It all started with crab cakes. I assisted with a neighbor’s wedding in either June or July of 2005. We had crab cakes on a boat during the rehearsal dinner. I was sick all night long. Then it was wings. I actually couldn’t walk into a Buffalo Wild Wings because the smell made me gag. Then it felt like everything would make me sick. 

I think it was 2022. Travis went to lunch with a vendor at Poogan’s Porch. The vendor made a comment about how there weren’t many gluten free items on the menu. Intrigued, Travis asked him more about why he was on a GF diet. The guy cut out gluten to help with his inflammation. Travis came home declaring I should try going gluten free. I also suffered from really bad inflammation, in my hands, and it only seemed to be getting worse. So we did a little research and I started cutting out gluten here and there. Unfortunately it didn’t help with my inflammation but I started to notice I wouldn’t get as sick after eating anymore. 

First I started a food log. Any time I got sick I would right down the details of the meal. The date, time, exactly what I ate, my symptoms and how fast they arose after eating. We started to see a pattern. Chicken fingers. Cheeseburgers. Then my SIL Casey noticed a Everlywell Food Sensitivity Test marked down to half price at Target in the spring of 2023. I venmoed her the money and she dropped it off on my front porch. When the results came back I had an intolerance to yeast. So I stuck to the mainly gluten free diet. It was more of a gluten friendly diet. 

Since I have an intolerance and not full blown Celiac Disease, I can handle cross contamination. I also handled it as a cheat diet. I would eat great all week and splurge on either a Saturday or Sunday with a cheeseburger or a pizza, etc. Then I onboarded a new colleague at work who was also gluten free and I learned from her (via her endocrinologist) that gluten will stay in your system for up to 3 weeks. So my cheat days were ruining all my progress. I had to quit cold turkey. Also, at some point during all this discovery, we chatted with a friend who has full blown Celiac Disease and learned about all the hidden gluten in products, mainly in restaurants. Flour is used often to thicken foods that you would normally not think to have gluten: baked beans, salad dressings, BBQ sauces, soups. 

Figuring out my GF diet got a littler harder before it got a little better. Grocery stores were easy. At Publix, the GF items they carry had a purple square on the shelf tag. All the items would have a green Gluten Free marking near the logo on the packaging. Restaurants were difficult. I felt like a pain having to ask about items on the menu. Most times the server either didn’t know, or would start treating me differently (in a rude way) after I asked for GF options. At this point, GF diets had also become a fad and it appeared that restaurant workers were tired of catering to that group, because a lot goes into swapping out gloves, etc when a gluten free meal comes down the line. So to restaurants, just create a printout of your menu items that are gluten free or put a little GF designee next to each item on the menu. It’s also helpful to have this information online. I had gotten to a point where we stopped going out or at least out to new places because I either didn’t know my options or was terrified of getting sick and being far from home. Our date nights rotated between Waffle House and Lowcountry Fish Camp. Occasionally Mexican food but I had to start avoiding El Jalapeño because I’d get sick in the restaurant. I’m curious if they add flour to their queso…

I’ve decided my struggle will be your gain. I will share gluten friendly restaurants as well as products I have found in the grocery stores that taste just like the real thing! Just remember, since I only have an intolerance and not full blown celiac disease, I can handle cross-contamination and do not need dedicated grills/fryers, glove swaps, etc. If you suffer from celiac disease, please do the research / reach out to the restaurants yourselves.

FYI: Say goodbye to McDonald’s. They fry everything in a wheat oil. You can’t just remove the bun there. The patty is also contaminated.