Check out my findings!

Let's face it, when you are desperately wanting to lose some fat or simply tone up, you'll try anything and everything! The latest craze has been going gluten free, never mind if you have celiac disease or not. People who aren't gluten intolerant have been trying this in masses as a new form of a diet.

Now, I understand wanting to eat healthy by limiting sugar, carb, fat intake... but is completely swearing off gluten truly a viable option for you? And does it truly make you feel better in your body?

So I decided to test this whole gluten free thing out for an entire month to see, and then, share my results with you.

I'm proud to say it really wasn't as challenging as I had thought. Especially with all of those "gluten free" alternative products that have been fully stocked onto shelves in the last couple months. My grocery store has an entire row dedicated to gluten free options now. Sounds like the food brands have caught on to this trend.

I ate a lot of quinoa, veggies, fruit, chicken, eggs, beans, nuts, salmon and a whole ton of nut butters. Too much nut butters. The most challenging time was definitely when my month fell on Fourth of July weekend. Meaning, no beer, hamburger buns, tortilla chips, cookies, pastas... basically everything you would want to eat that day. But I did it! I didn't want to jeopardize giving you the accurate results.

The first two weeks passed, and I legitimately didn't feel any better or different than usual, hence, I'm not gluten intolerant. There was no noticeable change in my energy levels or weight. Then, the second week, something strange occurred. Abdominal. Pain. YOW! It was unreal. If you remember my post on the importance of your health, you'll remember me describing going to the hospital and the pain. Well, after some research and chatting with my brilliant in-training nurse roomie, I have come to the conclusion that my strange stomach pain was from completely cutting gluten out of my diet, cold turkey.

This sure shows how incredible your body is, it notices after 2 and a half weeks if you have changed something up! Me completely cutting out gluten with no warning really confused my body and must of really hurt my stomach's feelings, resulting in it showing me terrible cramping pain. After about 5 days the pain subsided (I continued with no gluten and fought through so I could give results.)

The next two weeks passed and here we are, August 1. A full month. Let me tell you, I really don't see and don't feel different. So, in conclusion to my own "study" I state again my motto, it's all about moderation. If you're not gluten intolerant I really do not think it's necessary to completely cut out gluten from your diet. It's obviously not the most healthy thing for you, but it's not this terrible never eat again thing either. You're still indulging in fries, candy, pop, etc every once in awhile aren't you? I will personally be treating gluten like that too. I will guiltily admit to you that the first things I had were my mother's homemade chocolate chip cookies, and a slice (or 3) of pizza.

I cant say goodbye to these forever...TREAT YOURSELF! :)

Plus, "gluten free" products are typically higher caloric, higher fat, and 2x higher cost. Brands have took note on people's recent gluten free craze and are largely profiting. Don't let them get you!

Of course, if you have celiac disease, proud of you for resisting gluten, and sorry you can't have it! But like I said, I didn't find it unmanageable.

What are your thoughts on gluten free if you're not gluten intolerant?