The Journey of Becoming Gluten Free
In the vegan world, there are many things that are hard to deal with whether it be animal related, world related, health related, or food related. Some dietary adjustments that have to be made when you start a vegan diet may be:
Getting adjusted to the diet
Enjoying the new foods on the diet
Trying new things you thought you would have never eaten
Most of these issues are solved pretty quickly on your way to being a long-term vegan.
But have you thought about what it’s like to be a vegan with an allergy to specific foods?
I found this out the hard way in the early part of 2021. In January my husband and I did a Gut Health course by some our favourite vegans, The Happy Pear. We started on the 6 week journey of transforming our gut health through a Low FODMAP diet. The first week you eliminate just about all things from your diet except for a core group of veggies that are good for just about everyone. Each week you reintroduce certain foods that could be “bad” for your gut back into your diet, and if you notice a change or reaction, then you know your gut may not agree with these foods.
We went through all 6 weeks and slowly reintroduced certain foods to our diet such as onions, garlic, beans, etc. The final week was reintroducing Gluten. For a month and a half we had only eaten Gluten Free breads and cereals, as Gluten is a high FODMAP food, and in a lot of people it is very hard to digest. The first week back to eating gluten, I noticed I felt very bloated after eating my favourite bagels for breakfast. Then, having regular wheat base for pizza’s made me start to think ‘oh no, I love bread too much to not have it anymore!’ Everything that I was eating that had wheat gluten in it was tearing me up inside. By Mid-March 2021, I decided I must go Gluten Free.
Flashback to 2012, I went to Mozambique on a Mission Trip with my church, and while I was there, I became very ill. My group was concerned that I may have contracted malaria from the mosquitoes. I had a blood test done in Maputo, and I was negative for malaria, but wasn’t sure what could have been the mater with me. When I returned home, my doctor put me on a very intense round of antibiotics. This would take care of whatever was tearing me up inside, but would also destroy my gut microbiome. I did have a few blood tests done, before I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I did however test negative for Celiac Disease, and for that I was thankful, because you know - I love bread so much!
When I went vegan in 2017, my irritable bowel syndrome was reversed. I had lived with it for about 5 years, and it was an awful time. So of course, changing my whole diet helped me become more stable without a bowel issue! But move forward to the beginning of 2021, and I thought ‘oh no, here we go again’…
So off I ventured into the world of Gluten Free replacements. As far as a good loaf of bread was concerned, there were very few to choose from, and you must be careful because MOST on the market now still contain egg. So as a vegan who is Gluten Free, your options become much more limited. I also found in the Gluten Free sections of the major grocery stores, there was a lack of desserts in the section that were also vegan. And thus my idea to create a fully gluten free bakery was born. I knew I could make cakes, and cupcakes, and cookies just fine with regular flour, but I wouldn’t be able to eat them, and the same for a lot of other people.
My husband and I talk about it all the time that the Vegan Diet is one of the most inclusive diets of all, as mostly everyone can eat fruits and vegetables with no problems. But being Gluten Free and Vegan opens up your diets to a whole other spectrum of consumers, which are looking for the same thing! So here we are, after a few weeks having opened the bakery, the switch to gluten free is real and it will be a journey to carry on for the rest of our lives.
