After my doctor gave me the Celiac diagnosis I returned home with that deer in the headlights look. It was one of those slow motion movie moments with flashes of pizza, doughnuts, and brownies. Before being allowed to dwell on all the foods that were being ripped from my fingertips my cousin Lee grabbed her keys and said "let's head to Wild Oats and find you foods you can eat!"
To this day I am so thankful she did that, and I would HIGHLY recommend EVERYONE that is newly diagnosed with any dietary change to head to Wild Oats, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, etc before you let yourself get wrapped up in all the things you can no longer have. It seems obvious that dwelling on the negatives is a waste of time and will make coping more difficult, however, when faced with not just a dietary change, but an entire lifestyle change, there is no room for contemplating the past and the unfairness of it all! (This is so much easier said than done, I know!)
Now most of the food I purchased that day rivaled plywood in the taste department, but it was a start. I had to learn to read labels in an instant to distinguish which foods are naturally gluten free versus those that are always a no no. It was like being thrown into the ocean and told to swim or die. I also came to the realization upon seeing wheat flour listed as an ingredient in cooking spray that there is an apparent over supply of wheat in this country and not enough demand causing them to throw it into random products!
At first I found it easier to focus on foods that were naturally gluten free like fruits and vegetables, but decided to give the nutritionist my doctor recommended a try. I only saw the nutritionist once and she gave me a few tips on healthy alternatives to gluten and dairy and suggested I try a Chinese herb that worked as a pro-biotic and was supposed to accelerate the healing process. This herb cost me about $125/bottle and I took 3-4 pills a few times a day.
In hindsight I should never have fallen for this ploy. I blame it on being ignorant and overwhelmed by my new life. Just a week or two into my "magic" herbs I began having the same excruciating stomach pains again. I was sick, frustrated, and confused about where the contamination was coming from. I ruled things out one by one when it came time for me to look into the herbs. I remember thinking to myself surely a nutritionist that was supposed to help me adjust to a new gluten free lifestyle would not give me herbs that were made from wheat flour, but sure enough, she did.
It took some research to figure it out. The entire bottle was written in Chinese. When I did I was absolutely furious. I felt so taken advantage of! I called the nutritionist immediately and explained what had happened. They of course apologized and offered me a refund. I wish I could say they learned their lesson, but I am pretty sure their only concern was not being sued. Had I not been so sick I might have pursued a lawsuit, if only to ensure that didn't happen to anyone else. But at the time, my only true concern was survival! I did at least report the incident to my doctor who stopped referring patients to the nutritionist.
After that initial hiccup I slowly began to adjust to gluten free living. It was a slow process and there were definitely bumps along the way, but I slowly started to see changes. My nails started to grow stronger, my hair wouldn't break the way it used to, my skin had more color and I wasn't tired all the time. Looking back I didn't realize at the time how sick I was until I finally started feeling better. The road ahead would be long and bumpy, but I was on my way!
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