You’ve Been Diagnosed with Celiac Disease…. Now What??
The initial shock and acceptance had passed and it was time to figure out what we needed to do now?
The hospital had given us some information on what his actual diet restrictions were now, which were really only the first hits off of google and a nutritionist had stopped by to talk to him.
But I just kept thinking, what about everything else? Our lifestyle? What steps do we need to take to make sure we didn’t end up back here?
So, while Daniel was recovering in the hospital, I started my own research in between nurse visits, hospital food dates, and the amazing late nights I had sleeping on the guest cot. What I found was that gluten is in everything….
EVERYTHING!!
Did you know gluten is found in deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, Kool-Aid, candy, chips, soy sauce, sushi, deli meats, sausage, seasoning mixes, medication, supplements… It goes on and on and on.
I was overwhelmed to say the least. Bring on the tears… again!
After, the crying stopped, I was reminded we already wanted to start eating a more plant based diet anyway, and I was even talking about starting to make our own deodorant, because of the toxicity levels.
There was no time like the present to start…right! I don’t have any excuse to procrastinate anymore.
But then I got to the research about gutting your kitchen!!! Bring on the alligator tears!!
Remember, we are foodies. Not only in our careers, but also our hobbies, friends, our hopes and our dreams…too much…You get the picture?
That being said, we’ve spent years, separately and together, acquiring the perfect tools for that one dish, that one day, we might want to make! Chef remember! And well they’re just so cool!
Just to paint the picture a little more for you. When we moved in together we discovered we now have 4-5 Dutch ovens and we still can’t seem to get rid of any of them! Each is a different size or shape and I mean, you never know when you might need the oval shape over the circle. 😉 Lately, we have been seriously discussing the possibility of downsizing and moving into a tiny house, yep 300 square feet, but you can bet that every one of those dutch ovens will be coming with us.
But I digress, you get the picture, this process was going to be painful, but all of my research said I needed to completely gut our kitchen.
Step One: Get rid of all the flour, flour products (pasta), etc.
You know the obvious stuff, like throwing out my beautiful sourdough starter I had so lovingly nurtured for weeks…. Cue alligator tears.
I gave all of it to our neighbors, so at least the kids could enjoy it…or that is what I told myself.
Step Two: Decide if we would have a gluten free kitchen or if we would have a dual system kitchen.
A dual system kitchen is basically when you have two of everything and label them. For example, two of the exact same wooden spoons but one is labeled GF (gluten free) and the other can be used for gluten. But in the end, we decided to go strictly no gluten for the same reasons that Dan gave up cooking, he’s already lost one foot of his intestine why risk it!
Step Three: Get rid of everything porous!
For example, all cutting boards, wooden spoons (i.e. the amazing wooden spoons I just brought back from Italy), bowls, my perfect rolling pin made of dark rich wood, that I still can’t replace.
Anything that was made of plastic or silicone that had any wear or cuts in the plastic, because it doesn’t matter how many times you clean these products once they have touched gluten you will never be able to clean them enough.
All strainers, because you will never be able to clean in between every tiny little hole. All food storage that wasn’t made of glass or ceramic. All dish towels! All non stick pans!
Everything!
When in doubt, throw it out! Again, that intestine is precious in this household.
Step Four: Deep Deeeep Cleaning.
I used bleach, mostly because I didn’t trust anything else. I wiped and scrubbed everything! Every surface, inside the cupboards, the fridge, the tables, the floors. I even used an old toothbrush to get in between the cracks on our counters. Intestine = precious, remember!
We didn’t have Dan help with this process, because he was still so weak and also because, again, the risk. We were paranoid, we didn’t know his tolerance levels were at the time and we weren’t going to risk him ingesting anything anyway.
Since, we’ve moved to California, we had to repeat this step. Again, Daniel has a very low tolerance so we don’t want to take the risk. If you are facing this same situation, decide for yourself if this is necessary for your family. Even the smallest exposure, like cross contamination, we cause him to react, such as this photo:
So, we ARE NOT taking any risks.
After the gutting of our kitchen, I sat down, exhausted, looked at the piles of stuff, mourned a little more, and reflected.
In the middle of all of this heartache and realization my Mom, said something to me that I will never forget, she said, “you can walk away.” Do not misunderstand, this question comes from the most loving and understanding place. She is OUR number one supporter and that is why she asked such a question. But, she was right. I am not sick, I don’t have an autoimmune disease. I can go on and drink beer or eat all the gluten I want and just have a hangover the next day. But, in the same moment, on that cold floor, I had an epiphany, not only that our lives would never be the same, but also that I wasn’t going anywhere. Without really realizing it, with all of my trust issues, lost relationships that I thought were “right,” I had made my choice a long time ago.
Daniel and I are not married. We hope to one day, but it isn’t high on our priority list. What we are is partners. Although, recently we were disparaged because there isn’t a ring, I’d take our love and partnership over a ring, a fancy house, the turmoil over the last year and especially over the piles of stuff on the kitchen floor any day or any lifetime.
Cheers!
