9 Years of Being Gluten-Free: My Celiac & Digestive Journey
For those who don’t know, celiac is a chronic immune-mediated disorder triggered by gluten ingestion.
For a big part of my life, I have struggled with digestion issues. I remember many nights where I couldn’t eat due to my severe bloating. As a young kid, my Dad was always taking me to doctors where they tested me for everything from too much acid in my stomach to too little. I was always breaking out in rashes and hives, couldn’t use certain detergents, and would be up sick many nights unable to digest my food. But, we didn’t give up, and after visiting a doctor in Rhinebeck who decided to have a full blood work done up to determine everything I was allergic to.
The results came back and the list of foods I was allergic to was 2 full pages long. Everything from pineapple, hazelnuts, red dye #40, shellfish, fish, gluten, corn, broccoli, kale, milk, just the egg yolk, and over a dozen other foods. So, one by one I began cutting them out of my diet. It was hard because many of these foods are LOVED by me, like pineapple and corn but I had to do it. This is also when I stopped eating gluten and became gluten-free. It won’t be for another 5-6 years that I am diagnosed with celiac (after a test was run on me).
The effects of cutting out these foods were felt almost immediately. My bloating began to subside and my hives and rashes went away. Fast forward 9 years to today. Many of my less severe allergies like eggs, corn, broccoli, milk, kale…. have gone away so I can eat them in small quantities but the more severe ones, the ones I have anaphylaxis too like gluten, shellfish, hazelnuts, fish… I still avoid and most likely always will.
Eating gluten-free can be a struggle at times but the way I was living before cutting it out makes every struggle in finding something gluten-free seem like nothing.
To anyone out there dealing with digestion issues, get your food allergies tested. This was the best thing I ever did and has completely changed my life! I now live a healthy and holistic life focusing on my gut health to heal other issues I have dealt with more recently. Knowledge is POWER! So learn as much about yourself as you can and there is a path to healing yourself holistically.
What allergies do you have? Comment below!
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