There are times I feel like it's quite unfair for a family who loves food to live with so many dietary restrictions. I mean dairy I could deal with, but add gluten, wheat, soy, eggs, citrus and other things to the mess and finding a meal we all like and can eat is so very challenging. However, after finishing Gluten-Free Girl I don't feel so bad anymore. I did love the book in many ways and it certainly inspired me to be a little more adventurous in the kitchen. The biggest thing we struggle with is the time it takes to cook those nice meals (with a little one climbing up your leg) and the money it costs to purchase the food.
All those years of passing on bagels, cinnamon rolls, bread fresh from the oven, cookie dough from the bowl and Flatbread pizza (okay, I really never passed on that...) makes me want to turn back time and eat them all when I had the chance. Now, I can't. Now I go into the cafe and stare longingly at the people biting into their chewy bagels and wish I could be them, just for one bite.
I am very glad I read Shauna's book. I have been beyond tired for months. When I stopped nursing Elisabeth because of her mulptiple allergies (she is now on a medical formula), I slowly started slipping gluten back into my diet. But I became so tired. I would have to lie on the couch in the afternoons, my eye lids drooping and feeling every last ounce of energy drain from my body. I didn't know what was wrong. I knew it was so much more than the normal motherhood induced exhaustion.
But Shauna explains this phenomenon as if I had called her up and told her my sleepiness woes. She put it all into words and even found the culprit: gluten. So the book did inspire me to take those oats and barley products back out of my diet and I was a whole new mama in two days. I feel terrific. Beyond terrific. In fact, I have so much energy that many nights I am lying awake until 1 a.m.
But sometimes that gluten slips back in. The other night Stephen made chicken with Dijon mustard and honey. The mustard was made using grain vinegar, which neither of us registered as "gluten." I was up all night with a bad flare up of eczema. I woke up the next morning and checked everything I had eaten the night before. It's things like this that make me a little crazy. I don't want to have to scrutinize everything that goes in my mouth, but I have no choice.
The little one has it much worse off than I. I struggle to find foods she can eat. More often than not, even the foods marked "allergen free" will cause a reaction and we're dealing with blistering rashes and a babe screaming in pain. It's not fun. And the fact that I was the one who handed her the food makes me feel horrible. But I'm confident that as she grows older, we will find new and better foods. Foods that will make her tummy happy, help her grow big and strong, and foods that will make her close her eyes and say "yum!" as she takes that first bite.
Well really, we have no choice because this girl just loves to eat. But with people like Shauna getting the word out about Celiac's, I really have the hope that one day Elisabeth and I will be able to walk into a cafe and have that bagel. Thanks Shauna.
