Over the last month or so I have been experimenting with going gluten free (GF). It started because I wasn’t feeling well. I had a lot going on in my belly. I felt sick a lot after eating (usually I just thought I had too much), I also had symptoms of what I thought was the start of a YI (sorry for the gory details, but it might be helpful to others out there with similar problems). In any case, in one of the articles I read it said to cut down on wheat and sugar, so I gave it a try and the symptoms went away! Wow! I thought – I really am in charge of my own body!

After a month of this, although I have not been super strict, when I am eating GF, my belly feels better, I have more energy and I feel better overall. Fast forward to tonight, and I take my girls out to sushi since the husband is out for the night.  We order like usual and when we were getting ready to leave I felt full but not great, once we got home it hit me, I started having the same belly trouble as before. But I thought I was in the clear with the rice? Not the case, after googling “is there gluten in rice” (I do love the internet) I found out that apparently a lot of Japanese restaurants make their rice with a grain-based vinegar. Who knew? Probably a lot of people, but not me.

I also found out with this research that some of the other problems I was having (specifically, joint pain and numbness in extremities) might also be a result of a gluten intolerance. Which is really great to learn since I went to my doctor complaining about numbness and joint pain, she took some tests and basically said nothing was wrong. I figured I was just a hypochondriac. I do realized that  I still have more research to do, these issues I am having could be completely unrelated to gluten, but I will be interested in getting more specific testing and I should probably talk to real a doctor not just the internet doctors.

Bottom line, I realized that it is vital as I am getting older that I really need to focus on my eating habits and figure out what makes me feel good and what does not. I will say that I very am fortunate that my problems are really not big problems at all, these are just things I am discovering and learning in order to help me feel better.  I am also happy I don’t have a life threatening nut allergy like other folks, namely my daughter – whose allergy is probably not life threatening, but is certainly something we are cautious of. Now we will be the nut free/gluten free table – I admit its high maintenance and a bit annoying, but we’ll do what we need to do to feel good and I will be flexible when necessary and deal with the consequences when they come. I will also be doing more research and experimenting to see what comes up. I know this might be TMI for some people, so I apologize for that, but this is a new topic for me so we will see where it takes me. More on this until next time.