06.27.12. Little history…
10 years is passing since I started to have some health problems. Eating food was never a pleasure for me. I have always had a sweet tooth, so all kind off cookies I could just eat at once. It wasn’t even chocolate. It was just the taste,texture of all kind off cookies, bars,crackers. In my family there were always baked goods. I got the love for baking in my genes I guess.
10 years ago I have moved from Europe to America. New culture,new environment,new language but also new food.
O boy…. Not only American food! But food from all over the world. I tried first time in my life a turkey,lamb and goat cheese and soy milk and almond milk. I have learn how to make lasagne and Italian style spaghetti and Japanese sushi. And I baked those packed cake mixes. And those cakes tasted sooooo gooooood.
But I started to complain about my stomach often. Sometimes I felt ok,but there were days when I barely could go through the day. It didn’t matter what I ate-I felt bad. I thought it is just new food and my body needs to get used to it. But months were passing by,than years- and I was feeling even worst.
First visit to the doctor- “it is too much acid in your stomach. Stop drinking coffee, tea and eating chocolate. Avoid acidy foods.” So I did. No difference in my health. Another visit-the same diagnosis, this time some medication. Not better at all. Different doctors-the same diagnosis, then I heard – maybe it is a bug-got antibiotics. Nothing changed. Next doctor suggested gastroscopy. They eliminated ulcer. The only thing the doctor saw was that my stomach doesn’t desolve food fast. Slow metabolism. I got also some medication which of course didn’t help at all.
Finally I started to experiment. Maybe it is lactose intolerance? I put away all the diary product. I didn’t see the difference.
I am pretty sure that all my friends who heard me complaining about my stomach all the time stopped paying attention to me anymore. Some were even joking that it is in my head. That I am just fine. How can I be fine if my stomach hurts me every day? How can I be fine if I felt nauseate most of the time? It wasn’t fun to go out to eat. Food was like a poison. But if I just knew back than what I know now…… :/
In 2009 I become vegetarian. I don’t really know the reasons. I never curved my appetite for the meat much, but after hearing all the stories what they put into chicken in America, I decided I don’t want those chemicals and poison in my body. I still ate fish, eggs, had a cow milk in baked products or chocolate. I switched to soy milk though when it came to my morning cereal.
My health didn’t really improved that much.
There were days when I cried from the pain and was asking myself, why any of the doctors can’t find out what is wrong with me? Why do I have to be in pain after almost every meal I have. Why my stomach pain wakes me up at night and why my energy is low.
At the middle of the 2011,under influence of my friend, I started going towards vegan diet.I don’t eat honey,eggs, cottage cheese, yogurts made from cow milk, fish.
Finally I came across gluten free diet. I started researching. The symptoms I had were the ones of people who didn’t tolerate gluten and with celiac disease. I decided I will try gluten-free diet.
I avoided bread, pizza, cookies. Sometimes I noticed I felt better. But there was still not 100% ok. So here we are. Today is 3rd day of my new adventure- gluten free eating. I am strictly avoiding gluten in all forms. I read labels on the packages and buy only gluten free products. If I feel better after let’s say 2 weeks-it means I have finally found out what is wrong with me. I will cry because I will miss bread and all my baking goods. But I will be happy that I know the reason of my health issues. Let’s see how the journey goes. If I feel better I will put my diary online.