This week I reintroduced grains to my diet with varying degrees of success.

On Wednesday I tried introducing non-glutinous grains at each meal:

Meal 1 – I made quinoa porridge with coconut milk, almond milk, banana, almond meal, cinnamon and nutmeg. This was really delicious and I felt fine afterwards. I did notice I was hungry again in a few hours though, it just didn’t fill me up for as long without a proper serve of protein.

Meal 2 – I had leftover Thai chicken curry with brown rice. This was yummy and not too many side effects. I did feel a bit ‘heavy’ in the stomach after eating, and assumed this was the rice, as I didn’t get that feeling when I ate it sans-rice the night before.

Meal 3 – Beef tacos with crispy corn tortillas. I made these paleo style as I normally would – grilled beef with spices and roast capsicum, coleslaw with homemade mayo, guacamole and lettuce cups. I then added the taco shells on the side. I actually enjoyed these and didn’t really notice any side effects after eating.

So all in all I think non-glutinous grains are ok to add into my diet sometimes. I know from my paleo reading and research that grains are not great for us due to their inflammatory nature; however my body deals ok with them in the short term, so I may include small portions of rice, corn and quinoa from time to time. I will keep trialling and see how I go here.

Today I tried reintroducing glutinous grains:

Meal 1 – I was out for breakfast this morning with a friend and unfortunately the cafe was not very paleo-friendly. There was not really any meal on the menu that I could eat, and they also noted that ‘no modifications’ were possible. So I decided that today would be my day to try gluten grains, and ordered ‘avocado and feta smash with poached eggs on sourdough’. There was only a very minimal amount of feta through the avo (you could hardly see it) so I don’t think dairy was a concern here. I actually really enjoyed the breakfast, although felt I could have easily skipped the bread without missing it. After brekkie though my tummy was really sore for a few hours; I really didn’t fell great at all. At lunch time I was still feeling unsettled and didn’t feel like eating much even though I was hungry. So needless to say I didn’t bother trailing other glutinous grains throughout the day. I think I might need to get tested for actual gluten intolerance.

This picture is my weekly shop at the Greek market – yum soo many good veggies! I soo don’t find Paleo eating restrictive when I see all of this.