People often begin their gluten free stories with inspiring tales of motivation. My story is quite different, it begins with years of denial, an addiction to all things gluten-filled and the horror of being diagnosed as a coeliac. No bread ever again, not a problem, right? Wrong.
As many people know, supermarkets have the ‘delightful’ idea of pumping out the smell of freshly baked bread to entice people further into the store. As a result, my first shopping trip as a coeliac was comparable to a Britney-esque meltdown. I tiptoed past the doughnuts, averting my eyes from my old comforting friends and crawled past the bread aisle (with tears in my eyes) commando-style, on a one woman mission reluctantly heading for the ‘free from’ aisle.
What the doctor didn’t tell me about the array of gluten free foods is that they are often also ‘free from’ flavour and jam-packed with preservatives, which give them a longer shelf life. I imagine they want to keep the products on the shelf for as long as possible, awaiting the next recently diagnosed coeliac to visit the aisle wide-eyed and ready to buy one of everything. This is when my motivation kick started. I made the decision to avoid this type of food and to only give it consideration if a bomb shelter was on the cards for my next DIY project. I didn’t need to eat these foods anymore to prove to myself that I could still eat cakes and breads; I decided to make them myself.
Trying to cope with the stress of being coeliac
I have always been a foodie and love to cook, it is my passion. This love developed when I was five years old and used to make ‘recipes’ with my best friend, Fiona (yes, another one). These recipes normally consisted of flour (of the gluten variety), water and green food colouring…not to be included in this blog. Trial and error has played a huge part in creating some delicious recipes and well, let’s face it, some disasters (my boyfriend now shudders when someone mentions a ‘Vietnamese Spring Roll’…sorry). On a positive note, my exploration into gluten free cookery has reignited my interest in nutrition.
The deadly combination of being a balanced Libra with a ‘Type A’ personality makes coping with this allergy that bit more of a struggle. This isn’t something that is easy, but it does get easier. After following my gluten free diet for just over a year, that sluggish feeling that I felt permanently and the agony I went through every day is a distant memory. I feel energetic, I feel happy. I love the food that I cook.
This change has been the best I have ever made in my life.
Please join me on my road to discovery…
GF Fi x