April 17, 2025 • 17 mins
No one really talks about this part.
Yes, we talk about gluten-free baking, hidden ingredients, meal planning, and restaurant tips—but what about the emotional rollercoaster of going gluten-free?
The grief of letting go of your favorite foods. The anger of being dismissed by doctors. The overwhelm of feeling like a burden in social situations.
In today’s episode, I’m getting personal and honest about the emotional side of going gluten-free—from the initial grief and frustration, to the moments of joy and healing on the other side.
Save money, and no more guessing for dinner! Use code GFE to get 20% off annual membership at thedinnerdaily.com. Plan meals for less than $4/month and save money at the grocery store!
Come join us in our free Facebook Community, The Gluten Free Engineer.
It’s a space where you can connect with others living gluten-free, ask questions, swap tips and recipes, and get support from people who truly get it. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned gluten-free pro, you’ll feel right at home.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quick reminder before we get started on this episode
this podcast is based on mypersonal experiences and isn't
medical advice.
No one talks about this part.
Yes, we talk about gluten-freebaking, hidden ingredients, meal
planning and restaurant tips,but what about the emotional
rollercoaster of goinggluten-free?
(00:20):
The grief of letting go of yourfavorite foods, the anger of
being dismissed by doctors, theoverwhelm of feeling like a
burden on social situations?
In today's episode, I'm gettingpersonal and honest about the
emotional side of goinggluten-free, from the initial
grief and frustration to themoments of joy and healing on
the other side.
Let's get started.
(00:41):
Welcome to the Gluten-FreeEngineer Podcast.
I'm your host, keri Saunders.
In 2011, I was diagnosed withceliac disease, a moment that
changed everything, but I wasdetermined not to let it hold me
back.
With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer
the gluten-free lifestyle,breaking down recipes, safety
(01:01):
tips, travel hacks andeverything in between to rebuild
a life I love.
Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or simply
choose to live gluten-free, thispodcast is for you.
Join me each week as wesimplify the gluten-free
lifestyle, make it fun and provethat you don't have to miss out
on anything.
Welcome back to the show.
(01:22):
We are talking about grief andgoing gluten-free.
And seriously, grief is realand you're not overreacting.
If you felt grief when youlearned you need to be
gluten-free.
Going gluten-free really simplyis a loss.
It's not just a loss of food,but it's a loss of spontaneity.
It's a loss of eating with ease.
(01:43):
It's a loss of spontaneity.
It's a loss of eating with ease.
It's a loss of normalcy.
It's a loss of going into asocial situation and not having
to worry about what you eat.
The grief stages of goinggluten-free especially when
you're celiac or glutenintolerant and you must go
gluten-free are real.
You have potentially first dietreal.
You have potentially first diet.
(02:05):
You have potentially firstdenial, anger, bargaining,
sadness and acceptance.
I've seen many of my friends andpeople I know who are also
celiac or severely glutenintolerant, as well as myself
and my children, go throughdifferent stages of grief when
they learned they needed to begluten-free.
You might be grieving yourfavorite meals and your favorite
(02:32):
restaurants.
You might be grieving the easeof eating with others.
This one was really big for meand I feel like with my kids too
.
You know the ease of just beingable to go over to somebody's
house and eat whatever's there.
You don't have that anymore.
You may grieve culturaltraditions that you no longer
can take part in.
For me, I'm a Christian and youknow, communion was a problem
at first until my churchrealized, hey, we need to
(02:55):
provide some gluten-free andallergy-friendly, safe options.
So even cultural traditionslike that you may have grief in.
I felt left out.
I felt, you know, like thesinner or the bad person.
You know it doesn't matterreally what your faith is, but
I'm sure you can probably relateto some cultural traditions
that you may not be able to, youknow, deal with anymore.
(03:17):
I also grieved feeling safearound food, especially at
potlucks or, you know,gatherings with lots of food
around, especially at potlucksor gatherings with lots of food
around.
I also grieved feeling includedand feeling carefree.
I didn't feel that way anymore.
