I Am Going Nuts!

Walnuts, that is.  Ever wonder if some of the craziness that is going on in your life is all in your head?  This has been my thought off and on the past few months.  I am just a little past mid-century in my age, and since the first of the year have felt like age was progressing beyond its time:  achy, tired, creaky age.  The last few years have also meant rather random changes in food tolerances causing me to give up nuts, grapes, cherries, and olive oil.

A couple of months ago, I decided somewhat impulsively to give up wheat.  I had heard at various times about wheat intolerances and knew that I couldn't handle a lot of whole wheat.  Otherwise, I hadn't noticed any problem with wheat products and have been baking bread for many a year.  Still, I thought it couldn't hurt to see what would happen if I were gluten free.  

Well, the achiness has greatly subsided, there is less creakiness, I am not as tired, and strangely, my nose has stopped its continual drip.  Still, this was not enough to convince me for sure there was an issue until I decided to try the foods I had previously given up.  Started with grapes.  Hmmmm, no problem.  Nuts, however, caused a very painful digestive reaction, so with much hesitancy, I put some walnuts in my oatmeal this week.  No pain!  Three times I have had walnuts this week and no pain!  I had thought I would do a trial by eating wheat again to see if I had a reaction, but I think I am convinced without it.

The other side of this equation is having to give up wheat bread.  As I looked at going gluten free, I realized how central wheat was to our diet.  I love to make bread, and I love to eat bread.  Emotionally, therefore, this has been a difficult transition.  Thankfully, since my husband still eats wheat, I can make bread.  There is just something very satisfying about taking a lovely brown loaf or batch of rolls out of the oven.  On the other hand, I have (or at least am working on) giving up the idea that alternate flours will do the same thing as wheat.  This has been both aggravating and yet a challenge at the same time.  I have done a lot of tossing experiments as I have tried out different flours, but I am finally beginning to find several that have possibilities.  From there, I will see what recipes I can find that others had developed with perhaps a few of my own along the way.  So with both sadness and hopefulness I step onto the road of being gluten free.