The answer is: YES! I have been living gluten free for the past 2 months. Though not always easy, it
has been much easier than I once thought. You might be wondering how I came to make this crazy, life altering decision (believe me, my husband thought I was off my rocker when I brought it up to him). Quite simply, it was made for me.
Over the past 5 years or so, I have acquired an array of strange bodily situations. Ranging from skin rashes ("eczema"), to mouth sores, increased hair loss, to unpleasant GI symptoms (need I say more??). A lot of these have worsened over the past year. There was always something to explain these strange things, and each was passed off by my doctors as "benign and untreatable". Being told I just had to live with them. A couple years ago, my grandpa was diagnosed with celiac disease and he advised us all that it is highly genetic and those of us related to him by blood probably have some degree of it. I researched it briefly about a year ago, but decided it would just be "too much trouble". A couple of months ago, after discussing this with my running partner while running, I decided to revisit the research. I was amazed that nearly every "strange" thing that had been happening to me was a symptom of celiac disease or gluten intolerance. Wow! Even infertility! That right there sealed the deal and I decided to give it a try.
Today I am feeling great; mouth and skin rashes are improving daily and breakouts becoming less frequent. It even seems I am losing less hair. Even my easy bruising and thin blood seem to be improving. As for those pesky GI symptoms, I would say they're about 80% better. I'm trying a few other things to get that 100% under control! I am now a firm believer of what undesired gluten can do to your body. I even feel better able to concentrate that I have for years! As for the infertility part, sorry folks... we're not gonna test that one!
So, you might be wondering if living gluten free is really that hard, or worth it. For me, it hasn't been that hard, once I learned what does and doesn't contain it (and still learning, might I add). Eating out is the hardest part, and eating at other people's homes (just because I don't want them to feel bad if I don't eat their food). We don't eat out that much anyways (remember... we have a 3 year old!), and I take my lunch to work everyday. To my surprise, I haven't even missed bread or pasta, and I don't really eat the replacements that much since they're not all that tasty. We did have quinoa and corn pasta the other night and it was pretty good. Probably the thing I miss most is graham crackers and my daily ritual of dunking it in my morning coffee and the occasional bedtime snack of enjoying one with peanut butter on top. Luckily, carmel corn rice cakes are pretty tasty smothered in PB as well (haven't tried them in coffee... think I'll pass on that one!). Is it worth it?? For me, YES! I am feeling great and not even feeling like I'm "missing out" on that much.
My husband has been very supportive of my efforts, and is even starting to try some of my "special food". At first his response was, "Keep it on your side of the table", but this week he's tried GF pasta AND GF pizza crust (the pasta was definitely better than the pizza crust). Both he said were "chokable" (as in... he could choke it down), but hey, at least he tried them! Kai even loved the GF pasta and GF pizza!
Since I see my blog as a way to try to help others as well as share my life experiences, I will probably be posting some gluten free info, and perhaps tasty things I find to eat or bake.
A family hike each month continues... this month even more spontaneous than last. We saw a break in the wet weather and went for it! Our little hiker went about 1 1/4 miles without being carried AT ALL and very minimal whining. (I'm sure the rice crispy treat at the top helped just a litte.) We are so proud of our little trooper and hope the improvements continue!
We had family over on Saturday for lunch, and some friends over yesterday for a fun time with a bunch of wild and crazy boys! I loved every second of it, especially yesterday toward the end when the little boys started taking their shirts off. You know it's a good party when the clothes start coming off... 
We started 2011 off the a bang! A super spontaneous day trip to the coast! No matter how you cut it, the Oregon coast is beautiful any day of the year.
The green at the coast and especially on the Hobbit trail was such a refreshing change from our drab, gray city these days. I am already looking forward to Spring and all the wonders (and colors) that it brings!
Due to the enormity of this (in our little guy's eyes), I have deemed that a still photo is not enough. Below you will find the video footage of his "battle" with Darth Vadar. Be sure to watch for the high five at the end!
Here we are today with our silly, funny, smart, caring little guy. It's no surprise that this is one of my favorite pictures of the year. It captures our daily life oh-so-well! This boy's always good for a laugh!
This is the first year that Kai is really understanding his story. All day we've been reminiscing with him about his travel day; what it was like for him and us. Although that was (by far) the best day of our lives, we concluded that we've all had way more fun today. After a couple weeks of non-stop action, we've taken a lazy day, winding down from the exciting weekend and really enjoying some family time. We started the day with breakfast (with Gr. & Gr. C) at Sl@ppy Cakes, then made the two hour drive home. We had a special afternoon movie time, complete with a popcorn snack in the family room, then some Christmas clean up and playing with new toys. We've been enjoying some family game time after dinner and will end the evening with a viewing of Kai's homecoming video. Perfect end to a very fun holiday weekend!
As always, we are counting our blessings this holiday. I don't even know where to start, but they all begin and end with this amazing little boy. Hard to believe we were lucky enough to become his parents. 
Trip #2 was to our new favorite pumpkin patch! It's much smaller than farm #1, and it's main attraction is a CRAZY hay ride. And yes, it is CRAZY! The wildest we've ever been on! We went with Grandma & Grandpa M, and I don't think they believed us how wild it was going to be. I'll be nice and not post any mid-ride pictures, but we'll just say we were holding on for dear life! The other fun part is the (encouraged) throwing mini pumpkins at scarecrows. Kai's favorite part BY FAR! This is the patch where we actually bought our pumpkins (which are still waiting to be carved).
