Gluten-Our Struggle Begins!

Our families story with gluten began to transpire around the time my daughter was almost 18 months old. My husband and I began seeing our eldest and only daughter(at this time) struggle with constipation. At first we didn't really worry as we were assured that this was common at her age. However, after some time, we did begin to worry. What we were seeing and dealing with couldn't be normal. We felt that her digestive system should have been able to adjust to table food by this point. We began to see this issue begin to improve through adding stool softeners, potty training, baths, lots of liquids, etc.. It wasn't perfect, but it had improved.

Between 18months and 2 years of age we noticed that she was beginning to develop eczema. At first, dry skin, then patches, and it continued to worsen. (At the time we didn't realize this, but these two symptoms were in fact linked from the same cause) We went to an Allergist for a skin test hoping that this would give us some solid answers. Unfortunately, the skin test revealed no positive results with anything that she had been tested for. We were told to try and work even harder on hydrating our daughter both internally and externally to help. If this didn't help we were told to come back and begin a food elimination diet. My husband I were both discouraged. We were both really hoping for answers to this. 

It wasn't until we were visiting with a friend that is also a Naturopathic Doctor and he performed a muscle test on our daughter that we discovered all this was in fact due to a wheat allergy. You can imagine our relief when we knew the true cause for all this. As we began our new-founded quest to become gluten free, we also became overwhelmed with how hard this was going to be. In the American diet wheat is the main staple. Gluten is in almost every product imaginable. Much more than I had realized.

In time we also discovered this same condition in each of our other children. Even today, two years later, I am still struggling to maintain a healthy, frugal, gluten-free diet for my family. This entire process has a been, and still is, a big learning curve for me. The struggles I have faced through our families food allergies is just another way the Lord has continued to stretch me.

By the time we knew that our daughters condition was caused by wheat she was four years old and we also had two other sons that were gluten intolerant as well. For some this may not have been such a big deal, but I was trying to change our diets and with three kids the time(and energy) that I had to search out new recipes was very limited.

I'm amazed by how many people I know, or that I come across, who are also discovering that they are gluten intolerant. I hope to organize and share the resources and information that have best helped me. I'll also share our favorite recipes and what we are learning in the process.