Surprise! I eat wheat.

You probably wouldn’t have known this by just looking at my Instagram and Facebook page but in all honestly…I eat all the things.

Yes, all of them. Even wheat. And today I’m coming out of the dieting closet and admitting this to the world.

In fact…

You can find me slurping down beans in a big macrobowl at my favourite organic restaurant with a side of fermented soy every week.

You can find me fueling up on oatmeal and protein powder after my workouts most mornings.

Sometimes you’ll find me sprinkling cereal over my Greek yogurt in the afternoon, with a big heaping side of blueberries and sunflower seed butter.

Many-a-days, I enjoy rice (white and brown) with a huge helping of coconut oil stir-fried brussels and ground beef.

This is me.

The reason why I often don’t share this with people is because:

1. It’s none of your business what I eat. (I mean that in a loving way of course)

2. I don’t want you to think that you need to eat what I eat. You need to find out what you ACTUALLY like for yourself. (Comparison is truly the death of contentment)

For a long, long time I thought that all wheat, dairy, gluten, grains, and beans were bad. I actually thought that all grains were poisonous. I thought that all beans caused gas and that all granola was the spawn of Satan. I really did.

And maybe you do too. If so, do you have a reason to believe that?

I didn’t.

I just believed this because it was what all the new science was saying. It was what all the up-and-coming experts were saying (some have incredibly concrete information behind their claims and I do not argue that there is some science to it…again, it works for THEIR body).

Cutting out these foods were naturally the next thing to do in my restriction-obsessed-mindset. I had restricted myself from eating everything at one point in my life- meat, dairy, eggs, red things, blue things, big things, small things, and so on. I didn’t yet try taking grains, beans and wheat out of my diet so I was ON BOARD!

Little did I know that taking these things out of my diet would do way more damage than I thought. Eventually I lost energy from the lack of substantial carbohydrates, I lost mental satiation from the amount of “off limit foods” I had to tip toe around, I gained more food fear than I ever could have imagined and I was anxious around all of these things that I deemed scary and damaging.

I forgot that these foods above had NEVER, and I repeat NEVER, posed a problem in my stomach before I actually eliminated them. I was totally cool with grains, wheat, beans and dairy UNTIL I took them out.

And then I began to suffer. As the food fear increased, my stomach problem, cortisol and anxiety increased. I had taken out such a big chunk of my diet that I could only eat out of a certain pool of foods- all amazing, delicious yummy foods, but nonetheless, I was restricting out of fear.

I started to do some thinking about a year ago.

Is this really how I want to live? Constantly cutting out certain food groups from my diet for the sake of a false sense of control? Did I really want restriction to always be my go-to when I was stressed?

No.

So I took action. Here are a few things I did to start adding food groups back into my diet:

1. I read Eat for Heat. This book made so much sense to me. I finally started to understand why these foods that once NEVER bothered my stomach were all of a sudden causing lots of discomfort! It was simply because I wasn’t used to them anymore.

So simple.

And adding them all back into my diet at once was causing some discomfort as well, so I needed to start slowly. But I needed to start, period. When I cut out all of these foods, my temperature dropped intensely (94 degrees some days), my hands and feet were always cold, my sex drive was down, my brain function was sluggish and my digestion/regularity was terrible.

Once you start to add these things back in, I will note something really important. You MAY feel tired at first. It might not be just because “grains make you tired” like so many people say, but it’s most likely just cause you’re not used to them. This. Will. Pass.

If you have a serious allergy or sensitivity, please talk to your doctor because this MIGHT not be the case for everybody but for the majority of us, I can honestly say this is most likely the reason grains are making you feel tired. You’re just not used to them. Start eating them again slowly and I can assure you, after a few months you’ll be THRIVING off of them. Thriving.

2. I ate mindfully. I wasn’t eating grains out of obligation and wheat out of responsibility. I actually wanted to eat them. If you want to eat grains, then you definitely should start now. If you actually don’t want to be eating grains at all, well then all of this won’t really serve you because you’re doing exactly what you want to be doing. Good on you.

But for those of you reading this that actually want to be opening up your kitchen to different types of foods than do it mindfully. Don’t force yourself to eat anything you don’t want. Eat the exact thing you really want to be eating. Really love oatmeal but haven’t had it in forever? Well that’s your food. Get some and eat it mindfully. This means to eat it with all of your senses. What does it smell like? What is the texture like? What kind of journey did it have to travel to get to you? What do you enjoy the most about it? Keeps these questions in mind as you venture into this new territory of wheat, grains, beans, dairy, meat, or whatever it is you’re adding back into your diet.

3. I eat a balanced diet of everything. Just because I eat grains and wheat now doesn’t mean that’s all I eat. No, I gave up that mindset of all or nothing. Just because I now can eat oatmeal doesn’t mean it’s all I eat. I might have that in a day, but then I’ll still let myself eat a ton of veggies and sausage and coconut oil and all those delicious paleo-approved foods I’ve grown to love! I’m not an 80/10/10 person or one of those 30 bananas a day dieters, I simply eat the food. All the food. And I enjoy EVERYTHING I eat now…the only thing I’m free of is guilt.

I’m not gluten-free, I’m guilt-free and I wouldn’t change that for the world.

So. If you’re ready to jump into the world of variety, diversity and NO RESTRICTIONS, than that’s how you do it. Enjoy the process, allow yourself to feel uncomfortable and be sure to feel your feelings. This all may be terribly frustrating for you, but if you want food freedom badly enough, you’ll keep trekking and get after it.

(By the way, I “glow” more than I ever have in my entire life, I feel more energized than ever before, and I absolutely love love love life)

Do you want to learn how to be guilt-free instead of gluten-free? Here’s how!

Want to learn more about creating Food Freedom?

Join me this January 19th for Four Weeks to Body Freedom!

This is a revolutionary program designed to help you stop fearing foods by cultivating everlasting, unconditional body respect.

Learn more and sign up for the program on this page: mindbodymusings.com/body-freedom/

Spots are limited so claim yours today!