Going Gluten Free: My Experience

Before we dive right in and start discussing my diet, I want to say a few things. Firstly, there will probably be a bit of a TMI factor in this post, so apologies in advance. Secondly, this is my experience only, and does not constitute medical advice. I'm not a doctor, and I'm not trained in medicine. The best medical advice I can give is that if you think you are having problems with your gut, then you should go get medical advice.

Background

As long as I can remember, I've had issues with digestion. I would bloat easily, I would be constipated for about two weeks, then have diarrhea for a week, all accompanied by painful stomach cramps and occasionally nausea. The thing is, I didn't realise these symptoms weren't normal, because it was all I knew. About 5 years ago, I was talking with a friend and said something about my constant bloating every time I ate and she commented that it wasn't normal to experience that degree of bloating.

So I went off to the doctor, and was told I had IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), which basically isn't a real diagnosis or problem, but a name for the symptoms I was experiencing. I took a blood test, which revealed that I was low in a lot of vitamins (and hence my food was probably not digesting properly), so I was told to take a certain enzyme and that should solve my problems. The doctor told me that IBS is really common, there's no known cure, and I basically had to just deal with it.

I was pretty young at this point, (like 17 or 18 years old) so I didn't think to get a second medical opinion, and just put up with my symptoms that now had a name. There was also a certain element of guilt that surrounded me at the time - I had struggled with an eating disorder throughout my teenage years, which was still sort of hanging around, so I honestly believed I had probably caused these digestive problems, and I believed that I deserved to go through the pain that I was experiencing.

The Elimination Diet

About a year ago, I found a different local doctor, who is honestly, just wonderful. She listens to anything I say, she actually tests for things, and tries to find out what the problem is before just filling out a script and sending me on my way. In one of my appointments, I mentioned to her that I had been diagnosed with IBS. She took a medical history from me, and then started testing me for what could be causing it.

I tried so many different things, and eventually she referred me to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital Allergy Unit. Part of the referral was due to my never-ending hayfever/allergy sinus symptoms that have also been giving me hell, my entire life.

At the Allergy Unit, I was paired with a doctor and a dietitian. I was pin-prick tested, and apart from some minor allergies, nothing that would be giving me the symptoms I was having showed up.

So I was put on the RPAH Elimination Diet. Explained briefly, this diet cut out anything that could be giving me problems for 5 weeks (gluten, soy, dairy, artifical colours, flavours, preservatives, and a whole bunch of naturally occurring chemicals). I basically lived on a diet of potatoes and pears for that time. Then, the potential triggers were slowly introduced to see what I reacted to.
I kept a food diary, recording everything I was eating and what reactions (if any) I was experiencing.

I was supposed to test gluten for a week by gradually introducing it into my diet. Days 1-3 would start with a cup of pasta, then I would add extra gluten sources for days 4-7. The thing with the elimination diet is you need to have a lot of the potential trigger, to ensure that any reaction is a result of the introduced food.

By day 2 of the gluten test I was really sick. I had the most painful stabbing pains in my stomach that I had ever experienced - I was actually out at a work event and the pain was taking my breath away it was that bad; very embarrassing. My eczema also flared up after weeks of being absent, my sinuses were completely inflamed and I could hardly breathe. I wasn't digesting any of my food - my symptoms were almost like I had gastro, they were that bad. So I immediately took the gluten back out of my diet, went back on the basic elimination diet until symptoms cleared and then carried on with the testing. Within two days my symptoms had cleared up, and it was pretty damn apparent that I had reacted to the wheat/gluten test.

I did react to some other food additives, but nowhere near as badly as I did with the gluten - for instance, sulphites make me wheezy, and sorbates (a type of preservative) gave me really bad headaches, along with a "foggy" feeling and inability to concentrate.

The Aftermath

Since coming off the elimination diet, I've been strictly gluten free. The few times I've slipped up have been painful enough to convince me to stick with it, regardless of how difficult or how expensive it is.

