The Allergy Queen Travels

There's a question I've been asked a lot lately - and it's usually a version of this: 

Why are you traveling when you have so many allergies?

That's a really relevant question - and also one that I have found myself asking. I'm quite possibly the worst person to travel - but that also makes me the best person to write travel reviews. 

Why? So many of us with allergies and intolerances are afraid to travel - it's a hassle having to think about food, you feel like a burden on restaurant staff and the people you are traveling with, you have to research everything - so often time, we just don't travel. 

I don't know about you, but traveling is one of my favourite things in life. Sure, I have dozens and dozens of allergies - but why should that stop me enjoying my life? 

One of the other reasons I decided to travel is for you. So many SIL readers come to us for advice on their allergies - from coming to the blog for allergy friendly emails to emails asking me for advice on what to make for a dinner party or how to feed a coeliac friend and suggestions for allergy friendly restaurants and cafes. 

Whilst allergies are popping up more and more in the media and people are talking about them more and more - there isn't enough advice.... so I'm going to do my best to provide you with it. Jesse and I plan on traveling - and we also plan on taking you along with us. We are going to give you advice that is real and honest - advice that is so much more than what you'll find in a magazine or on a hotel's website. 

You'll be following us around the world, finding out which airlines, hotels, cafes, restaurants, countries are the most accommodating for those with allergies - which will go out of their way to make you feel welcome and make sure you're well, those who care and those you can trust. 

But before we head off to Bali, I want you to tell me - what's important to you when it comes to travel reviews? Do you want to know all about the food - the activities - the accommodation? 

See more info on my allergies after the jump!

What Life is Like: When Food Hates You

As you may know, if you've been reading Southern In-Law for some time, I have many, many, many food allergies and intolerances - and I know that dozens of Southern In-Law readers also have the same issues. But the biggest issue of all? Lack of awareness of others so I'm going to tell you what it's like... in the funniest way I know how.. 

Let's take a walk in someone elses shoes - someone who food hates....

When everyone else is eating at a restaurant and you just sit there.... eating air...

You, reading ingredients lists at the grocery store

My Coeliac Story - Coeliac Awareness Week

A lot of people are surprised when they find out that for eighteen years of my life, I happily ate gluten. Little did we know, however, the grainy breads and gluten filled cereals I so loved were slowly killing my intestines. 

This week is Coeliac Awareness week (13 - 20 March, 2013) and whilst I have covered my journey with coeliac disease and food intolerances before, I thought I would recap it again.

You see, until the blood work came back positive - we never thought I had Coeliac Disease. I marched into that blood test telling everyone "This is going to be the one test in my life I fail - just watch!" and I felt like someone had smacked me hard in the stomach when my doctor opened the results and looked at me and said "actually... Kristy.. you do have the coeliac gene..". My doctor was as shocked as I - she had told me off for removing gluten from my diet months before as I was already too skinny and too sick. As it turns out, I did the right thing. 

Except for a brief period during puberty, I've always been slim. My Mum even used to pay me money to keep my weight at a certain level. When I was stressed, the weight would fall off me - and as I was battling with anxiety issues, my family and doctors thought that was the reason I suddenly began losing alot of weight. 

I lost my appetite, I was constantly sick, my stomach felt like it was full of acid, I carried a heat pack around on my stomach constantly - and I burned my stomach constantly. We didn't know what was going on. I went from a healthy girl to someone who was so sick, she didn't want to leave her bed. My family and doctors thought it was just stress and so did I. 

My hair started to fall out, I was constantly cold, despite my thinness my stomach looked 6 months pregnant, I couldn't walk around the block without feeling like I'd run a marathon. I had lost weight to the point where I look emaciated - and it scared everyone.  But how can you gain weight when you're constantly sick and food makes you sicker?

I'd had enough. One day, whilst on our way to go grocery shopping - I told my mum. "Mum, after my birthday, I want to stop eating gluten... I don't think it's a problem, but I'm frustrated and I want to make sure". My Mum told me under no circumstances was I allowed to give up gluten. She was scared. She saw how thin and unhappy her once healthy and happy daughter had become - and she was worried giving up gluten would see me get worse. 

