Being Free

I've been meaning to write this post for some time now but I really am not very good at figuring out the best way to share so please bear with me here...

When I first started going to my holistic physician I was sure I was still struggling with Lyme Disease. I was tired, run down, and moody as all get out. I was tested and the only things I was having trouble with was a depletion of certain nutrients, minor structural issues and problems with sugar, wheat and black tea. I had known about the sugar being a problem but wheat and black tea was something I wasn't expecting. Getting off of black tea was really not that big of a deal but wheat? How was I going to do that!? Now let me just make it clear I'm not allergic to wheat or gluten but my body doesn't process the stuff very well and over a long period of time it can suppress my immune system cause all these weird emotional side affects and lastly if left unchecked can cause things like diabetes to take hold. Mind you that's like years and year down the road.

I didn't like the idea of going off of wheat. I'm Greek for heaven's sake I've been eating the stuff since i was born and my uncle use to hide bread in his cheeks when he was a kid so he could have a morning snack! Pasta, breads, pies, phyllo dough, puffed pastry, cookies, crackers oh the list goes on. Of course I gave the wheat free diet a try but when I got pregnant with Louis I threw caution to the wind and started eating the the forbidden food again. It took until this past Christmas for me to realize I needed to get rid of wheat again.

My brother was super sick on Christmas eve and since he was making dinner for the family we all inevitably got what he had. It was a nasty bit of sickness and I took myself off of everything that would be offensive to my body including wheat. When I started to feel better I knew I needed to stay off of wheat and restrict my sugar intake. I was feeling so much better and I wanted to stay that way. Its been almost three months now since I've been wheat and gluten free. Its not as hard as I thought it would be. I do on occasion get a slight craving for the stuff but then I remember how crummy I feel when I eat wheat and I regain my convictions with new zeal. I also have started going to a support group, you know like AA, to help me feel more normal or at least keep me encouraged to eat right.

The only thing I noticed was that since I wasn't allowed to eat wheat any longer I got things like gluten free brownie mixes and devoured the sugary stuff. I still felt really ill and I figured out that even though something is gluten free doesn't mean that its going to be good for me. After some research I found out that sugar is a huge problem. One table spoon of sugar will suppress your immune system for about 5 hours! It also changes the pH of your blood and so your body has to work hard to become balanced again. Sugar also causes nasty things like joint pain, irritability, cravings, blood sugar crashes, full blown yeast infections called candida, and a slew of other problems. This is totally frustrating and I am a long way from getting completely away from sugar but at least I know what it does and how much I can handle.

I am now more aware of what I am putting into my body. Not because I want to be in a group of people who are snobby about what they eat or feel a sense of worth because of it, but because I want to be a better person, I want to be a blessing to my husband and children, I want to function well, live vibrantly! If that means staying away from a few things so be it. I've been able to broaden my culinary horizons so to speak and enjoy a vast array of things I would have skipped over if I was able to stuff myself with bread. This isn't easy but its a choice I'm making everyday. I probably will have my lapses, I've already given in a few times in the past, but that doesn't mean I won't keep trying.