The title of this blog is a bit of hopeful thinking on my part. You see, I was just diagnosed with Celiac Disease on Tuesday. If you're not sure what Celiac disease* is, it's a hereditary condition that affects aprox. 1 in 133 Americans and people lucky enough to inherit the gene for this condition are intolerant to gluten. Gluten is in wheat, barley and rye grains and is found in a wide variety of foods - from bread to soy sauce.
You can imagine that for most people, the news that they can't ever eat wheat products again would be difficult to swallow (no pun intended). It's bad enough that I can't eat most of my favorite foods anymore - at least not in the same way. Although somewhat difficult to find, there are gluten-free substitutes for most things on the market, but they just aren't the same. So I've spent the last couple of days in mourning for the foods I'll never eat again - Cinnabons, Papa Murphy's pizza, flour tortillas, Lucky Charms, graham crackers, Krispy Kreme donuts (or any donuts), gyros, and the list goes on. As corny as it sounds though, I believe that everything happens for a reason and, as my husband said after we found out, "great things come from adversity."
So where's my silver lining? Well, I am, what most people would call, a food addict. I use food as a mechanism for relieving stress and boredom. I think about food constantly and I'll eat whether I'm hungry or not if there is food available to me. I'm not grossly overweight - only about 35 pounds - but I've struggled with my addiction to food for the past several years and food has won out more often than not. I try to eat in moderation (which is the sole reason I'm not 100+ lbs overweight), but I just absolutely love food in all of it's forms and I'm not picky or even careful about what I eat. Or at least I didn't used to be. Now I don't have a choice but to be picky about what I eat. Which sucks. Hard. But, it's probably exactly what I needed in order to get my diet more under control and find healthier ways to deal with stress than stuffing my mouth full of food.
I also count it as a blessing that at least I now know why I was feeling sick all of the time and I have a way to fix it. There is really nothing worse than feeling sick and not knowing why or how to make yourself feel better. I was struggling with frequent headaches and migraines, major fatigue, nausea, bloating, stomach pains, diarrhea, and general weakness for a few months. I feel optimistic now that I will start feeling better.
So although "gluten-free" isn't something I would refer to as "glorious" at this point, I'm hopeful that it will be in the future. I mean, how glorious would it be if I developed better eating habits, learned to deal with my stress in more constructive ways and lost some weight as a result? That sounds pretty glorious to me.
*For more information about Celiac disease and gluten intolerance, visit http://www.celiac.com/
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