Gluten Free Friday: My Story

Hey guys! I've been a bit strapped for cash lately and haven't had the opportunity to try anything gluten free that was worth sharing. So I figured, you guys are still getting to know me, why not share my story and see if anyone else can relate!

Back in 2006 I was a sophomore in high school, (Sheesh ya'll, that was 7 years ago! Yikes!) my Mom become very ill and in the end was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. When she was diagnosed they explained to her it was a genetic disease, so my brother and I were tested and both had a positive diagnosis. Being the... charming... 16 year old that I was I of course completely rejected this idea and was convinced all blood tests were faulty and that I had received a false positive. Looking back I feel awful about how selfish I was because my 9 year old brother and mother adopted the diet immediately with little to no complaint, tsk tsk little Maureen, how rude! So I went through high school in pretty severe discomfort, having stomach attacks rather frequently, yet still convinced I didn't have a problem.

Fast forward to my sophomore year of college, I was losing weight pretty rapidly! Go me, right? Wrong. My hair was also falling out, thinning out to probably about half the thickness I had when I was healthy, my skin was a mess, and I was constantly dizzy and nauseous. I finally agreed to an endoscopy where it was confirmed I absolutely had Celiac Disease, they also discovered I was severely malnourished and dehydrated as a side effect; and so I committed to a gluten free diet in October of 2010.

I'm assuming if you're reading this post you know a bit about Celiac Disease, but in case you don't and you're completely lost at this point, i'll give you a brief run down. Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disease which frequently expresses itself as an intolerance to Gluten. Gluten is a bi-product of wheat, used commonly as a filler and found in most grains such as wheat, barley, malt, and oats.When someone who has Celiac Disease ingests gluten, externally they will most commonly experience immense pain and IBS like symptoms. The real trouble happens internally, the gluten irritates the villi (small finger like tissue) in the lining of the stomach. The irritation over time will cause the villi to flatten, and therefore they will stop absorbing nutrients, resulting in malnourishment. It also causes sever irritation to the intestinal lining, overtime continued exposure can even result in stomach cancer. So basically if the doc tells you to stop eating gluten, don't be a rebel without a cause like me :/ i'm paying the consequences now. Womp.

Of course there have been slip ups in the past three years, where I didn't know something had gluten in it, or someone preparing my food made a mistake, but I have been completely dedicated to the diet outside of accidents. My body is healthier, more nourished and functioning properly, my skin is clear (Hallelujah!), and though still thing, my hair has stopped actively falling out. I still get blue sometimes when I crave a soft pretzel, or a granola bar, but that passes. Honestly remembering the pain is enough to keep me from cheating. I've never experienced child birth, but if I had to guess, I'd say getting glutened is worse! At the end of the day I remind myself that I am alive, I have a great life, and there are far worse things that I could be dealing with; I am grateful a restricted diet is my biggest health concern!

I hoped this helped some of you, and as always, if you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me!

-Maureen