The Hardest Lessons Learned...Confessions of a Gluten-Free Mom
It's funny how sometimes the most obvious answer to our problems, is the one that's the hardest for us to see. It's so apparent to everyone around us, they may even come straight out and tell us, but we just don't GET IT until the time is right for us to really get it.
For me, it was like that with Nutrition. I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease back in 2008, after my son River was born. My appendix burst when my baby was 6 weeks old. I had emergency surgery and spent a week in the hospital recovering. It was six weeks after the surgery that I was sick again with severe stomach cramps, in pain, vomiting. I was so sick and so tired, my body was depleted, and no one could tell me what was wrong with me. Once the diagnosis of Celiac finally came and I was told I had to cut gluten out of my diet for the rest of my life to avoid serious complications, I followed the doc's orders and did just that. But that doesn't mean I was eating healthy.
My gastroenterologist sent me to a dietician. I sat with her for less than an hour. She showed me how to Google the phrase, "Does _______ contain gluten?" She wrote me up a few ideas for meals and sent me on my way. She didn't mention anything about how I should go about rebuilding my immune system or repairing the damage that had been done to my gut.
My amazing and supportive Mom passed on a couple of books to me- "Living Gluten Free for Dummies" and some other one written by a celebrity who had been diagnosed with Celiac Disease and publicly shared her story of going gluten-free. I glanced over them briefly and got the gist of it. Ok. No bread, no pasta, and read labels for hidden gluten. Got it. I was up in the night breastfeeding a three month old and was running around all day after my two year old. My husband was gone most of the time working.
I didn't have much extra time to spend researching my diet or taking extra care of myself.
For a while, I was scared to eat anything. I ate rice cakes and gluten free crackers- period. Then I discovered that chocolate was gluten free and so I found myself indulging and giving in to my ridiculous sugar cravings. It's crazy how when one's energy is depleted, we tend to crave crap. Why didn't I crave green vegetables? Nope, I craved coffee, chocolate and wine. Repeat.
Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't a total disaster. I did eat fruits and vegetables. I had a great little organic garden in my back yard, I frequented the Farmers Markets in season. I ate salads and beans and rice, fish and crabs in the summer. I walked a lot with my kids in the stroller, and took them for bike rides. We spent a lot of time outside.
On the outside I looked fine. But I was tired a lot. And I was getting sick- a lot. Throat infections, colds, sinus infections. I started having problems with my gallbladder- my doctors suggested another surgery to remove my gallbladder. I was in my young thirties and I felt like my body was falling apart!
I started going to 5 Element Acupuncture on a monthly basis. Just taking the time to focus on me was therapeutic. The acupuncture helped me heal my gallbladder. My acupuncturist would ask me about all aspects of my life and I would tell her about the challenges of raising two little kids while living in a rural, small town, with my husband gone a lot. She once told me she believed that loneliness was one of the biggest causes of illness today. I would tell her about my sugar cravings and she would say that maybe I just "needed a little sweetness" in my life. I would always feel better after acupuncture.
But then I would get back into the same cycle- coffee to wake up..caving in to sugar cravings..wine to wind down.. and then another cold, and I'd get sick again.
When my kids were 3 and 5, I had been struggling with flare ups of scalp psoriasis off and on for years. It got really bad one winter. So bad, that the back of my head and neck were so red and inflamed and itchy, I ended up with an infection and had to take steroids and antibiotics. Soon this would lead me to my next rock bottom.
It was the following fall, when my psoriasis was acting up again. My neck was red and inflamed. I tried to keep my hair down to cover the embarrassing redness. I used tar shampoo and went back to using topical steroids and it eventually calmed down again. One day soon after, I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed a huge lump on the side of my neck. It was in between the size of a quarter and a golf ball. I waited a few days for it to go away and it didn't. My doctor put me on a round of antibiotics, and when the lymph node did not respond, I was sent for a biopsy to "rule out LYMPHOMA". OH. MY. GOD. I prayed. I cried. I hugged my children tight.
I went to my local health food store and bought every kind of immune boosting, cancer fighting vitamin and supplement I could find. I started juicing vegetables daily and exercising. The biopsy came back inconclusive and I decided to have the lymph node surgically removed to know for sure.
The results came back that is was simply a reactive lymph node. Not cancer. It was then that I vowed to truly get myself well. This was my second shot. Next time it could be more serious. It wasn't enough for me to just eat gluten free. I had to take it to the next level.
I started seeing a medical herbalist. She told me to take probiotics, and eat greens, she gave me Stinging Nettles tea and an Autoimmune Support tincture. She helped me heal my gut and eventually regain my energy.
It's taken me a long time, a couple more years of falling off the horse and getting back on. This past winter was the first I made it with zero psoriasis flareups. I've finally made the connection. Sugar and processed foods are not my friends. The cleaner I eat, the better I take care of myself, the better I feel, the more energy I have, the lighter I feel, the clearer my skin, the happier my family.
I couldn't have read it in a book five years ago and learned it then. The time wasn't right. My journey had to be a little more dramatic for me to really get it. To feel so passionate about it, that I wanted to truly immerse myself in it. This past year of studying at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition has been such a transformational time for me. Yes, I'm still a gluten-free Mom with Celiac Disease, but I am healthy! I can finally say that I am healthy. I feel better than I have felt in years.
I no longer feel the victim, but I feel empowered and inspired to empower others. To help them find their connection, to get closer to their "Ah-ha" moment, so they can live their best life and make the most of their own journey. Life's too short to let anything hold us back.
www.kimdiazwellness.com
