Happy Summer and I'm Gluten Free

Happy Summer!  June 20th is one of my favorite days of the year!  School is out, the pool is open, the berries are ripe and the warm weather is in full force!

Blue Iris in the Wetland

After hearing all the buzz, and being the type to do things outside the box, I kind of declared that the Gluten Free diet was not for me.  I was thinking why another fad diet.  

So in a complete turn of events, I woke up and embraced the Gluten Free Diet!  I got tired of wondering what these great health benefits could mean for me. :)   I had already been mostly High Fructose Corn Syrup FREE for six months.  

This year, my brother challenged me to go High Fructose Corn Syrup Free!  HFCS Busters!  And I thank him daily! 

The timing was right.  Thanks to my amazing Daddy, I love exercise!  We are an active family and so for me, my challenge in health and wellness has been my diet.  So I am excited to begin this journey of a better diet.  For me, HFCS and Gluten Free is already making me recommit to banning as many packaged products as possible.

This was shocking to learn what ALL has HFCS.  Shame on the food industry and look HFCS is the first ingredient in so many "foods."  Awful.  So recently checking out Gluten Free seemed like a great challenge - one I am up for hands down. 

Like that, I made the switch, over night I decided to find out.  I made egg whites and cheese for breakfast and went on to have a salad with tuna, cheese and lots of veggies and a homemade dressing.  It was so tasty and satisfying.  Filling.  No cravings. 

This is energizing to me.   And to celebrate the Tigers and I went to the pool and challenged each other on some laps.  This was so fun.  And yes, my guys are super fast now.  It was very close swimming with the flippers :) and without I was toast.  Gluten free, of course. :) 

Honestly, I am fired up about this.  The idea of the FDA not regulating the food industry any more honestly and healthfully is appalling.  

Here's to day one, taking on HFCS and Gluten.  Here we go!  Feeling good and proud to be facing this so help me God. 

I've been reading a lot on this site about "Gluten-Free Diet" by Mayo Clinic because I want a good perspective from a renown source like Mayo.  I love all of the foods that are fabulous for you and they are gluten free.  

*Morning Update: 

Oh man, I am LOVING this!  All I can say is that I have been one day gluten-free and I woke up this morning at 4:45 am "bright eyed and bushy tailed."  I feel great!  Slept great. 

What about you?  Are you Gluten Free?  HFCS Free?  How was the transition?  The Detox! :) 

Welcome Summer!  I love you! 

    Warmly, Carolina Mama

Whole Foods No HFCS

My family loves home cooked meals.  Healthy meals and fresh foods.  It's part of our health and wellness and fitness lifestyle.

Except there was my soiree into the Couponing.  We discovered when I was couponing - we did save - we saved BIG.  You know, like saved $200 and spend $59 big.  Except the things I bought home were things I didn't leave the house needing on my purchase list.

i.e. they were packaged and processed foods.

We have circled back around to purchasing Whole Foods like this....

We are avoiding all those packaged high sodium, high-fructose corn syrup filled with preservatives and food coloring products.

At first, I was worn out.  It took me three times as long at the grocery.  Now, I beat the system and go straight to Trader Joe's.  More value and less expense.

I know I am sounding all like a Trader Joe's Ambassador or Spokesmom...  well, I already do that.  No, this is just an honest post about how we avoid unhealthy foods.  TJ's has healthy, organic and natural foods for half the price of Whole Foods and other retailers .

And we totally avoid high-fructose corn syrup *HFCS* products - and that translates into MOST of the grocery store!  It has become a great game and fun to find products without this product.

We buy much more quality items now.   Shopping, cooking and eating are a lot more simple.  It is more work than eating the quick items or just eating out all the time.  Yet, oh my goodness, we are loving fresh, home cooked meals without all these sugar and fat laden fillers added like HFCS.  However, it is annoying and shocking the many items that have HFCS in them.

How do you avoid all of the preservatives and food colorings in foods?  Do you avoid HFCS?

Warmly,  Carolina Mama