Yesterday was my first day of being "gluten free".
After living internationally for 3.5 years and being exposed to a myriad of intestinal diseases, let's just say my system is a little out of wack. I've successfully removed dairy from my diet as that was a easy culprit to identify (further confirmed by my oh so intelligent idea of eating cheesecake for my mom's birthday - OUCH).
Despite removing dairy, I still have some issues. I am tempted to remove gluten to experiment and see if it too causes some of my discomfort. Yesterday was my first day of gluten freedom and I have to say it wasn't that bad. I don't know as though I can immediately identify feeling any different as I had two extra cups of coffee yesterday as well and was pretty wired for the entire day. I'm sure it masked any difference I might have felt.
In addition, last week I had some bloodwork done and saw that my LDL cholesterol went up 30 mg/dL over the course of 3 years. It is still "low" but I don't want the upward trend to continue. Also, my HDL cholesterol is not quite high enough to be heart protective. Gahh.
Trying to strike a balance between my beliefs, health ideals, and intestinal tract's demands is proving to be a bit tricky!!