I felt like everybody had toadjust to help me out, which I
appreciated once family andfriends figured out what I
(03:40):
needed and how to adjust for me.
But I still feel like a bit ofa burden and it's still.
Even, you know, 12 or so yearslater.
I still feel the grief of thisand the burden of this.
I mean, I can remember still,you know, being so upset over
certain things I couldn't eat oryou know, just going over to
somebody's house and us orderingpizza or something easy like
(04:01):
that and just having a good timehaving to plan it.
You know now I have to planeverything I eat and wherever I
go and if there's going to befood and you might feel angry I
know I felt angry at first.
People may not warn you thatyou're going to feel angry when
you give up something like this,give up a food, whether you
(04:22):
have a food allergy or a celiacor gluten intolerance, you may
have anger.
I had anger at how long it tookto get diagnosed.
I went through several doctorsbefore I got diagnosed.
Actually, I went my whole lifewithout getting diagnosed until
I was in my 30s.
I had symptoms, clear symptoms,when I was little, when I was,
(04:45):
you know, just a few years old,even into my elementary years,
like I had symptoms on it.
I was severely underweight.
I was severely constipated,which is typical in children
versus that diarrhea.
I was so scrawny and manythings hurt my stomach and
(05:07):
nobody knew why.
I eventually started losing mycurls.
If you ever see a picture of me, I have naturally curly hair.
There were many years therewhen I was eating heavily
processed foods because of myfamily situation that I was in
at the time and my curlsdisappeared.
You can see it across all mypictures.
Once I started eating heavilyprocessed foods, my curls
(05:30):
started slowly disappearing andthen, as soon as I got and
started living with mygrandmother who didn't eat very
much processed foods hence Ididn't eat much gluten my curls
started coming back.
You may get angry at friends orfamily who just don't get it.
I know I've been there before.
I know we've been superfrustrated with friends and
(05:51):
family that just didn't get it,didn't understand that this
isn't a choice.
This is for our health.
You might get frustrated aboutbeing dismissed or doubted or
told it's just a fad.
We definitely had this a lotwhen I first found out I had to
be gluten-free because it wasn'tas well known in our area what
it was and why it was soimportant, and you might have
(06:14):
resentment at having to think sohard about something that used
to be so simple.
I know as a marching band,former marching band mom, you
know I had three kids go throughmarching band and if you're not
a marching band parent, we'retalking every Friday night in
the fall and multiple weekendsusually five weekends, saturdays
(06:35):
in the fall where you're outsomewhere else, you're at a
competition, you're at afootball game and you're gone
most of the time for like 12hours and you have to be able to
eat in those 12 hours and youhave to.
For us, we had to be able tofeed our kids too, being celiac
(06:56):
and then me being celiac, so wehad to.
I had to be preparing food.
Many times I would be up at 11,12 o'clock at night on a Friday
night to prepare, you know,pre-made pizza for my children
for the band competition thenext day.
So you may have resentmenthaving to think so hard about
(07:17):
something that should be sosimple and you might get super
angry.
That moment when somebody tellsyou a little gluten won't hurt.
Have you ever been there before?
I know I have, early on, and itwas so disheartening and so
frustrating that a loved onedidn't understand, didn't quite
(07:38):
get it.
And anger is a valid step inhealing.
It's how we protect ourselveswhen we feel unsafe or unheard.
So don't feel upset that youmay have anger feelings on it.
You know.
Obviously we need to workthrough them and figure out
great solutions for getting pastthat roadblock.
But don't feel bad for havingthe anger, it's very natural you
(08:00):
also might feel loneliness andguilt.
Those might sneak in into youremotions.
You may feel very awkward atparties, at restaurants and
family dinners.
That's why one of the reasons Icreated this podcast was to
help empower those that need tobe gluten free to be able to
speak up for themselves, to beable to feel confident, to feel
(08:22):
like they aren't the outsider,because more people have celiac
and gluten intolerance than youmight realize and that most
people realize honestly.
