I thought I would start by sharing my gluten-free story with you. I had been aware for a while that I may have a "gluten issue" since both my mom and brother had recently discovered their own intolerance for it. My brother found out the hardest way possible, ending up in the hospital for a few days before being diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. This came as quite a shock to all of us and was very unexpected. Since Crohn's is hereditary that should've given me the motivation to get tested right away, but at that point I loved bread and pasta WAY too much to give it up. I held to the "ignorance is bliss" philosophy.
A few months later I started noticing random sharp stomach pains sometimes as often as twice a day. But they weren't consistent and weren't so bad that I thought it was anything serious. But they continued. More consistently and more severe. I immediately suspected a gluten issue, but because the pains didn't happen right after I ate and because I felt fine otherwise, I dismissed it. My husband and I after watching Food Inc. and Forks over Knives (highly recommended by the way), had decided to cut way back on our meat intake (a HUGE decision for my husband who is a meat and potatoes kind of guy) and to try to buy organic as much as possible. I thought that maybe this would help - cutting out overly processed food and eating whole foods seemed like a perfect cure. While we both felt great about what we were eating now, my stomach pain continued. Finally in December, I decided it would be best to find out. Sure enough, my results confirmed my suspicions. No more gluten for me!!
After telling my husband the news, he did not hesitate to commit to adopting the same restrictions for himself (he's the best). We immediately did a pantry and fridge clean-out, not wanting to be tempted to eat anything on the naughty list. I started looking up recipes and baking mixes and blogs and websites...and soon after got VERY overwhelmed. We decided to take things slow and to ease into this new lifestyle as much as possible. For the rest of December we kept things simple (I ate lots of rice!) and it wasn't until last month that I really began to dive headfirst into the gluten-free realm.
I can't even begin to tell you how much better I feel. Within a week of cutting out gluten my stomach pain went away completely, I haven't had any heartburn (which started around the same time as my stomach pains), I have more energy and my usual every day headaches have disappeared. Amazing! All I can say is I wish I had done this sooner. Darn my stubbornness and love of pasta and bread!
While living gluten-free can be overwhelming at first and very tricky at times (eating out isn't easy), I am already reaping the benefits of it one month later. I encourage you to try it, even if it's not medically necessary. Eating this way naturally eliminates LOTS of things that aren't that great for you anyway, and who doesn't love that! Try it. It's worth it!
Where did you feel the pain? I had sharp, nearly debilitating pain in my lower abdomen on my right side a few days ago. My stomach was really tender to the touch and I also had lower back pain. It was so bad, I thought my appendix was rupturing, but I didn't have a fever or nausea or vomiting, which are usually associated with appendicitis. After about 20 minutes, the pain went away and I felt fine. We have cut back on all grains, rice, oats, etc. since about November last year, but I occasionally indulge.
ReplyDeleteIt was in different places but mostly in my lower stomach. It hurt to take a deep breath. I never had any nausea either. Felt fine otherwise except for the sharp pain every so often. If you've already cut back on grains and stuff it would probably be pretty easy to cut out gluten as well. Although, rice is definitely a staple that I couldn't do without.
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