The Wheat-Free Experiment- Week 1 Thoughts and Findings

We are nearing the end of our first week going wheat-free as a family.  I'd like to report more astounding findings than I'm going to, but we still have three weeks left.  I'm easing into the menu planning and I've found some fantastic recipes.  I still spend more time in the kitchen, cooking and washing pots and pans, but thankfully we haven't had any loser recipes so far.

Response from the kids:
"When are you going to get our regular bread?"
"Can I have some Goldfish please?"
"Is that the only kind of cereal we have?"
My children are real creatures of habit.  Most are.  My son likes to have both cereal and toast for breakfast. I made a big pan of baked oatmeal one morning and while eating it, he said "Mommy, I like this, but can I still have my cereal and toast?"  He's in a breakfast rut.  Going wheat-free is helping to get out of it.
There have been no major complaints about the missing foods.

Response from Josh:
No huge discernible differences in energy or overall physical feelings.
No drop in weight.
No negative side effects.

Response from me:
My findings are similar to Josh's.  So far I don't notice any huge changes. I still feel like I have my winter weight hanging around my belly.  The one thing that  may be associated is my knees feeling better. I am on my feet most of the day and there are some nights when I sit down to dinner and feel very sore.  My legs and knees are so tired.  I haven't noticed this in the past week and I have definitely been on my feet more.  Again, it may not be related.

I've also found that there is a lot of glorified gluten-free junk food out there, that is just as full of bad stuff as the wheat-full items. The gluten-free label doesn't make a food healthy.  I think that overall we are eating more fruit and vegetables because we don't have the variety of wheat-full carbohydrates around to snack on that we did before.  It's pretty much rice cakes and one other item I've made (see my Pinterest board for some of the recipes we've tried so far.  My comments give the details.)  Then it's homemade fruit pops, cheese sticks, fresh fruit, veggies and dip, smoothies, yogurt.  This part of the experiment is making me happy.

Those are the findings so far. Nothing big yet.  But experiments take time.  Most good things are gained, or lost, overnight.  Or in a week.