My name is Joia… and I’m a Glutard

Wow.  Its took a long time to write this post.  Probably because of the holiday, and travel, and reeling in my newfound gluten-free-ness.  

That’s right.  I’m officially gluten free.  4-evah.

Right off the bat, I’m going to give you 3 reasons I am NOT giving up Gluten.

1.  Because its all the rage and powered by the Paleo Diet.

2.  Because I want all attention on me when I’m ordering in a restaurant.

3.  Because I want to jack up the amount of grocery money I budget every month.

Yeah.  Those things don’t really appeal to me at all.

No, the reason I gave up gluten is because of my hip.  (go ahead and read that sentence again… I know… weirdness)

But yeah, it started with my hip.  I’ve been having some issues with the old girl doing all of this fun fitness stuff and had been seeking out treatment.  Wasn’t getting better with treatment at all.  In brainstorming some alternatives with my doc on how to avoid the MRI and/or surgery path, we started talking about how diet can affect inflammatory conditions, such as my problematic hip.  He referred me to his wife, my friend Dove – also a doc – who specializes in functional neurology and nutrition.  When she found out I had been long diagnosed with a condition called Hashimoto’s Disease (an auto-immune disease of the thyroid) and that I had been having ongoing problems with said thyroid in the 3 years since my youngest was born, she thrust a book into my hand and said “Read this and then call me.”  

It was this book.  

I expected this book to contain information I already knew.  But with an eyeroll of pride, I dove in anyway.  What I didn’t expect was that in the first few chapters, this doc goes on and on about the dangers of gluten for someone like me with all of my Hashimoto awesomeness.  Basically, this is why:

It’s a case of mistaken identity. The molecular structure of gliadin, the protein portion of gluten, closely resembles that of the thyroid gland. When gliadin breaches the protective barrier of the gut, and enters the bloodstream, the immune system tags it for destruction. These antibodies to gliadin also cause the body to attack thyroid tissue. This means if you have AITD and you eat foods containing gluten, your immune system will attack your thyroid. Quote via this site.

I’m totally blaming it on my gut.  Bad, bad gut.  

So let me spell this out for you.  I was diagnosed at 12 years of age.  So for the past 28 years, I have happily consumed gluten in all its glorious forms not knowing the effects.  

Of course, after completing the book, guess who I called?  My friend-doc Dove.  A blood test confirmed what was suspected.  High antibodies, high white blood cell count – whacked out thyroid yet again.  Boo.  

So gluten was out.  Just after the appointment, I sat in kitchen and told my loving husband.  He just smirked at me and said, “Oh…so now you’re a glutard.”  

Yeppers.  I guess I am.  At least for the past 4 weeks I have been.  But make NO mistake… This has been a grieving process for sure.  I felt paralyzed the first time I walked into a grocery store not to mention traveling a few weeks ago to a youth event where pizza, sandwiches and hamburgers were seemingly the only fare?  Sheesh. 

This is a process, I know, and will bring more interesting posts to this page as well.  Including my new January elimination diet which will exclude not only gluten (that’s gone for good) but also dairy, eggs, soy, nuts, alcohol, joy, happiness…So look forward to those grumpy posts, people.  They will be worth it,  I’m entirely sure.  

With all change, this brings even more discipline into my life.  I trust God will bring me to a new place through all of this.  

But until then… I’ll be humbled by my newfound Glutardness.