it's my girls' world

Dear Gluten,

It's not you, it's her.  On Christmas Eve 2020 (Merry Christmas to us), we got a call from A's pediatrician saying she tested positive for celiac markers. In 2019, she had another autoimmune and had been experiencing intense stomach pains for quite a few months. We tried different things including meds (both OTC and prescription), natural remedies and physical work with her. Nothing worked and if anything , it was getting worse. We were relieved and overwhelmed all at once when we finally got a diagnosis. Relieved that we finally found a cause for the intense pain and discomfort but overwhelmed because hello lifestyle change for our little miss going forward.

We decided to become gluten free as an entire household (for the most part)  to make things easier for meal prep, to avoid contamination and to support A as much as we could. Sidenote, we are still finishing up as much of the crackers/appetizers in the house. As Darin and I went Keto for quite a while and then transitioned to low carb, it would not be a huge deal for us. For the goldfish obsessed chicklets in the house, another story.

So here we are more than a month into the process. As per our doctor's recommendation, she is going completely gluten free for a few months. Going forward, for special occasions if she wishes, she can indulge knowing that it will possibly cause some tummy trouble. We are hoping that with age it becomes less of an effect for her but who knows at this point? Her tummy pain has definitely eased up a bit though not completely. The way I'm looking at it, things could definitely be worse. 

                                    

We were all at home in January, a good thing since we've been able to experiment. We've found some wonderful substitutes and we've been trying different things. There are so many gluten free resources available. Takeout is a little more tricky but the couple of places we have tried have been so knowledgeable and helpful. 

So many available resources:

1- Word of mouth. One of A's classmates' moms found out and has been a wealth of information on different places locally and online. A neighbour of mine also has experience with different grains like millet and sorghum

2- A few  gluten free stores in town with so many delicious items. 

3- A couple local dedicated Facebook pages. It's put me onto different restaurants and different local products.

4- Our mainstream groceries, Costco and Amazon have so many different options available. 

Happy February, lovelies. I haven't done a Prime Lately  with Tanya in ages so I thought I would get it together in time to do one this month... here are just a few of our prime purchases lately since most stores are closed here in Canada.

1- Our sweet pup has been under the weather for the past couple weeks. What started as an ear infection, then became an ear flap infection that required a minor surgery which we then tagged his neutering to. He's been on antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and sedatives as well as wearing his cone of shame.... I drew the line at dog probiotics and gave him a spoon of yogurt. --- because a line had to be drawn somewhere...

                                                               

2- Thank goodness we got our Peloton and app when we did in November.  I've begun to listen to my body more and more as I get older... though I workout 6-7 days or week, if I want to do barre, pilates or yoga for an offday or a super short workout, the Peloton is great for that. Let me just say though, I've done spin in the gym and I consider myself pretty strong but boy do those cycling classes do me in!!!

Literally me....

3- My family's new vegetable obsession is cauliflower. We've always done the cauliflower but my kiddos have also started to eat it raw with hummus or roasted in the air fryer. I found the best recipe in the back of a Costco bag of cauliflower!