Hey MSfit’s, Spoonies and Party People? How ya been?
My life has been jampacked lately. It was just Halloween and now Christmas is in 3 weeks?! Does anybody else feel like 2021 just flew by, considering that we basically lost all of 2020, and now we’re just supposed to jump in to 2022 and conquer it? I’m not ready. I need more time.
I have know for 20ish years that I have an allergy to wheat and yeast. I tried going gluten free for like, 3 days in 2001. Back then your GF options were super limited, super expensive and everything tasted like sand paper. I am a picky eater on a good day and trying to find GF foods that were edible then was just overwhelming so I quit very quickly.
I’ve had this incredible (in the worst way) abdomen pain that we have been trying to figure out for almost a year now. We tried a few different medications to reign it in. I got my first colonoscopy and endoscopy (I am still traumatized from the colonoscopy prep but the colonoscopy itself was easy, peasy.) They were able to rule out a tumor and colitis from the results of that. But since I still get the pain, I have a GI MRI of my abdomen scheduled for two weeks. Even though I’ve had numerous Brain and Spine MRI’s, I don’t think I’ve ever had an MRI anywhere else, so I’m interested to see how they compare. Will it take long enough to get a nap in?
Prior to my colonoscopy, I had started cutting gluten just to see if it made the abdomen pain go away. It significantly cut it down, but I do still get it a few times a month. I hate to admit it because everyone always says to cut gluten if you have MS, (because everyone has some secret insider info that has worked for someone they know who also has MS,) but I must confess, my body does feel different not eating gluten. I can’t say how exactly but I feel it physically.
Now that I’ve gotten good at cutting out gluten, if I cheat, I make myself really violently ill. Like I did on Thanksgiving night, in a hotel room in Arizona, after eating the tiniest portion of pasta salad and a piece of pecan pie because it was Thanksgiving. As I was lying on the bathroom floor, I just kept telling myself, it’s not worth it. Nothing tastes so good that its worth throwing up for an hour. I am currently training my kids to tell me that anything delicious that I can no longer eat, tastes like kale or bacon, because in my world those are really gross. Please don’t come at me for bacon…more for you to enjoy!
I am in the phase now of trying to find GF foods I like. I have a really hard time with the textures of some of them. Right now, I am buying brands of gluten free items and just seeing if I like it or not. I’m trying not to overwhelm myself- it’s a marathon, not a sprint. I want to stick with it this time (which I really think I will after Thanksgiving) I am not ready to start trying to bake GF or make items from scratch. This seems like a good pace to buy items I would like to try, and have them on hand for when I want to make something specific, like say, mac and cheese with GF noodles, or if I feel like whipping up a GF pie crust.
Have you had to make the switch to Gluten Free? Any tips? Any amazing GF people to follow on IG? Any websites that have truly delicious recipes to try when I make it to that stage in my GF journey?
Please be kind and remind me that that delectable cheesecake you’re eating tastes like kale.
MSfit Momma 