It has been almost 2 months since I started on my gluten free diet and I am almost used to it by now. This is probably because I am not very strict with the diet. I cut probably about 90% gluten from my diet but to be 100% gluten free requires too much effort. I probably would have to cook most of my meals at home.
So some might be wondering what is a gluten free diet? Basically it is a diet where one abstains from all wheat, rye and barley food stuff. Easy right? Not really. Gluten is everywhere - most processed foods, bread, cakes, biscuits, noodles - many things have gluten. And for me the most difficult thing stopping me from being completely gluten free is soy sauce. Soy sauce is made with wheat and almost all Chinese food is cooked with soy sauce or its derivatives. Since I eat out for every meal, it is really troublesome for me to avoid soy sauce in Singapore or in Malaysia.
I started this diet because I believe it would help my skin. I have bad eczema on my body and it has been irritating me for years. I have been to a few dermatologists and all they could do was prescribe me very strong medication to suppress the symptoms. I was on very strong immuno-suppresant drugs that gave me good relief but as a side effect I was constantly suffering from urinary tract infection. UTI is so uncommon for men that almost all UTI info is catered towards ladies. But I was suffering from it once every few weeks.
Anyway, I have been at it for 2 months and it has not really help my skin. This week was a particularly bad skin week for me. I will likely stick with it for a few more months to see if the symptoms are improved. Quite likely, I will have to start a food journal to see which type of food is bad and which type of food helps. One of the side benefit is that I have lost quite a lot of weight without really trying to lose weight. The other day I was at the gym and was shocked when I weighed myself. I thought I was around 65kg but the machine showed 61.7kg. When I started out 2 months ago, I was at 67kg. Maybe the machine was faulty but it was the same machine that weighed me at 67kg two months earlier. At this rate, I'll be underweight soon.
