I am beginning to see more and more information cycling about the drawbacks of modern wheat as part of the American diet. The problem, as I said to the husband, is that I cannot tell if I am really seeing more information cycling or if I am seeing more information cycling because I am self-selecting what I read. I am sure the latter plays a large part, although the SixServings blog of the Grain Foods Foundation recently got hammered with 114 comments in defense of a wheat-free diet. Someone said to me recently that "wheat is the new tobacco." I don't know if I would go that far, but the tide seems to be turning.

Certainly all it took for me was one bowl of soup thickened with flour to know that I shouldn't be eating the stuff.

I've learned a few things in the past couple of weeks.

I have figured out that I can have some carbs in limited quantities. One of the meals we love is burritos. Obviously the flour tortillas are out, but my burrito filling has rice and beans in it, along with ground beef. I made it the other night, and enjoyed a bowl of burrito filling topped with cheese, Wholly Guacamole, and sour cream. Yum. And the scale hasn't budged. I am hoping that I will be able to do beans a couple of times a week, as they factor heavily into my winter soup menus.

I discovered that Greek Gods full-fat plain greek yogurt has fewer carbs in it that the non-fat (remember what I said about adding sugar for flavor?). I was so trained to grab the non-fat variety that I will have to make a conscious effort to pick up the green carton instead of the blue one. I like my greek yogurt with a bit of stevia and some blueberries.

Cooking is not as difficult as I thought it would be. Cooking for me is easy. Cooking for me and the husband is realtively easy. Cooking for me, the husband, and a picky 14-year-old is a challange. However, she is absent at dinnertime three times a week (see comments below), so on those nights I go hog wild and make the kinds of things I know she won't eat (like Indian food, which I made last night).

We have friends who own a packing company here in town and make a wonderful line of sausages called Redneck Sausage. We eat Cheddar Dawgs (sauage with cheese), Hot Hens (chicken sausage with jalapenos, the husband's fave), and Italiano Reggiano, which goes into my pasta e fagioli soup. I happened to stop at the grocery store one morning around 6:00 after dropping DD#2 off for cheerleading practice. Who should be there but my friend, restocking the shelves with Redneck Sausage. He commented on my new diet, and I said to him, "You know, the best part of this diet is that I am allowed to eat Cheddar Dawgs. How could that be bad?" (Their stuff is so good that my family always requests a Redneck ham for our Christmas dinner.)

So on balance, I am not missing the wheat or the sugar. I did get a craving for something sweet last night, but a bowl of strawberries took care of that.

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Cheerleading season continues apace. One of the things I have had to come to grips with is that DD#2 is bopping around town with way more frequency than her sister did, due in large part to her cheerleading schedule.

The husband, of course, latched onto this right away and said to me, "You don't have any angst about allowing DD#2 to do things you never would have let DD#1 do at that age?" He and I are both eldest children, and we've had many sessions of lament about the fact that we had to wait to do certain things, only to see our younger siblings given the green light for those same activities at a much younger age. I swore I would never do that to my children—but practicality wins out over principle, at least in this case.

These are also very different children. DD#1 was much more cautious and introverted at that age. DD#2 is ready to go out and embrace everything the world has to offer and could she please have a tall vanilla latte with whipped cream with that? In that respect she is much more like me and I just have to suck it up and remember that I raised my children to be compentent people and they don't need a hovercraft mother watching their every move. If I feel the need to set a boundary, DD#2 (so far) has been gracious about honoring it. She's cognizant of the fact that she has more freedom than her sister did at that age, and she's not about to risk having it taken away.

Besdies, the husband and I are getting glimpses of what our life will be like when we don't have kids at home any more, and we rather like what we see.