Why I ditched Gluten and Went Gluten Free

So, who remembers my aching feet? 

I sent Instagram a twitter a few months ago when I mentioned that my feet had been aching for weeks on end. I thought the issue might be old age + wanted house shoe recs, but things have turned out much different than I ever imagined.

TW: eliminating food groups

My aching feet soon gave way to extremely swollen hands and feet. Like, super sexy pitted swelling that seemed to appear with no rhyme or reason, including when I woke up in the morning. My mom took one look at my feet at a family wedding and forced me to make an appointment with my primary care doctor. 

Naturally, an appointment wasn’t available for weeks and in the waiting, I developed another weird symptom. My stomach was complete bonkers-town. Sometimes very unhappy with everything, sometimes so swollen it was painful to touch, sometimes the bloating was so bad that I couldn’t catch my breath on grump walks, and sometimes it all seemed to go back to normal. It was a wild ride that has lead me to a handful of doctors and discovering the cause of it all…..on a date night.

I had been bugging Justin to take us to a new spot in town (Bar A Vins for locals) for wine and apps so we planned a date night where the first stop was just that. We ordered a bottle and a I ordered the fresh white bread as an app. It’s a crusty, white bread situation that is really heavenly and I was very pleased with myself.

For the next half hour or so. 

We left our first spot to head to Justin’s dinner pick across town and by the time we got there, my stomach was doubling in size. By the time we sat at our table, I was begging to go home. Truly, I was doubled over in pain and limping into the house before the babysitter had even put the kids to bed (and that’s a damn shame).

In that moment, I had a realization, thanks to something one of the specialists said, and it became clear that I have developed a gluten intolerance. I cut gluten the next morning and, excluding a few well-worth it bites here and there, have been gluten free for the last 2 months. 

And guess whose feet no longer ache?? My swelling is gone, joint pain and swelling gone, my stomach is normal sized (still soft and cute tho!) and no more weird tummy troubles. I somewhat can’t believe I never realized all of it was connected but we got here in the end and I guess that’s what matters. 

The adjustment hasn’t been easy as I’m still very much learning how my body needs to be nourished without gluten based foods. I’ve actually been incredibly hungry and have honored that, hoping that as I work through all of this, my body will regulate and find a happy and healthy place. 

So, onward we go, into back to school season and the last weeks of summer, gluten free veggie straws in hand. This month on the blog will be all things school related, from back to school must haves to Instagram Reels with some of our best tricks to fight first day jitters. The countdown is on!