This Week's Challenge: Going Gluten-Free

They say you have to try everything at least once in your life. I’ve never been 100% convinced by this saying, but it is true that from time to time you have to get out of your comfort zone in order to get to know yourself better.
Since we recently talked about the gluten-free diet, I’ve thought to myself: why shouldn’t I give a try for a week? See what it feels like?
So this week is going to be a gluten-free week.
Let’s start by saying that I’m not a big carb eater. I never eat pizza and rarely pasta. Also, when I do eat grains I always choose whole wheat ones.
But I must confess it, I have a sweet tooth and I like to have my daily treat. I normally have dark chocolate or Greek yogurt with berries (both gluten-free) but I do like to munch a cookie, having cake or a biscotti. Plus in the morning when I don’t feel like having oatmeal (which in the summer happens almost every other day) I enjoy two slices of whole wheat bread with tart cherries jam (yum!).
So, even if it’s not going to be a major loss for, going gluten-free will do require so effort on my part.



Where gluten hides...

As my friend Chiara (who suffers from celiac disease) once told me, gluten finds its way in many other products than just bread or pasta: sauces, spreads, processed meats, candies, etc all contain gluten.
And that’s when the gluten free challenge really gets more interesting. It’s not really about renouncing to a slice of pizza or some bread. It’s more like being conscious when shopping for groceries. Take a closer look at the ingredients list on every single item and be sure that it doesn’t not contain gluten.

The oatmeal issue

There’s one major issue: oatmeal. Does it contain gluten? Does it not? In the last 24 hours I’ve read around 20 different articles on this issue and I’m more confused than when I actually started.
Apparently the only answer to this question is: “It depends”.
According to journalist Jane Anderson: “Pure oatmeal does not contain gluten. However, most oatmeal brands on the market today are not pure, they contain oats that have been cross-contaminated with a tiny bit of wheat, barley and/or rye. Since those grains do have gluten in them, that cross-contamination makes most oatmeal brands unsafe on the gluten-free diet.”
In other words, I will renounce to oatmeal for this week.

My reward

Since I’m still a kid inside. I need to reward myself for the effort I’m making. Thus, I decided to try to make sourdough bread from scratch. It will take exactly 7 days to get the starter ready  (according to Jamie Oliver’s recipe). Which means that next Monday I should able to bake my first sourdough bread. Let’s see how this turns out...

Considerations

All and all, I don’t think that I will feel any major changes in my body from lack of gluten for just one week, but it’s going to be interesting to see what it takes to discard completely gluten from my diet for seven days.

The Iron You