What does it mean to be gluten-free? Click here to find out. My mom and brother have been gluten-free for 8 years, so the idea of eating gluten-free was not new to me. My household was basically 95% gluten-free minus a few things that my dad and I would keep in our little corner, so my diet while at home was like that of someone who had a gluten allergy but with a little more freedom.
Now jump to last year, the spring semester of my senior year. I was involved in my school musical which meant long/busy days and nights and also not eating at home. I was eating fast food or junk food and I did this for about 3 and a half months. To say the least, I got very sick and I couldn’t figure out why. My stomach would always hurt after eating and it got to the point where I would barely eat anything throughout the day because I didn’t want to feel sick. What I didn’t know was how much my body had gotten used to eating a predominantly gluten-free diet and then when I started mainly eating food that wasn’t made at home, my body didn’t know how to properly digest the anymore.
After this had happened, my mom suggested that I try and decrease my fast food consumption because it was probably a big part of my stomach aches. Now you would think that this would be easy because I did this all the time when I was at home, but when I wasn’t at home it was difficult. I never truly understood what it was like for my mom and brother to order food at restaurants or how it felt to explain it to people who didn’t understand why you were eating a hamburger without a bun.
I remember distinctly sitting outside of Walmart’s parking lot and crying because I didn’t want to go into the store by myself not knowing what I was doing. There were times that I would just go without food because it was easier than having to deal with my allergy, which really wasn’t healthy. There was a point where I hadn’t eaten or drank much for a day and a half and I went to find my mom because I was feeling very lightheaded. I ended up passing out and I almost hit my head on the bathroom counter. Let’s just say my parents were concerned, after that my parents and I went to the store and got some food so my dad could make these little meal/snack packs for my long days. Things started to get better, I started to pay more attention to what my mom and brother would eat when we’d go out, how they’d order their food, what food they would buy at the store, etc. I started to get better at managing what I was eating, how much I was eating and how often.
Now, jump to the present day. I don’t have many problems eating gluten-free anymore and my friends are more understanding of my allergy and what it actually means. I’ll admit I catch myself missing certain foods that I used to eat all the time but if you’re really good you can make gluten-free taste just like regular food. For example, I made all of my cupcakes for my graduation party and they were all gluten-free. None of the guests knew and I received so many compliments on them and when I would tell them they were gluten-free they told me they wouldn’t have known the difference without being told.
If you have an allergy just remember it takes time to get used to it. Things will probably suck at first but I promise it’ll get easier. I encourage you to go out and try new places and things, you never know how good some of the food can be!