Living with Celiac

I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease about 4 years ago. Some people would think that living without pasta, pizza, bread and fried food in general would be impossible. But it's not, well at least not after the adjustment period of panic and self pity, followed by the "I can't eat anything" phase, which lasted about a month. Followed by the holy crap what am I gonna eat phase!!!!

It was at this point that the planner in me kicked in and I started to deal with my diagnosis. Celiac as stated on mayoclinic.org states the following:

"People with celiac disease are allergic to proteins (glutens) found in wheat, barley and rye grains. In these people glutens stimulate an immune reaction in the small intestine, which causes an inability to absorb certain nutrients from food.
The treatment is to avoid foods containing glutens. Untreated, celiac disease can cause many medical complications. However, when a diet plan is implemented, patients can experience almost complete reversal of symptoms and complications from the disease."

So I dove head first into the gluten free diet, researching, reading labels, shopping in new aisles of the grocery store and testing out recipes. This took a lot of patience because the trial and error period had a lot of error. But thanks to the fact that I already cooked most of my meals instead of ordering take out and eating at restaurants I quickly learned that it is very easy to live a Gluten free life and still have delicious meals.

So flash forward to today I am living gluten free and not even noticing. I have found the perfect gluten free pasta that can be cooked al dente and tastes delicious. I can enjoy the same fried food that I did before except in the comfort of my own home or at a restaurant where I have made friends with the chefs and brought them gluten free ingredients. My favorite gluten free accomplishments are: fish n chips, fried calamari, spaghetti & meatballs, brownies, chewy chocolate chip cookies and they are all made gluten free and delicious.

So to all the people trying to live gluten free, have a little patience try all the different brands until you find the one you like and basically if you cook from scratch with fresh ingredients (nothing from a can, bottle, or package) your cooking life will be very easy.

There will be many more posts on celiac and gluten free diets, but if you have any questions or topic suggestions let me know!

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