HOW I BECAME GLUTEN FREE:
Hello! My name is Michelle Bock. I am married to my best friend, Josh and am a mom to two beautiful girls, Claudia and Monica. I was diagnosed in 2008 with Celiac disease after experiencing severe symptoms of stomach pain, bloating, nausea, diarrhea, etc… Looking back I had mild symptoms years before but never really thought much about it. I just played it off as food poisoning or an upset belly. In January of 2008, I cut out grains as a way to slim down after my new year’s resolution. You know the one- eat better, exercise more :). I didn’t know that when I added them back in I would be so sick. I was very sad when I got sick after eating. Each time I had any gluten-containing food I would gain 5 lbs on top of being sick! I had just worked really hard to get the weight off!!! We decided to run some tests and found out that I had Celiac. I was really scared at that point. Two years prior I had lost my Mom to Scleroderma… an autoimmune disease. The fact that Celiac was also autoimmune put my family and myself into fight mode! We cleaned out all gluten-containing food in our house. We went totally gluten-free! Life was good! I was feeling good! Our youngest daughter’s belly also was feeling good… So we went 100% gluten free!
IN THE BEGINNING:
In 2010, my hubby and I went to Napa for our 15th anniversary. We were careful about telling places I had a GLUTEN ALLERGY! On our last night in Napa, I ordered Salmon and Risotto…. It ended up not being gluten free 🙁 We had to drive through the redwoods towards Oregon the next day to catch our flight home. I was SICK! I was thankful the trees were so big lol! My husband and I had just heard of a Doctor in our area doing a laser treatment for allergies. So, I decided to have it done as soon as we got home! I was so excited with nervous apprehension! I completed my treatment and was told to go home and eat something with gluten in it to try it out. SO- I made sure we had nothing going on for 3 days. Just in case I got sick! My sister in law brought over chocolate filled croissants… yumm- right! I had a bite..waited… had another bite… waited… NO PAIN! NO STOMACH ISSUES… YAY! So I decided to go all out and have a Guinness… Go big or go home right? No Problems from that either! I ate gluten and didn’t have any symptoms! YAY!!! After about a year I had a flare up so I went back to said Dr and had the treatment again. Once again no symptoms of pain….. A year after that I had gained all of the weight I’d lost back and my belly was swollen.
IN THE MIDDLE:
Our family switched to eating mostly Paleo after that. I thought that would be the cure for my weight and belly issues. We enjoy eating Paleo because we don’t feel bloated or tired after meals. Eating out was hard and I got glutened a few times and started to notice each time my belly pain got worse. I went to a Naturopath Doctor and she ran some tests. Come to find out that while I was off playing in the delicious realm of Gluten eating, my belly was still being damaged. 🙁 She told me no more gluten ever! I knew what she was saying was true because I felt so much better eating Paleo. She put me on a plan of supplements to assist in gut healing! (All that gluten causes absorption issues) YAY! I am on my way to a happy belly!
Some things you should know about me: I love to cook and use organic products and produce 99.9999% of the time. If I can’t get organic at one store I drive to another one… I know ridiculous right- but I really believe in eating good quality food. If I can’t find organic I try to buy Non-GMO. I don’t usually say organic in my recipes, but it is just implied because that is how I shop! I am thankful to God, for bringing me on this journey. My goal is to help others with my experiences. I am thankful for having a husband who is my best friend and girls that are a blessing! I am thankful for my family and friends who love and support me! Hope you enjoy this blog and love the recipes and our experiences 🙂
IT NEVER ENDS:
I am always striving to improve my health. I currently rotate between a ketogenic diet and AIP or Paleo. When we go on vacation I usuall and go back to just eating gluten-free because I find that when traveling it can be hard to accommodate all the rules for certain meal plans. I am always 100% gluten-free and don’t leave home without my Nima Sensor!
BITS and PIECES:
My Hubby and I love to travel. We are sailors… not like we drink Captain Morgan and stand on one leg sailors, but actually love to go on a boat and raise the sails and shut the engines off kind of sailors. We really don’t drink Captain very often.. much more of wine drinkers haha!
Somedays, I love to do my Peloton workout on my bike, other days I do areal yoga, walk or pilates. I enjoy lifting weights way more than any kind of cardio!
I love clothes that look cute and make me feel cute. Pinterest has changed my life. I would be in Heaven if I could have my Pinterest closet! Hehe!
The reason I write this blog is that I hope you can learn from our experiences. It is hard changing everything about how you eat. Hopefully, we can shorten the learning curve for other people who are going through the same things! I hope my experiences help to make the transition to gluten-free eating and living easier for others! It is scary to have to completely change everything you are eating! How do I order food? Where do I eat out? What to make at home and what products taste like cardboard and which ones taste good! I have been there and hope my experiences will help you!
Blessings- Michelle
Member of the Gluten Free Global Group
