- This is all the stuff that I have to give up?
Oh no!
- I have this like, butterfly rash.
- Elasticity or something.
(laughing hysterically)
We gon' tuck him in there.
- [Crystal] I forgot what my knee caps looked like,
to be honest.
(band music playing)
- So I recently did a video, in which some friends
and I took a blood test to find out whether or not
we had any sensitivities to foods.
The results were kind of heartbreaking.
Number one thing that I am reactive to
is wheat and gluten. - That sucks.
- So I personally deal with a lot of inflammation
and joint pain because of arthritis.
In that video that I did, a lot of people
in the comments asked me to actually give up gluten
for 30 days; so that's what I'm gonna do
because you asked for it.
But I don't wanna do it alone, so I asked
a few friends to join me.
- My name's David; I took a food sensitivity test
and ended up being sensitive to gluten among other things.
I really just wanna see if removing gluten
gives me a different perspective, a different feeling
or, you know, kind of changes anything overall, health wise.
- I'm very mindful of what I put into my body.
I'm really interested in what the difference is gonna
happen with my body, if anything at all.
- [Crystal] Are you upset that I surrounded you
by all the things that you're gonna have to give up?
- This is all the stuff that I have to give up?
I thought it was just nice decor; oh no.
- I do like whiskey; I'm hoping th-- it does?
(harp playing)
No whiskey; so I can't drink to deal with the pain
of not being able to have bread.
- No one told me that; nobody read my last name.
I'm Italian, I can't give up pasta.
- I'm extremely upset with Crystal for asking me to do this.
Maybe at the end, after I feel accomplished,
then I'll be happy, but for right now
we're not friends anymore.
- [Crystal] Awww. - Because she represents
me no longer having avocado test.
- [Crystal] So going into week one,
I was feeling pretty confident.
I just got home from gluten-free grocery shopping
for the first time.
I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on where
you find gluten in different foods,
so I was actually pretty surprised
when I found that a lot of things I was expecting
to be naturally (stuttering), naturally gluten-free
ended up not being.
I went to my grab my favorite salad dressing
and I realized it has wheat in it.
Actually, all of the salad dressings that I looked at
had wheat in them.
- Now I have to go through everything that's
in my fridge because I didn't realize
that my barbecue sauce had gluten.
The bummer of salad dressings was really off putting;
croutons because I eat salad everyday.
I was like, oh I'll just find like, gluten-free croutons;
impossible.
- But I was surprised to find some things
that I could still enjoy, like rice is gluten-free,
obviously without the kinda wheat variant there.
It didn't take away sushi, so that was nice.
I kinda had a way to treat myself.
- I sort of ended up just buying a lot of fresh produce
and it was a lot cheaper than I was expecting.
- A lot of the vegan foods that I'd already had
like, I think it was like a chick pea pasta,
that was gluten-free so that was a good benefit
but I definitely needed to do a lot more research
and a lot more studying to make sure I'm actually
sticking to completely gluten-free across the board.
- We are feasting on some mofongo stuffing
for our holiday sprint week and it is to die for.
- I don't get to eat the mofongo because
it has gluten in it.
- Week one it was like, oh this is interesting;
I'm gonna explore.
Week two I was like, this is annoying.
I just wasn't having enough variety because I was like,
oh this has gluten in it and so I'm not gonna find
the alternative or it was really difficult
to find the alternative.
- Definitely excited to get it over with.
I miss avocado toast, I miss pasta, pizza,
I don't even eat cake that much but I miss that too.
- I will admit to you that in week two
I did cheat a little, twice.
Once was a total accident.
We were testing a recipe for a food video
that I was working on and it was this incredible
short ribs with cauliflower mash and I had to try it
obviously, but I totally forgot that there was flour in it.
Afterwards I felt pretty crappy, but I don't know
if that was from the gluten or from the shame.
- I had a really bad day; I'm eating gluten, a lot of it.
Sorry.
I felt awful about myself cause I was like,
I'm supposed to be committing to this;
it didn't feel any better.
It was like I went out and got drunk,
but instead I actually just ate gluten.
- And then there was this pretzel incident.
I just donated blood and you know how afterwards
they tell you, you need to sit and relax, eat something.
So I went to get myself a snack.
(suspenseful music playing)
Without even thinking about it, I just put pretzels
and chocolate covered almonds into this cup.
I put a pretzel in my mouth and then I realized,
oh wait I'm gluten-free.
- Today was a rough day at work and I feel like
I deserve a small piece of sourdough bread.
I mean like, you know, it gets tough, you know
out here in these streets, trying to not
just eat gluten when you enjoy avocado toast
as much as I do.
But you know, we got through that; we stepped
over that hurdle and we got back on the horse.
(popping sounds)
- Week three I really started to struggle.
I found myself craving things that I don't
normally eat anyway.
I don't know if it was just that thing
of when you can't have something you just
really want it more, but I was definitely
driving the struggle bus.
I've had a very long day and as I was driving home
all I wanted was some french fries.
I can't even remember the last time that I ate french fries
but tonight I was determined.