A week later, I was still rolling around the floor in pain at night - I would spend every night curled up into "child's pose", heat pack tucked between my legs and my tummy - wishing that the pain would stop. My Mum turned to me whilst watching TV in the evening and said "Kristy, I will let you stop eating gluten - but we have to have a plan". 

So we started planning. Every gluten item I ate needed to have an alternative. Bread, pasta, crackers, snacks - everything. I had to show my Mum that I would continue trying to gain weight despite eliminating gluten - and I was so determined for relief that I did just that.

A week after my 19th birthday, gluten went. I despised rice porridge, I ate disgusting bread that felt like bricks in my stomach - but suprisingly, I loved the pasta. But I was still hurting.  

Slowly we began to see glimpses of relief - but we also realised that gluten wasn't the only problem. We tracked everything I ate - from how much to how it was cooked to what I drank with my meals - and we also tracked my symptoms. I loathed having to be a slave to my "food diary" but I knew it was the only way we could find answers.

We soon saw a pattern. I could be fine all morning eating my gluten free cereals with peanut butter and banana - but when it came to morning tea and I ate dried apricots, or lunch when I had tomato on my sandwich - there was a problem. Slowly we began compiling a list of "suspect" foods, based on the results of my food diary.

One by one, those suspect foods were taken out for a week and then tested again once the week was over. One by one, we found that I also had multiple allergies. My doctors were previously stumped as to why I was feeling so ill, telling me "you have a serious problem Kristy - we just don't know what it is". Once we showed them my food diary, we all started to figure it out. 

The gluten had damaged my stomach to the point were it was incredibly sensitive. One doctor described it to me as "you know when you have a really sore open graze? It hurts as soon as you get soap in it or anything acidic - right? Think of your stomach this way - it's red raw". 

I was too thin for an endoscopy or colonoscopy to look any further, so we had to walk a different path. I was tested for lactose intolerance, had terrible allergy prick tests and felt like a human pin cushion with so many blood tests.

We found that I couldn't eat gluten (of course), soy (unless it's a small amount of soy lecithin), sulphur, acidic foods (citrus, tomatoes, most berries, stone fruit etc), spicy foods (chilli, capsicum/bell peppers etc), pears (yes, the most hypo-allergenic fruit even makes me sick), celery, legumes, lentils, high fat foods (except thankfully nuts, nut butters and very small amounts of coconut). Don't worry, theres still foods I can eat.

I was thankfully not lactose intolerant, I could eat gluten free oats and though my diet is restricted - it started to work! I finally had days where I wasn't sick and slowly, over time I've felt better. My IBS has improved, my digestion has improved, my vitamin and mineral absorption has improved - and I was finally able to gain weight! 

Throughout my gluten eating years, were there signs? I had weight loss, anemia, appetite loss, IBS and digestion problems - but they were all thought of either as stress issues or simply growing up. At one point in my life, we thought I was lactose intolerant as I was getting extremely ill - something that doctors think was actually a reaction to gluten. I also had terrible problems with hiccups and indegestion - daily hiccups - another sign of gluten intolerance and coeliac disease.

Nearly 200,000 Australians are affected yet 80% of people don’t know they have the condition. It is simple to detect and easy to manage.

If you've had similar symptoms to me that you just can't quite figure out, it's worth getting tested. The symptoms of coeliac disease include:

• Iron deficiency/anaemia and other vitamin and mineral deficiencies (I had these)
• Gastrointestinal symptoms eg: constipation, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, flatulence, cramping, bloating, pain, steatorrhea (I had these)
• Osteoporosis
• Autoimmune disease 
• Weight loss or weight gain (I had this)
• Infertility
• A family history of coeliac disease
• Fatigue, weakness and lethargy (I had this)
• Easy bruising (I had this)
• Recurrent mouth ulcers and/or swelling of the mouth and tongue
• Skin rashes 
• Altered mental alertness and irritability (I had this)
• Bone and joint pains (I had this)
• Failure to thrive in children
• Delayed growth or puberty in children

As you can see, I had many of the symptoms - but no one could figure it out. If it wasn't for me researching and seeing gluten intolerance and/or coeliac disease as a potential cause - I could still be incredibly sick... or worse.

