I know. I know. Another one of THOSE crazy gluten-free people (insert massive eye roll here). This is the story of why I’ve been gluten-free for just about a decade now. I will add that I am not a doctor. I am not endorsing a gluten-free lifestyle for anyone who doesn’t need to follow a gluten-free diet. I’m simply stating the reasons why I’m living a gluten-free life.

For those who don’t know me, I am the mother of twins. When they were very young, they started developing a number of health problems. I’m not going to get into the details of that here because they are twelve now and that’s their story to tell if and when they decide to do so. I only mention this in passing because their health issues were the catalyst for me adopting a gluten-free diet. After researching everything that I could find on the issues that they were having, I started reading more and more about the effects of gluten on gluten-sensitive individuals. This was about ten years ago, so there wasn’t nearly as much information on the topic as there is now. At that point in time, it seemed like a pretty far-fetched idea. So I asked our pediatrician about it. She told me that it couldn’t hurt to put them on a gluten-free diet to see if it helped. Bottom line, it did. Tremendously.

As a result of putting my kids on a gluten-free diet, I was following the diet by default because it was easier to make meals that we could all eat together. The positive improvements to my kids’ health were easy to see. The surprising thing was, I started to notice the improvement in my health as well. That was something that I didn’t expect. It just happened. The dry bumpy skin that I always had on my arms, legs and cheeks, disappeared. I stopped having the blinding migraines that I regularly had. My joints no longer ached. I started to feel better all of the time, not just physically either. I no longer felt foggy or constantly fatigued. My anxiety went away. I started feeling really good in general. It was funny because I never realized how down I felt on a regular basis until I no longer felt down. It was seriously like a dark cloud had lifted on my entire physical/mental/emotional state.

At the time, I had been on medication for high blood pressure, polycystic ovarian syndrome, asthma and had just been diagnosed as ‘pre-diabetic’. I was dealing with a whole myriad of auto-immune related health issues. My doctor had suggested that we might be looking at lupus. After removing gluten from my diet, all of those chronic health issues disappeared. I have not been on medication for any of these issues since the end of 2007. It all seemed crazy to me. In all of the years that I had spent battling my various health issues, no doctor had ever suggested that a food allergy or sensitivity might be the source of all of my health issues. Yet, this simple dietary adjustment seemed to be the key to solving my health issues. There has been only one unpleasant side effect of my gluten-free diet – constantly having to justify my dietary restriction.

For about the past decade, I’ve had my body’s reaction to gluten met with skepticism by friends, family and complete strangers. This has always been odd to me because, if someone tells me, “I can’t eat oranges. When I eat them, I get a horrible rash and my eyes swell shut.” My first reaction isn’t to ask them, “Are you sure that you’re allergic to oranges? Have you been officially tested for an orange allergy?” Nor do I feel the need to request, “Can you just take a bite of an orange for me? I want to see for myself what happens to you when you eat one.” I just assume that they know what their body can and can’t tolerate and I do my best to not poison them with food that their body can’t handle.

The first question that people usually ask when they find out that you’re gluten-free is, “Oh, do you have Celiac?” I have learned that this is the golden question that is supposed to “legitimize” your gluten-free requirement and indicate whether or not the person who is asking the question should take your gluten intolerance seriously. I have not been formally tested for or diagnosed with Celiac. Certainly the spectrum of health issues that I have dealt with in my life might indicate that I might have some underlying autoimmune disorder. But, no, I haven’t been formally tested or diagnosed. That doesn’t make my my body’s response to gluten any less real.

You might ask, why I haven’t sought out a diagnosis to “legitimize” my dietary restriction. At the time when I went gluten-free, the only way to be tested for Celiac was for me to go back on gluten (because they test for the antibodies that are produced when consuming gluten). When I eat gluten, my blood pressure spikes and I get blinding migraines that last for several days, along with other unpleasant digestive issues and pain. When I’m off gluten, I do not have those issues. There is a clear cause and effect. My doctor agreed that it didn’t seem necessary for me to go through the testing especially given the fact that, when I’m off gluten, I no longer experience the spectrum of health issues that I had been experiencing previously. So, while I haven’t been “prescribed” a gluten-free diet, I listen to my body and adhere to a strict gluten-free diet. I don’t feel the need to further validate what my body already tells me loud and clear. I need to avoid gluten.

I understand that there are those who think that people with dietary restrictions are delusional – especially when the dietary restriction is gluten. I don’t need their validation either. Believe me, it’s no fun to have to eat gluten-free but you do get used to it – especially after you realize how much better you feel. You get used to the skepticism too. I have accepted that my gluten-free life may make me look like silly to people who dismiss “gluten-free” as some sort of mindless, trendy, attention-seeking thing. But honestly their fixation with what I’m eating or not eating says more about them than it does about me. No amount of eye rolling is going to make my body tolerate gluten. So, I’m sorry if it bothers you that I’m ordering a burger without the bun. I’m just not willing to make myself sick in order to avoid nasty looks or snide comments from strangers who probably shouldn’t be paying attention what I’m eating in the first place.