals to me. It also weirds me out because unlike regular sugar that hits the tongue at the very tip, this stuff sits at the back. Yuck! So my sugar substitute failsafe would be Splenda. I know what it tastes like and it's not bad. If I want to keep real sweetness in my baking though, I should at least use a healthier form of sweetness, something that my body can digest, such as Agave syrup. OR...I could stop eating baked goods, lol.