And many times you feel guiltybecause you might say no to
invitations because it's easierthan explaining again how you
can't just eat food withoutspecial preparations.
And you might also feel guiltand guilty when you're the
(08:47):
complicated one.
I know I felt this for so manyyears.
I still feel it today.
You know, over 10 years later,I still feel guilty for being
the complicated one, but there'snothing I can do about it.
You might also worry aboutbeing seen as dramatic or high
maintenance.
I'm sure people have thought ofthat as me and I just didn't
(09:07):
know it.
But there's nothing you can doabout it.
When you have celiac or glutenintolerance or you need to be
gluten-free for other reasonsand you might struggle with
self-trust.
You might wonder if you messedup, if you're being too cautious
.
I know there's been times I'mlike, oh, I might be being too
cautious here, but then when Ilet my guard down and get some
(09:30):
chips out of that already openbag of chips, that is gluten
free but there's gluten in, likea potluck or like some sort of
party setting, and then I startfeeling bad later because
somebody had gluten on theirhands when they got chips out
and so now I've got a little bitof gluten because it's been
cross-contaminated inside thebag.
There's been so many times Ithought am I being overreactive
(09:51):
here by not wanting to eat outof an already open bag of chips?
But we need to listen toourselves.
We need to listen to literallyour gut, and you might also feel
like food is no longer fun.
This is one of the other mainreasons I created this podcast
and why I'm sharing the recipeson our website and the YouTube
(10:14):
videos because I want food tofeel fun again.
I want you to feel like it'snot a burden and that you're
still living a full life.
So even with people who love me, I sometimes still feel like a
burden just for needing to eatdifferently, and that's normal
and I just want to make surethat you recognize that that's
(10:37):
normal and that's okay.
And you know we need to workthrough that and work past that,
because our loved ones want usto be safe and healthy and you
can find joy again.
And this is yeah.
Like I said, one of the reasonsI created this podcast episode
is I want to help to bring joyagain to you.
I have found so much joy indiscovering new favorite foods
(11:00):
and safe go-to meals and a lotof those I share on our website
and I also love you knowfiguring out how to make that
you know complicated thinggluten-free, like our best ever
gluten-free chocolate cake thatI don't think anybody who tries
it realizes it's gluten-free.
It's so wonderful andempowering to overcome that
(11:24):
obstacle.
It's just wonderful.
So I encourage you to find thejoy again.
I encourage you to embrace thefact that you feel clear-headed
now.
You feel healthy, you feelpain-free, you don't have
whatever symptoms that celiacdisease or gluten intolerance
has brought to you.
You feel great again.
(11:47):
I like to describe what it waslike those first few weeks of
going gluten-free, when Irealized I needed to be
gluten-free.
I like to describe it aslooking at a high-definition
television versus an old tube TV.
It felt like the world was inhigh definition again.
The world didn't seem blurry,it didn't seem like clouded or
(12:11):
confused or I'm not sure quitehow blurry.
I think I already said blurry,but I can't quite describe it.
I can see it in my head, but itjust.
My eyes were so open and Icould see the world so much
better again.
And then find a greatgluten-free community.
We have a great free Facebookgroup and there's other great
(12:32):
free Facebook groups and othergroups around that you can find
your people, share a great mealwith them, you know, find
podcasts like this one andothers and find some gluten-free
friends.
You'll feel like you belongagain.
And what I've found over thepast several years as I
rediscovered cooking as a formof self-care on the weekends,
(12:56):
many times you're going to findme baking something up just
because I feel like it, becauseit's comforting to me.
It's comforting for me to makethat focaccia bread gluten-free,
for example, or thatcomplicated rough puff pastry
that's got twists in it that myfamily absolutely loves.
I love those challenges.
(13:17):
I love using cooking as a formof self-care.
Sometimes my waistline isaffected by that because
sometimes I go a bit more forthe carby things that you know
we typically can't have as agluten-free person, but it's
wonderful mentally for me.
And start rewriting yourtraditions in your own way.
