Diagnosis

It's a day I'll never forget. The day I was diagnosed with something I had NEVER heard of before -- Celiac Disease.

It was January 12, 2006, two days before my 29th birthday. I was running late to my doctor's appointment. I grabbed a burger and fries through the drive-thru and scarfed it down in the parking lot. I didn't know it would be my last trip to a fast food restaurant.

I left the doctor's office that day with a packet of information on what I couldn't eat, which included a several-page document that listed all different kinds of ingredients -- most of which I had never heard of before.

I was living the life of a single professional girl -- working FT and taking graduate classes. I had a mortgage, a car payment, and a dog, and not a lot of time to do anything else, especially eat healthy and take care of myself. My friends knew exactly what I ordered at McDonald's -- a #3 (quarter pounder) with cheese, no onions, and a coke. I was also the heaviest I have ever been in my life -- 196 lbs on a 5'2" frame -- and I hated it.

However, my doctor gave me one very valuable piece of information -- the name of a nutritionist who could help. I am forever grateful to Cathie Ostrowski who held my hand through the local Whole Foods and talked to me about what I could eat and how to read a label. It didn't seem so scary anymore. Hell, I could live on gluten-free frozen foods if I wanted to; and I did...for 6 months!

I took each day at a time, was very cautious about what I ate, and never ate out at restaurants. I tried to find a support group or just someone who had the same thing I did...but I couldn't find anyone. Luckily, I found a great book that had just been published --The Gluten Free Bible. It became my Bible and best reference with information about what Celiac Disease even was (my doctor did not tell me the specifics). It still is.

It's been 3 1/2 years since my diagnosis and I've never felt better both physically and emotionally. I am so much more consciously aware of what I'm putting into my body. It's amazing how naive we've become when it comes to food. So many food products are filled with all sorts of crap, yet we still eat them. This body has to last me a long, long time -- hopefully another 50 years and each day I make choices about how long or how short that time can be.

-KAGFG