Gluten isnt something a lot of people think about. Many people assume Im gluten-free for weight loss reasons, despite the fact that I weigh 130 pounds.
The real story I tell people about why Im gluten-free usually shocks them. Indeed, I was shocked about it too when I first discovered that I was gluten intolerant.
Why? Because prior to being gluten intolerant, I supposedly had dermatomyositis.
Dermatomyositis is an autoimmune illnes that affects the skin and the muscles. I experienced severe muscle ache and weakness as well as a skin rash. Oh, and likewise an is no way to ingest my meat, stroll short distances, or basically do anything by myself.
I invested the next four and a half years in and out of hospitals, on chemotherapy, heavy doses of steroids and anti-inflammatory medicines. I likewise wasnt able to walk the summer I was diagnosed, which was a week before my seventeenth birthday.
I was determined to do something different after four years of this.
I was 21 and had my whole life ahead of me. I wanted to be a carefree young person , not some sick overweight girl needing hospital visits every couple of months. I envisioned, No, this is not my life. This cant be my life. I said no to the madness that was modern sickness.
And this is what I found out.
My Body Has an Inflammatory Response to Gluten
The last doctor I appreciated for my illness looked at me and told me that I would be on chemotherapy for the rest of my life.
I left her office that day and felt as hopeless as Id ever seemed. I was throwing up in the rain from chemo, I was dizzy and nauseated all the time. Id gained weight from the steroids and had acne and feeling swingings. On top of everything, my muscle suffering was excruciating. I recollect the sky being gray and feeling like “the worlds” was falling apart.
That was when I decided that I was not going to expend the rest of my life on chemo.
It took me a few weeks and a lot of bellows, but I ultimately found a herbalist in the area who would insure me. On our second visit together, she told me that she supposed gluten are liable to be making me sick.
I told her she was crazy. The doctors at the best hospital in the country couldnt figure out what was wrong with me. Why did she belief she could?
But her idea stick with me. And the more I read, the more I felt like this could be it.
How I Was Reacting to Gluten
When our bodies cannot process a certain food, they can have autoimmune reactions. This will not happen for everyone, depending on your unique genetic makeup and the kinds of foods you eat.
Our bodies can develop reactions to any meat at any given time, which explains why I abruptly woke up one morning and found I couldnt walk. Since I was eating gluten and my torso had, quite literally overnight, developed a reaction to it, my body was assaulting my muscles and I was in extreme pain.
When we eat meat, the components of that meat broken up into our stomach and carried in all areas of the blood to nourish all parts of our bodies. When gluten was entering my bloodstream and being used to nourish my muscles, my torso was assaulting it as if it was an intruder; this is considered an autoimmune answer. This is where the symptoms of the dermatomyositis were coming from.
I moved gluten-free the next day, unable to keep feeing something that was supposedly attaining me so sick that I needed to be on chemotherapy.
I Feel Completely Different
Within a week, all of the symptoms of my dermatomyositis disappeared.
I had more energy, my muscles stopped hurting, and I seemed more alive and healthier than I had in years. After three weeks of being gluten-free, I went off all my medication, feeling that it was building me sicker rather than attaining me better.
I experienced no side effect after I went off the drug except that I seemed better. I stopped seeming nauseous, my moods returned to normal, and I lost weight.
For the last six years, Ive been pain-free, drug-free, and seeming great. I run ten miles a few weeks, I lift weights, do yoga, walking, and I dont eat gluten.
Sometimes its hard explain to people “whats happened to” me because the world doesnt ascertain food as drug, they simply see it as gasoline. But I know the truth. I know what meat can do to us and to our bodies. I experienced firsthand being so sick that I seemed as if I was dying at the age of 21 from feeing bread, of all things.
Being gluten-free is a choice for me. I have a selection to be sick or to not eat bread. Some people ask me if being gluten-free is hard. I usually respond with, Well, its easier than being on chemo.
The Role Food Plays
Many people who suffer from gluten sensitivity, gluten intolerance, or celiac illnes experience digestive problems. This is a common way for the body to express that it has a problem with gluten.
However, gluten can cause many more adverse symptoms in the body, from assaulting its own organs( lupus ), the brain( ADHD, depression, schizophrenia ), and scalp( acne ). Gluten isnt the only meat inducing troubles for people with sensitive bodies. Other top allergens include dairy, soy, corn, eggs, nuts, and nightshades( potatoes, peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes ).
Some people dont have meat fanaticisms, but for those of us experiencing adverse health symptoms, meat may play a greater role in our lives than we ever imagined. Its good to be informed about our torsoes, our health, and what we eat.
Eating the right meat can help us seem our very best, and I feel amazing, in spite of the fact that feeing bread set me in a wheelchair ten years ago.
Its been ten years since I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that I dont actually have. Running through all that was an insane, insightful excursion. Its one that I can only feel grateful for today, despite everything thats happened.
The gluten-free diet has a bad reputation these days. From pals to doctors who dont take you severely, lets not assume that someone is doing a diet for a specific reason. Lets assume that they know more about their body and their health than we do. And this can only be a beneficial thing for them.
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