There are a few days a year that are of significance to me: anniversaries and birthdays. This year, I add another anniversary to that list, and it’s not related to work or a significant other.
On June 1, it’ll be one year since I went gluten free. It’s an important milestone for me and I want to share my experience and provide some tips for folks who experienced the same symptoms and/or are considering going gluten free.
The Diagnosis
For several years, I had low iron blood counts. The doctor always said take more iron. I always felt fine, and the additional iron didn’t do much for me. I don’t like eating a lot of red meat, so while they tried to encourage this, I was a little wary. After several years, the doctors were always a little puzzled because men typically do not have iron as low as my counts.
Over the years I did a battery of tests: stool, additional blood labs. Eventually my doctor recommended I see a hematologist.
That doctor recommended two things: an IV infusion of iron and a colonoscopy.
I learned taking the IV of iron is something more common than not. It was odd going into the cancer wing of the hospital and hook up to an IV for two hours. Here are people fighting horrible diseases and come here a few days a week, and here I am – an otherwise healthy guy who just wants some answers – tethered to a bag of deeply colored, liquid FE.
Shortly after the infusion, I had my colonoscopy. On the operating table, the doctor asked if I had wheat sensitivities. I said no, but asked why. She said that the rashes on my elbow looked like symptoms of wheat allergies. I always assumed they were caused by stress as they would come and go but not too frequently.
What the scope found was that the villi in my small intestine were flat. Because of this, they were not able to absorb nutrients well. The doctor recommended cutting out wheat. She said that based on the scope, that I have celiac-like symptoms, but not gluten sensitivity.
Right after the diagnosis I didn’t care. After the fun that is prepping for a colonoscopy, I headed straight for Wendy’s and ordered and promptly inhaled a big cheeseburger. But then it started hitting me: I can’t eat bread. I can’t drink beer. Shit. I can’t have whiskey. Shit. Oh man, bread is out. Shit.
Making Changes
Slowly things started coming to me that would no longer be part of my diet. I wasn’t in full out panic, but every meal, I started starting at my food and wondering if this would be the last time I would eat this.
Shortly after the colonoscopy I met a week a dietician and she gave me a really good roadmap as to how to eat and prepare meals going forward. She was really helpful in helping me identify things to look for in ingredients. Since then, one thing that has totally changed for me is grocery shopping. Almost every item I pick up – from deli meat to cereal to seasonings – I have to look at and see if it’s gluten free. Thankfully a lot of the stores I patron have labels on the price tags that make it really easy to identify. I also learned that there are several gluten free support groups in the area. While I haven’t partaken in these groups, their existence means that people want to tackle this together and is very encouraging.
I gave myself some time to prepare for the looming cutoff. I set forth that in a month, I would go gluten free.
At first, it wasn’t too bad. My wife and I prepared our meals for the week in advance; not true meal prep, just our menu for the week. This alleviated the burden on me to question if my food for 5-6 nights had gluten. After a few weeks of this, I got into the swing of cooking gluten free.
Where I Am Now
I will admit, as much as I try to be gluten free, I’m not a saint. I was starving and at a happy hour once and grabbed a snack, and as soon as I bit into it, I knew it was breaded. Whoops.
My wife and daughter are not gluten free. My daughter enjoys a steady diet of chicken nuggets, and as much as I try to not reuse utensils when I cut up her food, somedays I just have dad brain and forget. I don’t get sick when I know I eat gluten, but sometimes my elbow rash does inflame. That to me serves as a reminder that I need to be more careful. But these events are the exception rather than the norm.
The important thing is to remember that this is ok, and I’ll be fine, but that being gluten free or having a diet of any kind of restrictions, can be difficult. So it’s key to not be too hard on yourself, but to learn and try not to do it again.
There are things I miss: oatmeal, beer and whiskey, but also pierogis, and Chinese food. But I’ve been enjoying ciders and wine more, and eating more Thai food. I ate oatmeal almost every day for many years. There’s good gluten free oatmeal, but due to price I spring for that on special occasions. Now, I eat Cheerios almost every day. And Subway can remake any sandwich as a salad. Spicy Italian is a better salad than it is a sandwich.
The problem with being gluten free is I’m asked all the time if I feel better, and the answer is no. More specifically, physically I feel the same. Mentally, I do feel better because I’m much more in tune with what I’m putting into my body.
I’m thankful I had this diagnosis in 2018 and not 2008 or 1998. It’s very easy to find gluten free options today, and there’s an abundance of gluten free menus and resources. Hopefully for those looking to go through a similar change in diet, this post helped illustrate that it’s easier than not to make the switch.