Dear Gluten Free Friends,
Yes, I am still pressing on in my gluten free journey! I ‘ve learned a couple hard lessons about living without gluten that I wanted to share.
1. My husband found the coolest GF restaurant in Dallas for Valentine’s Day! Medieval Times has a gluten free option! Of course I couldn’t eat the bread or dessert they served everyone else…but they brought me a Lemon ice instead. Every part of the meal was delicious and I didn’t feel like I missed out on anything! I also tried my first gluten free Angry Orchard Hard Cider. This was the second best place I have eaten since going g free, and it was pretty special that I could celebrate Valentine’s day like everyone else without compromise!
I’m learning a lot of compromise since becoming gluten free.
2. Kissing your gluten eating spouse will make you sick. I learned this one the hard way.
So, I have amazing co-workers who gave me Valentine treats (bundt cake, valentine chocolates, a muffin from Central Market) that I could not eat because they contained wheat. I graciously accepted these gifts and thanked them because I could still give them to my husband to eat. The funny thing is…he ate them gradually over the Valentine weekend…and kissed me. He glutened me inadvertently. The rest of the Valentine weekend I was sick, bloated, nauseous and finally realized that I was consuming gluten by proxy. Gluten eating spouses have to brush their teeth before kissing!
3. My makeup and hair care products were topically making me sick. The primer I use from MAC contains barley. This does not upset my stomach or digestive tract, but it does make my eyes burn like salt in a wound. I love MAC make up and it makes me really sad that I have to give up this product, but it is a must. It makes me look like I have pink eye and hurts really bad! Before I knew it was the primer, I was waking up a lot in the middle of the night with me eye balls enflamed. Not pleasant.
My gluten sensitivity is not just about what I eat. I can’t wear it on my face or in my hair care products.
4. Visiting a hair stylist is going to be as tricky as going out to dinner.
I may not be ingesting gluten, but I can’t wear it either. A lot of shampoos, conditioners, styling products have gluten in them…and I learned this the hard way, too. It took several days for my eyes to stop stinging after getting my hair washed and cut at Ulta, even though I told him I was allergic to gluten. I guess I was not specific enough on what I am allergic to…because a lot of product labeling is not easy to understand with all the different scientific terms on the ingredients list. I would love to get my hair colored! He gave me a list of ingredients from the color he would use on my hair so I could Google them. So, at least I didn’t have a a color treatment to deal with….but I am pretty sure that whatever shampoo, conditioner, and styling products he used on my my hair caused my burning eyes (I had to replace my contacts as well) and broke out on my scalp. Lesson learned about the diligence of using gf hair products!
Pink Peonies and Pearls 