My only wish is that someone had explained the process to me before I began the gluten free diet in the first place. I was referred to a dietitian via my GP in August 2012 due to some medical issues not responding to medication she felt that I needed assistance in losing weight. Things were going well with an eating plan (three meals a day plus snacks in between, all healthy choices of course) I was encouraged to take up some gentle exercise but was not so keen on the idea and when I began continuously losing 2lbs per week just by changing my eating alone, I disregarded the exercise completely.
By December 2012 I started to have some gastro issues (don't want to be too graphic) and when I went to my next appointment I shared this with the dietitian and we agreed that it was dairy that was causing an issue and decided that I should eliminate this from my diet. But by February 2013 I was still having the same issues, so we looked at my food diary and then agreed to eliminate wheat and gluten from my diet for a period of six weeks.
Now, I have had stomach and gastro issues for years but after several referrals no one could tell me the cause and I was just told to take painkillers to manage the pain. Since starting a gluten free diet I can honestly say that I have had no regular stomach or gastro issues. At worst I have had stomach pains when I have eaten something where I was unsure of the ingredients, so I have put that down to eating gluten without knowing. But other than that I have felt so much better for it and to date I have lost a total of 4st (last weighed in November 2013).
So why am I re-introducing gluten?
Due to further medical issues over the past seven months I have become very anemic and the doctors are not sure of the cause of my iron deficiency, therefore they are carrying out a range of tests, examinations and scans to find out what is going on. As a result I am due to have an endoscopy, colonoscopy and an MRI scan to look for any abnormalities which may indicate coeliac or crohn's disease. In order for them to get a true indication I will need to eat gluten for a period of two weeks before these procedures.
If only my dietitian had referred me back to my GP for these tests before I started the gluten free diet then I would not be feeling so anxious now about eating gluten.
How will I re-introduce gluten?
The doctor has suggested that I would only need to eat either 2 slices of brown bread or 1 slice of white bread per day, which doesn't sound like much but could really have a big impact on my digestive system if I do have coeliac or crohn's disease.
At first I was worried about all of the symptoms coming back and how I would manage them, especially when I am at work, but then I started thinking about all of the things that I have not been able to eat for a year and using this time to take advantage of trying them. But is that really a good idea? The outcome would be increased symptoms and increased cravings when I have to give them up again.
So at the moment I am thinking that I will have a brown bread sandwich at lunchtime as my gluten meal each day. I think lunchtime would be the best time to eat gluten as then the symptoms would emerge towards the end of the working day and I can deal with them at home. It then allows me to eat gluten if I have absolutely no choice of a gluten free alternative whilst I am away from home in an area that does not stock gluten free products (because the one thing I have not got use to doing is packing gluten free snacks in my bag).
When do I plan to start?
Hopefully by the end of this week (31/1/2014). I am nervous about it because I still remember the pain I went through and I really don't want to go through that again, so I am hoping that with just a small amount of gluten that my symptoms will not be so severe. In the back of my mind there is a small hope that I have no symptoms at all and that I can possibly tolerate small amounts of gluten in my diet, which wouldn't make me feel like such a freak when it comes to eating out.
However all in all being in a gluten free diet has helped me in more ways than one as i have lost the excess weight I have been carrying around since childhood, which I am grateful for, I just cant wait to fully enjoy my weight loss by going clothes shopping in the "normal" shops and not feeling restricted.
So wish me luck!
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