Celiac Chick
When I was six months old, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Now you may be thinking 'oh great another blog post about gluten free eating' well this one is different, I assure you.
Being diagnosed with Celiac Disease in the late 80's is completely different then it is today, 29 years later. My young mother, having her first born be extremely ill for months and months without a known cause was relived when the biopsy came back stating I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease.
The next part was what the heck was she going to feed me? The only cure for celiac disease is to maintain a complete 100% gluten free diet. In the year 1988 Celiac was a rare and very much unheard of disease. Especially living in the country and being from a small town. My mom discovered some grocery stores carried gluten free bread- frozen, crumbly, dry and expensive! When that's all you've ever tasted, it doesn't make it that bad. My mom would get super excited when she discovered a new product that was gluten free "ohhh Kayla, look at these ice cream cones I found you!" There would be 5 cones in a pack, with a price tag somewhere around $7.99 for the pack.
Growing up Celiac wasn't hard. What was hard was having to answer to everyone after I told them "no thank you, I'm allergic to that." "What? You can't eat pizza? that must suck!" then the list would continue "so you've never had bread? cookies? pasta? pie? oh my god, what can you eat?"
A shy 6 year old would turn red in the face and shrug it off "no, I can't eat any of that" and quickly try and change the subject or get out of the conversation some how.
Having Celiac Disease is a piece of cake when you think about all the other diseases and illnesses that are in the world. I respect my body and my diet and as a result I rarely get sick. My life could have been so much worst. I really don’t feel burdened by this disease what so ever!
Recently, I went to a 100% gluten free restaurant/ café in Ottawa. I was amazed by how I could actually have tried everything in this café! As I ate my brie and tomato & brie panini I said to my boyfriend “this place would have never existed even 10 years ago.” It’s amazing how far gluten free food has come, 29 years later!
