My Bread Experiment - gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free, corn-free

I eliminated yeast from my diet last October and have not tried to bring it back...until now. You see, my girls still like to have sandwiches for lunch, and because they are on a very similar diet to my own, I've been buying those bricks that masquerade as loaves of gluten-free bread in the freezer section of the grocery store. (And they cost almost as much as a gold brick.) Well, this weekend we happened to run out of bread and money at the same time, so I decided to finally attempt the recipe I had purchased the ingredients for months ago but had yet to make:  this Everyday Sandwich Bread that is gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free, corn-free and soy-free. I was literally scared to try it, mainly because it does have yeast in it. I don't have much experience baking with yeast and for some reason that intimidated me to my core. I had to  have one of those out-loud pep talks with myself just to get up the guts to try it...mainly because of my fear of failure! Finally my husband - ever the voice of reason - reminded me that the worst that could happen is I'd have to throw it away and start over. Oh...so you mean...the sky won't fall on me? Okay.

So I made it.

And Oh. My. Word. I mean, seriously. I have not had bread since October. So, you might imagine I was going nuts as I could smell this bread baking in my own house. Then I pull it out of the oven and it. is. perfect.

So, I decided at that moment: "Hmm, today seems like a really good day to re-introduce yeast into my diet and see if my body has an intolerance to it." (After doing an elimination diet, if you choose to try and re-introduce a food into your system, you eat it three days in a row.)

I HIGHLY ENJOYED this delicious bread.

My body, alas, did not.

Oh, the PAIN. I finally (after only two days of eating a little of this bread) had to wave the white flag and surrender. Yeast is not for me. Sigh. Double sigh. Triple sigh. Because this bread is GOOD.

But honestly, there is a part of me that's okay with it. You know why? Bread was a food that I always over-indulged on in the past. Knowing what I do now about the little fact that it was making me so ILL kind of helps with my self-control. I mean, I need to have self-control anyway, but...I have a history of not regulating myself when it comes to portion control. You want a piece of bread? Great! You want three or four pieces? Okay! With butter and cinnamon and sugar on top? Why not! But now, I can officially scratch "yeast" off the list of foods that are okay for me to eat.

So while I wipe away a little tear (figuratively), I also do a little happy dance. Because yeast is a slippery slope that leads to bread, which leads to lots of bread, which leads to being sick and overweight and miserable.

And I don't want to go there again.

P.S. And since baking this bread for my family earned me their coveted "best mother on the planet" title, I will now have to torture myself by making the afore-mentioned bread once a week for my children. Ah, a mother's love. Wish me luck. ;-)

P.P.S. please like Whole & Free on Facebook! :-)