A few years ago, I called a friend and was complaining about how I was always so tired and constantly experienced brain fog no matter how much I slept or how much coffee I drank. I would have a full-night’s rest and wake up exhausted and lethargic day after day. I couldn’t concentrate. I kept forgetting things. I concluded that it must be demands of motherhood; I had never experienced exhaustion like this previous to having kids. However, the brain fog and exhaustion began to feel debilitating. I could hardly function each day.
My friend suggested that I had an issue with gluten. I didn’t want to believe her. It seemed as if everyone was talking about gluten allergies and gluten intolerance and I wasn’t going to be “one of those” joining what I thought was a fad. So in response, I denied the possibility immediately without real consideration. She asked me what I had to lose by cutting out gluten for 2 weeks. I was desperate so I decided to do it.
Two weeks passed and my brain fog lifted. I was no longer tired upon waking up, but just tired during relatively normal times. My curiosity was peaked. I did some reading and saw that just as my friend said my symptoms would improve following two weeks on a gluten free diet. It takes a while for gluten to move out of the body. I wondered why I hadn’t had problems with gluten when I was younger. I found a recurring answer whenever I read about health issues as a result of food. Again and again farmers have made agricultural, environmental and variety changes in order to decrease their costs.
Our solution has been to take more control over the foods we consume. In cooking, we carefully chose every ingredient. After all, it ends up in your body. Similarly, in gardening, we choose what goes in our soil, and are careful to consider pest control and recycling methods that preserve the land, the environment, and therefore ourselves. In buying ingredients, we support others who have the same values and grow ingredients that heal bodies.
It has been with these practices that I’ve limited gluten intake as well as other allergens for the family for 7 years.
Recently, I’ve started creating new recipes for “soft foods” to help create more healing food options for grandpa after his emergency oral surgery. I incorporated helpful ingredients that had added healing benefits (such as cocao powder and cocao butter, coconut oil and butter, blueberries, and Ceylon cinnamon). However, I needed gluten-free and vegan versions so that allergic family members could also enjoy the same recipes.
We came up with a potato cheddar soup that did not rely on any gluten as the thickener. Grandpa and my daughter loved it!
Then we made a gluten free, dairy-free version of blueberry pancakes that were super fluffy with a very slight crisp on the outside. It was a hit with both grandpa, hubby, and the kids!
Lastly, we created a gluten-free chocolate chocolate chip banana muffin that was an instant hit with every member of the family. It came out super moist and mouth-watering each time we made a batch. No one could tell it was gluten-free! Each batch was devoured within 24 hours. The best part of this recipe is that the kids (age 9 and 12) were easily able to make it without help.
All in all, we have had to change our diets to adapt to various allergies and other health conditions, however in the end, our alterations have led us to incorporate healthier healing ingredients and to innovate highly enjoyable options that we can share with everyone!