* I’m home sick today, so I’m not playing “hooky” from church. *
It’s been about 5 weeks now since we have been a gluten-free family and I must say, I feel so much better! I am just amazed at how something as simple as gluten was affecting me. Let me explain by giving you a bit of my history.
Headaches:
I have suffered from headaches since I was 9 years old. When I was 13, they became an everyday occurrence. Throw in 3 -4 migraines a month and you’d be close to reality for me. It wasn’t until I was 3 months pregnant with my 1st child (I was 21) that the everyday headaches stopped, as did the migraines. I was so happy!! She was a girl and so was the next one. I didn’t have a headache like those until I was pregnant with my 3rd child, who turned out to be a boy. As did numbers 4 and 5. With those 3 pregnancies, headaches came along with them. Really bad ones. Everyday ones. Then came #6 and I had no headaches. That lead us to believe the baby was a girl and she was. (I have no idea if gluten played a part in what appears to be “hormonal” headaches. I’m just giving you a small background of my so-called health.)
Once Damaris was born (#6), the headaches came back. With a vengeance! It appeared like they were trying to make up for lost time or something. I was getting back to having a headache everyday, although I only had a few migraines. It was weird and I couldn’t figure out what was going on.
I can’t remember when I first started noticing the frequent pain. Perhaps I’ve had for so many years that’s it’s become normal. But I do remember that in high school, esp. after a marching band performance, my legs and arms would hurt so badly! I just blamed it on me being overweight and having to hold up a trombone at such a weird angle would make anyone’s arms ache. Then the pain started to show up at other times. Eventually, my sister was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and upon comparing “notes”, it was found that I have it too.
Because I had taken so many different medications for the migraines and headaches I suffered from, I wasn’t interested in taking medications for the fibromyalgia. It was something that took me many years to understand and control (for the most part). I found that keeping my level of activity fairly constant day after day, was the best way to keep the pain down and to a tolerated level. It didn’t always work, but for the most part it did.
That is until Damaris was born. After her birth, I was waking up most day already in pain and I could feel it in my legs before I even got out of bed. I was keeping my activity pretty constant, like I had for years, but it wasn’t working. Nothing was.
The first occurrence of a problem was in my freshman years of high school (my mother was the Spanish teacher). I remember not feeling well at all and I had permission to go to her classroom. I left my classroom and the next thing I know, I was sitting outside her door, on the floor. I don’t remember making my way to her class. It wasn’t very far, maybe a 3 minute walk, but I don’t remember getting there. And I don’t know how long I was sitting outside her door either. When I did “come to”, I was cold, sweaty, shaking and I couldn’t stand. I couldn’t even talk. Someone saw me there and went inside to tell my mother. That was the beginning of my blood sugar problems. Well, maybe it wasn’t the beginning, but that was when it first showed itself.
I leaned, through trial and error, that the best way to keep it under control (if possible) was with my diet. I needed to eat a high protein meal 3 times a day and at the same time every day. I couldn’t wait and hour or 2, otherwise I was sick. And I needed to eat snacks throughout the day. Good snacks too, not stupid, sugar filled ones. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been able to stretch the time between meals a bit, but I can’t skip a meal altogether. And I’ve never been able to get away with eating cereal or just a bagel or muffin for breakfast and not have a horrible headache by noon.
After Damaris was born (do you see a pattern here?), I was “fighting” my blood sugar constantly! An hour after eating a good, protein filled meal, I would feel my sugar crashing and I was helpless to stop it. Nor could I figure out what to do about it. I was eating the way I knew how, the way I have been eating for years to control my blood sugar, and it wasn’t working.
Nothing seemed to be working for my body. Everything was going against me and the things that I had done for years to handle my health problems weren’t working anymore. I was at a total loss! I was in a fog mentaly. Not as bad as I was when Nathaniel was born, but I wasn’t my self either. I coudl feel I wasn’t mentall up-to par.
The Lord was very merciful to me when He brought about the circumstances of us changing the way we eat. Or rather, changing what we eat. I never thought I would be “one of those people” who eat this way, but now I can’t say enough about it! Would you believe that I’ve been headache free for the last 5 weeks! Much of my muscle pain is gone and I feel so much more clear in my head. I’m finding that I can have a low protein meal (such as granola and yogurt) for breakfast and I’m still feeling fine by lunch time. I have done some experimenting with eating something with gluten in it and every time, 4 to be exact, I’ve woken up the next morning feeling really tired, lethargic, and a really bad headache. That’s proof enough for me.
It’s certainly not the cheapest “diet” you’ll find, but for me it’s worth it. I’m having fun making “old” recipes with the “new” flours. And finding new recipes altogether, too. I’m playing with sorghum, teff, masa harina, millet, quinoa,…just to name a few. We are also trying to stay away from the processed sugar and that leads to using honey, maple syrup (which we make our own), and agave nectar. It’s been interesting and I feel like I have a renewed passion to be in the kitchen. It’s nice. (We have also switched the large meal of the day to lunch time instead of it being at supper time. I think that is helping too).
I’m still not losing weight, but one thing at a time. Right?
Jennifer
Oats and Granola have gluten in them are you eating them????
I am, yes. Actually, oats themselves do not have gluten in them. But because they are often either grown next to a wheat field or grown in a field where wheat has grown before, they pose a risk for contamination. I haven’t found that they are causing me any trouble. Not like obvious gluten anyway. Which is a good thing, for I have this fabulous granola recipe that I adore! I don’t think I have an allergy to gluten though, just a strong sensitivity to it.