My journey isn't your average one - so don't fret! I've unfortunately had a terrible experience, but hopefully if you've stumbled on this blog looking for answers yourself - or have coeliac disease as well - you are doing far better than I was.

It's important that if you think you might have coeliac disease you see your doctor. Don't stop eating gluten (unlike me, but my doctor wouldn't test for coeliac disease until I started seeing the benefits of eliminating gluten) as it makes it much easier to discover if gluten is a problem for you. 

If you have the gene - that doesn't mean anything. My sister has one gene - but she was tested and has no adverse reaction to gluten. It's important that you discuss testing with your doctor and ensure that you receive a proper diagnosis. If you have been diagnosed with coeliac disease, see my tips for starting a gluten free diet.

Gluten free diets aren't a fad. They're the difference between good health and poor health for some people. Would I recommend a gluten free diet to someone without a problem? Never. Go eat that damn gluten and enjoy it! 

So tell me, are you a coeliac?
If not, do you have someone close to you who is?

    

   

Accepting that you're different

For those of you who have been reading Southern In-Law for a while, you'll know that I'm a little bit different.

As a hypoglycemic coeliac with way too many food intolerances, food can be tricky. With Jesse home, every night I have at least 3 pots/pans on the stove at once and often have the oven on too. Dinner leaves a pile of pots and pans and different cutting boards and utensils.

Why? I have a gluten eating fiancé with no food intolerances who thinks cheek-achingly sweet is just right and has now decided quinoa is a no-go.

But it's not just Jesse. My family and friends are the same so, generally speaking, I never eat the same thing as anyone else (the only exception is when Jesse and I have oatmeal or grits for breakfast and Jesse now eats gluten free pasta so I can make ours in the same pot).

Being a coeliac means that even traces of gluten make me insanely ill. I have separate pots, pans, utensils and chopping boards and I've got to be careful I don't mix things up when I'm cooking a gluten filled dinner for everyone else and a gluten free dinner for myself. 

When it comes to cakes and baked goods, I make things two ways. For my family, I follow my recipes as you see on the blog - while for me, they are gluten free but with a more tolerable amount of sugar. It's not because I avoid sugar or think it's bad whatsoever, my body is incredibly sensitive. If I eat sweet sweet foods without something else to offset the sugar (often times high protein or complex carbohydrate foods work) my blood sugar crashes dramatically and I end up with dizzy spells, nausea and have been known to black out. I've eaten this way for so many years that I love natural sweetness from fruits and lower sugar treats so I don't feel like I'm missing out at all. My family, on the other hand, are used to eating really sweet foods - so it's rare that they "love" my versions - especially Jesse.

The baked pancakes above were one of my not-so-sweet recipes. I thought I could get away with it since we were eating them with Nutella (for me, a small amount of Nutella is about as sweet as I can go without having an insane blood sugar crash) but I was wrong. Jesse is very much stuck in his ways (as are most people) and decided they didn't taste like pancakes were supposed to taste (read: southern style sweet) and if you put Nutella on top, they only tasted like Nutella (where's the problem with that?!) so alas, one of those pancake hearts was broken and half ended up in the bin.

This is a problem that many people with food intolerances or allergies have - accepting that you're different. It's tough - but once you realise how much better you feel when you're true to yourself, it doesn't hurt so much anymore.

So tell me, do you have food intolerances/allergies - or do you eat entirely differently to your family/friends? How do you cope? 

One of my bigggggest coping mechanisms is to be prepared. When you can't eat at dinner parties or when you're out and about - you have to be sure you look after yourself - because seriously, there's nothing worse than looking at food that you can't eat when you're about to chew your arm off! ;P 

My GI System Hates Me - Part Five: The Conclusion and My Medical Update!

If you want to know more of what I'm talking about, check out the rest of "My GI System Hates Me"

So last week, I left off where I was about to get all of my blood work done and my CT scan.

