The first few days...

The first few days were hard. Really hard. Not only did I not know a lot about Celiac and eating gluten-free, but no one around me did either. My mom and I were able to go to Whole Food's Gluten Free day, the Saturday after I was diagnosed. (perfect timing, or what?) We took a tour around and there was a nutritionist to answer some questions. At that point I still didn't have a clue really. I was reading all over the internet and getting false information. I read Elizabeth Hasselbeck's book "The G-Free Diet" and it helped me TREMENDOUSLY. I highly recommend this if you want to learn more. And I will probably be quoting her a lot on this blog. Its good to know that there is a "celebrity" or at least someone of influence, speaking out on this issue that affects so many.

Anyway, its been about 5 weeks and I feel like I'm getting better at knowing what is ok to eat and what is not. And I also think that I am getting a little better, and noticing more when I eat something wrong. Eating out is hard. I am pretty much trying to avoid it whenever I can. However, I have had 2 delicious meals at Highlands and Bottega (thanks to the boyfriend) and felt confident that those were prepared properly.

I think the hardest part about this whole thing is that no one really understands unless they have to go through it....which is about the same as any life-changing situation. We all at some points in our life will go through something and feel completely alone and think no one knows how we feel. But in fact 1 in every 133 people know how I feel. Celiac disease is actually very common- however either people are not diagnosed (because they went gluten-free before getting a test), or they haven't had any symptoms yet. Unfortunately, I've been dealing with my symptoms for about 2 1/2 years. I remember everyone telling me, "It's just stress", which technically, yes that is probably what "triggered" my allergy. But Celiac is genetic, and you are born with it. Which leads to the question, "why me?".

I still feel alone, in that I have to do this on my own- prepare every meal and make plans for when I have dinners out, etc. Thankfully, my mom has been eating gluten free (and low sodium) for some other reasons (thats for another post), but she will always feed me if I'm starving =) (which is very often).