Can I just say I LOVE my new life?! I have been gluten-free for over a year now and what a difference! My life has drastically changed. Even my attitude has changed. Life seems so exciting and cheery! Yes, CHEERY! No longer does that darn glass look so empty! My house is cleanER. I am happy. I can go hiking. I can care for my children all day without feeling like a total failure, because I am so exhausted that I cannot meet their needs properly. The funny thing is before I was diagnosed with Celiac's Disease (CD) I thought, "I must be lazy. Why can I not spend all day on shopping spree with the girls or do the basics like CARE FOR MY FAMILY?!"
When the doctor told me I had CD I cried. Let's face it I LOVE to eat! I have ALWAYS eaten whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted and however much I wanted. A diet change was not something I wanted to do... SO I went out, ate some glutinous cake and cookies and moped around the house (having no energy to do anything else). It took me a few weeks to work up the courage to begin the diet. Never in my life have I dieted and this wasn't going to be a "lets just make healthy choices this week, this month or this year" type of diet. This was not a New Years resolution I could let go by the wayside in the middle of February. This was going to be LIFE, FOREVER, PERIOD. No cake, no cookies, no pasta, no teriyaki dinners, FOREVER. I was discouraged.
That was last year. THIS year I am rejoicing that the doctors discovered I had Celiac's. Yeah, sometimes it sucks to watch everyone else eat birthday cake, BUT I have energy. Nothing taste as good as life. I am healthy. I am happy. I can LIVE LIFE! No longer do I have to send my husband and kids out hiking without me! I can strap on a baby and go too! I am so thankful that we discovered WHY I could barely function.
Please, do not feel sorry for me. Yeah, I cannot eat the same things you can, but I am finally enjoying life. Be happy. Getting up and dressed is not the chore it was (and I didn't even realize at the time how draining every little activity was, but now that I am healthy the difference is amazing!) The Spoon Theory says it perfectly. In a nutshell it explains life through the eyes of someone with less energy and how difficult that can be. How thankful I am that CD can be corrected with just a diet change. At the time it seemed huge, it was huge, but now I am able to put it in perspective and be ever so grateful for my CD diagnosis.
I even have the energy to cook, IF I want to that is... shhhh... don't tell my husband! Right now I am LOVING recipes I find on Everyday Foods. They are NOT specifically for Celiacs, but they are recipes with fresh ingredients that are realistic for me, a busy mom of 4 to make without doing a million substitutions and of course they are so TASTY!
Now I am having FUN experimenting with different flours and foods. I am learning so much about them! Really, who wants to learn about flour? I sure didn't, but now I cannot wait to figure out what Teff is and if I prefer millet or quinoa flour (really enjoying quinoa right now).
My gluten-free life is a wonderful life.
If you have just been diagnosed with CD don't despair, you will be happy in the end I promise.
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