I know it's not easy! Living Gluten Free

So this is the beginning of my Gluten Free YOU blog. Also my 1 week anniversary of being 100% gluten free (minus a little accident Saturday night). I know it is NOT easy, and I won't pretend for one minute that it is. It has been an emotional journey for me...being sick all of the time, hearing people say 'wow I've never heard of that until you said you have that' (as if I'm some sort of freak and I made it up), people telling me it's all in my head, people saying I'm a hypochondriac. You make an attempt to eat gluten free, and it becomes so difficult you just give up. All you want is to be NORMAL...but at what cost? For me, I was just sick feeling all the time. After every meal that I ate that contained gluten (and let me say that was pretty much ALL meals) I felt it. Within 20 minutes after consuming gluten, I would get a "Toxic" feeling in my body. I would get the chills, feel nauseated and sometimes dizzy. If you don't have this, you probably don't have a very good understanding of what I am saying. If you have had this happen then you know exactly what I'm talking about. When this happens, it's a rush to the restroom. When this hits of course it's always at the most inopportune moments. Well, my motto was I am going to eat what I want, and what I love and I know my consequences and I'll deal with them. I used to say oh this little bit won't hurt. UNTIL... the little bit here and another little bit 10 minutes later and so on became ALOT over the course of a few days. I ended up breaking out in hives. This was a minor outbreak, mostly on my face. My chest and arms had it mildly and was itchy. I was in tears because I realized this meant I could no longer do this and 'deal with the consequences'. The next morning I decided I was done! I am now doing everything in my power to be 100% Gluten Free. I don't know everything, so once in a while I may get a little bit. Example, Sunday morning I told my husband I ate something at the Halloween party the night before that had gluten. He said are you sure? Maybe it's something else? NO! I know my body, I know that for 5 days I felt good not eating gluten, and I know whatever I had wasn't much...but there was a small amount of gluten in something I ate. Well, sure enough...today I was talking to my friend who hosted the party (who also has a gluten allergy) about what I'm working on getting started with this site. I told her I would come help her eliminate items with gluten hiding in them. She said jokingly but serious...'great, there goes the crab dip'. AH, that's it...the crab dip. I grubbed on the crab dip. Imitation crab contains fillers that have gluten. Well, it's a learning process, but as I learn I will share. The past few days have been emotional...literally I have been crying. Yes for real been holding back tears (tears of joy) as I discover all the things I CAN eat. You can bet the kids have been sharing their Halloween Candy with me because I found out I can have it. Did you know we can eat Skittles, Snickers, Reese's Peanut Butter cups, Butterfingers amongst many other candy items. Now I need to remember those aren't so healthy...but it was special as it was my new discovery and gave me hope that I won't feel deprived!
Hope someone out there will find this encouraging for themselves!
~Kristie :)