You may have noticed my blogging dropped off a bit last year, there were several reasons behind that, babies are busy yes, covid sucked but for a lot of last year but also I was struggling with my health. I was having severe tummy troubles, chronic exhaustion, constant body aches and pains, hormone issues, and walked around with my head in a constant fog. I had initially put it down to the arrival of Elsie and being run down, but then I became really unwell. Like struggling drag myself out of bed unwell. The pain in my hands meant I kept dropping things and I was feeling more and more like a person such older then my age.
This book was given to me by a dear friend and is not only beautiful, but filled to the brim with lovely gluten free recipes.
My symptoms seemed to flair up dramatically after pasta or wheat and a piece of the puzzle clicked into place. I had resorted to cooking a lot of pasta and the like because it makes a quick, budget family, family friendly meal. After a trip to the GP and bloods tests, We worked out I carry the coeliac gene and the blood results that often indicate coeliac disease were significantly risen.
Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease where the body cannot process or absorb gluten, which is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. In a person with coeliacs, gluten creates inflammation and toxins that destroy the villi in the small intestine which can lead to the malabsorption of nutrients, hormone imbalances, osteoporosis, anaemia and a bunch of other problems. If you would like to learn more about coeliac disease you can read about it HERE. The genes for coeliac disease can switch 'on', and can be triggered to switch on by challenging health situations, like pregnancy and birth, illness, a virus and the like. Or it can just happen with no particular trigger. A person can live with coeliac disease for many years before getting diagnosed as the symptoms can be vague. Because it can come on insidiously, people learn to live with the symptoms and often put them down to other things, before they find the root of their problems.
Now, in an ideal world one would remain eating gluten until after a specialist referral and bowel biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. But the wait for a non-urgent biopsy is a minimum of a year in this area, and I'm yet to even find a specialist who has any space on their books for a new patient. The local health care system is under immense pressure which has been greatly exacerbated by covid. Because I was so sick, I have chosen to follow a strict gluten free diet and I can undertake a 6 week gluten challenge prior to a bowel biopsy closer to the actual date.
So, for the last several of months I have been eaten a strictly gluten free diet and the change I have felt in myself is astounding. I was so sick I didn't realise how bad I was feeling as I had slowly done my best to adapt and just get on with life. My whole body ached with pain which I had put down to being unfit. Because I was so utterly exhausted all the time I couldn't see how I could get out and about to improve my fitness. But since cutting gluten from my diet I feel better than I have in a long while. No longer do I groan like a 90yr old arthritic woman when moving about. My energy levels are better than they have been for years, clothes that were too small have begun to fit again, my mind is clearer and calmer and my tummy troubles are gone. It can be a long slow process for the gut to fully heal, but as time passes I continue to see steady improvements in my health.
It turns out I'm incredibly sensitive to gluten. If I so much as eat something which has been contaminated by gluten I find myself back to being sick for three-four days. With headaches, full body aches, round the clock upset stomach and exhaustion. A bit like the worst flu but without the mucky cough and fevers. My food has to be prepared and cooked separately to any gluten containing foods. I can only buy certain brands of things like soy sauce which have a 'gluten free' badge on the label. No longer can we turn to the humble hot chook as a quick meal as the stuffing contains gluten and I suspect the seasoning on the skin does too. I tried to just eat the breast meat one day but got really sick.
It means I need to read packets very carefully, I cannot eat anything thing which has "may contain gluten" in the allergen statements which can be tricky to work around.
But all in all I am relived to have a probable answer to the health problems that plagued me much of last year, and possibly before. My blogging frequency picked up towards the end of the year, which was in direct correlation to my health improving. Of course I still get tired and run down, I have four children and we live on a farm after all! But it is now a far more 'normal' tired.
In the past I have not shared a huge number of recipes, preferring to link to recipes online. But I think moving forward I might share a little more about gluten free cooking and adapting our family meals to be affordably gluten free, as well as particularly good gluten free products like the very best gluten free pasta I have found which is pictured below. As a passionate lover of good pasta pre coeliac times, this brand of dried pasta makes my inner Nonna happy. Though it is not the cheapest pasta, I do think it is the best. I would much prefer to eat a little less of something and eat a better quality product. I am yet to nail gluten free home made pasta.
Woolworths has partnered with Coeliac Australia and I generally find them to have a more extensive range of gluten free/gluten alternative products. Their gluten free choc mint biscuits are the bomb. I also shop for things like different flours at the health food/organic store.
The difficulty with gluten free cooking is that gluten is the thing in flour that acts as a binding agent. It makes doughs bouncy and elastic, it stops biscuits and cakes falling apart. You can't really sub gluten free flour for plain flour in a recipe and expect similar results. They cook up quite differently. Gluten free flours are generally a mix of other flours, and because of that each brand differs. You can add a small amount of xanthin gum to gluten free baking which will help with holding/binding a mixture together so it acts similarly to gluten, though it's still not exactly the same. I find baking gluten free biscuits, brownies and slices pretty forgiving.
Anyway, more on this later. For now the creek is calling us for a paddle.
Much love,
Emma
xx
Much love,
Emma
xx
