Gluten Free Love

I have been gluten free for 3 years, and it has litterally saved my life, (and my marriage). It has led me to the path of whole foods, organic and non-gmo living. Life has never been better.
It’s like having a secret that I want to shout from the rooftops for everyone to know and make the choice for better health for themselves and their families!
Thank you glutenfreegal for your share of shouting! Keep it up!

-AZshell-

Thank you for this article! Great information and wonderful spirit. I, too, am happy being gluten free. I laugh (and get a little sad) when people act like, “oh, your poor thing!”. I wish I could spread the word about the difference it has made in our family’s health and well being, and to let people know that far from a “death sentence”, it has saved our lives and our sanity!

-Kimberlee-

Whenever I get frustrated with my food choices, and the lifestyle I now lead, I remind myself how fortunate I am that 1) it’s not life-threatening, and 2) it’s forcing me to be more healthy, which I should have been doing anyway.

-Donovan Moore-

Yes I know the guilt too well. I was poisoning my baby quite literally to (near) death. My then 5 year old was always in trouble for acting “crazy” and told to get control of himself when he pooping his pants & jumpy at meals. My daughter was always sleepy and covered in bruises and I dismissed it because she was just like me. I had gained too much weight (even though I barely ate), was lazy & too often grumpy as my marriage to my best friend was crumbling because he had over the years become a person I no longer recognized (I even called him by a fictitious name because I saw that guy as a terrible person). And it was all because of GLUTEN. But I won’t let myself feel this guilt. I have tremendous anger at the medical profession for being so bad at recognizing celiac disease. But I’m dealing with it because there are good doctors who are mad about it too & this too will improve. Mostly, I am SO EXTREMELY GRATEFUL to have answers, to have my baby grow into a robust toddler, to have my 8yr old focused and happy and strong, to have a beautiful daughter who isn’t tired or bruised, to be happy with myself for the 1st time in years (even though I’m facing other issues that make my fatigue and brain fog an ongoing battle) and to have MY husband back and be happily married to my best friend again, knowing he isn’t going to fall into the deep hole of mental illness that his older sister lives within.

When I start to feel the guilt or anger… I find a stranger with symptoms on twitter and tell them my story or answer a forum post on celiac.com or start a business promoting gluten free done right or come up with outlandish ideas to change the world…The sky is the limit! Push off the guilt, your daughter will grow up healthy and you did that!!

-dogfreeright-

Right on! I feel your pain. I feel like being social with food often puts my health in a compromising position. People don’t get it and you’re so right that there should be regulations governing gluten free labeling at restaurants. Somehow I end up leaving payment and a tip for a service that renders internal damage. This isn’t going away…we have to find a better way!

-mountaingrl33-

After a year off of gluten, my hands aren’t numb anymore and I can play the piano and flute like I used to. I was a music major in college so numb hands was a huge bummer. I also found out that I cant tolerate dairy and soy. I can tolerate dairy if it’s cooked, but no soy, under any circumstances, will ever cross these lips again! Wow! What a difference!

J. Binder

I have CD. Ironically, I say it was my best diagnosis. Since being GF , I feel so much better and so far lost over 50 lbs. It’s a major task at restaurants, and even in my own household or family gatherings. I educate as I can. I have a demyelination Syndrome similar to MS. Before the diagnosis, I was living w brain fog, other cognitive issues, muscle pain, severe fatigue, on and on. Food would just run through me with intense stomach pain. Not fun. I’m also glad there is such an awareness. It all helps getting the industry to understand. I particular appreciate it when restaurants truly understand the logistics to serve true gluten free meals. Take care, all!

-Leslie W-

I used to have brain tingles as well … I described them to my doctor as my “zoom, zooms” .. just this quick “zoom” (tingle), and then gone. Fortunately since being Gfree, no more zooms!

-Paula@celiaccorner

Great blog Kirsten, and for me it’s dairy and sugar as well, eating out is like walking through a mine field. Not only do I call the restaurant as suggested, in off hours, I remind the hostess when I arrive that I had made a request by phone regarding my diet, I arrive earlier than my friends or I let my waiter know as I head to ‘wash my hands’. I hate making it an issue in front of everyone.
In addition, I keep high fiber protein snacks that I make myself with me, and I also eat 100-200 or 300 calories of the snacks before I leave for a party, I weigh them as I make them and freeze them. Survival of the Fittest!

-Elaine Good-

I too double over in severe pain, then spend lots of time in the bathroom and when I can safely leave the bathroom I am totally wiped out, exhausted and just want to sleep. I also get really hot, break out in red splotches on my face, neck, chest and stomach. Then the rest of the symptoms come…bad headache, aching joints, cold and hot flashes, body pain, super tired even after a nap (if possible), the bloated stomach and very irritable. If I am lucky, it is just for the rest of day but most times I am not that lucky. Depending on the amount of gluten I digested I can be sick any where from a day to 3 weeks. Some people just don’t get it and say stupid stuff like I am over reacting…really?? Who would want to be that sick and that much pain? I also have a hard time eating out anywhere especially people’s homes. It took me a long time to learn to cook and investigate gluten free cooking so how can I trust someone that ‘thinks’ they know It after Googled it. I agree restaurants that want to serve gluten free food should educate ALL of their staff. I have only been to 3 places that the staff knew their stuff: Red Lobster, Plae Bistro, and Red Robin. Good luck in your recovery process, I feel for you, I really do! 🙂

-Debbie Coppens-

Tags: CELIAC DISEASE, community, Gluten Free, GlutenFreeGal

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Comments

    • Sue Watson
    • February 7, 2014
    Reply

    I was interested in the brain tingles comment. When I tried to describe it to my doctor, his comment was he’d never heard of anything like that. I don’t have them anymore.

    1. I’m glad Sue, they sound pretty awful.

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I was diagnosed w/ Celiac disease in 2010, after 7 agonizing years of misdiagnosis. Once I started living gluten free I felt 100% better than I did, but something was still amiss. Giving up gluten was only the beginning of my long journey to gut health and healing.

Everyone is different, there’s not one lifestyle that can work for everyone. Living the gluten free lifestyle is not an easy one and can be very overwhelming: from grocery shopping and social events, to deglutening your own household. I

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