Hi blogging world! I am finally back. I have wanted to blog for quite some time about the changes in my life, but was unsure how to begin. So I thought I would start at the beginning, well of my blog any way. I named my blog "come what may and love it". If you look back to this post it describes where the saying come from. I had no idea it would be such an important motto in my life.
As many of you know I had several health problems and was currently seeing several doctors and on several medications. I did a round of HCG with great success, but then started to travel the country with my basketball team. I did the best I could (most of the time) to eat healthy, but, well you know how I like food.
Around November 2010 I noticed my hair starting to fall out. I thought nothing of it because I was stressed with school, traveling, and life in general. I know that hair grows on a 3 month pattern and figured I would wait out the 3 months. Well 3 months came and went and I lost more and more hair. I finally called my doc actually while on a road trip and asked her what she thought. She suggested that my iron was low and the next time I was in town to come get it checked. I did and my results came back with my iron count being extremely low. So low in fact the doctor said she had never seen someone that low that wasn't in a coma. She suggested that the reason my iron was so low was that my body was not getting nutrients from food like it should and the only way that could happen was if my gut was so inflamed that it couldn't work to absorb the nutrients and the only way it would be that inflamed, was if I had food allergies. We ran several allergy tests and waited for the results.
February 16th I met with my doc and got the news that I did have some food allergies, which came as no surprise to anyone. The surprise was the sheer number of allergies I did have.
Confirmed allergies: Wheat, Gluten, milk (dairy), yeast, eggs, potatoes, corn, pineapple, and almonds. I have since discovered a few others: pinto beans, and tree nuts
I left her office completely baffled. I was on one hand so happy for an answer, and on the other hand, completely shocked and scared for my future. I had no idea how to deal with food allergies and what changes I would have to make in my life.
Luckily I have had several wonderful people who have helped me when I was lost.
-First of all my roommate was the biggest help. When I was so overwhelmed she would look at every product on the shelf (and still does) to see if I could have it. She has also recently decided to try the GF lifestyle and see if it will help her health problems.
-Secondly my mom has always been a master in the kitchen and cooking allergy free was no challenge for her. She helped me learn about all different grains and oats and how to substitute them into her recipes (because most GF recipes are yucky). She took me out and bought all the different grains that she liked and took them home and helped me grind them and create my own food storage. More recently she spent the last several months canning everything from apricot jam to mock pineapple to soup base so that I can have food at my finger tips in any situation.
-Thirdly, my dad. I know everyone claims they have the best dad, but did your dad spend his whole summer de-rocking your yard so you could plant a garden with food you could eat? He did. 6-8 hours a day he would come and pick ax his way though our rock quarry of a yard. He is also a master gardener, so even with our rough terrain, we got a bounteous harvest.
- Lastly, I have a cousin-in-law that once he heard of my predicament emailed me his family cookbook created for those with multiple allergies. What a blessing that book has been.
As I continue to blog I will tell about life in general, but will dedicate my blog to mostly GF and allergy friendly living. I want to share my story, my daily struggles, my tips and tricks and anything else that might help my readers. I hope for feedback and suggestions for others so that we can all have an easier time learning a new lifestyle!
~Krista
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