Gluten-Free Babe: My quest to live gluten-free for 30 days

Yesterday was the final day of my gluten-free experiment. And I have to admit - I cheated toward the end of the day. We were at Wrigley Field, watching the Cubs get slammed by the Milwaukee Brewers, and I just had to drown my sorrows in an Old Style. The folks I was with agreed it was July 1 somewhere so I went for it.

You know you’ve been missing beer when an Old Style tastes good! Seriously, I’ve been vigilant about sticking to the diet, but I didn’t realize just how much I missed a few old favorites. We also went out to dinner that night and I had some delicious handmade ravioli at our favorite local restaurant.

It’s been an interesting month. I’ve learned a lot, and I’ve still got lots to learn. I’m back to my gluten-y lifestyle for now, and I’ll monitor how I feel for the next few days and compare it to how I was doing gluten-free.

If I feel about the same, then I’ll count this experiment as totally worthwhile - I learned things, hopefully people enjoyed the blog and learned from it, and I feel like I can write with more knowledge about celiac disease and other food allergies.

If I feel worse with gluten in my system again, then I’ll go back to living gluten-free for good. I can see it’s possible, and I don’t have to give up very much - so if it seems like it’s worth it, then I’ll go for it. It’s all one big experiment.

Thanks to everyone who commented and offered their guidance and support. It’s meant a ton to me! I’ll post a few more updates depending on what happens.

Lots of folks are commenting on my posts, and emailing me separately to share their thoughts, tips, personal experiences, recipes, and support, and I am SO THANKFUL. Y’all rock! I love the Interwebs, and I love having such a strong community of support. Big hugs -

I have a new article today in Celiac Central, the newsletter of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. Go Team! 10 Tips for Building Your Celiac Support Squad draws on the expertise of five babes living with the disease, plus an expert from Pamela’s Products. Enjoy! Hope you find it to be some tasty advice.

So I said goodnight to gluten with a nice Frontera cheese pizza and a couple cool glasses of Stella Artois beer. Ah, sweet gluteny yummyness! Will we meet again? I don’t know…

I think I’m ready for tomorrow, and the month of June. Lots of people have weighed in so far with great advice, which I am oh, so thankful for. I stopped by Ethical Planet in nearby Evanston to pick up some goodies and learn a little bit about gluten-free (and vegan!) diets. And I did some major damage at Wild Oats, too. Even found some gluten-free beer, which I’m not feeling too hopeful about (I’m kind of a beer snob), but it’s worth a try. We’ll do a taste-test this weekend.

Suffice to say, it’s expensive to eat healthy! Or maybe it’s not any more expensive than eating out a lot, which I’ve been doing. We’ll see. I came home with a trunkload of healthy food, which should last me at least a week, and I’m sure I’ll be picking up produce every few days. Might hit the farmers’ market this weekend with some pals.

So this is it! Starting tomorrow I’ll be posting just about every day, with a little journal of what I eat, and how it goes, and how I screw up, and what I learn. Feel free to chime in and steer me in the right (or at least, interesting) direction.

I’m a newbie, so bear with me. This is the beginning of a month-long journey into gluten-free living. Throughout June 2007, I’ll be writing about what it takes to go gluten-free.

Testing has shown that I DO NOT have celiac disease, but as a health writer who’s been covering the condition, I got curious: what would it take to try it? Really, how hard is it? After interviewing almost a dozen people, I came away with a wide variety of opinions on how easy/hard it is to live gluten-free.

As a young woman living with fibromyalgia, I’m also aware that there’s lots of anecdotal evidence showing that going gluten-free can reduce symptoms. And you know I’m all about reducing symptoms!

So…my quest is born. Starting in two days, I will become gluten-free. The nice people at Pamela’s Products have already sent me a few goodies to sample, so I’m glad to have cookies and baking mixes on hand so I don’t go completely insane.

And I’m headed to Wild Oats in Evanston tomorrow to go shopping and re-stock the kitchen with stuff I can eat. Luckily, I won’t have to be vigilant about cross-contamination, so I know I have it a little easier than your typical celiacbabe.

Wish me luck! And if you’ve got advice, I would LOVE to hear it.