You should know one thing about me.. I have always been terrified of needles and blood. Notice I used past tense - that's because this year I went from never having had a blood test, to having so many that I don't know what's left running through my veins. 

I'm also known as a fainter, apparently. You see, my first blood test, I finished and though "phew.. that was easier than I thought" and proudly beamed at my Mum and sister because I was so happy with myself for not freaking out. My sister had to get her monthly blood test done and while I waited for her I started to feel really ill. My head started buzzing and all of a sudden I felt really sick (apparently I also went white as a sheet) and I was quickly made to lay down before I passed out. Poor Katrina was in the middle of her blood test when the blood nurse said to her "um.. one second.. I really need to help your sister..". It's a bit embarrassing when you're younger sister is a-okay and you're passing out.

I survived my first blood test and went home for the rest of the day feeling incredibly woozy and drained and now every other blood test I have, I'm made to lay down for 15 minutes afterwards so we don't have a repeat performance. 

The blood test I got for my new doctor involved a lot of tests - meaning it involved a lot of blood. Nine vials, to be exact. Let's just say I was glad to be laying down when five minutes in I started to get really woozy. I might sound like a major wuss, but being hypoglycemic and fasting is enough trouble even before you add in blood loss :P  

After the blood test was over, I did my usual laying-down-while-Katrina-has-her-date-with-a-vampire routine and we were on our way back home. The results for some of the tests were going to take a week or so, so we would have to wait for answers - and get the CT scan in the meantime. 

The CT scan was a piece of cake. No contrast injection was needed (much to my needle-phobic delight!). Awkwardly the lady doing the CT was overly complimenting and decided to tell me how beautiful I was whilst strapping my chin into the machine (thank goodness they don't have mirrors). 

My brains fabulous photo shoot was over in a few minutes and we then just had to wait to pick up the films. To the untrained eye, my brain just looked like a squishy little ugly thing with thankfully no big lumps that looked nasty, but we had to wait to find out what the results were from the doctor. 

We went back to the doctor, CT films in hand and she had all of the results from the tests. She started to go through the blood work and let me know what the results meant - if they were normal/abnormal/slightly above or below. 

My iron stores had dropped significantly, despite my increased iron supplement - due to my poor absorption with all of my stomach issues and my cortisol levels were slightly higher than usual. 

"There's a reason for this level to be higher... it's just.. yes... yes... on the last page here" said the doctor. This is where my brain starts thinking "Cortisol.. what's cortisol.. cortisone... it's a steriod.. no wait, cortisol is the stress hormone... why is it high?... listen Kristy!". The worst thing to do to someone waiting for answers is to leave them in suspense! 

We got to the last page of results to find out.. I have glandular fever/mono/mononucleosis/the kissing disease. I've had it for quite some time and it's still current in my system. The doctor thinks my system has been attacked differently than usual in that I don't have any flu-like symptoms. Instead the glandular fever is just draining me of any energy. Because of this, she wants to keep monitoring me to make sure the glandular fever doesn't develop into ME/chronic fatigue syndrome which I'm at a high risk of developing. 

My CT scan came back with a jumble of medical terms that sounded horrific and I promised myself I wouldn't google them so as to not freak myself out. There were words like nodules, inflammation, blah blah blah.. We booked an appointment with an ENT (Ear Nose and Throat Specialist) and thankfully we were able to get in the next week!

We got to the ENT's rooms and handed over the pages and pages of my CT report. "Well Kristy.... if you look at this... you'd think you're going to die..." 

Say what?

"But don't worry, if everyone listened to these results.. they'd think they were going to die too - and everyone would be in for multiple surgeries"

Phew. 

He asked about my symptoms, checked out my nose and told me that, whilst he wasn't sure of the cause of all of the inflammation with my sinuses - I definitely did not need surgery at the moment and I definitely was not going to die.  

He sent me off to get an allergy prick test or scratch test to see if there weren't any environmental factors causing the inflammation.

They placed 20 drops of allergens on my skin - things like cats, dogs, house dust, horses, grass, pollen etc and then they pricked my skin 20 times in a row with a needle to see if there was a reaction.

