A little over a year ago, I was forced to give up gluten. After over a year of (not so) fun tests, my doctor and I figured out that gluten was causing — or at least seriously aggravating — some disgusting alarming health issues that started when I became pregnant with my second son.

In case you’re not familiar with the gummy protein called gluten, it’s found in wheat, barley and rye, which means it’s in much of the food you and I consider staples: bread, cereal, flour and donuts. What? OK, maybe donuts aren’t considered a staple.

Gluten gives bread its elasticity and provides that nice chewy texture to baked goods that you’ve grown to love.

I’ve been minimizing my life for quite a while now. The journey started with downsizing my possessions. I got radical with clutter patrols and learned to discern between unused junk and real treasures. I hauled, tossed, donated and gifted until I was a seasoned professional.

Then something amazing happened. I was de-cluttered! At least from the random ephemera that surrounds so many people’s lives. It was time to declutter something different.

Me and free exercise go way back.

At the age of 14, I found my sport of choice: rowing. Rowing is all lungs and legs and I was soon made aware of my weak cardiovascular capabilities. The easiest most accessible way for me to improve my fitness when I wasn’t out on the water rowing, was to start running. I clipped out the 12 week to 10k program from the newspaper and started from day one. I made a calendar and stuck it on my bedroom wall and crossed off the runs one by one. In 12 weeks I went from running one minute/walking one minute x 10, to running non-stop for 10 kms. All it cost me was time and motivation.