We have changed sometimes someof our traditions and made them
(13:42):
more gluten-free friendly.
We will many times have afriend's giving and all of our
friends know they come over toour house and enjoy a great
gluten-free smorgasbord thatthey don't even you know.
They don't care, it doesn'ttaste gluten-free to them.
So rewrite your own traditions.
Small moments do matter.
That perfect loaf ofgluten-free bread that you baked
(14:03):
, a safe restaurant experiencethere's some here locally and
places we travel that I frequentbecause I just absolutely love
them.
And your child saying thistastes just like the real thing.
Or, even better, your childsaying this tastes better than
the gluten version.
That's actually what I got frommy children whenever I made
(14:27):
chicken casserole one of theirfavorite dishes, gluten-free.
They thought it tasted betterthan the original.
So joy can come not fromavoiding gluten, but from
reclaiming your life afterfeeling limited by it.
So work through this grief andyou will find that joy.
If you're somewhere in themiddle of this journey, know
that there is an end on it.
(14:48):
And if you're at the end of thejourney where you do feel
joyful, but we do sometimesstill have that grief and the
loneliness.
Embrace the joy and look forthat again.
Come back to that joy, becauseglowing gluten-free is not just
a physical thing.
It is deeply, deeply emotional.
Grief, anger, guilt andisolation are perfectly normal.
(15:11):
So give yourself grace.
You are allowed to feel all ofit.
There is healing on the otherside physically and mentally and
emotionally and you're notalone.
This journey is not aboutperfection.
It's about progress,empowerment and peace and
finding your joy again.
So if you're not finding yourjoy right now, I challenge you
(15:35):
pick one thing that we talkabout on this podcast and find
some joy in it.
Find a way to be joyful in it.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of the Gluten-Free
Engineer.
If you found value in thisstory, please share it with
someone who might needencouragement on their own
gluten-free journey.
For more tips, recipes,resources and even links to my
(15:55):
YouTube channel, head on over totheglutenfreeengineercom.
It's your one-stop hub to makegluten-free living simple, fun
and full of flavor.
And don't forget to subscribeso you never miss out on an
episode.
And we will see you next week.
The Gluten-Free Engineerpodcast is for informational and
(16:15):
entertainment purposes only.
I share my personal experiencesand stories about living with
celiac disease and navigating agluten-free lifestyle.
This podcast does not providemedical advice.
Always consult with a qualifiedhealthcare professional for
medical questions, concerns oradvice specific to your health.
Quick reminder before we get started on this episode
this podcast is based on mypersonal experiences and isn't
medical advice.
No one talks about this part.
Yes, we talk about gluten-freebaking, hidden ingredients, meal
planning and restaurant tips,but what about the emotional
rollercoaster of goinggluten-free?
(00:20):
The grief of letting go of yourfavorite foods, the anger of
being dismissed by doctors, theoverwhelm of feeling like a
burden on social situations?
In today's episode, I'm gettingpersonal and honest about the
emotional side of goinggluten-free, from the initial
grief and frustration to themoments of joy and healing on
the other side.
Let's get started.
(00:41):
Welcome to the Gluten-FreeEngineer Podcast.
I'm your host, keri Saunders.
In 2011, I was diagnosed withceliac disease, a moment that
changed everything, but I wasdetermined not to let it hold me
back.
With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer
the gluten-free lifestyle,breaking down recipes, safety
(01:01):
tips, travel hacks andeverything in between to rebuild
a life I love.
Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or simply
choose to live gluten-free, thispodcast is for you.
Join me each week as wesimplify the gluten-free
lifestyle, make it fun and provethat you don't have to miss out
on anything.
Welcome back to the show.
(01:22):
We are talking about grief andgoing gluten-free.
And seriously, grief is realand you're not overreacting.
If you felt grief when youlearned you need to be
gluten-free.
Going gluten-free really simplyis a loss.
It's not just a loss of food,but it's a loss of spontaneity.
It's a loss of eating with ease.
(01:43):
It's a loss of spontaneity.
