My Gluten-free story: How it changed my life forever!

How many of you find yourselves suffering from gut issues? Things like bloating or constipation? Maybe you’re experiencing skin conditions like acne, keratosis pilaris, or eczema? Or perhaps you’re dealing with yeast infections or hormonal imbalances?

I suffered from all of those. Every single one of them. Some of these issues started for me right after I was born.

After my mom had her first kid in 1985, it opened her eyes to the crazy system and how broken it was. Little by little, she started researching (she didn’t really have the internet at her fingertips like we do now, so it was a bit harder to get her hands on information). After a few shots were given to my oldest brother, she learned the truth about those monthly shots given to children and stopped getting them for any of the rest of her children (and she had 6 more). So I am a “pure blood,” you might say; no tainted poison runs through my veins. Thankfully, that was not part of what contributed to my health issues.

My mom tells me the story of how I was the only baby that was born early and how doctors pressured her into getting induced, so pitocin and other pain meds were used during my birth. I’m a firm believer that all of those things injected into the mother also affect the baby (there’s loads of research on it, just go look it up). After I was born, I suffered from extreme colic. My parents often tease me that I was the longest year of their life — I was kid number 4, and they had 3 more after me. But I was the only one with colic. Also, as a baby, I started having chronic yeast infections, to the point where my parents had to use medicated ointment to help relieve it. I also got thrush as a baby.

Now my mom tells me she learned so much after having me. She didn’t have anyone to help her as a mom and tell her to cut out dairy or gluten, which could help her baby. But all the dots started connecting for me as an adult when she told me all the stories of my infancy.

As a young girl and young adult, I continued to suffer from chronic yeast infections all the time. When I got my period, it only got worse because my hormones were also out of whack. I always suffered from inflammation; I always just thought I was chunky and fat, so that affected my self-view greatly. I thought having skin issues was normal because I didn’t know any differently. I struggled going to the bathroom, I was always bloated and puffy, I had horrible skin, and my arms had a condition called keratosis pilaris (Google will tell you there’s no way to cure it, but I beg to differ).

This is what I looked like when I graduated college in 2015:

Moon face, almost 215 lbs, horrible acne that I had to layer with thick toxic makeup, dealing with major unhealed trauma, and 2.5 decades of chronic health issues that started as a baby.

It wouldn’t be until the end of 2016 that I went to my doctor because my symptoms and health issues continued to worsen. I couldn’t grasp the severity of my health situation until, at the age of 25, words like “pre-cancerous cells,” “infertility,” “parasites,” and “hormone imbalance” were used, waking me up. For years, my mother had lectured me to change my lifestyle (but I was stupid and stubborn), and now I was ready. My doctor told me that if I didn’t want to use birth control or other medications (which would only cause more issues down the road, she was very honest with me), then I needed to change my lifestyle from the foods I ate to my environment.

So I started with food.

Gluten was the first to go. Within the first few months, I started to feel better. My gut health radically changed in the first month. My skin cleared up (no more acne and no more keratosis pilaris), my period became regular, and I started seeing signs of healing with my hormones. I stopped getting yeast infections within the first month of going gluten-free. After a month of being off gluten, I started realizing that living a simple, healthy lifestyle wasn’t “woo-woo” or “new age” or for “hippies,” but it was for people just like me who wanted to feel better. Just feel better. That’s all I wanted.

Cutting out gluten was the first step to my eyes being opened to the toxic load on my body. For many years, I suffered from chronic issues; I had a selfish mindset of “I like what I like, and I will eat what I want to eat.” How silly I was?

Fast forward 8 years later, my gut health is still healthier than it ever has been. I get complimented on my skin all the time and asked what I do or use. I was able to have 3 children even though the doctor tried to scare me with words like infertility. I haven’t had keratosis pilaris since I cut gluten out in 2017. And I no longer suffer from chronic inflammation.

I often get asked how I enjoy foods like birthday cake, pie, bread, or cookies. Well, first off, I don’t eat that stuff very often. Second, I taught myself how to be a gluten-free baker. I learned how to create and bake my favorite foods without compromising on the ingredients (because store-bought GF stuff can be just as bad as conventional foods. Processed gluten-free foods are still processed foods).

If you’re looking to learn how to bake your own gluten-free sourdough bread, you can find my masterclass here.

I hope that my gluten-free story will help you if you are on a health journey and are looking for answers for numerous health issues.

You don’t have to live that way; you can feel better! I’d be happy to help you along that journey.