Bye Bye Gluten!

Monday, January 30, 2012

Hola!

It's Monday, Monday, gotta go to work on Monday! Cheezy? I know! How was everyone's weekend?

Last week, I was hit with a nasty illness like a ton of bricks! I'm not sure if it was the flu or just a yucky upper respiratory infection, but either way the runny nose, sore throat, gross sounding cough, body aches, and fever that accompanied said mysterious illness were not fun. I still have a bit of a runny nose and cough, but other than that, I'm headed back in the right direction! :) Whoop!

I worked a little bit on Saturday morning, and then spent Saturday afternoon and evening with my wonderful in-laws. We went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday and then we went to my favorite brunch spot, Cafe de Brazil on Sunday! So fun! Of course Sunday was spent watching E play football, grocery shopping, and doing laundry.

If only laundry was actually this cute! source

So on to the meat of the story. Being a part of the healthy living blog community has really opened my eyes to how food can affect how you feel on a day to day basis. I have always believed in healthy eating and exercise, but I never fully understood how much food can affect certain people in certain ways. I've always suffered from headaches more often than normal people, and when I got to college they increased in intensity and frequency. I tried everything I could think of to get rid of them; yoga, massage, sleeping on heating pads, numerous different kids of medicine, cutting out sugar, cutting out artificial sweeteners, cutting out meat, cutting out caffeine, etc. You name it, I had probably tried it, or so I thought.

I started learning more and more about gluten intolerance as I read other healthy living blogs, and slowly, I started to connect some of my other symptoms I wrote of as this that or the other to my headaches namely my ulcers, numbness in my feet and hands (my feet could fall asleep while I was standing up, not normal), random upset stomachs, anxiousness, and trouble sleeping. The more research I did, the more it made sense. I decided to visit the doctor in December, and she said that they could run a blood tests but the best way to tell was to completely cut out gluten and see how you felt. I figured it couldn't hurt to give it a try right? I would pretty much try anything that had a chance of getting rid of my headaches!

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This all happened about two weeks before Christmas, so going into Christmas not exactly knowing how this whole gluten-free eating thing works was a little scary. I pretty much googled every single thing that went in my mouth for the first couple of weeks. I typed in "is ____ gluten-free" so many times on my iphone, rapid text started to fill in "gluten free" automatically (yes, I'm serious).  I stuck with "safe foods" such as fruits, vegetables, lean meat, and anything that was clearly labeled gluten-free. I made it through Christmas pretty safely thanks to the watchful eye of my little sister Emily and my wonderful husband who surprised me with a goody bag full of gluten-free food when we arrived in College Station.

I kind of felt like I was grasping at straws when I decided to give this way of eating a try. Could this really be what was causing my headaches and other symptoms all these years? I had always imagined that people who suffered from a gluten allergy had terrible stomach aches all the time, and that wasn't me. I had no idea it could manifest itself in so many different ways.

I have been gluten-free for over a month and a half now, and I can honestly say I can't believe how amazing I feel. I used to have 2-3 headaches a week, and since I've stopped eating gluten I've only had 2-3 total! My stomach feels better, I sleep better, and I have not had one ulcer since I went gluten-free. Now that my friends, is a miracle! I am completely convinced this was the right decision for my and I am so grateful to all of the wonderful bloggers who opened my eyes to gluten intolerance!

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I by no means think gluten-free is for everyone, but for me, it has made an unbelievable difference in how I feel. I am still learning how to eat gluten-free, and I still predominately purchase products with the symbol below on them at Kroger (just to be safe), but I am committed to making it work and to learning how to cook delicious gluten-free meals.

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Some of you may have already noticed that the last couple of recipes I have posted have been gluten free, and I hope there will be many more delicious experiments to come in the future. My in-laws gave me this beauty for my birthday, and I am excited to share some new recipes with you this week. As you can see, I have already tabbed my favorites. Orange - Eric will eat, Pink - I want to try.



Thanks for listening to me babble on and on about my new journey! I hope you will join me as I experiment with gluten free cooking and learn how to nourish my body for optimum health and energy! :)

Do you have any food allergies? How have they changed your life?

If you are a gluten-free blogger, I would love to connect with you! Link up below!

In health,


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