When my doctor called me over winter break and told me I had to give up gluten, I was SO upset. I mean, I’m 20; why is this just coming up now? I knew I was about to undergo a major lifestyle shift. I’m about a month and a half in, and while I’m not a pro at the gluten free life, I can tell you about my experience so far.
I did not think I was going to feel any differently after I cut gluten out of my diet. It wasn’t making me feel sick when I was eating it, so how was this going to make me feel better? Less than a week in, I started to feel improvements in areas where I didn’t even know something had been wrong. I realized for years that the feeling of nausea I had after eating wasn’t normal. My skin was looking great, and one thing I wasn’t expecting was to feel much less groggy and tired all the time.Â
I started to adjust to eating gluten free and making the necessary changes to the meals I was cooking every night. Then I came back to school. Let me tell you, eating gluten free on a college campus is not the easiest thing to do. It took some trial and error to find meals that worked at the dining hall, and making sure that I wasn’t eating the same exact meal each day was also a challenge for a little bit.Â
One thing I would say has been a major game changer is going to the grocery store every Sunday, and getting some snacks and breakfast things to keep in my dorm. Trader Joe’s has great options for snacks and frozen foods which can be good to keep in your room for emergencies. Whole Foods is great but can get super expensive, so I try to only go there when I can’t find what I need at other stores.
I was worried about the social aspect of going gluten free. Would I still be able to go out to eat and have fun with my friends? I found that restaurants have gotten really great with gluten free options. Since being back, my friends and I have tried our favorite Worcester restaurants to see their gluten free options. The Mercantile had great gluten free pizza, and turns out Mezcal is a 100% gluten free restaurant which was a nice surprise.Â
Overall, it has been a hard adjustment with some learning curves, but I feel really good. I didn’t realize how much of a change this would make in my life, but I’m glad I made the switch.