Beginning of my journey

My whole dairy and gluten free journey started with several visits to the ER. I was suffering from horrible unexplainable stomach pain. My stomach was always bloated and I had never ending gas. (More times then not the gas was super embarrassing.) The muscles in my stomach was rigid and after everything I was at a loss. One doctor said take this magnesium drink cause I think ur just stopped up. The next ER doc gave me gabapentin he believed the pain was all from my back. (This was partly true as I discovered later when I stopped the meds for three days. I ended up in horrible pain this was depressing.) So one day I ended up going to a urgent care because of my stomach and where the doc suggested going dairy and gluten free. 

I have always had issues with dairy a little. Milk and ice cream I never have tolerated well. Gluten that’s something that never occurred to me. For two weeks I stopped dairy but still continued the gluten. I wanted to do each separate so I know how it affected me individually. I didn’t have a lot of dairy to begin with so it wasn’t gonna be a huge deal until it came to cheese. In some ways it was hard mostly because my husband and 9 year old son could continue to eat whatever they wanted. On my first week my son really wanted Imos and I couldn’t eat any of it. This was hard to resist but I did it. I found dairy free cheese at Schnucks the second week I was excited. 

Next on my list was taking out gluten this I knew was gonna be much harder. Nearly every take out place has gluten in their food. My husband who is half Korean loves Korean food. Nearly everything has wheat in it so finding substitutes was my next goal. I also wanted more options. So I went to Whole Foods and Target for my search for gluten and dairy free products. Amazon had stuff too but almost everything came from Whole Foods. I was able to find soft taco shells made from almond flour, gluten free bread, gluten and dairy free pizza. Found dairy free yogurt, cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, slices of pepper jack cheese. I even found some gluten free Korean sauces like soy sauce and Korean bbq sauce.

It’s been four weeks now dairy free and two weeks gluten free. I can say that I am feeling a little better not 100% but a lot of my bloating is gone. That embarrassing gas it has dwindled quite a bit as well and I feel happier and more energy. I started this journey for my health for more then just my stomach. When I started I was 310lbs, unhappy, miserable, and hated how I looked. I also was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure. On top of that I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), arthritis and asthma. My amazing husband has been worried sick about me as well. So I started this journey for us and my son. I am also happy to say I have lost 6 lbs since I started not eating the gluten. That’s not a lot but to me it’s a huge achievement with having pcos.

Is it hard at times to eat what I want? Definitely!!! My husband got Pizza Hut wings the other day and they swore they were dairy free. Well needless to say my husband enjoyed 24 wings by himself. It clearly says on their site they have dairy. There are places we want to eat but I may not be able to anymore because of the dairy but more then likely the gluten. If I was dairy and gluten free five years ago I would be lost. These days there are so many recipes and options its much easier. I will keep u all updated on how my journey continues to go and will post recipes as well.