gluten free begins today

I believe I mentioned it before (or maybe not, my memory is terrible), but I’m going to try a gluten-free diet for the next few weeks (or as long as these groceries last) in an experiment. I’ve had some strange stomach issues in the past that have escaped diagnosis. Nothing serious or harming, but enough to inconvenience me. The worst was the summer of 2008, when I felt like I would throw up every day, and my stomach would be bloated and gross-feeling most of the time.

My uncle has Celiac disease, and while I’m hoping it’s not as severe as that, there are more symptoms and signs that make sense than I first thought.

From GlutenFreely.com (I’ve kept the signs that are most pertinent to me):

I’ve never thought that these things could be related before, and the one that smacked me in the face (obviously) was the enamel and tooth discolouration one.

The short stature one also struck me as odd. I was small as a child, and my mom was actually concerned enough to take me to the doctor and they did an X-ray on my wrists. Apparently the wrist bones are the most accurate measurement of growth in a child, and while I was 13 at the time, my wrists told the doctor I was 11. Odd, yes? I seemed to be otherwise healthy.

Delayed puberty on the symptom list seemed tailored to me as well. Not to get into too much detail on my ladybits (as that’s something I said I would never blog about) but I didn’t start developing or my first period until the summer I turned 15. And it seemed to happen overnight.

Then the psychiatric disorders was a big surprise. I’ve spoken to therapists and I’ve been depressed before, and I’ve always said I’m an anxious person (but I haven’t been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder. I have been clinically depressed before).

Again, it seems so odd to me that there may be one explanation for all of these seemingly unrelated things, but there you have it.

I’m trying not to go off the deep end and think that this is the magic bullet to solve all my problems. It could just be that I was a late bloomer, that I’m just plain depressed and anxious sometimes, that I’m tired because I don’t sleep well, and that my teeth are just messed up on their own.

But I have to at least try. I want to give this a real shot, and then after 2-3 weeks have some wheat and see how I feel. If I feel great, then that’s not the answer and I’ll need to tackle these problems one at a time. If I feel like shit, then I’m going to see a doctor and request a thorough test for Celiac and ask what I need to do in order to be prepared and get the most accurate results (as I’ve heard the test results can be iffy if not done correctly).

As a send off, I got some Hoegaarden last night and threw myself a beer-going-away party. That’s probably what I’ll miss the most, right next to bread.

Thomas has been amazing as well, grocery shopping with me yesterday and helping me think of meal ideas and soups to make. We made a potato and leek soup, totally gluten free, and delicious. He was also helping me figure out which items at the grocery store are going to be total no-gos (cereal, most canned soups, sauces) and what I can replace them with.

So here we go! With the exception of my leftover Chinese food for lunch today (Ginger beef is absolutely not GF, lol) that I don’t want to throw out (I paid for that!) this is the first day of the next 21-28 to see if this is the key that will unlock the answers I’ve been looking for for years now. Wish me luck? And if you know any great GF recipes, let me know! I’m going to start a Pinterest board to keep them all in one place.