a new beginning

in may of 2008 i was diagnosed with endometriosis. at the time it wasn't bad, and for the last year it was pretty well controlled with mild medication. however, over the last several months i've been in excruciating pain as a direct result of the endometriosis.

i thought my options were slim. either live with the pain or take a pretty drastic drug that would put me into a state of menopause. no, thank you. then new research came out about the link between the painful side effects of endometriosis and the consumption of wheat and gluten. the research is still in the very early stages, but somewhere close to 80% of endometriosis patients who have given up wheat and gluten in their diets feel relief from the pain of the endometriosis.

well, that was good enough for me. so i've decided to try it. for two months i will give up all wheat and gluten, and see if i feel pain relief. if in two months i'm feeling better, i will try to eat one thing with gluten (i can tell you right now it will be a donut) and see if i'm in pain. if so, i'll cut it out of my diet forever.

there are many things about this decision that i'm unhappy with. the lack of pizza, donuts, and bagels in my diet frankly makes me a little sad. also, the fact that gluten is added to many unexpected places (like toothpaste and prescription drugs). however, there are some things that make me happy. the main thing is that i have a chance of being free of pain. also, i have the support of my wonderful husband and my mom and two aunts who have given up wheat and gluten due to celiac disease. because of them i have an advantage. they know things. the restaurants where you can tell them you require gluten-free food and they will honor it and the best substitutes for favorite foods (like pizza crust).

what does this mean for my food blog? not much really. i plan to try this as "natural" as possible. which means that i'm going to try to do about 80% whole foods (so potatoes, rice, polenta, and quinoa instead of pasta and bread) and only 20% processed gluten-free food (gluten-free bread mixes and flour mixes, corn-based cereals, and gluten-free cookies). because of that, most of the recipes i'll be sharing will likely just have "or serve over polenta" as an option for pasta toppings, or they will have mashed potatoes as a side instead of bread. the chicken won't be breaded, it will just be grilled or sauteed...things like that. the next several posts are recipes that were written prior to the decision to go gluten free, but after that most of my recipes will be gluten-free, and will be included in a new drop-down category in my recipe finder called "gluten-free" in addition to the course for which they are best suited.

thanks in advance for all of the support i know i will get from my blog readers, i hope this proves to be successful, and also hope that my love of food and cooking will only be increased with this new challenge.