FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD

   " Food glorious food.  Hot sausage and mustard  while we're in the mood cold jelly and custard!   Pease pudding and saveloys, what next is the question?   Rich gentlemen have it, boys... Indigestion!" 

 If you have never seen the musical "Oliver" this will make no sense.  Saveloys and pease pudding might be something new to your vocabulary too.  As I write this I can taste each one of them in my mind.  Food is not just the nourishment that our human body needs but, it is wrapped up and served with all sorts of emotions.
 

 I left England and came to America about 27 years ago.  Apart from my family and friends the one thing I miss is the food.  Fish and chips, Walkers crisps, Cadbury chocolate (not the stuff made here), Toad in the Hole, Cornish pasties and the list goes on and on and on. 

 My relationship with food has been a lifelong struggle because rather than nourish me much of it is a poison that has compromised my health.  I am a self-diagnosed celiac (a long story that I will share in later posts)  and also have another autoimmune disorder and have a serious food addiction.  Yes, I said it.  I am addicted to food. 

 Even though I have not deliberately eaten gluten for many years I still have never felt well. Each day is a struggle to get through.  I get tired, I cannot focus, I ache, I am grumpy.  Add to this eight children and before you ask, yes, they are all mine, I do know what causes that and we do have a tv.     

 In the back of my mind, I knew that grains were probably at the root of all this as even though gluten-free I had read many articles that confirmed this theory.  The problem was that I needed a map or plan to follow that would motivate me to actually change my life and do something.   

 When you do not feel well most of the time you give up and just crawl through life.  Each day is a struggle to just get through until bedtime.  It is a matter of keeping your head above water and not sinking, rather than seeing the other side and swimming towards it.  You derive comfort from food which just feeds the whole cycle.  If I had a bad day or some crisis had to be dealt with I would turn to food.  Ben and Jerry's pistachio ice cream was a particular favorite.  I would use a fork and dig out the pistachios one by one.  After almost devouring a pint one time I read the label on the back.  A thousand calories!  After that little epiphany, I limited myself to half a pint at a time.  Any emotional trauma made my mind turn to food to comfort me.  

 A few months ago a friend of mine started a diet called " The Whole 30".  She put posts on facebook that she was starting and what day she was on.  Then she posted pictures of the food she was making and it was all food that I could eat.  It was also grain free.   I could do 30 days.  It had a start and an end and it had rules.  These were very strict too.  If you cheated then you would be back to day 1.    

 No grainsNo dairyNo sugar and no artificial sweteners.  Not even stevia.  No beans, peanuts or soyNo alcoholNo weighing or measuring yourself for 30 days      
 

AND SO MY JOURNEY BEGAN.

Now that I have piqued your interest in this diet you probably want to know more.  As you tuck into a pot of Ben and Jerry's you can read about all the reasons why you should put it down and take a break from it.

The first book to read is The Whole 30- the 30 day guide to total health and food freedom .

This has all the info you will need in an easy to read format and has lots of nice food pictures too ( no there is not any ice cream).  It will get you started.

The second book I read was " It starts with food."  This is a heavier not pretty picture filled book about the science behind why you would ever want to deprive yourself of everything you really like to eat for 30 days.  Yes, there is a reason for doing this apart from masochism! 

Click on the titles above and you will go to Amazon and you can buy the books.  While you are their you can buy all sorts of other goodies and a nice new shiny bright Tesla or a yacht and I will get a tiny portion which is called affiliate linking.  You do not pay any more so it is a win win.  I just have to tell you that before you click.  I will be adding a page of all the Whole 30 books so you can also go to that and see all the options.