Why do I eat gluten free? Should you?
Of course it seems super trendy, and I’ll be the first to admit I jumped on that bandwagon a few years ago. It promised less inflammation, probably weight loss (less carbs!), and an overall high vibe wellness-y life! Seemingly so at least. To be clear, when I “went gluten free” back then, it was with little purpose other than testing it out, hoping it would be the golden ticket to perfect health and my perfect body. I never actually was very strict about it. I would pretty much get a packaged product and think, “ooo, it’s gluten free! It must be healthy!” And, if there was something amazing like say, fried pickles or a delectable cookie, I’d eat it, guiltily. Needless to say, I never noticed a difference.
I was feeling pretty lackluster and very low on important vitamin levels for a few months despite eating very cleanly and (what I thought was) super healthy. I finally got a food sensitivity test done when all my other tests came back negative (thankful) for other major issues. To the best of my knowledge, I do not have Celiac Disease or an allergy to wheat or gluten. However, I have a severe sensitivity to gluten, wheat, rye, and soy. This is actually a lesser-known issue they call Non-Celian Gluten Sensitivity. I truly can tell when I’ve been “glutened.” This is a personal choice of mine to stay away from it as much as possible. I am far from perfect and thankfully a little bit here and there or cross-contamination will not cause lasting physical effects that I feel. But I do know, when I knowingly have something with those ingredients in it, I feel tired, sometimes get stomach pains, my throat will hurt, and my eyes feel dry.
It’s really important to keep in mind just how different we all are. This might not do anything for you! Or maybe you have it worse than me and have a true allergy or Celiac’ s and need to avoid it completed.
There might not be any reason to avoid gluten/wheat, and you don’t have to!, but if you do want to give it a try it might help if you have an autoimmune disease to lower inflammation, lift brain fog, and help with digestion issues, among other things. Remember, just because something is gluten free does not mean it’s better! Still focus on whole foods when you can.
Right now I do not worry too much about cross-contamination if I would really like to try something. That might change or it might not. Plus, I will have something like a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery if I’m in NYC. I just will try my best the rest of the day to be completely G-free so I don’t end up feeling totally wiped. Another thing I do is pay close attention to how I feel after eating something new. Sometimes I might eat something with oats (usually have cross-contamination), and will feel some negative effects. If that happens I probably won’t buy that brand/item again.
*Hot tip: This is controversial but I can tell a big difference taking an activated charcoal pill after I’ve been glutened. Just don’t rely on it!
This is just one tiny piece of the puzzle when it comes to health and wellness so take it with a grain of salt. I’ve been testing things out for YEARS and finally feel like I’m more in tune with what makes me feel best.
Something different works for all of us. Wellness is not one size fits all. I don’t eat like this for any other reason other than I feel my best without these ingredients.
Leave a comment and tell me why or why not you eat gluten free! Or if you have any questions, I’d love to see if I can answer them.
~Whitney
Pre-baked muffins.
Post-baked muffins!
I had some overflow onto another pan since the apples bulked it up. I think next time I’ll split the batter for exactly 12 muffins. I like high muffins that rise up over the paper edges. It makes them look more like bakery-style ones! 
Let’s start things off fresh with some fall-inspired breakfast treats. I wanted pancakes, and I wasn’t feeling my protein versions. They are great most of them time but really don’t compare to the real thing. However, I didn’t feel like eating the original, white flour recipe that only keeps me full for about an hour.
Oh, and I had some brown rice flour I’ve been meaning to use up so they just so happened to be gluten free and fabulous.
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They had two kinds of lobster rolls. One was warm with butter, and the other was cold with mayo and herbs. Both were amazing. We got one of each and then split them! I couldn’t decide my favorite. The french fries were also seriously great. I didn’t leave one on the plate.
We found a beach down the road that was free to walk on since it was October. It was so windy but really fun to just walk around and look out at the water. 
The next day was New Haven. The little shop was called Maison Mathis and had a great vibe.
I’m a tad OCD about researching things so I did my homework and knew about most of the cafes within 5 miles of the Yale campus. We hit
Our third day was for traveling home. I found a cute, organic spot for brunch called 
