First – A public service announcement:
If you even SUSPECT that you have a gluten intolerance, get tested for Celiac Disease BEFORE you go gluten free. The tests will not be conclusive after you’ve been eating gluten free, and you will need to suffer what they call a “gluten challenge” in order to be tested. A gluten c
hallenge means eating the equivalent of at least 3 slices of gluten filled bread, every day, for about 3 months. THEN you will be tested an the results are more likely to be conclusive. Unfortunately you already know that gluten makes you feel icky, and so you’re going to feel extra icky for the next three months or so.
My husband and I on our wedding day…long before I decided to figure out what was going on with my health, and happily ate whatever crossed the table.
I wish someone had told me that. Now I’ve been gluten free for almost 3 years, and since I still don’t feel well (though I do feel somewhat better in some ways) they want to test me for CeliacDisease, because if I have CD then even slight bits of gluten from cross-contamination can be doing damage and making me feel miserable. Starting yesterday, I
am eating gluten. My mouth and psyche are happy for the foods crossing my lips…my gut is not so happy as it makes its way through. I will still be avoiding the other foods I’ve tested as intolerant to or allergic to, so that I don’t feel more miserable.
If anyone knows of a chart or list of foods and how much gluten they contain, please share it with me because all I can come up with via internet searches are how to avoid gluten (which I know how to do!) I’ve also found out that hard wheat flour contains the most gluten, but I want to know how many bagels equal the gluten in 3 slices of bread, and how much pasta equals the same. I need to make sure I eat “enough” gluten, but I also don’t want to eat much more than necessary.
I will probably share bits of this journey on this blog, not to rub it in anyones face that I’m “getting to” eat they foods that we’ve all been missing, but to share the experience that you truly don’t want to go through if you can avoid it. Any recipes I share will still be without soy or gluten, and as I said before, possibly without other things as well. If anyone else is going through, or has gone through, a gluten challenge, please share your experience as well.
Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers…I’m hoping that I don’t end up too miserable, and that I get some answers at the end of this. If I don’t have Celiac Disease I will have to move on to finding out what I do have. Thank you 🙂
Being vegan without... 