I wanted some french fries so I pulled over
just so that I could Google where, what fast-food chain
has gluten-free french fries and the results I got
said nowhere.
From what I found online, most places fry their fries in oil
that also touches other things that have gluten in them.
It's cross contamination.
So I came home and I happened to have some sweet potatoes
and I made (giggling) some french fries.
I didn't wanna wait for them to bake so I pan fried them.
(crunching)
It's not the same. It's not the same.
- It wasn't too hard to kinda fill my cart
with stuff that was gluten-free.
I actually was able to find some gluten-free mac and cheese,
so that definitely saved the day
and, you know, kinda made me
feel better since I was able to still incorporate
some of those comfort type foods.
- I've been reaching out to other people who are gluten-free
to get an idea of what they eat and things like that,
to kinda take on that lifestyle choice
as opposed to just figuring stuff out and substituting
some stuff or just not eating bread for 30 days.
Cause I wanna know what does this lifestyle
actually look like; what does this diet actually look like
and is it something that will work for me
past this challenge?
- I ended up going over to a friend's house for dinner.
I assumed ahead of time, that there was not gonna
be anything that I could eat and so I actually came prepared
with food for myself just in case.
But when I got there, it turned out that he was actually
also following a gluten-free diet.
So he made this really great spaghetti
with brown rice noodles.
I didn't miss spaghetti at all that day.
- So when we got to week four, it's like okay,
we've been doing this for quite a while;
kinda playing the dance of, you know, avoiding bread
and dreaming of it.
And at that point, you know, the discipline was there.
I felt like and it wasn't so difficult to kinda
steer clear of some of those things.
- Going out has still been a little bit of an issue,
just in regards to eating but luckily I do live
in Los Angeles so there is a wide variety of options.
- [Man] What did you get?
- I got a burger with a gluten-free bun
and a gluten-free beer.
(squealing)
Oh my god.
- I would wonder what it would be like for somebody
who doesn't live, in like a large city,
and stuff like that.
- I went to Palm Springs and I was hit with the hard
reality that I live in a gluten-free friendly
little bubble in Los Angeles.
There's not a single gluten-free bread on this aisle.
It is making finding groceries a little bit difficult.
- But that's the other thing that like, kinda stinks.
It's like for me I'm doing a challenge,
but for these other people it's like,
well what if you don't have the capability
to like, order this stuff online.
- I also visited my family on that trip
and, you know what look: I have seven older siblings.
So I'm usually the butt of the joke
when it comes to my weird wellness adventures.
So I just wanted to avoid having to have
that conversation and say that I wasn't eating gluten;
and it backfired.
I've noticed that my cheeks are particularly rosy
in a way that they have not been in a while.
I'm having a bit of a hard time convincing myself
that this is coincidental; that I'm eating
a bunch of gluten, I drank a beer, and all of a sudden
I have this like, butterfly rash.
During this whole month, I've only seen that rash twice
and both times it was directly after I ate
something with gluten in it.
- I feel like, pretty good.
So I don't know if that's because of the gluten
and like, the placebo effect or it was actually
making a difference.
I normally use activated charcoal for my stomach.
I will get stomach upset, I'll get a lot of bloating,
discomfort and pain almost.
Now I realize that I have not used it
since I went gluten-free which is so interesting.
And the only difference that I've had in the past month
is taking out gluten; there's literally nothing
else that I've changed.
- I will have to say that I felt like, less bloated
and less like, lethargic and kinda groggy
after some meals where I had gluten replacements.
Even when I had like, a gluten-free pasta for example,
like you know, I had my feel; it was really good
and everything, but I wasn't like, necessarily just
kind of like stuck afterwards.
So I did wonder if like, that's one of the main things
that I could get from it.
- I was just laying down to go to sleep
at the beginning of week four and I looked down
and noticed something that I've not seen
in a very long time which is swollen knees.
I forgot what my knee caps looked like, to be honest.
I just walking around on marshmallows for legs, basically.
It was such a stark contrast to how I usually feel
that I was just kind of on the gluten-free train.
- I think as much as I can moving forward,
I would probably stick gluten-free.
I mean, now that I've found different substitutions
and variations of things that I enjoy,
why wouldn't I just stay with it
and I'm glad that I did this challenge because of it.
- You know it's interesting.
I definitely am going to go and have, probably
three pieces of avocado toast.
Let's see, maybe some penne pasta with some pesto
and maybe some devil's food cake; I don't know.
I did for sure have a countdown on my phone
to get some bread and I definitely made sure
to have some avocado toast after I finished.
- So after taking the sensitivity test,
doing a bunch of research, and doing this 30 day challenge,
I think it's safe to say that I do actually have
a gluten sensitivity and moving forward,
I fully intend to continue being gluten-free.
Thank you guys for watching and for your concern
for our health and suggesting that we do this video
because without you, I would not be feeling this good
right now.
If there are any other health and wellness challenges
that you want us to try, let us know in the comments below.
With some of my research I saw that gluten is like,
what gives bread its' elasticity or something, so.
(laughing hysterically)
We gon' tuck him in there.
That's all that is; see this is gluten-free
cause it was supposed to.
(gentle music playing)