I woke up feeling fat and achy this morning. This uncomfortable feeling probably has something to do with slipping up a bit last night. After breaking my Wednesday fast with some yogurt and blueberries on Thursday morning, I didn’t eat again until dinner (due to my current work schedule, dinner is VERY late at night), but I regrettably consumed some naan with my salad with grilled chicken.

Flour is something that I intended to avoid for the next four months, but I made the mistake of buying the naan before starting the diet and not finishing it off. I put it in the freezer hoping that I wouldn’t touch it for four months, but that was overly optimistic. Despite my salad being oversized (I wanted to use up all the ingredients before they went bad), I was still hungry after finishing it, so I had some naan and hummus.

One piece of naan contains 50 grams of carbohydrates. This is the problem with breads: they’re extremely carbohydrate-dense. Unfortunately, I love bread, so I couldn’t resist the urge to fill my stomach a bit more after finishing my giant salad. When I weighed myself today, I weighed exactly the same as I did yesterday. Had I not indulged myself, I would have likely lost at least a bit of weight.

Evidence suggests that flour causes inflammation. It breaks down quickly in the body and causes a surge of insulin in the blood, which results in inflammation. Flour also contains gluten (and, from the ingredients list, naan includes added gluten), which also causes inflammation. So, it’s very likely that the discomfort I’m feeling today is the result of consuming the carbohydrate-laden bread with extra gluten added.

Anyway, lesson learned. I’m fasting again today, so the downward trend in body weight should be kick-started again. And I should feel better once the inflammation cools.