NO PILLSBURY PIE CRUSTS FOR ME!
Major Sad Face here! I was diagnosed with Celiac in 2003, which looking back was a major “God Thing”! More about that in a bit. Celiac was a major disruption to my life of GLUTEN! I love everything made with flour & being a baker, I was always making cookies, pies & cakes!
My eating habits had to change immediately! It was challenging in 2003 to find gluten free products that didn’t taste like cardboard. This was years before gluten free products became ubiquitous. I was overwhelmed to also discover that some of the vitamins I was taking, lotions I was using and even some make up had gluten!
My gluten free journey has been a long one, but it’s also been rewarding and satisfying to know I can survive without gluten!!! ☺ There were good days and not so good days experimenting with recipes. I discovered some tools in my gluten free tool box that have been working pretty well. I hope you’ll enjoy checking out my videos and recipes. The only gluten recipe is French Bread made by Billy in a great video! That was the first time I wasn’t able to taste the finished product. Also, there’s a funny story behind the matching aprons that you’ll hear in the video!
Now, about that “God Thing” when I was diagnosed with Celiac. We were living in London when Bill received his next assignment – RUSSIA! Honestly, I wasn’t keen on moving to Moscow & was very homesick to get back to Texas and see our kiddos. Complete physicals were required for both of us before we could go. Bill passed his physical with flying colors, which is no surprise. However, I flunked my physical and was told by the doctor, “you’re not going anywhere”! Woohoo was my reply, since I didn’t want to move to Russia! But, deep down I knew we had to get to the bottom of this health issue STAT!
The doctor suggested a colonoscopy and endoscopy which was quickly scheduled. I scheduled an appointment with a great GI doctor in Austin, Dr. Sperling. After answering many questions, he told me he didn’t believe it could be Celiac since I have no symptoms. I remember asking him, “what’s Celiac”? He said not to worry because he didn’t believe I had it.
Fast forward to the procedure results…YOU HAVE CELIAC, Mrs. Nelson! Ok, what’s Celiac? He explained I have Silent Celiac Disease, also known as asymptomatic celiac disease. I had no symptoms, but the damage had already been done to my villi in the small intestine. I’ll never forget the way Dr. Sperling explained it. He described it this way…we all have projections called villi in the small intestine. He called them my soldiers in the battlefield. Their job is to absorb all the vitamins, minerals and nutrients from the food I eat. Unfortunately, “your soldiers are all dead, Mrs. Nelson! Well, that’s a visual that has stayed with me since 2003. My soldiers were lying flat on the battlefield in my small intestine unable to absorb all those important things that we need for good health.
Now, here’s the God Thing! I probably wouldn’t have had a colonoscopy and endoscopy had I not be required to do so in order to move to Russia with Bill. So, I asked Dr. Sperling what would have happened if my celiac diagnosis had gone undetected for years, especially since I was asymptomatic. I was shocked to hear one can develop several types of cancer, with undiagnosed Celiac. Unfortunately, Celiac is a very tough disease to detect & can take years to discover. I was looking back at some of my medical issues & realized I was quite young to be diagnosed with Osteoporosis and other issues. The puzzle pieces started to fit together…my villi weren’t absorbing the good stuff for over 10 years.
After leaving the doctor’s office, I got in my car and cried while Thanking God for putting a Russian transfer (which was not on my bucket list) in my life. Another sign of God’s faithfulness & grace!
Life can still be extra sweet without gluten!
