Coming Out of The Pantry...

[James] Well, it is official. After a 6 month journey I have reached the conclusion of what I had set out to determine. Without suspicion or doubt, it is now certain that I am gluten intolerant.

If you were to ask me a year ago what my favorite food were, I would have rattled off a list that included whole grain breads; the nuttier the better, whole grain pastas, homemade pizzas, numerous cereals like Wheat Bran, Honey Bunches of Oats, Kashi, and Shredded Wheat-Honey Nut. Along with these favorite foods were my favorite beers; Belgians and Wheat specifically. To now say that I am effectively not consuming these favorite foods and beverages is something remarkable.

It all started about a year ago during a time in my life when many things were uncertain and in transition. Stress, experts say seems to be a leading trigger for people developing gluten intolerance. At the time I began experiencing gradually and increasingly-worse symptoms, the details of which I will spare you from. I rationally assumed that it had more to do with the dietary consumption of the current day rather than a long term effect that gluten protein was having on the villi within my intestines. I began by avoiding or curbing certain foods that seemed to have the most serious effects. I drank soy and less dairy, then I drank less dairy and more soy, I refrained from eating pork, then beans, then certain vegetables but nothing seemed to help.

After being married in July, Katie began to grow concerned. As with any ailment in marriage, it affects twice as many people as it once would have. It was beginning to affect our cooking, places we liked to eat out, and my overall comfort. The symptoms increased to the point that I was even feeling more fatigued, becoming unable to sleep through the night, and I even began to develop a strange rash on my face.

Upon arriving at Wheaton College, we met one of Katie's co-workers who was completely gluten free. She suggested that I try it, to which I resisted for several weeks until I was desperate. I went to Whole Foods and was met by an empathetic and kind employee who suggested numerous products to me. I stocked up with about a week's worth of gluten free groceries and thus began my journey. It took about 2 weeks for me to start noticing a difference, but once I did, it was apparent that my symptoms were subsiding.

If I wasn't a believer at that point, I was when, on several occasions, I unknowingly ate something consisting of gluten and for the next 2-4 days I was back where I had begun. After looking into the ingredients of those meals, I realized that once again the crook had slipped past the cook.

6 months later, I can say that being Gluten Free isn't ideal, but nowhere as bad as I would have thought. On the bright side, it generally forces me to be very ingredient-conscious, gives me an increased volume of vegetables, fruits and proteins that I would not have otherwise consumed, and it cuts out a great deal of unnecessary starches, sugars and carbohydrates. I have found numerous substitutes to things that either perfectly suffice and sometimes are even better than the gluten version.

It is by the grace of God that I have found the source of my disruption and that I am feeling so much better. Katie has been my greatest advocate and friend throughout this process. While I deserved to be sleeping on the couch countless nights, she endured. She jumped on board from the get go, decided to learn to eat gluten free with me, shopped for awesome gluten free products and has been cooking gluten free with me. I am forever blessed in this first season of marriage to have experienced this with her and to know that come stomach hell or bad gas, she is faithful and steadfast.

For more information on Celiac Disease and Intolerance see... http://www.celiac.com/