Well, there was most definitely a reaction from me because prick after prick after stab after stab hurts. I then had to sit with my arm out for 20 minutes while we waited to see if there was a reaction.

After twenty minutes, my arm still looked the same as you see in the picture - no reaction. I was super relieved, but the only downfall was that I couldn't tell Jesse we couldn't have a cat because I was allergic oh snap. But that's okay, I have a million and one other reasons!

 So what now? Now I just have to deal with what I know - 

•  the gluten free diet stays - forever. 
• avoiding food intolerance is a must - for now, until my stomach has time to heal itself and can hopefully tolerate more foods. 
• the sinus troubles don't bother me much at all, except for a slight stuffy nose in the mornings some times. 
• the fatigue is just something I have to deal with - for now (I have become the queen of power naps, even though they do nothing for my physical fatigue, it's more of a help with mental fatigue and gives me a chance to re-focus)

 The doctor is going to monitor my glandular fever/mono and fatigue for the next year or so, re-testing me in a few months to see if it's still present - and if I'm still feeling terribly fatigued, she's going to do some further investigation. 

 Most of all, after 2-3 years of having no answers, I'm relieved to have some. Sure, there were more answers than I anticipated - but it's so nice to know that I'm not crazy or completely bonkers and that there's actually reasons for how I'm feeling. 

Now I just have to keep busy and forget that I have any problems! Because, afterall, how are you ever going to get anything done if you lay around woefully in your sick bed?!

So tell me, have you ever had mono/glandular fever? 

    

   

My GI System Hates Me - part four: What next?

 To get a better idea of what I'm talking about, read the rest of "My GI System Hates Me"

In January 2012, I was diagnosed as having one of the two genes responsible for coeliac disease. This was discovered through a simple blood test which showed I had the more dominant coeliac gene. While I am not "officially" a coeliac unless I have a biopsy, my doctors have decided that it is almost 100% certain that I am due to my experiences (and damage to my GI system) and so that's what they've given me as a diagnosis. 

I'm the only one in my family that is known to have the gene, at this stage. I am begging my sister to get the test so she doesn't end up in my situation - but I can understand her not wanting to know.

To put it simply, when someone has one of the two coeliac genes they either show symptoms or they don't. They can have non-active coeliac disease where they can go their entire lives eating gluten without a problem or, like me, they can get to an age where suddenly damage occurs in their intestines and the problem is diagnosed. 

The reason I have so many food intolerances is thought to be due to the damage done to my intestines from eating gluten for so long. I won't ever know if I was on a gluten free diet sooner whether it would still be the same outcome or not, so I don't even bother thinking about it. 

I was feeling much better without gluten - but still not right. So the investigation went further..

My original doctor seemed to think of me as the boy girl who cried wolf and ignored any problems I presented to her by telling me they were all in my head or just due to complications from coeliac disease. For a while I believed her, I thought my body was just so damaged it would take forever to heal and until then I'd just have to put up with the constant nausea, fatigue and stomach pains. 

But then it got worse. I came back from Louisiana and found I was constantly exhausted to the point where I was having concentrating and remembering things and little things like having a shower or doing buttons up on a shirt felt like I was climbing Everest. I was so fatigued that I couldn't even be bothered going to get the groceries I needed and completely stopped going to my usual walks. I felt like a zombie and just couldn't understand why. 

I was fed up of going to my doctor and being told to deal with it, but she dealt the final blow when on my last visit to her she said "well.. medical science isn't exact... I don't think anyone will ever be able to diagnose you with anything because nothing comes back on paper and we just don't know what it is... but it's okay... you work from home". She refused to do any more tests because they were a bother. I was furious. I once again got into the car after the appointment and broke down, I couldn't handle being made to feel like I was crazy and that i'd have to live like this for the rest of my life. 

We immediately sought out a new doctor, found one and booked the first possible appointment in a few weeks time.  My fatigue, nausea and dizziness didn't settle at all while we waited for the appointment and I counted down the days until I might be able to get some answer.

We got to the appointment and within a few minutes, I knew we found the right doctor. My mum and I put it to her plainly... we wanted a doctor who would listen to me and take me seriously. She told me she would not stop until she found answers for me because everything I was experiencing was not normal and not okay. 

