Wheat and the 30 Day Shred

I've been MIA for a little bit, due to my health and trying to get some areas of my life in order, but I am back!!

When I was younger, I was given an allergy test and one of the items that I had a reaction to was wheat. Since then I have not had any serious reactions when I have eaten food which contain wheat, that is until about a year ago when I started changing my eating and started eating more whole grain and whole wheat products. When one switches their diet to be more balanced and healthier, one would think that they would begin to feel better, not me, things actually got worse. No matter how healthy I ate, usually whole wheat pasta or a sandwich with whole wheat bread I would feel almost instantly severe pain in my stomach. Well, the wheat allergy that I was diagnosed with as a child had transformed into a complete intolerance of wheat. So what did that mean, no more sourdough, french bread or whole wheat bread, pasta, bagels, tortillas, oatmeal and anything that contained wheat flour, even soy sauce, it's in just about everything!

Over the last year my intolerance to wheat has gotten worse, simply because I have not given up wheat completely.  Not eating things that contain wheat, especially things that I like to eat and have eaten for pretty much the entirety of my life is really hard to do and cut of my diet. But the more research I'm doing on gluten and wheat intolerance coupled with the intense stomach pain I experience, and which seem to be intensifying when I do eat food that contains wheat, I want and have to change my eating completely and remove wheat from my diet all together.

Gluten Free Italian Vegetable Salad - Yummm!

My bestie, Monica and I have started Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred 5 days ago. Prior to starting the workout I had been reading reviews of the dvd on the internet and based on what people had posted, the workout sounded like a pretty intense. Well, I can report to you that it is. In a nutshell the concept of the workout is that it is only 23 mins, but you are constantly moving, most of the time working out two parts of your body at the same time, like arms and legs, or back and legs for 3-2-1 min increments. It was hard, scratch that, it is hard, but it has gotten easier as we have progressed. Monica even has started saying that she now feels like she needs to do the workout each day as it has become part of her routine. With the 30 Day Shred, yes its only 23 mins, but its of 23 mins of sheer intensity, sooooo much sweating and pain, but we get through it. One thing that I've learned since starting this journey to get rid of this unhealthy body is that no matter how fit or fat you are, workout hard, give it your all, it you may not be perfect right now, but working out a little each day, is so much better than not doing anything at all. With time and the effort that you put in, your body will respond, get stronger and your stamina will increase, so get your butt off the couch and get out there, be active and don't make excuses.

Found this in Pinterest - love this, this was me in the past.