Everyone says they want to try a gluten-free diet to lose weight or improve their health. Little do they know that some people’s lives, like my own, are gluten-free without a choice. No more late night pizza, no more bread before every meal at a restaurant, and worst of all, no more chicken fingers…ever. Welcome to the gluten-free life.
Whether you have celiac, a gluten sensitivity, or are someone who wants to go the extra mile and not eat gluten, I give you a lot of respect. I was only diagnosed with celiac less than a year ago, and to say the last few months have been hard is an understatement…and my celiac isn’t even as bad as it gets.
For those of you that don’t know celiac is, it’s “a disease in which the small intestine is hypersensitive to gluten, leading to difficulty in digesting food.” In other words: you will be in the bathroom for hours with an ache in your stomach the size of Texas, or if you’re lucky like me, you get that AND itchy hives and pretty pimples after eating gluten, every time. Unfortunately, there are no supplements or medications to help digest the food we love. We ultimately just have to move on to healthier, non-breaded things.
Even though it seems like the end of the world since just about everything has some sort of gluten in it, I’ve realized it’s not so bad. The world has actually caught up to the pace of celiac and has a lot to offer. I also realized just because there is no gluten in the food we eat, we can double the amount of butter that goes into it.
Living the gluten-free life while away at school is hard, but talking to your school’s dining hall company makes the transition so much easier. I have all different breads, crusts, muffins, etc., so it’s not like I am missing out that much. Being gluten-free encourages you to try and make new meals on your own as well. However, if you’re like me it doesn’t generally work out the first two or six tries. But, eventually you’ll learn what brands and foods you like and what you can handle making in the kitchen by process of elimination. I have come to find myself eating a lot of rice… maybe I have always been pre-destined to be gluten-free since my last name is Rice?
Being gluten-free really teaches you discipline and ultimately how to take care of your body. I find it to be an annoying blessing now because I am more aware of what I put in my body. We all could use a little wake up call to watch what we eat sometimes. My wakeup call just happened to be celiac.
Any of you out there living the “gluten-free life,” know that I am with you and many, many other people are with you as well. We are all learning and finding the best cookies, mac & cheese, and gluten-free restaurants the world can offer together. Feel free to share your favorite gluten-free eats down below in the comments, I know I’d love to hear it! The timer for my yellow rice dinner is going off just as I am finishing this article, how fitting.