A life without wheat.

Most my life I believed I was lactose intolerant. I was always sick, for longer than I can remember. Whether I cut the dairy out or ate it I was sick, which in my adult life I found a little suspicious. I picked up a book called The False Fat Diet on a whim, wondering if my difficulty losing weight was attributed to more than my feeble attempts at it. In this book I read that there were many major allergens; eggs, dairy, tree nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, wheat... and you could figure out what you were truly reacting to by eliminating it from your diet for a number of days. I started with wheat. Ten days later I felt great; I was regular, less bloated, and had more energy.

I was ready to start my new life, happy that I knew what it was that was making me sick. However, being gluten/wheat free is harder than it sounds and can be very overwhelming. The number of ingredients you have to watch for, learning how to prepare foods and cook with ingredients that don't always work well on their own, not being able to safely eat out or at other people's houses. All these things had me very discouraged and I fell off the wagon. I started eating wheat and gluten again... and a lot of it. So much so that I not only had constant runs, but I started getting hives, bloating, migraines, and I became listless. The more miserable I became the more resolve I had to break myself of my addiction and get healthy.

It's been four or five years now, I haven't really kept that close a track on the time that has passed and I've managed to stay gluten/wheat free. While I don't have the confidence or creativity of some of the more well known celiacs and gluten intolerants, I do feel that I've got a knack for making tasty food and keeping the craving for what makes me sick at bay. I'm creating this blog as a way to share some of the recipes I've made, and an outlet for my need to create in the kitchen. I don't do it often, as I'm not fond of failure and cooking/baking gluten free is living in an experimental limbo. Many recipes are busts before the right combination of ingredients comes together. The more I experiment though, the more confident I get. While I don't just make recipes up, I tend to adapt recipes to my needs I do feel I'm creating something great each time I manage to pull one off.

Being celiac or gluten intolerant isn't the end of the world. It's the beginning of an adventure, a roller coaster if you will. There are a lot of learning curves. With help your friends and family will catch on and will love being able to feed you safely as mine have. There are more and more restaurants out there that have gluten free options, and they really are, down to the pans they cook in not being cross contaminated. Everyday new better tasting options are out there for us, helping us not miss the wheat. I hope you enjoy reading and can maybe garner a bit of wisdom here and there, learning from my mistakes. I'll share, pictures and recipes that have passed the test here at home with my loved ones and my friends.