She sent me off with a giant list of blood tests to run (and promised me they'd still leave a little blood in me) and a referral for a CT scan that I was to have done and we scheduled another appointment for a few weeks time when all of the results would be back. 

Next week, I'll give you the full update now that I have the results and I know exactly what's going on - finally. 

So tell me, have you had bad experiences with doctors like me?
Or have you been one of the lucky few who have a great doctor?

For years I have dreaded appointments because I always got the same answers "Well.. I don't know what's wrong with you.. it's not clear... if it gets worse, come back... otherwise I don't know". I have a terrible track record of breaking down and dissolving into a puddle of tears after doctors appointments for this very reason.

My GI System Hates Me - part three: What CAN she eat?

Source

Note: This post is pretty old so almost all of my intolerances have changed! If you're curious, be sure to send me an email, however, hopefully I can do an updated post sometime soon!

If you've read part one: suspecting gluten was a problem and part two: eliminating gluten you'd also know that I have many other food intolerances. When most people hear my story they generally wonder what on earth I can eat - don't worry, it seems a lot worse than it is. 

First off, let's start with what I can't eat:

• Gluten
• Soy (the exception here is small amount of soy lecithin)
• Sulphur 
• Acidic foods (citrus, tomatoes, berries, stone fruit etc)
• Spicy foods (chilli, capsicum/bell peppers etc)
• Pears (yes, the most hypo-allergenic fruit) 
• Celery 
• Legumes/Lentils (chickpeas, beans etc)
• High fat foods (oils, butter, too much coconut etc) 

I think that's it.. sometimes even I can't remember the whole list. I'll be telling someone what I can't eat and my sister will pipe up with "Oh and xxxx" or my mum will add "you can't eat xxx either Kristy!" I'm sure if I've missed something, they'll leave a comment or tell me. Truth be known, I just added high fat foods because I forgot.

Now.. you're probably once again asking the question of what can she eat? - don't worry, I get it all the time. One thing I make sure I tell anyone who is feeling sorry is that.. It's all good, I can still eat peanut butter! If I couldn't eat peanut butter, it'd be a whole different story!

My food intolerances are worst for those around me than they are for myself. My family and friends hate when they're all enjoying something and they know I can't - it's especially hard for Jesse.

I cope with this by making sure I eat whatever "normal" foods I can and making meals that we can all enjoy. This means introducing quinoa to my family and making meals and baked goods that we can all enjoy, sharing "normal" foods that I can eat like popcorn and chocolate pudding. Chocolate pudding is my guilty pleasure love (if you've never put peanut butter in chocolate pudding, please for the love of all that is good go do it!)

I eat a lot of nuts, nut butters, cheese and avocado in order to get my fat levels up in a way that my body can tolerate. The general rule is; if it doesn't have peanut butter/nuts/nut butter on it, it'll have cheese.

I don't know if I could eat meat or seafood because I simply don't and never have. I eat small amounts of chicken with dinner, but I prefer to get my protein from other sources - especially nuts/nut butters, dairy products (especially cottage cheese and yogurt), oatmeal, quinoa, peanut flour, chia seed, flaxseed etc. I've recently found that I can tolerate eggs, however, I've never eaten them simply because I don't like the taste - but I use them in my ricotta cheesecakes. 

As for carbohydrates, they're obviously all gluten free. For dinner, I switch between quinoa, coral red rice and gluten free pastas (buckwheat is my favourite). For breakfast I buy gluten free cereals (both from iHerb and the grocery store) and gluten free oatmeal/hot cereal and I also make breakfast bakes or pancakes with gluten free ingredients.

I can eat bananas and apples (thankfully my favourite fruits) and I eat a lot of them, as well as carrots, cucumbers and avocados. I'm also addicted to dates, raisins and sulphur-free dried apples which I thankfully have no problems with! I can also eat blueberries (but no other berries) so they make a regular appearance, too! While I can't eat jams because I can't find blueberry jam without lemon juice, I love date spread.