It's a loss of eating with ease.
It's a loss of normalcy.
It's a loss of going into asocial situation and not having
to worry about what you eat.
The grief stages of goinggluten-free especially when
you're celiac or glutenintolerant and you must go
gluten-free are real.
You have potentially first dietreal.
You have potentially first diet.
(02:05):
You have potentially firstdenial, anger, bargaining,
sadness and acceptance.
I've seen many of my friends andpeople I know who are also
celiac or severely glutenintolerant, as well as myself
and my children, go throughdifferent stages of grief when
they learned they needed to begluten-free.
You might be grieving yourfavorite meals and your favorite
(02:32):
restaurants.
You might be grieving the easeof eating with others.
This one was really big for meand I feel like with my kids too
.
You know the ease of just beingable to go over to somebody's
house and eat whatever's there.
You don't have that anymore.
You may grieve culturaltraditions that you no longer
can take part in.
For me, I'm a Christian and youknow, communion was a problem
at first until my churchrealized, hey, we need to
(02:55):
provide some gluten-free andallergy-friendly, safe options.
So even cultural traditionslike that you may have grief in.
I felt left out.
I felt, you know, like thesinner or the bad person.
You know it doesn't matterreally what your faith is, but
I'm sure you can probably relateto some cultural traditions
that you may not be able to, youknow, deal with anymore.
(03:17):
I also grieved feeling safearound food, especially at
potlucks or, you know,gatherings with lots of food
around, especially at potlucksor gatherings with lots of food
around.
I also grieved feeling includedand feeling carefree.
I didn't feel that way anymore.
I felt like everybody had toadjust to help me out, which I
appreciated once family andfriends figured out what I
(03:40):
needed and how to adjust for me.
But I still feel like a bit ofa burden and it's still.
Even, you know, 12 or so yearslater.
I still feel the grief of thisand the burden of this.
I mean, I can remember still,you know, being so upset over
certain things I couldn't eat oryou know, just going over to
somebody's house and us orderingpizza or something easy like
(04:01):
that and just having a good timehaving to plan it.
You know now I have to planeverything I eat and wherever I
go and if there's going to befood and you might feel angry I
know I felt angry at first.
People may not warn you thatyou're going to feel angry when
you give up something like this,give up a food, whether you
(04:22):
have a food allergy or a celiacor gluten intolerance, you may
have anger.
I had anger at how long it tookto get diagnosed.
I went through several doctorsbefore I got diagnosed.
Actually, I went my whole lifewithout getting diagnosed until
I was in my 30s.
I had symptoms, clear symptoms,when I was little, when I was,
(04:45):
you know, just a few years old,even into my elementary years,
like I had symptoms on it.
I was severely underweight.
I was severely constipated,which is typical in children
versus that diarrhea.
I was so scrawny and manythings hurt my stomach and
(05:07):
nobody knew why.
I eventually started losing mycurls.
If you ever see a picture of me, I have naturally curly hair.
There were many years therewhen I was eating heavily
processed foods because of myfamily situation that I was in
at the time and my curlsdisappeared.
You can see it across all mypictures.
Once I started eating heavilyprocessed foods, my curls
(05:30):
started slowly disappearing andthen, as soon as I got and
started living with mygrandmother who didn't eat very
much processed foods hence Ididn't eat much gluten my curls
started coming back.
You may get angry at friends orfamily who just don't get it.
I know I've been there before.
I know we've been superfrustrated with friends and
(05:51):
family that just didn't get it,didn't understand that this
isn't a choice.
This is for our health.
You might get frustrated aboutbeing dismissed or doubted or
told it's just a fad.
We definitely had this a lotwhen I first found out I had to
be gluten-free because it wasn'tas well known in our area what
it was and why it was soimportant, and you might have
(06:14):
resentment at having to think sohard about something that used
to be so simple.
