i've had a lot of questions about why the gluten free (gf) life...so i thought i'd share a little about my journey so far.
2013: we found out we were expecting but shortly after experienced our first (& only) miscarriage. a few months after that i realized i had been dealing with some strange physical ailments (that i was originally attributing to pregnancy). i was achy in my joints, feeling bloated & nauseous. i remember talking to hubs about how bad i felt every time i would eat. for the first few days we even thought i may have had a bug of some kind. i was running to the bathroom with diarrhea but then the same day would have problems with constipation. something just didn't feel right. i constantly felt (ridiculously) tired & groggy & it was like i was living in a fog. at one point, we actually thought i may be expecting again. i really felt pregnant which was so strange since every pregnancy test still read negative. i was also having headaches everyday but that wasn't really anything new because i often had headaches.
one day (i can specifically remember it) i ate toast for breakfast, had crackers & soup for lunch, baked a loaf of bread & ate it a few slices of it through the afternoon...that same evening i was at a dinner meeting & felt SO TERRIBLY MISERABLE. i approached a friend of mine who is a nurse & told her about how i was feeling. this was the first time i really heard about "gluten sensitivity." she suggested that i take gluten out of my diet for the next few days & see if it helped. weeell, what is the world is "gluten??" after seeking professional medical help (aka googling "gluten sensitivity"), i read the list of symptoms...OH MY GOSH, i had them ALL. one article even mentioned "feeling pregnant" as a possible symptom. how weird! it all finally made sense. in another article it actually mentioned miscarriage as a possible "symptom." (since then there has been even more information about the possibility that pregnancy "turns on" gluten intolerance & that a gluten-free diet can reverse infertility. i am in no way saying i am a medical expert on this. if you suspect you may have celiac disease or a food allergy, please talk to a doctor about it.)
i got this from celiac.org: Since there is currently no blood test for gluten sensitivity, the only way to be diagnosed is to undergo the screening and diagnostic tests required to confirm celiac disease. A diagnosis of gluten sensitivity is confirmed when you are not diagnosed with celiac disease or wheat allergy, and your symptoms diminish after starting a gluten-free diet, followed by a return of symptoms when gluten is reintroduced into your diet. There is no cure for gluten sensitivity, and the only treatment is to follow a gluten-free diet. (Read more at https://celiac.org/celiac-disease/non-celiac-gluten-sensitivity)
personally, i have never been tested. actually, a few years ago, when i began this lifestyle, i was told there was no conclusive way to determine if you were gluten sensitive, so i never pursued it.
back to 2013: for the next few days (after talking to my nurse friend), i read all the labels & paid close attention to what i was eating. "no wheat, rye or barley" after about 3 days, i felt like this fog was lifted. i felt like myself again. i didn't realize how much i was being affected not only physically but also emotionally by my diet! i assumed this feeling of sort of depression stemmed from my recent miscarriage but as i began to feel like myself again, everything changed--for the better. my attitude changed. my energy came back. the headaches went away. i felt...thinner? (goodbye bloating) yay for possible answers! and wah, for what this really meant...
NO MORE BREAD.
how am i supposed to live without olive garden breadsticks OR papa john's pizza OR bob evan's strawberry supreme pie??? or all the many delicacies that this world has to offer?!
well, it's definitely been a rocky road-especially for someone who is not very disciplined like me. thankfully, i quickly found a local support group on facebook that has been great to answer all my questions. it's also been a great time (if there ever is one) to be gf with all the new gf options available on the market now. we switched the flour in our home to only gluten free flour. and we all only eat gluten free pasta (you really can't tell the difference). everything we bake is also gluten free. the only thing i haven't convinced hubs to get rid of...his white bread. nope. he says that's not happening. sooo, because of that i keep my own toaster. (i also keep my own butter, peanut butter & mayo containers that we mark "GF" so there's no cross contamination).
i also found focusing on all the things i CAN eat has helped. and overall, it has helped me to learn how to better manage what i eat. it has also showed me that i can be disciplined with things in life. i truly believe God allowed this trial to happen to show me that. being disciplined has always been one of the biggest things i have struggled with in my life. my philosophy: when you experience trials, the best thing to do is find a way to be thankful. actually, that's bible. (james 1:2-4)
quick gf tip: if you still want to eat out while being gf, a few things: 1. tell the server (they often have special precautions they can take in preparing your food) 2. look up special gf menu's beforehand or ask for one when you there (many places have one now) 3. you can look up allergy information online beforehand 4. be aware the possibility for cross contamination is still there.
*i've also found that i can adapt most baking recipes to be gf by just substituting in gf flour.
my favorites: aldi's has some amazing gf options at an affordable price! i love their whole grain bread, frozen pancakes, crackers, cookies, pretzels & all of their baking mixes-especially the banana muffin mix-AMAZING! walmart has my favorite gf spaghetti option (corn-based!). van's makes a favorite gf snack of mine, cheese crackers (i missed cheez-its!). i like to hit up kroger for THE BEST frozen blueberry muffins by udi's. lots of cereals & chips are already gluten free bc they are rice/corn or potato based-yay!
SOOOO...a fun little twist on my gluten free journey:
i decided it was time to do or die (poor choice of words). i wanted to be tested. i wasn't pregnant, trying to get pregnant, or breastfeeding. so now was the time. i wanted to know what i was dealing with. BUT in order to be tested, you have to have gluten in your system. SO, let's eat gluten. the first thing i thought of was little caesar's breadsticks. for whatever reason, they sounded like heaven. we also had a few oreo's left at our house & they HAD to be mine. then, the waiting. waiting for the sickness to kick in. waiting for a massive headache. but nothing ever came. weeeird. now what. let's keep eating gluten.
days passed & still nothing.
as of now, it's been a couple of weeks & i still feel fine. what does it all mean?!
TURNS OUT, you can have pregnancy-induced gluten sensitivity (just like so many other food aversions/intolerances). it's somehow linked to hormonal issues. we were expecting when i first started feeling bad but i chalked it up to typical pregnancy woes. we had a miscarriage soon after. (there's also talk about a possible connection between gluten & infertility.) so i took gluten out of my diet & bam, we were pregnant with olive. now that my body (and hormones) have returned to normal...no more gluten sensitivity apparently! you guys, i can eat anything again!! i'm not gonna lie, this past week has basically been a free-for-all rediscovering my favorite foods again. every time i pick up something i once was unable to eat, i break out in song..."a whole new world." y'all know how i love me some disney.
also, my heart is still with all my gf peeps out there. keep fighting the good fight. i will never forget you.
xo
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