So, I have been suffering from digestion issues for many
years now. Even before I became a Pastry Chef, I had been through the ringer
with different test ordered by my GI doctor. Never in my life did I think I
would actually consider giving up gluten…..and I would find it to be the bane
of my existence.
I actually became much worse than usual this last year. In a
doctor’s appointment recently my doctor suggested I try going Gluten Free for
at least 2 weeks and see if it made any difference. Now I have had doctors/nurses mention this
before, but I’m like, no way, how in the world can I make that work? I’m a
Pastry Chef, and not to mention, bread has been a staple in my diet my whole
life. I mean Ha really, that is just a
bad joke!
Within two days of omitting gluten from my diet completely, I noticed a difference. I had one night where
gluten sneaked into one of my recipes (still learning how much gluten is in
everything!) and the next day I was so sick to my stomach and just downright miserable. I was keeping a food diary to see what helped
and so I could jot down the recipes I tried and what I liked, and didn’t, or
what my family liked as well. I highly recommend doing this if you try a gluten
free trial. It is the only way I knew what I had eaten the day before that made
me sick. It was soy sauce, by the way, I had no idea wheat was in soy sauce! I
also want to mention, my mental clarity picked up, as well as my fatigue is
slowly dissipating. My daily yawning quota seems to have been cut in half!
Anyway, I write all this because I have decided to start
blogging again, but it is going to be centered around Gluten Free ideas,
recipes, and how to cook for a family of 5 when you have to go gluten free.
That is not the easiest task by the way, when there are those family favorites,
that you just can’t take away from everyone just because you can’t have
them. But it is quite a task when you
are the cook, and tasting while cooking plays a huge part, so it makes it a
little more difficult when you can’t taste what your cooking if it has gluten
in it.
I have always looked for the healthier way to bake/cook, but
this is a whole new ball game. Let me tell you, Gluten Free does not always
mean “healthy” and I have learned some of the unhealthy Gluten Free foods I am
allowed, so lets just say I am on a mission! If you try going gluten free, one
thing I will warn is you will feel hungry all of the time, at least that is
what I am experiencing right now. I have read more about it, and it is almost
like your body is going through a detox from gluten. If you have done a sugar detox, you know what
it can do. Well it can kind of be like that. Some articles I have read talk
about “the storm before the calm” For some people it can take a few days to
recover from the detox and you can have all sorts of symptoms until you feel
better, but then it is so worth it and you feel
great! I will tell you, except for the hunger and maybe being a little extra achey, I haven’t had any horrible side effects.
Now, I did read that for some people, this hunger can last
up to 3 months. I have basically adapted the 6 (or so) small meals (or snacks)
a day thing. I may feel like I’m starving, but then when I go to eat something,
a handful of nuts, grapes, cheese, just
a simple little snack eases off the
hunger. So, although you want to eat all the time, you are not eating too much.
Although, it is easy to grab the wrong thing when your starving because there
are so many processed GF snacks out there (including potato chips!) So that is
my goal, yummy gluten free foods that my family will love and that I won’t
feel guilty eating, and neither will
you! Recipes soon to follow…..