I know as a marching band,former marching band mom, you
know I had three kids go throughmarching band and if you're not
a marching band parent, we'retalking every Friday night in
the fall and multiple weekendsusually five weekends, saturdays
(06:35):
in the fall where you're outsomewhere else, you're at a
competition, you're at afootball game and you're gone
most of the time for like 12hours and you have to be able to
eat in those 12 hours and youhave to.
For us, we had to be able tofeed our kids too, being celiac
(06:56):
and then me being celiac, so wehad to.
I had to be preparing food.
Many times I would be up at 11,12 o'clock at night on a Friday
night to prepare, you know,pre-made pizza for my children
for the band competition thenext day.
So you may have resentmenthaving to think so hard about
(07:17):
something that should be sosimple and you might get super
angry.
That moment when somebody tellsyou a little gluten won't hurt.
Have you ever been there before?
I know I have, early on, and itwas so disheartening and so
frustrating that a loved onedidn't understand, didn't quite
(07:38):
get it.
And anger is a valid step inhealing.
It's how we protect ourselveswhen we feel unsafe or unheard.
So don't feel upset that youmay have anger feelings on it.
You know.
Obviously we need to workthrough them and figure out
great solutions for getting pastthat roadblock.
But don't feel bad for havingthe anger, it's very natural you
(08:00):
also might feel loneliness andguilt.
Those might sneak in into youremotions.
You may feel very awkward atparties, at restaurants and
family dinners.
That's why one of the reasons Icreated this podcast was to
help empower those that need tobe gluten free to be able to
speak up for themselves, to beable to feel confident, to feel
(08:22):
like they aren't the outsider,because more people have celiac
and gluten intolerance than youmight realize and that most
people realize honestly.
And many times you feel guiltybecause you might say no to
invitations because it's easierthan explaining again how you
can't just eat food withoutspecial preparations.
And you might also feel guiltand guilty when you're the
(08:47):
complicated one.
I know I felt this for so manyyears.
I still feel it today.
You know, over 10 years later,I still feel guilty for being
the complicated one, but there'snothing I can do about it.
You might also worry aboutbeing seen as dramatic or high
maintenance.
I'm sure people have thought ofthat as me and I just didn't
(09:07):
know it.
But there's nothing you can doabout it.
When you have celiac or glutenintolerance or you need to be
gluten-free for other reasonsand you might struggle with
self-trust.
You might wonder if you messedup, if you're being too cautious
.
I know there's been times I'mlike, oh, I might be being too
cautious here, but then when Ilet my guard down and get some
(09:30):
chips out of that already openbag of chips, that is gluten
free but there's gluten in, likea potluck or like some sort of
party setting, and then I startfeeling bad later because
somebody had gluten on theirhands when they got chips out
and so now I've got a little bitof gluten because it's been
cross-contaminated inside thebag.
There's been so many times Ithought am I being overreactive
(09:51):
here by not wanting to eat outof an already open bag of chips?
But we need to listen toourselves.
We need to listen to literallyour gut, and you might also feel
like food is no longer fun.
This is one of the other mainreasons I created this podcast
and why I'm sharing the recipeson our website and the YouTube
(10:14):
videos because I want food tofeel fun again.
I want you to feel like it'snot a burden and that you're
still living a full life.
So even with people who love me, I sometimes still feel like a
burden just for needing to eatdifferently, and that's normal
and I just want to make surethat you recognize that that's
(10:37):
normal and that's okay.
And you know we need to workthrough that and work past that,
because our loved ones want usto be safe and healthy and you
can find joy again.
And this is yeah.
Like I said, one of the reasonsI created this podcast episode
is I want to help to bring joyagain to you.
I have found so much joy indiscovering new favorite foods
(11:00):
and safe go-to meals and a lotof those I share on our website
and I also love you knowfiguring out how to make that
you know complicated thinggluten-free, like our best ever
gluten-free chocolate cake thatI don't think anybody who tries
it realizes it's gluten-free.
It's so wonderful andempowering to overcome that
(11:24):
obstacle.
It's just wonderful.
So I encourage you to find thejoy again.
I encourage you to embrace thefact that you feel clear-headed
now.
