Our Gluten Free Beginnings

Welcome to "G-Free Joy!" I am so glad you are here. My guess is you found your way here because you are also on a gluten free journey. I started this blog to share my experiences in gluten free living and to hopefully help others see that this lifestyle truly can enrich lives rather than be a limitation. My family has gone completely G-free because two of my three children have Celiac Disease. This means that they have a condition which does not allow the body to safely process foods containing gluten. When gluten is ingested  by a person with Celiac Disease, the body (specifically the lower stomach and intestines) attacks itself causing damage and inflammation to the lining of the stomach and the villi in the intestines thus interfering with the body's digestive system and ability to absorb nutrients. Gluten is found in wheat rye, barley and oats (and spelt, a form of wheat).
My g-free journey began when my husband and I finally found the answer to why our sweet 2 year old Taylor was so sick for about a month. She had so many different symptoms with no easy connection between them. She was having difficulty breathing, had ear infections, had a swollen and hard belly, was showing signs of fatigue, weight loss, irritabililty, lack of sleep, loss of appetite, lack of energy. Her appearance was changing dramatically and she was not acting like herself at all. We went to several different doctors several times a week for several weeks and no one knew what was going on. At one point, prior to diagnosis, she went several days where she barely ate or drank anything at all, and if she did get anything in her she would vomit within an hour or so of eating. It was terrible...very scary and very frustrating. We were desperate to find the problem so we could begin the healing process. After a multitude of tests, we were told she had Celiac Disease and that her healing would begin as soon as we eliminated all traces of gluten from her diet. We were told that there is no cure for this condition, that it would be life-long, but that as long as she maintained a strictly gluten free diet she would be completely healthy and live a normal life. We were also warned that if she did not stop eating gluten she could be faced with a whole host of health problems and potential diseases, so we would need to learn the ins and outs of this new lifestyle quickly and make it of upmost priority to avoid cross-contamination of her food. We were immediately faced with the prospects of a whole new lifestyle for the 5 of us. The task seemed daunting, but we were determined! Finding out she had Celiac's was in many ways a relief, because it was something we could do to make her better. We were no longer helpless and hoping for a solution- we had one! I read three books, two magazines, and countless websites all in one week on Celiac Disease and going gluten free. We resigned immediately that we would be a completely g-free home. We felt we needed to eliminate all possibilities of  cross-contamination so we could be sure our daughter would begin healing right away. She had lost so much weight and was so sick that we could not bare the thought of her finding a cookie left by her sisters or a crumb of bread or a cheerio and know that it would hinder her healing and cause further damage. Within a few days of discovering Taylor had Celiac Disease, we got test results back saying that our oldest daughter, Ava, had it as well. We felt that this was a huge blessing to know that she had it because she demonstrated no symptoms and we may have not known she had it until terrible damage was done.  We literally did an overhaul on our entire kitchen. We emptied the entire contents of our pantry and both of our refrigerators and freezers. We gave away all of our teflon pots and pans, non-stick bakeware, wooden and plastic spoons and utensils, cutting boards, etc. We scrubbed out every drawer, shelf, rack and corner of our kitchen, house, and car, making sure we had no gluten-containing crumbs anywhere! We researched foods, called food manufacturers, met with a nutritionist, skimmed cookbooks, shopped at ten different stores, and stocked up on things we had never heard of like "sorghum flour" and "teff grains." We began a whole new culinary life! Since this was not an option, we made the decision right away that this would be a positive, healthy and fun adventure for our family. We knew it would take some getting used to but we prayed for grace (especially for our three kids) and just went full on into it. I can honestly say this has been the most fulfilling and enriching season for our family. We have enjoyed creating new recipes and trying out new things. Every meal and snack became an opportunity to be creative and healthy. In four weeks time our 2 year old lost her swollen belly and gained over 3 pounds! She bounced back to the picture of health right away! We now consume almost no processed foods, we have eliminated most preservatives, food dyes, additives, artificial flavorings; we eat many more whole foods, more organic foods than before, and our sugar intake has been significantly reduced. We all feel so much better, have more energy, and are sleeping better! It has also spurred us on to make other positive and healthy choices in other areas of our lives. We have had much more positive come from this experience than negative, and it continues to be a source of life for us. I believe there is life and beauty in every aspect of life, and nourishing yourself is a creative and happy part of living. I hope to share that through this blog. I will be posting our experiences with different foods, recipes, pictures and ideas for healthy, gluten free meals.