Things that irritate me...

Other than Elizabeth Hasselbeck being the "poster child" for Celiac and calling it an allergy....

It's this!

http://www.slate.com/id/2223745/?from=3Drss

It's not a fad diet, although I agree that people are self-diagnosing themselves and going gluten-free prior to having the tests done...which may bias the results.

It's not an allergy! It's an autoimmune disease, just like diabetes, lupus, etc. The list goes on and on.

I wish people would take the time to become educated about what Celiac is!


-KAGFG

6 Months After...

... my life looked completely different. So did I!

I dropped 17 lbs in the first 6 weeks. In 6 months, I had dropped 50 lbs.

People at work asked what I was doing. "Eating healthier," I replied. I wasn't eating 3000-4000 calories a day anymore. I was eating between 1200-1500 calories, which was just about right for my body. Just for kicks, that burger wasn't the only thing that was the "last" in the parking lot. I gave up soda and coffee too! (I still miss my grande almond mochas with whip!)

I had so much energy. I felt better about myself. I even started dating.....

-KAGFG

Before the Diagnosis...

....I had 10 years of unexplained problems and inaccurate diagnoses.

In 1996, I was a sophomore in college. My body wouldn't let me consume more than a rice cake and some tea before I'd have to run to the bathroom. I had a lot of lower GI issues. A doctor called that Irritable Bowel Syndrome. He also said it was because I had a lot of stress in my life. Quite true -- my parents were going through a nasty divorce, I had to transfer schools because my father spent my college fund and there wasn't any money left for me to stay at my private school, I had to move back home with my mother who was a basketcase, I went through an abusive relationship and was in another one that wasn't very beneficial to me.

Four years later, I stopped having regular periods...for almost 2 years! I was making monthly visits to my OBGYN for ultrasounds. I also had a lot of bloodwork done, testing for thyroid issues. Doctors thought it could have been a tumor on my pituitary gland. I was put on hormones, but nothing was working. I had a hysterosalpinogram (iodine is shot through the uterus and fallopian tubes, while a camera looks for blockages), which didn't uncover anything wrong. I went to a fertility specialist and she told me that I wouldn't be able to have children, but she wasn't really sure why that was.

A few years later, I started having lower GI issues again, but only after eating certain foods and not frequent enough to really pinpoint what those foods were. Fettucine alfredo seemed to cause issues, but I thought it was because of the amount of cheese. I stopped drinking a lot of milk.

I also had issues with depression. But heck, I had a boyfriend who was unfaithful, I moved across the country by myself, I worked like a dog, I ate bad food, I tried to keep a long-distance relationship with the boyfriend, I got engaged to the boyfriend, and then after I dropped out of my PhD program to move back across the country, said boyfriend decided he didn't want to marry me (after a 10-year relationship).

My life was a bit of a mess. The diagnosis of Celiac Disease saved my life -- quite literally! For that, I'm eternally grateful!

-KAGFG

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