Milestone: Two weeks + 2

16 days.

I have been gluten-free for 16 days. This is a new record. The longest time I have stuck with the GF lifestyle is 14 days. I have made it over the second hump. I have changed up my diet a lot in the last 16 days. I even tried to do something pretty drastic and go on a juice fast for 15 days. We recently watched a documentary called, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead." It was truly an inspiration to become healthy. I do want to lose weight but my primary goal is to be healthy. I thought I could accomplish both in a fairly short amount of time by juicing. After two days of juicing, I was having stomach pains and I was feeling pretty sick. After consulting with some close friends and reading up on people who juice and have gluten allergies/Celiac Disease I realized I should have taken the proper precautions because I have such a sensitive stomach. People who suffer from gluten often have a lot of stomach issues. It turns out the acid in juice can further irritate the stomach and intestines if the digestion system has not healed. As my friends told me this and I researched the ramifications of it, I decided to stop. I still think juicing is a good way to detox and train your body to crave healthy foods, but I am going to wait months (it can take the body 6-12 months of detoxing from gluten to completely heal) before attempting to do so again.

Although it can take up to a year or more for the body to rebuild itself, it is not uncommon to for people to feel immediate changes once they stop eating gluten. I have felt an immediate change in my body. However, as you have read, I have gone through ups and downs. I have felt less pressure and no pain in my stomach after eating but have felt ultra itchy at times. I have never felt this energized throughout the day and emotional at the end of others. Every time I have a craving for a giant roll or some gluten-filled pasta I remember the pain I feel when I consume it. The pain is a combination of all the worst stomach aches I have had all at once, plus headaches, plus the itchiness, plus the grumpiness, plus the depression etc... So, I can handle feeling each of these symptoms as they are mostly happening once at a time and on their way out of my body.

Cheers to what has been accomplished and for more days, months, years to come!