5 Ways Celiac Disease Has Shaped Who I Am Today
When I was diagnosed with celiac disease around age 16, I had no idea that one simple word in my medical file would change a lot of my life. But as years have passed, I've realized that my celiac disease diagnosis transformed way more than just what I ate. It also, well, shaped a lot of who I am today - partially, perhaps, because I was diagnosed right at a typical coming-of-age point in my life. But also because celiac disease simply affects way more than just people's diets.
So in honor of dwelling with celiac disorder for over six years, I concept I'd proportion 5 ways that celiac sickness has fashioned who I am today. So if you're newly diagnosed and experience like lots is converting...Know that a variety of those changes are superb ultimately. And in case you're a veteran celiac and haven't taken time to mirror how celiac disease has changed your existence, maybe now's the time.
1. Celiac disease helped me find out that I love attempting new foods and cooking.
Like I've talked about before, I actually eat a waaaaaay more varied diet now than I did before being diagnosed with celiac disease. When gluten left the picture, it forced me to explore tons of (naturally) gluten free foods I had never tried. Avocado. Japanese sweet potato. Jasmine rice. Quinoa. Kimchi. The list seriously goes on and on, considering that I was a pretty plain eater before celiac disease.
And once I moved to college and eventually couldn't eat at my college cafeteria...I had some pretty dang good motivation to learn how to cook: this girl had to eat! So I soon went from barely knowing how to make a baked potato to whipping up homemade gluten free pizza and vegan mac and cheese. Now that I'm in grad school, I don't have much time to whip up creative - or even just different - meals each day. But that doesn't mean I'm not grateful for how comfortable celiac disease has made me feel in the kitchen.
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| Find the recipe for these delicous vegan and gluten free cupcakes on Instagram! |
2. Celiac ailment stimulated me to begin this blog...Which has linked me to hundreds of humans and numerous jobs.
I pretty much started this blog on a whim...and sometimes it's hard to believe that I'm still here, six years later. It's equally hard to believe how many people I've connected with through this blog or on social media channels over the years. I know that when I was diagnosed with celiac disease and about to leave for college in a few months, I was desperate to find someone who had already been through the same situation. At that time, I couldn't. And my biggest hope is that I can be that someone for people with celiac disease about to start college now. So if you read this blog regularly, thank you. And if you've ever messaged me to ask a question, say I've helped you in some way or just share your own experience...you're the reason why I'm still here.
And on a less emotional note...starting this blog has also helped me, career-wise. In fact, I've gotten several jobs partly due to my experience with blogging. I don't know what the future holds for me after I graduate with a Masters in Fine Arts this coming May. But I think my experience with - and discovered passion for - blogging and connecting with people online will definitely have helped pave my way.
Three. Celiac disease changed my university revel in, for higher and for worse.
To be completely honest, my freshman year of college kinda sucked. I was struggling from celiac complications and was eventually hospitalized for malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies when my weight plummeted to 83 lbs. I was sickly skinny, drinking a liquid diet instead of eating food at one point, and I was soon known as "that gluten free girl" on campus.
But as difficult as that year changed into...The rest of university became quite correct. I fell in love and were given my coronary heart broken. I picked a major and a minor, modified the minor, and took instructions that I still reflect onconsideration on nowadays, and ones that I purged from my thoughts as quickly as I finished my final exam. And I made buddies with other students with dietary regulations...And with individuals who knew about my "special food regimen" and simply saw it as a minor persona quirk.
I do not know what college would've been like if I'd in no way been diagnosed with celiac disorder. I might've been capable of go to pizza events with out feeling awkward about bringing my very own food, and I absolutely could've had greater free time without needing to cook dinner my own meals. But I walked throughout that graduation degree with a respectable quantity of precise recollections, an entire lotta new understanding, and manner greater energy and backbone than I could've concept viable. And I think it's all everybody can ask for from their university experience.
4. Celiac sickness induced modifications in my family's weight loss plan too.
I wouldn't say that my family ate an unhealthy diet before I was diagnosed with celiac disease, but in the years that have passed since my diagnosis, our weekly family dinners have changed a ton. First of all, my mom went gluten free with me and discovered that a gluten free diet drastically improved her fibromyalgia pain. As time has gone by, though, my family has also started experimenting with less beef, more vegetables, more farm-raised sources of meat and less processed foods overall.
I'm now not saying that my own family eats flawlessly - or even that there may be a "best" or "great" or "healthiest" way to devour. But it's been pretty dang cool to see how my celiac prognosis has helped my family assume a chunk greater approximately their very own diets and locate meals that cause them to sense their satisfactory.
5. Celiac ailment makes me grateful for each day that I do sense wholesome and for all of the folks who helped me get there.
The biggest way celiac disease has shaped who I am today? It has shaped my mindset. I still have days when I get frustrated with my body (especially when my stomach starts to suddenly act up and I have a food baby, 24/7) and wonder if life would feel a lot easier with a "normal" body. But I try to remember.......How lucky I am to have a sickness that can be dealt with by using the food I pick out to consume, and the way fortunate I became to be recognized quickly with the aid of my very thorough circle of relatives physician.
...how people who know me very well - like my parents and family - and people who didn't know me at all - like countless peers in college and strangers met online - all played a role in helping me find my version of healthy with celiac disease.
...and how far my body has taken me. I've lost a fourth of my body weight, and gained it back. I've gone from being so weak, I could barely walk up hills to class, to lifting almost half my body weight at the gym.
The Biggest Way Celiac Disease Has Made Me Who I Am Today
Honestly, I sometimes wonder who I would be if I didn't have celiac disease and fibromyalgia. Would I eat fast food more often and not enjoy cooking? Would I still be a blogger, albeit with a different focus? How could my relationships be extraordinary - if in any respect?At the quit of the day, I'll in no way recognise the solution to the ones questions. And I'm gaining knowledge of to be OK with that. Life is complete of brief moments and small decisions that come to be changing our complete lives...And my celiac sickness analysis is simply certainly one of many.
So I'm going to treat it like any other stepping stone that units me up for what I changed into definitely meant to do, something that finally ends up being. This is me. This model of me happens to have celiac ailment. And I'm gonna rock lifestyles with celiac disease and all the quirks it is given me.
How has your chronic infection formed who you are these days? I'd like to hear within the feedback!
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