My diet probably sounds a lot worse to you than it actually is. It seems terrible, but it just means that I have to be more creative than the average person. I amaze my family and friends with what I can eat with so many intolerances and I rarely eat the same thing two days in a row. I am always coming up with delicious combinations (like goats cheese and nutella - to die for) and my gluten free recipes and baked goods are my saving grace!

As much as I'd love to eat a ham and cheese croissant or devour a whole tomato sprinkled with salt and pepper - I know how sick those foods makes me so I really don't want them that bad. It's taken some adjustment to accept my diet the way it is currently, but I'm hopeful that at least my food intolerances may change in the future.

Read the rest of My GI System Hates Me here

So tell me, what's your favourite food? 

I couldn't pick a favourite but I love peanut butter, bananas, apples and carrots probably more than any other foods :P

My GI System Hates Me - part two: Eliminating gluten and tips for starting a gluten free diet

Source

If you read my first part of "My GI System Hates Me" you'll know that after keeping a food diary for some time, I started to see a link between eating gluten and an increase in my symptoms. After struggling to find any relief for sometime, my family and I decided that it was time to see if gluten was my nemesis.

So on August 23, 2011 - gluten went. 

To begin with, the symptoms continued. At first I was upset because I was desperate for instant relief, but I knew that it could take some time. After the first week, my symptoms started to reduce. My bloating went from extreme bloating to general bloating and some days I even found myself writing "No significant symptoms" where I'd never written that before.

We decided that after I felt some relief from not eating gluten, we would slowly re-introduce some gluten containing foods to see if they were a problem or whether the relief was just a coincidence.

We wanted to find out if it was gluten that I was sensitive to, or wheat - so we came up with a plan. I planned to try, in order, barley, spelt, rye, kamut and regular oats - all gluten containing but wheat free grains. Then I planned to try wheat. 

Everytime I reintroduced a gluten food, my symptoms increased dramatically - and they kept up for a few days afterwards. I would cry every time I realised that I was having reactions to gluten because I guessed what was coming.

Thankfully apples are not a problem
and they're gluten free

While I was still not feeling 100% without gluten, with gluten I felt horrible. In the end, I gave up on the challenges once I tried wheat - enough was enough. Gluten was once again gone, this time for good. 

Without gluten I was feeling so much better, but because I was still having problems we took a closer look at my diet. It became clear that stone fruits, berries and sulphur (my mum is also allergic) were all problems and it wasn't until January this year that I realised my daily celery munching was the cause of my afternoon stomach cramps. 


Next post, I'll tell you more about my food intolerances and what I can eat - because I know when a lot of people here my story, they start to wonder if I exist on water.. 

My tips for starting a gluten free diet:

whether you're diagnosed with coeliac disease/gluten intolerance or wanting to find out if gluten is a problem and using this as an elimination diet.

• Buy gluten free versions of your staple foods - for me, my staples were the following gluten free foods to replace my regular foods:
  - Breakfast: cereal/hot cereal
  - Snacks: crackers, GF bars, gluten free flour for making muffins
  - Lunch: bread/crackers/quinoa/rice
  - Dinner: quinoa/rice/GF pasta
  You can easily find ways to substitute your regular foods with gluten free foods, just know they won't taste exactly the same.
• Keep a food diary - write down your symptoms, how you're feeling, bowel movements (I know, but it's important) or anything that you feel might be relevant - even your mood can be altered by allergies/intolerances. 
• Know what you're eating! - you need to be really careful you're not consuming any gluten that you're not aware of. This means reading ingredients labels carefully, not using toasters used for regular bread, avoiding cross contamination and being aware of what you can and can't eat on a gluten free diet.
• It may feel like the end of the world, but you'll get over it - At first, I hated not eating gluten - I mean hated. But after a while, I found delicious gluten free foods that I loved and it became easier. I started experimenting with gluten free baking and found ways to make foods gluten free that tasted even better than the original gluten-filled version. Now, gluten free is what I'm used to. I love not eating gluten simply because I feel so much better - and the fact that iHerb and other GF companies make such delicious gluten free foods only makes it easier.

