Early this year, my husband undertook the arduous process of applying to become a Navy Chaplain. As he was going the "direct commission" route (being as he already completed his M.Div. and had worked in civilian ministry for nearly five years), he was informed he needed to "make weight" on his own before his MEPS (Military Entrance Processing Station) evaluation and PRT (Performance Readiness Test).
Mind you, he had battled the "bulge" most of his life, and had been inspired by The Biggest Loser to lose his excess weight two years ago. However, despite our switch to primarily whole grains and scratch cooking along with his cycling and jogging, he had plateaued. Something further needed to change.
One day, I stumbled across the Diet Solution, which is based on the premise that most Americans are battling obesity due to an excess of sugar metabolized into their bloodstream (drawing, I'm sure, from the correlation with an increase in adult-onset diabetes). The founder's general advice? Cut sugar and wheat (which is the one known grain to metabolize directly to the bloodstream as a sugar) from your diet; also avoid all processed soy and corn products along with ALL artificial sweeteners. Hmm. Based on my archaeological background, I realized the advice was both sound and probably a tad difficult to adhere to, but I'm game ...
I did a little research, stored away my wheat flours and sugars, and bought a bulk quantity of gluten-free (hey, if it's gluten-free, you know it's wheat free!) and natural low-glycemic-index sweeteners. Granted, that last decision was a tad rushed and not surprisingly, I purchased some things that just didn't work for me. I must confess that my attempts at baking gluten-free breads were downright disastrous! However, out of a desperate desire for comfort foods, I threw together a batch of gluten-free apple-oat cookies--lo and behold, for the first time in my life, cookies (in general!) turned out right!
Meanwhile, if you were to view one of sister blogs to this site, you'd know that my son is speech-delayed. All the interest in dietary therapy has piqued my interest. Perhaps his garbled attempts at communication are due to a wheat intolerance? His GI tract has always been a source of grief for both him and us (between diapers and potty-training). We shall see.
My hope is that those who've stumbled across this fledging blog will be able to take home some snippets of wisdom from my trial-and-error efforts. Who knows? Perhaps a return to whole and ancient foods will also help your hobbits to flourish!
Oh, and if you're wondering about my husband's weight-loss plateau ... he's lost 30 lbs since making that last dietary shift, and 60 lbs in total since we got married. Not too shabby ...!
