Removing gluten and dairy, what is the deal?

So I am not sure what your health journey has looked like, but mine has been a rollercoaster. It is so easy to get caught up in the different health and wellness trends that take over social media.This year has been nothing but a complete health overhaul for me. After trying countless diets, programs, etc I was finally able to find a lifestyle that I could stick to! I have talked about it a bit before, but Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food has truly guided my health journey! If you haven’t read it take a look!

So I started by adding way more whole food nutrition to my diet. Increasing my fruit, veggie, and berry intake every day which was an amazing start. This helped my body to CRAVE more real foods. Increasing the variety of foods I was getting and cutting the junk was a huge step. I also decided that ten days of the month I would hit “reset” and focus on breaking some bad habits that creep up and replace them with much better ones including getting more sleep, cutting alcohol and caffeine, getting active every day, and eliminating dairy, gluten and refined sugar.

I don’t know about you, but when I first started this I was so intimidated. I didn’t think I could do it! Following these guidelines and being successful with it not only made me feel wonderful, but it greatly increased my confidence because I achieved something I didn’t think was possible.

Now one thing that I learned, is how good cutting gluten and dairy made me feel. For some background I will share that I cut a majority of dairy already, but didn’t realize how hidden it was in some foods especially pre-packaged foods. Gluten was the same way! Though I could tell a definite difference between when I was or wasn’t eating gluten or dairy. I felt sluggish and bloated when I would eat something with gluten or dairy.

This made me curious as to why this is? What I found out is how inflammatory they both are to the body. When I removed gluten and dairy my body had such a positive reaction. My energy greatly increased, I had eliminated digestive issues, my skin cleared up, my workouts were much more effective, and my mental fog was gone! As someone who has a family history of autoimmune conditions, I realized how my body was telling me to focus on an anti-inflammatory diet.

Now am I there 100% yet? Absolutely not. I still sometimes have dairy and gluten, because I’m not perfect. That being said even just cutting 90% of both out of my diet regularly has made a huge difference. I was able to lose some weight, increase my energy, have much better hair and skin, decrease bloat, and overall feel much better.

So, how do you go about reducing gluten and dairy in your diet? The first step I found successful was to start making my own food instead of buying pre-packaged options. For example instead of pasta I would make sweet potato or zucchini noodles. It is a little bit more work but I ended up liking the healthier option better than normal pasta. Also, I focused on adding healthy fats to my diet. Adding nuts such as almonds, pistachios, and cashews are a great way to do that, are filling, and make the perfect snack. Also I looked at pinterest because there is a PLETHORA of ideas on how to make dairy free and gluten free options.

Some people may see this as a trend, but it has been recommended for those with autoimmune conditions to reduce inflammatory foods and I can attest it is wonderful. Who else out there has tried removing or just reducing gluten and dairy in your diet? What were your thoughts? Share below!

XOXO,

Erika