Hello World!

Staying true to my engineering roots I feel obligated to start my blog with a "Hello World!" post.  For those of you that don't know, any time you learn a new coding language the first program you always write is one that prints the string "Hello World!"  Blogging is kind of like coding, right?

Anyways...My first question when I stumble on a new paleo/primal food blog (besides finding all of the delicious chocolate indulgences ASAP) is why that particular blogger chose to go primal.  So heres my story:

I spent all but 10 days of my first semester of college with some illness or another, ranging from a cold to whooping cough and possibly mono.  When I came home for winter break my doctor tested my TTG levels and told us they were slightly elevated indicating a possible gluten intolerance but compared to the asthma and other allergies we had discovered probably wasn't a big deal.  I think I started crying when my mom told me I might be gluten intolerant and I immediately denied the it and pushed the horrible thought as far into the back of my mind as I could.

Fast forward a year.  While I had been substantially healthier in the subsequent year I was still getting sick way too frequently.  And when I was sick I couldn't get out of bed for days and felt lousy for weeks.  Going into my final exams I started to get yet another cold and my mom suggested I try giving up gluten for the next week and a half, just long enough to get me through my exams (my mom being way ahead of the curve had suggested I stop eating wheat during my junior year of high school but I vehemently argued that no one could survive on such a diet! But now I was just desperate enough to give it a try).  And you know what?  I didn't spend days in bed as a result of that cold.  I decided to continue experimenting with being gluten free until the end of break and then see how I felt when I reintroduced gluten.  Needless to say gluten and I did not get along.

However the following semester still wasn't everything I'd hoped it would be.  While my asthma and allergies largely cleared up, I still didn't feel great, still got colds, still lacked energy, and by the end of the semester I looked like a very swollen version of myself.  Something didn't seem quite right...I'd given up gluten shouldn't life be like perfect?

Of course, ignorant as I was, I had replaced all of the gluten containing foods in my life with their "healthier" gluten-free counter-parts.  Also, I was on a meal plan, and while our chef was incredibly accommodating neither of us knew how serious my intolerance is, or how sensitive I would end up being to cross-contamination.  In addition, I was coping with the "loss" of all my favorite foods and as a result struggled to find enough food that appealed to me. 

At one point during the semester, while doing another internet search for g-free options, I came across a paleo website but being the good Wisconsin girl that I am I couldn't fathom giving up cheese.  CHEESE!?!?!  Are these people nuts?  But when I came home over summer break my mom shared an article about gluten written by Mark Sisson and I started devouring his website.  It all made perfect sense (and I could still eat my high-fat raw cheese!)  After reading most of his archives and his book I was determined to try this new primal thing.  With my mother trying it along with me and my dad being forcefully dragged into our new diet I cut out all grains, seriously restricted my sugar consumption and thought really hard about what dairy I ate (not that I made many changes there...I just thought really hard about it) and I haven't looked back.

Finally, between going primal and diagnosing my celiac disease I started to feel in control of what I could and couldn't eat and the desperation I had felt about food largely cleared up.  My asthma is gone, my allergies don't bother me, my energy levels are what a college students should be, and while I do get colds, that's all they are...colds...no need for a week in bed and course of prednisone to recover.

So here I am, nearly 4 years after the first suggestion to gluten free, annoying the hell out of my facebook friends with WAY too many pictures of what I ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I'm having way too much fun trying new recipes and playing with all the great foods I find at the farmers market to stop sharing, and that's why I've started my blog.

Also, mom, listen closely cause I'm only going to say this once.  You were right!  I should have listened to you and taken wheat out of my diet years ago.