Starting New

It has been a long time since I posted to my other site and the reason for the new site is I forgot my old sign on information... Oops.. so here's to a new year... a new dedication to gluten free living and lots of good recipes! I am going to try and post everything on here from recipes to daily meal logs and my thoughts and findings. I want to help others who are finding out that they need to eliminate this thing called "gluten" from their lives how to continue to live, eat and be happy. When I was diagnosed it was after going to numerous doctors, specialists and pushing for more answers.

My Story
I delivered my son via c-section in November 2003 after numerous pregnancy complications and a long time being on bed rest. After having my son I was not feeling like myself nor did I look healthy. I was told I had a touch of the flu and to follow the braty diet. Banana's Applesauce Rice Toast and Yogurt. SO, I ate toast... lots of toast, yet I kept getting sicker. After my husband found me lying on the floor of our kitchen and rushing me to the hospital we decided that we were not taking the flu as an answer anymore. I saw a "specialist" in Fargo who told me it was Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction. They could do a risky surgery on me but the risks were crazy like 10% fatality rates. SURE.. sign me up!! So now I was really sick, told I had this rare thing and they wanted to do a risky surgery on me and I was trying to care for a newborn (who was quite colicky I may add). I asked for a referral to the UofM. After getting an appt there and spending one whole day of getting every test I could imagine I went home to wait for the results. The day I received a call saying that they "found a few items" they wanted to discuss with me was terrifying. My brain started thinking the worst. They would not discuss it over the phone yet wanted me there the next day. HOLY SMOKES... I did not sleep that entire night thinking of what my results would show. I met my mom and step dad in the cities and they drove me to the U where we met with a GREAT doctor who spent a lot of time discussing the results. As he was showing us the "normal" results I kept thinking... when is he going to tell me about the Cancer? Then he asks me the question that would forever change my life. "Do you find you have a problem when eating wheat products". Um, no. I eat them all the time. Cereal for breakfast, bagels or toast for lunch, noodles and meat with supper. Animal crackers, crackers, saltines, etc. Nope.. no problem... Why? Well, you have a positive test for Celiac Sprue. To me that sounded like some parasite. He went on to explain that it essentially means I am allergic to wheat. From that point on I don't remember a whole lot since I kept thinking.. this is it. No Cancer. WOW! So what did I do after that. Went to Chipotle and got a bean burrito wrapped in a flour tortilla. Yep, pretty clueless. I think I may have researched it a bit but didn't take it seriously. I did cut out some items and was ok with that but slowly went back to eating "normal" for me. Then when my son had his tonsils out they did some testing to see if he had any allergies. What did they find. An intolerance to wheat. THAT is when I really started taking this seriously. Now this was in 2005 and Celiac and Gluten Free Living was still very new to me and there was not much out on the market. I bought some gluten free products and tried them with my son. Lets just say we were less than thrilled. I sought out the help of a local chiropractor that I met at a Business Event. She got me on a two month cleansing plan. During that time I researched gluten free foods, recipes and what it meant to be gluten free. That is when I started buying gluten free flours, talking with others with the same challenges and putting in some serious time in the kitchen. My hubby has had to taste test quite a few creations and to tell you the truth has spit out more than he has eaten. My son and I have found our staple recipes and products and even created a few things ourselves. The internet is a invaluable resource for me and finding new items. My son will say, I really want some blueberry muffins so off I go to surf the web. Usually it takes me 3 tries on an item until I find just the right combination. Being gluten free takes patience, planning and persistence. If you don't plan you will become frustrated and want to give up. DON'T. It is a lifestyle change but you will learn to navigate this gluten free living and be healthier and feel better because of it. I want to be there for you. I want to be that resource. Recipes, support, questions. Lets do it together. I still fall victim to the wheat trap at times and eat things that I think are gluten free that turn out to have wheat hiding in it under some other name (barley malt). I am finding that we can tolerate oats that are not certified gluten free.... but some cannot. You will know when you have ingested something that has wheat in it and doesn't work with your body.

I am not going to tell you what to eat.. not to eat... what is going to work with you. I am not going to explain the various flours, products and reasons why they are in each recipe. I am just going to share my favorite recipes with you, my daily meals and hopefully you will find it easier to navigate this new gluten free lifestyle.