During college, I did a study abroad program in China. I spent a few months living in Hong Kong and traveling elsewhere in Asia, enjoying the local cuisine. I felt great. I assumed it was simply from the excitement of exploring somewhere new, but then, there’s not much in the way of gluten in Asia.
When I returned to the US, I started to feel ill again pretty quickly. I had a lot of digestive issues—heartburn, upset stomach, nausea, not wanting to eat, and no matter how well I did eat or how much I exercised, I could not lose weight. Needless to say, I found this more than a little frustrating.
Nearly a year went by, but since my symptoms were sporadic and not very severe, it was assumed that they were unrelated. However, one day, while helping a friend shop for her wedding gown, my stomach started cramping so bad that I passed out. That triggered a flurry of tests, and then my doctor called.
“I’m kind of surprised,” she said, “but your blood work came back positive for Celiac.”
I had no idea what that meant. She recommended a gluten free diet, whatever that was. At work that day, I started doing some research. That research, in turn, triggered tears.
Never again eat flour? How was that supposed to work? Everything was made out of flour! I spent a day mourning the loss of brownies and red velvet cake, and then I set to work.
I somehow managed to cut gluten out of my diet. I dropped five pounds in a week, felt fantastic in a matter of days, and I was a lot happier. I was set, right?
Wrong. I went to see a Gastrointestinal doctor, who wanted to do a biopsy to confirm the Celiac diagnosis. To do that, I had to start eating gluten again. That was great for the first week. I ate absolutely everything I had missed when I was gluten free. Around week two, I started to feel not so great. By week six, I was miserable, and so was everyone who lived with me. After the biopsy, my mother told me (in that "I don't mean this to hurt you" way only moms can truly manage), “I hope you stick to the gluten free diet. You’re kind of mean when you don’t.”
Right. Mean, miserable, sick all the time, gaining weight whenever I breathed. I was determined I wasn’t doing the gluten thing ever again.
My mom was a great advocate for me, and went out of her way to find recipes and goodies I could safely eat. At all the family functions, she made sure there were cookies or brownies just for me. What she couldn’t tell me, however, was just how many things I was going to have to avoid.
After a month or two, I made the mistake of ordering a steak with Jack Daniel’s sauce. Within an hour, I was sick. In the following four days that I was ill, I started my research again. Clearly, gluten wasn’t just in baked or battered goods. I also had to watch out for sauces, lip products, everything that could potentially get in my mouth.
It didn’t take long after that for me to start noticing that all of my makeup, hair products, cleansers, etc. that still contained gluten were causing me to break out. I set about the heartbreaking and expensive process of cleansing my house of gluten and replacing everything with GF products. It took time and no small amount of money. While I’m healthier and it was worth it in the end, the time and expense was often discouraging.
The process of learning everything that must be avoided, products that are not only safe but worth the money, and what questions to ask at restaurants, is a very daunting one. It was a process that I navigated mainly on my own, and I made many mistakes along the way. My aim is to provide an all-inclusive resource to anyone going gluten free or continuing to live the life. This blog will contain everything I found useful: product reviews, recipes, links to helpful sites, list of safe products, and any other information I come upon. I’m by no means an expert, but I’m hoping that my experiences can help others in their gluten free journeys.
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