It’s been about ten months since I was diagnosed with Celiac and began a gluten-free life…it’s been a long journey full of ups and down. I’ve been through the grieve process multiple times, usually involving some lost favorite food of mine…most of the time in the middle of the grocery store. The hardest thing I think was watching everyone else continue on eating the foods they normally do and most of all taking them for granted knowing I could never eat them again. It sounds kinda depressing I know, but it’s how I felt. But I think the worst part of it all was the cost…I’ve always been an extremely frugal kinda person who hated spending money on herself, and as most of you know Gluten-Free food isn’t cheap. At all.

The day I found out I had been GF for a few days I went straight home and ate 4 slices of plain white bread, I regretted that for hours…after that I’ve tried to look at the upsides….

I feel amazing! I didn’t get sick all winter for the first time in my life! No more worrying about when my next ‘attack’ would been, where all the bathrooms were in any given building, being afraid of any long trips because I never knew when an ‘attack’ would come. My stomach isn’t swollen anymore, I’ve lost a lot of weight, I’ve gained more energy and I just feel better!

Overall I’d say the upsides from going gluten-free outweigh the negative; even though it’s been hard at times and I’m sure it isn’t over yet, but it’s worth it. Every time there’s a pizza party, a box of Kraft Mac and Cheese, or a Hershey’s Cookies and Cream bar I just have to remember about the upsides and move on with my life :) Stop living in the past and what-not…

Plus my family has been amazingly supportive; they even went GF with me for two days last month during the GF challenge! I don’t know what I’d do without them :P

Anyway that’s my post for today, I’ll try posting more often from now on and I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Kristi

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