Here's a list of some things I've learnt in the past few months:

• People are jerks when it comes to your diet. Even if it doesn't affect them in the slightest, they will make snide comments and remarks, and you kind of just have to ignore them and carry on with your business. As much as you try and explain it, these people don't really care, they don't really get it and there's no point wasting your breath with them. 
• Gluten free stuff is getting better, as far as taste goes. I always go in expecting it to taste like cardboard, so then I'm pleasantly surprised when it doesn't. 
• Gluten free baking is hard, and doesn't give you the same results as glutinous baking. For instance, gluten free self-raising flour doesn't actually self-raise. 
• Gluten free options are always more expensive. 
• Most restaurants and cafes are wonderfully accommodating when you tell them of your dietary requirement. 
• It's easier to tell people you're celiac because generally, people do not believe that gluten intolerance is real, (despite other intolerances, such as lactose intolerance being well-accepted).
• You need to read labels very carefully - gluten is in the strangest items as it's cheap for bulking, or a cheap binding agent. For instance, mayonnaise, soy sauce, most junk food (chips, ice cream, chocolate), almost all sauces.
• The biggest thing I've learned is to make sure I have my own food prepared, and always inquire in advance if I'm going to an event or function. Overall, it's not too bad, and like anything in life, you do learn to just adapt with what you've got. 

I feel so much better these days - I honestly can't believe how unwell I felt before, for so many years and just accepted it as "normal". My digestion is totally normal now, I don't get stabbing stomach pains, I can breathe (The sinus thing probably surprised me the most).

Do you have any food allergies or dietary requirements that make life difficult? Share your experiences in the comments below. 

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Fitness Friday: 8 Health Q&A's

I saw this post on Natalie's blog. She adapted the questions from a Vogue interview with Lorna Jane, and I really enjoyed reading her own take on it. If you are a long-time reader, you'll know I love these types of posts, so I thought this would be great to do myself!

What is the first thing you do in the morning? Put the kettle on for coffee! While it's boiling, I go to the bathroom, and brush my hair. I'll turn the TV on to ABC News, and catch up on what happened overnight. I don't have breakfast every morning, but I have been making an effort to. So while I'm waiting for the kettle, I'll either pour myself a bowl of muesli, or have some porridge which I've been loving in this cooler weather. I then head back into the living room and set myself up in front of the mirror to do my make-up. All while drinking my coffee, eating my breakfast (if I'm having it) and watching the news. I then get dressed and I'm out the door.

What is your exercise routine? I love exercising, and try to get in at least some movement every day. I make an effort to stretch every night after my shower, that way even if I can't get to the gym, or am too busy to work out at home I still am doing something. Every Monday night I have pole. I try to get in at least one extra pole session each week, although this is sometimes tricky if I'm working lots and busy with uni. I do at least three weight sessions at the gym each week; legs, shoulders and back, shoulders and arms. If I can, I will go four times a week, and try to get in a power circuit as well. I do a bit of cardio for my warm up. Like Nat, I also set little challenges for myself. At the moment I'm working on dead-hang pull ups (palms away), and I'm always working towards increasing my weight loads. 

What is your philosophy towards nutrition? I'm going to steal Natalie's answer, because hers is perfect: "Practice common sense and look to your healthy relatives and especially grandparents." I eat the foods I enjoy, and I eat when I'm hungry. I've had so many issues with food and eating in the past, that I really just try to focus on listening to what my body wants. J cooks dinner, and he's pretty good at making sure we get variety in terms of meat and veg. 

What does your typical daily diet include? Like I mentioned, I try to make an effort for breakfast every day, but this doesn't always happen. For lunch, I try to always bring it with me. That way, I know what I'm eating in advance, and I save money. Usually I'll bring leftovers, or I'll make a big pot of (sustainably fished) tuna pasta or salad on Sunday for the week. I also bring a piece of fruit, some cheese, and nuts for snacking on. Like I mentioned, J cooks dinner. We are pretty boring in that we tend to always go "meat and 3 veg". We usually buy whatever meat is on sale during the week, and then pick our meals around that. When putting together dinner we make sure there's plenty of colour and a balance of veg. 

That's it! Nothing too rigorous. We tend to veer towards more 'paleo' type eating, but we're hardly strict with it. We eat a lot of protein, and always try to switch out for 'healthier' options when we can. For instance, if having a salad, we'll use baby spinach leaves instead of lettuce. 

