{I believe stories raise awareness more than anything else. Many people with celiac disease are frustrated with the way mainstream media, celebrities, and even healthcare professionals can misrepresent what it’s really like to live with celiac disease. So let us tell you from our perspective…}
(to submit your celiac story, click here)
Our first submission comes from Kyra of Happy, Healthy & Gluten Free. Reading her story made me shout, “Yes! Me too!” more than a few times. Take it away, Kyra…
Celiac disease runs in my family. My Grandma has had it longer than I’ve been alive, and my mother was diagnosed a few years ago. I was diagnosed a little over a year ago, a few months before my wedding. Funny thing is that both my mother and I are “silent celiacs” – we don’t have your typical symptoms!
I asked my doctor to test me for three reasons: 1. I know it is genetic. 2. I was suffering from mild depression. 3. My acne still hadn’t cleared up (I was terrified was doomed to be a pimple-faced bride). But after switching to GF, I started noticing that I had more energy, my skin cleared up, and I generally just felt better.
I’m still learning what happens when I get “glutened”, but I am starting to suspect headaches (borderline migraines) are connected. I feel very lucky to live close to a major city, so getting good gluten free products is fairly easy for me.
Being told I couldn’t have certain foods urged me to take on the challenge, so I have taken to recreating favourite recipes (or finding them already converted online). I say that eating gluten free should taste EQUALLY as delicious as otherwise.
My husband is not celiac, but he eats completely gluten free with me at home, and praises (most of) my creations. He agrees that they taste completely normal. I wish people knew that cooking gluten free doesn’t need to be extraordinarily difficult – so many things are naturally gluten free!
I honestly do not enjoy eating at other people’s homes very often, because I feel like a burden. Sometimes it makes me want to cry. Why can’t I have the option to just take a pill and eat whatever I want for one night? I wish people understood how easily a “glutening” can happen and why “double dipping” into the butter dish means I can’t use the butter anymore.
I get angry at restaurants when something isn’t gluten free simply because they chose product A (thickened with flour) over product B (thickened with cornstarch), even though the end result would taste the same. I get frustrated in grocery stores when I can’t buy a certain wild rice mix because barley is included, or when I can’t buy the vanilla Rice Krispies because they include barley malt. Seriously?! Barley malt?! What is that even used for anyways?!
I suppose overall, I want people to know how GOOD I eat. I don’t feel like I’m missing out anymore. My husband and I have taken to eating very healthy, mostly because I can’t eat most of the junk out there. And that’s okay.
We feel better this way.
