Saturday, June 6, 2009

Going Gluten Free


Lately I've been VERY optomistic about my migraines/headaches, and for good reason. It all started when I was on Twitter. I stumbled across @GFillustrator and found out that her migraines improved when she stopped eating gluten. I decided to get tested for Celiac Disease, since I have some of the symptoms. Well, turns out that I do not have it, but after all the research I've done, I've decided to try going gluten free for a while anyway, to see it helps my head and stomach.

Some of you may have already tried this or may be currently gluten free - if so, please share your experiences. If you want to try going gluten free, I'm going to chronicle my experiences on here, so I invite you to try it with me! I'll still post other things as well (teaser - I'm trying acupuncture for the first time Monday!).

The first step to going gluten free is research. Thank goodness there are lots of resources online. Here's just a handful:

* Celiac.com: this post has a list of unsafe ingredients

* What you can and can't eat, and meal suggestions: here

* Excellent headache/migraine blog with a post on gluten: here and be sure to read the comments!

* Blog that lists restaurants with gluten free items/menus: Hold the Gluten

* Blog post - You've Got Celiac, Now What?: Celiac Bites

* It's important to still get essential nutrients when you're trying a gluten-free diet, so check this out.

* Talk to friends as well. My friend told me about a local place in Raleigh, NC that will put together gluten-free meals for you to pick up if you don't have time to cook but don't know where to get gfree food either: Rosie's Plate. You may have one similar in your area.

Next step is emptying out the food in my kitchen and then adding what I CAN eat.

*6-8-09 update* This week is National Headache Awareness Week, which means there will be TONS of headache news stories, blog posts, etc. Stay plugged in this week and you might learn something new! I'm hoping the news stories won't be the same old stuff that everyone knows already. Either way though, awareness is good!!!