Gluten Free and a GIVEAWAY!
The hardest part about a diet is the lifestyle changes you have to make. Maybe you ate ice cream every night (guilty) or you ate fast food more than 4 times a week (I know people that do this). When you diet, usually you have to cut those habits out. While I have done your typical diets: Weight Watchers, No Carb, count calories, etc, I have found them to make my life more stressful. I dont have time to track calories in and calories out. I want to sit at a meal and not feel like I need to deprive myself because I dont have any room on my spreadsheet for it.
This year my resolution was to not track my weight and eat smarter. I was sick of being driven by a number. While we have made a lot of great changes to our diets at home, we were missing something. Something seemed off.
Matt has been reading Wheat Belly by Willam Davis and has passed some interesting information to me that has made me realize I can solve some of the issues I have been having. Since reading this book, we have decided to convert our household into a gluten free home. Some people may say we are just jumping on a bandwagon of some sort, but for the two weeks I have been comparing gluten vs gluten free, I have noticed a difference.
*DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor (I only play one on tv) and I am very new to the gluten free world. What I have to say is just my observation.
How this started: Matt is lactose intolerant. His sister is extremely allergic to gluten. I have the energy of a slug. Matt came to me after hearing about this book saying he could possibly not have lactose intolerant, but could be bothered by gluten (not allergic to the ice cream, but to the cone). He told me that he read two slices of WHEAT bread has more sugar than a Snickers bar. This amount of sugar causes your insulin to spike and crash rather hard. This explains my energy. I have not checked to see if this is an accurate claim, but I can tell you when I eat pasta/bread, I feel awful after.
You can form you own opinions on this, I am just here to share my experience.
When Matt came to me and told me this is what we should try, I sighed and told him I didnt want to change my entire lifestyle for something that is going to cost more. At least not during my busy time. I had the same misconceptions that most people have about gluten free. Gluten free does not mean carb free. You can still have potatoes, fruits, ice cream, etc, it is the WHEAT you have to drop. I have to admit, it has been pretty easy. Our base has already been pretty healthy, but you do start to notice what has to go and somethings have an easy replacement (rice cakes/potato chips instead of pretzels) and some have been harder (pasta for gluten free pasta or rice pasta).
Last week I made a 100% gluten free pasta and meatball dinner and surprisingly it was good. Granted the pasta and breadcrumbs were higher in price, which made me cringe.
Ingredients:
Brown Rice Noodles
Ground beef
Onions, chopped
Gluten Free bread crumbs
1-2 eggs (depending on quantity of meatballs)
Salt and Pepper
Fresh basil
minced garlic
For the meatballs, I combined all of the ingredients in a bowl and browned them on the stove. This took about 15 minutes. I cooked the pasta according to the package and brown rice pasta takes a little longer than the regular stuff.
After the pasta was done, I tossed in some EVOO, sprinkled some salt and pepper over, and dug in. (In case you didnt know, I dont really eat red sauce. Im weird, I know).
It was mighty delicious!! Honestly, I dont think I could tell a difference in the taste. What i did notice is when I was done eating, I didnt feel heavy and disgusting as I do whenever I eat pasta. Even the smallest amount bothers my stomach, but this didnt. Relief!
Ok enough about this change in lifestyle. You are here for the giveaway, right? Well in keeping with the gluten free theme, I asked Larabar if I could try a few of their bars and host a giveaway. They were gracious enough to send me 3 flavors I chose and 1 that I asked them to pick at random.
I got a Pecan Pie, Coconut Cream Pie, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Cappuccino. My favorite was definitely the coconut cream pie. I expected peanut butter and jelly to be because I have a weird obsession with PB, but CCP was so tasty!! AND gluten free. Winner for me!
Larabar is giving away a caddy of 16 flavors to one lucky reader. Pretty awesome! Its great to eat before a run (which is what I do) and perfect for an afternoon snack (hello time between lunch and late night dinners).
To enter:
You must be a US resident. Sorry to my friends abroad.
Please leave a comment for each entry
For 1 entry – Tell me what flavors you would try
For 1 entry – tweet about this giveaway
For 1 entry – link this giveaway up in your blog
For 1 entry - Follow @larabar on the Twitter
For 1 entry – Like Larabar on Facebook
For a bonus 2 entries – follow my blog. Its not a requirement to win, just a bonus!
This giveaway will end at 11:59pm June 18th. I will choose a winner at random June 19th.
Now I am off to eat gluten free pizza from Dominos!
Have you ever tried gluten free?
What was the craziest diet you tried? Did it work?
About The Author
Heather
Other posts byHeather
Author his web sitehttp://www.thatredheadedsister.com
Yum, that pasta looks delicious! As a coconut lover, I would want to try coconut cream pie in the Larabars.
I like anything with peanut butter! Great giveaway!
You have been chosen as the winner of this giveaway! Shoot me an email so I can get your info, hlg0706(at)gmail(dot)com! Congrats!
I follow Larabar on Twitter!
I like almost all the larabar flavors. Cherry chocolate chip torte is my fav though!
i follow them on twitter
and I like them on fb
Peanut Butter & Jelly, Cashew Cookie, Key Lime Pie, Lemon Bar and Apple Pie all sound fabulous…thanks!