When My Gluten Free Journey Began
Hi. My name is Felicia May. This is my first official blog post. I am a recipe creator. I focus on creating gluten free recipes for people like me who cannot eat gluten. This is my story.
In 2014 and 2015 I began to notice that I thought something was wrong with me. I had no idea what it was and honestly I think I thought I was imagining it. I told myself I would focus on eating well and taking vitamins daily to try to see if I could feel better. I have been prone to infections since I was a little girl. I was one of those people for whom doctors prescribed antibiotics for urinary tract and sinus infections on a very regular basis. My immune system has never been very good, but in 2014 and 2015 it was absolutely awful. I began noticing dots/spots on my cheeks. At the time I thought I was allergic to a cosmetic or face care product I was using. In response, I took a break from all face products for about a month. Nothing changed. There was no effect, except my face was dry from not wearing moisturizer for a month!
I went to the doctor with a urinary tract infection and had to be on antibiotics for about 3 days. After a few weeks, I had to go back to the doctor. This time I had thrush and my mouth was a mess. I was so confused. The doctor told me that I had to take action. I had the immune system of a newborn baby, cancer patient, or elderly person! He said I needed to take probiotics and change my diet to lose weight and get healthier. I said I ate yogurt almost daily and had been working on my diet. He told me in my condition that probiotics were absolutely necessary and that yogurt was not going to do the job alone.
I went home, told my husband, and we began to research probiotics and how to lose weight. Looking back now I think this was leaky gut syndrome. This is also about the time I started going to the chiropractor again. I filled out a multi-page questionnaire for the chiropractor. She recommended bloodwork be done to try to figure out exactly what was going on with me. She’s the only one who ever even mentioned gluten sensitivity being a possible cause for my health problems even to this day. Still I was resistant. I really didn’t understand what gluten even was. Thank goodness I started reading and researching.
I started cooking Paleo recipes and was feeling much better. For a few months, I stuck with the Paleo diet and did not have as many symptoms. In the fall of 2015, my husband and I went out to dinner and broke our Paleo diet with a blue cheese burger and a beer. Before I was even finished eating the burger and drinking the beer, my face starting getting spots and itching. I looked at my husband and said, “It’s the gluten!” He quickly agreed that must be what’s happening. My stomach was a mess for days. I started reading everything I could find about gluten intolerance and celiac disease.
Then began the 5-year journey to figure out how to totally cut out all gluten sources from my diet. Yes, I said five years! I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been standing in a grocery aisle staring at a can or package of food looking for the GF or Gluten Free designation. Grocery visits turned into expeditions. What would’ve taken 45 minutes in years past, now took 1-1/2 to 2 hours. I was excited, hopeful, but at the same time downright frustrated. There was not one single grocery store that had all of the products I needed anymore. Now I had to visit multiple stores to get all the items I needed.
Luckily I have always been interested in reading recipes and recipe creation, because I quickly came to accept that the only way I was going to stop getting sick from food was for me to cook it myself. In future blog posts I will share recipes and some of my important discoveries about where gluten can hide. I am determined to create food that is yummy and healthy. I am excited to share my findings with you.
