I get a lot of questions when people hear about my food allergies. Many of the questions go something like “Can I introduce you to so-and-so… they just found out about a gluten allergy and are totally overwhelmed!” For those questions I did my 31 Days Series.
This week, I want to answer some other questions. If, at the end, there is a question I didn’t answer, feel free to ask it in the comments, or on my FB page! Today’s question:
How did you do it*? (*the elimination diet) Wasn’t it hard? I don’t think I could do it!
I had actually considered trying eating gluten-free for a few years, but it didn’t seem to “make sense” to anyone else. When I suggested it to my doctor-at-the-time, she said “I don’t see why that would help, but go ahead if you want.” Obviously, not only having a lack of support, but a “what are you thinking?” reaction from people kind of deflated me, and left me unmotivated to try it. Knowing what I do now, I should have listened to my body, to my instinct.
When I finally met a doctor who urged me to not only eat gluten-free, but do the elimination diet, confident that it would help me, I was feeling so desperate for improvement, that that one push was all I needed to run with it. A little support and encouragement goes a looong way.
I guess I was desperate enough, and finally just had the encouragement I needed.
My doctor also spent quite a long time talking me through the dietary changes. She talked about balancing my protein, hidden sources of the banned foods, and gave me a huge packet with information, and recipes. Having the right resources to take some of the planning and anxiety out of it made a huge difference. She recommended a protein powder made from rice that I had not heard of. She explained what some of the ingredients were. This is the kind of help I now enjoy offering to others, and why I am blogging about my food journey.
After the appointment, I went right out and bought a bunch of food I could eat. I didn’t stop to consider the cost of the diet I was doing. I was just focused on getting well, and taking care of myself so I could take care of the rest of my family. I looked right away for a few recipes that sounded appealing in the packet, and went and bought all of the ingredients. I didn’t even plan a week’s worth of menus yet, I just needed to get a bunch of food into the house.
And then, this little un-intutive, unadventurous “cook” went on a food safari. (I mentioned that in my 31 Days series here.) I decided it was an adventure. And I kind of made the family go on the adventure with me. I couldn’t possibly make two separate meals three times a day, and with my kids at the time being 9, 6 and 3, the meals were pretty much my job. (Now my oldest two cook… Levi made dinner solo again tonight- awesome, or what?!) 
I tried to have a few options at a meal, so they weren’t totally limited to my choices. And any baking was all-for-one-and-one-for-all.
I experimented with recipes after the kids went to bed. And I made a lot of desserts. Seriously, if you are having dessert every day, it’s hard to feel deprived! Since the desserts were sweetened only with fruit/juice, I felt the psychological benefit was worth the effort of churning out the treats for the first few weeks, and it wouldn’t be horrible for my health.
Once I knew for sure I would be avoiding gluten and corn for the long haul, I had a good friend who was gluten/corn and sugar free bless me with a pile of recipes.Tried and true recipes that people you know have actually made is a huge help.
And that is again why I like to share my food journey here on my blog! Knowing where to shop for things, and even what that package or item looks like can really take some stress out. (I.E. walking into a store to buy guar gum, and not having any idea what it is, so how do you even know what section to go to, or if it comes in a bag, or a box.. Is it a liquid in a can? Does it matter if I leave it out? etc. And incidentally,YES! It matters if you leave out the guar/xanthum gum- don’t do it!) (I now know there are alternatives, but we are keeping this simple in the beginning, ok? No guar gum equals a flat gooey mess.)
Tomorrow I will try to go into more detail for the question “What did you eat!?”
There is apparently an Eve Taylor in the UK that has a Hand and Nail Rescue Cream. That is why I say this is probably the name. I may have to add Spring to it to keep it different enough, if I were to decide to really sell the lotion. For now, it was a really fun project! (Incidentally, even the label is a photo I took, that I inverted the color on to make a graphic. So the recipe, the design and everything was all my own creation. Super Fun!)