My tips for re-introducing gluten on an elimination diet: 

• Be specific! - don't try and introduce too many things at once because you won't know what's the problem. For example, you want to see if you can tolerate oats - have a serving of oats for breakfast and then continue eating your GF diet. Continue this for two days, recording your symptoms before you try it again - see if your symptoms are changed and then according to the results, decide if it's a problem for you or not. 
• Don't add in new foods - when you're reintroducing gluten, don't add in new foods to your diet at the same time. For instance, when you're trying your oats - don't add cacao nibs or a new fruit if you've never eaten them before. This way you're only changing one component and you have a better idea of what's going on. 
• Be patient -  it's tempting to go straight back into eating gluten, but you'll never know what the problem is. Elimination diets are frustrating and take a long time, but can really change how you feel if you do them right and work out what the problem is. 
• Symptoms might not show up right away - I find, with gluten, it now takes between 2-6 hours for it to really hit me (usually around 6). This is because my digestive system is reaaaaally slow - for you it might take minutes or it might not occur until the next day. That's why it's important to leave breaks between introducing foods. 
• Wait until your system is settled - There's no point in re-introducing new foods if you're symptoms are still extreme because you won't be able to tell the difference. You need to be able to see a difference to find out whether something is a problem or not. 
• Record everything - what you eat, what you drink, when you eat it, emotional factors, bathroom habits etc. It might not seem like it'd make a difference, but it can. My IBS flares up when I'm stressed, so it'd be silly to try something new on a day where I'm stressed as my IBS symptoms could mimic a reaction. 

So tell me - have you ever suffered from GI issues or food intolerances?

    

   

My GI System Hates Me - part one: Suspecting gluten was a problem

For 19 years of my life I enjoyed soft fluffy breads, croissants and anything with gluten without any obvious problems. I didn't worry too much about ingredients lists and I was able to eat whatever I pleased without having to know who made it, what was in it or how it was cooked. 

Sure, I had digestive problems all my life and at one stage I even found I was lactose intolerant - but I seemed to grow out of them or doctors just thought I had a lazy GI system. 

It wasn't until I started having extreme stomach cramps, headaches, fatigue, constant nausea and my digestive problems got worse that we suspected any problems. 

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First I started keeping a food diary of everything I ate. It was suspected that I had extreme IBS so we started searching for the foods that were irritants. First we found acidic foods were extremely irritating (tomatoes, oranges, lemons etc), then we found spicy foods did the same - and I knew I already had issues with digesting soy. My body also hated legumes, pears (the most hypo-allergenic fruit!) and had trouble with high fat foods (oils, butters, coconut). 

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I eliminated all of those irritant foods (yes, there were still foods I could eat!) but I still wasn't feeling good. My stomach was swelling and bloating to the point where I looked 9 months pregnant each night and had trouble sleeping and constant back pain. My digestive system was just not working and no one could tell me why. 

Jesse and I had talked about me possibly eliminating gluten for a while to see if it made a difference. I first told my mum about the idea and I got a resounding no. You see, to her, eliminating gluten meant going without more foods and she worried that I would continue to lose even more weight. 

So I went on eating gluten for a few more weeks and keeping a food diary to monitor my symptoms. I had tried gluten free cereals for something different and fell in love with rice pudding as it was a warming winter breakfast. A pattern started to emerge in my food diaries. On the day where I hadn't eaten gluten for breakfast and then eaten a snack that didn't have gluten, my symptoms weren't so severe - but half an hour after a gluten containing lunch my symptoms amplified. 

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I spoke to my parents again about eliminating gluten and this time they agreed. They saw me rolling around in pain, crying from frustration and knew that I wasn't well whatsoever. The next week was my birthday and I decided that I would eliminate gluten afterwards - I wanted my favourite foods on my birthday, even if it was the last time! We started buying gluten free foods so I had options for my two weeks without gluten. 

Originally, I didn't think I had a problem with gluten. I was clutching at straws and desperate for answers and I was willing to try anything for relief. 

In my next post, I'll tell you about how I eliminated gluten and what happened next.  

So tell me, do you have any food intolerances? 
How did you find yours out? 
and if you're a coeliac, do you have other food intolerances/allergies?