You have five minutes to make a nutritious meal – what do you do?
That's not a lot of time, is it!? Probably a salad...would you have time to cook? So probably a salad with baby spinach, tuna, cherry tomatoes, boiled egg, cheese, some veg...maybe pumpkin?

All this stuff would be pre-cooked of course hahaha. Now my stomach is growling...

What is your favourite recipe?
I don't really cook, so I don't really have a favourite recipe! So I guess, I love recipes that are easy to follow?

How do you keep your health in check when travelling? 
I am terrible at this, and I think this week just proves it. Wheat really messes up my digestion, and when I'm at home I'm pretty good at avoiding it. But this week, we were given morning tea every day, which was mostly pastries, and because I'm poor and can't afford lunch I mostly stocked up on them. I've really been feeling the consequences of those poor decisions the past day and a bit. I do try to get exercise in still, so I'll walk around a lot or at least keep up with stretching. 

What is your favourite restaurant dish? 
Depends where we're going! I love eating dishes that I normally wouldn't eat at home. I love a good pork belly, ribs...J doesn't really cook much lamb at home, so I will also go for that if I'm out as well. I just love well-cooked meat haha.

What are your tips for keeping healthy while travelling?

Fit Fridays: What's in my Lunch Bag?

Recently I've made more of an effort to bring my lunch with me to work and uni. This was motivated at first when I realised just how much money I was spending on food...and that I could be spending that on fun things like clothes and make up instead. But I realised as well (which is a bit of a 'duh' moment) that by packing my lunch I'm a lot less likely to impulse eat, and thus pick better foods.

I try to mix it up to keep it interesting. This is just a snapshot of what I brought this week:

I pack my lunch in this cute lunch bag I bought from kikki.K. It's got insulated padding so it keeps everything cool, and it's little enough that it's not a burden to carry, but big enough to fit all my food in.

For my 'main' food item, I'll usually bring leftovers. We schedule in what we're eating for dinner each week, and we usually try to make more than two servings so I can bring leftovers.
Rather than buying packets of chips, we buy a couple of bags of popcorn and I pre-pop it. One bag of popcorn separates into about 4 lunch baggies. Each serving is more than enough to satisfy my salty cravings throughout the day. This works out to be cheaper, but I also think it's a healthier option. Popcorn is definitely not healthy (the triple butter explosion option is definitely not healthy) but it has less of the bad stuff than chips. It's the lesser of two evils, if you will.

I try to bring snacks that I can easily munch on in class without disturbing everyone. I love apples for my daily fruit (I kind of wish I could bring bananas but I hate them). Nuts are a fantastic option as well because they're full of fats, vitamins and minerals. We buy the Woolworths brand "Oven roasted mixed nuts", because I just love, love, love the mix it comes with. Cashews, almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts, macadamias, and pistachios keep it interesting. I also always try to include some sort of cheese in my lunch, to try and get in some extra calcium. Bega stringers are awesome because they're pre-packaged which means I don't have to do any extra work in the morning; I literally just grab a strip and chuck it in my bag and I'm good to go. Also, who doesn't love mozzarella cheese?

For me, a big part of bringing my lunch is making sure it's easy enough to just throw in my lunch bag and go. This does mean I need to do a bit of prep at the beginning of the week, but with a little extra organising this is not really any extra effort.

Do you bring your lunch to work / school? What do you usually eat?




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Fit Fridays: 'Muesliforme' Review

Welcome to Fit Fridays! This is a new series on the blog, with posts on Fridays being all about...fitness. Okay, so the name isn't super innovative, but it's alliteration so surely I get points for that?

Today I'm kicking off the series with a review of a breakfast food I've been trialling for a couple of weeks now.

In January's Her Fashion Box, I received a sample and a coupon code for a brand called 'Muesliforme'. I was really interested to try it out, because I am always starving as soon as I leave the house, but never really have time for much food in the mornings. Breakfast is the hardest meal for me, because I'm also quite sensitive to wheat so I can't just have cereal. I love muesli, but I hate sultanas, so that also rules out a lot of supermarket muesli. Anyway, the sample pack contained in the HFB was really good, so I investigated the company's website.

