Summary of the Wheat-Free Week

The basics:

I ate a wheat-free diet for one week. The diet was NOT gluten-free (I ate oatmeal). I mostly eliminated bread, pasta and wheat cereal.

The results:

I felt less bloated after meals. Around mid-week I felt super-skinny. And the scale even showed a pound loss. However, I gained that pound back in the last two days of my wheat-free week.

My energy levels declined throughout the week. By mid-week I started to feel sluggish. By the end of the week I felt totally exhausted.

My opinion:

Although I felt less bloated, I think it had less to do with the wheat and more to do with the fact that I stopped eating huge meals. I have a tendency to over-indulge in pasta and bread--I can't eat just one serving. By eliminating my "trigger" foods, I also eliminated binges. This resulted in me feeling slimmer and less bloated.

My lagging energy may have been more a result of over-exercise than my diet. However, it's possible I was lacking carbohydrates, which then led to feelings of fatigue (especially after exercise).

Current thoughts:

I added wheat back into my diet with a sandwich. It didn't make me feel any more or less bloated. I don't think wheat is a problem for me (except that I tend to eat too much of it). I think, in the future, I won't avoid wheat. I will, however, try to be conscious about moderating my portions of wheat foods.