The doctor told me that I was having some bad reactions to the wheat (grains) and dairy in my diet, and that I should try cutting them out to see if that was the problem. To my surprise, it was!

I cut out all wheat and dairy from my diet and started focusing on different foods. Now I had no idea about nutrition at the time, so my wonderful mother was the one in charge of making my foods and packing me great lunches! Oh how I miss those days…

Anyways…

In as little as a few days my stomach was doing GREAT! I was not experiencing any problems, and was not getting sick anymore.

For a full YEAR, things continued to stay this way so I thought it would be a good idea to start incorporating small amounts of wheat and dairy back into my diet.

I mean, “nutrition experts” do say that grains and dairy should be a staple in your diet right?

Now in the beginning, it was just some crackers or a carton of yogurt, but over time it became more and more until my body seemed like it could “tolerate” wheat and dairy and that I had “grown out of” those allergens.

When I got to college, things changed dramatically in my eating patterns. I was slowly back on a high grain and high carbohydrate diet because that’s “what was needed for being a basketball player.”

Now I do agree, athletes can handle (and should incorporate) much more carbohydrates than someone who sits around all day doing nothing. But looking back, I am sure my diet was 60% filled with carbohydrates (I will tell you more about just how I incorporated all these carbs and stayed very lean in a later post). The only problem was I started getting sick 4-5 times a year during my college years.

I didn’t understand why I was getting sick so much and it was not until after college that I figured it out.

After massive amounts of research on anything and everything, I came to the conclusion that the reason I was constantly getting sick was simply because of how I was eating!

What I was learning and figuring out brought me all the way back to when I was 12 years old and first got told to try cutting out grains, wheat and dairy from my diet. The doctor who told me that was brilliant.

There was a reason I was not getting sick in those years of having a diet that had little grains and dairy. It was because I wasn’t stuffing my face with foods that were no good for me.

After this discovery I switched my nutritional lifestyle to mostly grain and dairy free, and I had yet to be sick until a few months ago.

Over the Christmas holidays I became sick for the first time since graduating college and you know the reason why?

I was eating like crap. From Christmas parties to family events and everything else in between, I was just not making good decisions about the foods I was eating.

Immediately after the first Christmas party, I felt like garbage because of the foods I ate (and how much I ate) but I kept pushing and eating whatever I wanted. I had it coming to me!

After getting sick, I decided it would be wise to quickly jump back to eating all the foods I truly LOVE eating: good sources of protein, good fats, mass amounts of vegetables, and select carbohydrates. These are the foods that make me feel good, keep me energized, and keep me healthy.

For those of you struggling to find energy, struggling to lose a few pounds, or struggling to get healthy, you really need to look at what you are putting in your body each meal. Only so much can be done in a gym to get you fit, but as the saying goes: “abs are made in the kitchen!”

Nutrition is so important to not only getting you in incredible shape but for your overall health! I challenge you today to put down the grains and cut out some dairy. I promise you, you will start feeling better near instantly!

Remember, I am not against all carbohydrates and grains. There is just a better and more efficient way to eat them to help maximize your results. Check out this article to learn more: Click HERE

Questions or Comments?
I would love to hear your feedback below!