The premise is simple; customise your muesli! I decided to just bite the bullet and go for the 1.5kg bag, and chose to get rolled nuts, seed mix and hazelnuts, almonds, apricots, apples and figs. 

It's mixed on the same day it's sent out to you, so is guaranteed freshness. It's shipped on the first of every month, and is really reasonably priced. My order came to just $37 (before coupon code) for 1.5kg (30 serves), with free shipping. There's also no contract, so you can cancel and suspend your order at any time. 

Unfortunately the bag mine came in got ripped in the mail, so I taped it up and poured a heap into a plastic container.

Overall, I love the idea of this. I love having someone else mix the muesli I want (because let's be honest. I could mix it myself, but I'm far too busy lazy for that #firstworldproblems). I love the seed mix with the rolled oats, and there is a generous serving of hazelnuts in the mixture. 

I would like it if there was more fruit in it though. I actually forgot I ordered apple in mine, because I haven't really had any apple pieces yet (that's if they're even in there?) The dried figs are delicious though. 

Overall I am really loving this, and I'm having breakfast maybe 4-5 days out of 7 now, which is a hell of a lot more days than I used to. I'm going to try up it to 7 days a week, and I feel I can do that with this mix, because it's just so easy that even sleepy-me can manage to pour this and milk in a bowl.

What do you eat for breakfast? Are you a muesli eater?



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WHOA! Legs!*

This post was brought to you by Women's Health of Australia. All thoughts and opinions are my own. For further details, check out my Disclaimer.

What was your favourite thing about the 1990's? 
I was born in 1992, so growing up in this decade I was young enough to remember my childhood with nostalgia, but not old enough to cringe about the fashions (scrunchies..amirite?). I was still young enough to dress in clothes lovingly handmade by my Nan, but know every single word to the entire Aqua 'Aquarium' CD, and the Spice Girls album...as well as owning almost every piece of paraphernalia related to the Spice Girls (thanks mum!) 
I watched Pokemon, Sailor Moon, Daria, Rugrats, Recess, Hey Arnold, (as well as a bunch of other awesome cartoons... television was just better in the 90's) when I got home from school. 
I played with tazos, tamagotchis, and I don't care how creepy you think they are...but I freaking loved my Furby. 

GUYS I AM SO EXCITED TO SHARE THIS CAMPAIGN WITH YOU. 

I have been lusting over a pair of Black Milk printed leggings for ... god knows how long. They are trendy, look good, fit well and the prints and patterns are unlike anything else on the market. Which is why I'm really excited that Women's Health of Australia (WHoA!) are working with Blackmilk and giving us Aussie women a chance to win an exclusive pair of 90s themed tights. Not only do you have the chance to win 1 of 2000 leggings that they're giving away, but you also get a say in what print will be on those leggings! (I would totally wear a pair of WHoA leggings with Sailor Moon on them....or mixed tapes! That would be cute!)


All you have to do to have your chance to win (and to have your say on what the limited edition 90s iconography that will feature on the leggings should be) is fill out a survey for Women's Health of Australia (just head on over here)

The survey, which has run annually since 1996, is used to improve women's health policies and practices in Australia. All information is confidential, and the survey takes less than 20 minutes to complete, with the ability to pause and resume your answers. Every year, the survey is divided into cohorts, and last year was the first time women in the 1989-1994 (year of birth) cohort have been able to take part in the survey. WHoA state that "every generation faces new and different health risks. We don't know exactly what health risks a new generation of young women will face...by completing annual online surveys, Young Australian women can help us uncover their health and wellbeing priorities and also improve health services for women of all ages and for generations to come"
So if you're an Aussie lady born outside of the 1989-1994 cohort, check out the WHoA website here, as there are other surveys you can fill out. Unfortunately you won't be able to take part in the Black Milk campaign, but you will still be able to help shape the future of women's health in Australia!

So that's it.
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.
If you're aged between 18-23, help shape the future of Australian women's health, fill out the survey, have the chance to win some awesome, limited edition, will-be-collector's-items leggings. What could be better than that?




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