You feel healthy, you feelpain-free, you don't have
whatever symptoms that celiacdisease or gluten intolerance
has brought to you.
You feel great again.
(11:47):
I like to describe what it waslike those first few weeks of
going gluten-free, when Irealized I needed to be
gluten-free.
I like to describe it aslooking at a high-definition
television versus an old tube TV.
It felt like the world was inhigh definition again.
The world didn't seem blurry,it didn't seem like clouded or
(12:11):
confused or I'm not sure quitehow blurry.
I think I already said blurry,but I can't quite describe it.
I can see it in my head, but itjust.
My eyes were so open and Icould see the world so much
better again.
And then find a greatgluten-free community.
We have a great free Facebookgroup and there's other great
(12:32):
free Facebook groups and othergroups around that you can find
your people, share a great mealwith them, you know, find
podcasts like this one andothers and find some gluten-free
friends.
You'll feel like you belongagain.
And what I've found over thepast several years as I
rediscovered cooking as a formof self-care on the weekends,
(12:56):
many times you're going to findme baking something up just
because I feel like it, becauseit's comforting to me.
It's comforting for me to makethat focaccia bread gluten-free,
for example, or thatcomplicated rough puff pastry
that's got twists in it that myfamily absolutely loves.
I love those challenges.
(13:17):
I love using cooking as a formof self-care.
Sometimes my waistline isaffected by that because
sometimes I go a bit more forthe carby things that you know
we typically can't have as agluten-free person, but it's
wonderful mentally for me.
And start rewriting yourtraditions in your own way.
We have changed sometimes someof our traditions and made them
(13:42):
more gluten-free friendly.
We will many times have afriend's giving and all of our
friends know they come over toour house and enjoy a great
gluten-free smorgasbord thatthey don't even you know.
They don't care, it doesn'ttaste gluten-free to them.
So rewrite your own traditions.
Small moments do matter.
That perfect loaf ofgluten-free bread that you baked
(14:03):
, a safe restaurant experiencethere's some here locally and
places we travel that I frequentbecause I just absolutely love
them.
And your child saying thistastes just like the real thing.
Or, even better, your childsaying this tastes better than
the gluten version.
That's actually what I got frommy children whenever I made
(14:27):
chicken casserole one of theirfavorite dishes, gluten-free.
They thought it tasted betterthan the original.
So joy can come not fromavoiding gluten, but from
reclaiming your life afterfeeling limited by it.
So work through this grief andyou will find that joy.
If you're somewhere in themiddle of this journey, know
that there is an end on it.
(14:48):
And if you're at the end of thejourney where you do feel
joyful, but we do sometimesstill have that grief and the
loneliness.
Embrace the joy and look forthat again.
Come back to that joy, becauseglowing gluten-free is not just
a physical thing.
It is deeply, deeply emotional.
Grief, anger, guilt andisolation are perfectly normal.
(15:11):
So give yourself grace.
You are allowed to feel all ofit.
There is healing on the otherside physically and mentally and
emotionally and you're notalone.
This journey is not aboutperfection.
It's about progress,empowerment and peace and
finding your joy again.
So if you're not finding yourjoy right now, I challenge you
(15:35):
pick one thing that we talkabout on this podcast and find
some joy in it.
Find a way to be joyful in it.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of the Gluten-Free
Engineer.
If you found value in thisstory, please share it with
someone who might needencouragement on their own
gluten-free journey.
For more tips, recipes,resources and even links to my
(15:55):
YouTube channel, head on over totheglutenfreeengineercom.
It's your one-stop hub to makegluten-free living simple, fun
and full of flavor.
And don't forget to subscribeso you never miss out on an
episode.
And we will see you next week.
The Gluten-Free Engineerpodcast is for informational and
(16:15):
entertainment purposes only.
I share my personal experiencesand stories about living with
celiac disease and navigating agluten-free lifestyle.
This podcast does not providemedical advice.
Always consult with a qualifiedhealthcare professional for
medical questions, concerns oradvice specific to your health.
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