I guess I should start off by telling you a little bit about myself. My name is Jamie, and I am a stay at home mother of three beautiful babes. My oldest daughter, Emily, just turned three. Ray is two. And our youngest, Macy, is five months. You can call me crazy, doesn't bother me a bit. Truth be told, all stay at home moms are crazy, our children make us that way! I will say it is the hardest job on earth. You don't get paid. You don't get breaks. You can't even use the bathroom by yourself, much less take a shower every day. You are on call 24/7 and there is no such thing as vacation! Yep, that pretty much sums it up. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE MY KIDS, but, if I were rich, we would have a nanny!!! I am also happily married to my best friend. He is an amazing man who goes to work every day so that I can stay home with the babes. Some days I envy him, but every day I love him. If there ever was an All-American family, I think we could be it. We love God, shoot guns, drink beer, have 2.5 kids (3 if you round), a dog, and are mortgaged up past our eyes! Hah! Just living the dream.
What does that have to do with gluten free?
Close to a year ago Emily was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA). At the time, my husband and I had mixed emotions. On one hand we were relieved to finally have a diagnosis, as we had spent close to 4 months in and out of the doctors office. On the other hand we were devastated, because we were faced with pumping our two year old full of poisons to stop her immune system from attacking her joints. Though I did not refuse any medicine, I am no doctor, I did immediately start researching what alternatives were out there.
Something that kept creeping up was leaky gut. Basically a condition where the lining of your intestines becomes inflamed and irritated. Over time the irritation and inflammation weakens the walls of the intestine and allows for tears. These tears allow toxins and waste to pass through and into the bloodstream. The body then attacks these foreign invaders which in turn results in inflammation. The more research I did, the more I came across gluten intolerance or sensitivity as a cause of leaky gut.
It took some convincing, but after a few days I got my husband on the same page. The following week we decided to go gluten free. I started pinning every gluten free recipe I came across. I purged our pantry of every imaginable gluten filled product. I practically bought the small gluten free section of our local grocery store out. I thought I was doing great. It really wasn't that difficult. We substituted gluten free products for the whole wheat versions we had previously bought. There was no real comparison to the gluten filled scrumptious joy we use to consume, but it was gluten free, right?
The truth is we were substituting large amounts of starch with far less superior nutrition for the whole grains we use to consume. I began reading through the ingredients and realizing that I was hurting my family more than I was benefitting my daughter all in the name of gluten free. I vowed that from that point on, I was going to gluten free the right way. I decided I would do gluten free from scratch. We phased out the processed gluten free products and I started buying naturally gluten free produce and grains, making my own sauces, converting my recipes, and cooking from scratch. I'm not going to lie, we do still purchase a few gluten free items, only because my attempts of making them myself have been failures or not worth the effort.
What is this blog about?
When I tell people we are gluten free they frequently roll their eyes or spout off about there not being enough research out there that deems it beneficial. I encounter people who think we are wasting our money or comment on how nice it must be to afford to eat gluten free. Sometimes people even mention how unhealthy it is to be gluten free. But the biggest rebuttal I get is taste. Most people think gluten free means bland or no taste. I really, truly want to prove everyone wrong!
We live on one income, and it is a modest income, my husband is a mechanic. My daughter showed huge improvements, the disappearance of her belly bloat alone was proof enough for me. I get complements on my food ALL THE TIME. And I cook, from scratch, every day, with minimal time and effort. Y'all it ain't hard to go gluten free!
I will make no promises that I will post every day, I have three kids and a husband who do take a bunch of time and attention out of my day, but I will make an effort to not let this blog fizzle out like so many others in the past!
