When I found out from my doctor that I had Celiac disease I shocked him by being really happy!  I had been sick for well over a year, too nauseated to function on most days. After test after test, including a visit to an oncologist and a surgeon, to find out that what I had finally had actually made me gleeful! My shocked doctor was surprised that I knew what Celiac disease was. I had suspected Celiac for a while but I only had one symptom so I figured it couldn’t’t be me. My doctor said that some people have no symptoms. Some people do have symptoms and it could take years to diagnosis.

My doctor asked, “Do you understand that you will have to live a GF lifestyle for the rest of your life?” and I was still thrilled! To know I could get better just by eliminating wheat, barley and rye from my diet and not be so sick was a pretty good deal to me.

So, on my birthday last year I had my last gluten-free meal: pizza at my favorite restaurant and garlic bread, and started the diet the next day. I read a few books, including cook books and got a lot of help and support from the internet.

I’m not going to pretend that it’s been all sunshine and roses though. There are things I do miss like going to a Chinese restaurant  and the ease of grabbing something quick like in a fast food place. I miss cakes at birthday parties and mostly the fun of grabbing a sweet with my coffee at a coffee shop.

But I have found some pretty decent substitutes. I found a pasta that tastes pretty good and I finally found a place that makes decent GF pizza! Basically there is a gluten-free substitute out there for everything.

Restaurants are really catering towards people with Celiac or those with a gluten allergy too. A lot of places label certain entrees “Gluten-free” and there are a lot of good options. I even had GF pasta at an Italian restaurant! Delish!

Supermarkets are making more shelf space for GF items too, including snacks and I even found frozen pizza!

One disappointment in all this is that I thought I would be losing tons of weight due to laying off sugary wheat  products or things like bagels. But many ice creams are GF so I just have that or I will have too much of a GF meal. It’s a myth that all celiacs are thin.

I want to thank my boyfriend for jumping on the gluten-free lifestyle with me and for cooking special meals for me. But there’s actually a lot of dishes that are just naturally GF too.

So, finding out you have to live gluten-free is not the end of the world. It’s just a new lifestyle that after a few months becomes a part of your life and leaves you feeling much better!

Photo Credit: PCOS DIVA