My stomach always burned. I had pretty low energy. Modern medicine prescribed proton pump inhibitors and muscle relaxers. They didn’t work. I decided to take control and heal myself. This would mean changing the food I ate. I told my family that I would need their support in making these changes. They agreed to help whenever they could.
It’s hard to make the change from eating the American diet to eating a whole food diet. My family loved flavorful food, comfort food, and good old American food. It was important for me to slowly make changes to our diet. I didn’t want my family to suffer while I made these changes. I needed my family to be satisfied with the changes I made. I work full-time, I volunteer at my children’s’ school, and my children were involved in after school activities. With this schedule, I needed the food preparation to be easy.
When I finally decided to change the way I eat, I tried using gluten-free flours. I tried different non-wheat flours and recipes to use the flour. I was amazed at how good the food tasted. I cooked with the flours for several months. I didn’t really notice much of a change to my health, but I was encouraged to keep moving forward.
My husband suggested I check out Danielle Walker, Against The Grains. I read Danielle’s blog. I read her story and it reminded me of mine. I was blown away. I was not alone in my battle with unexplained painful stomach. There was someone else experiencing these issues that couldn’t be helped with western medicine.
I purchased her cookbook, Meals Made Simple. Danielle provided an 8 week menu of dinner recipes in her cookbook. She included a shopping list for each week. I told my family we were going to try this 8 week plan. I followed the recipes and my family raved about my cooking. We really enjoyed the healthy flavorful meals and they were so easy to prepare.
I learned a lot about reading labels and looking for hidden gluten in the ingredients. I learned about selecting better quality ingredients that would encourage healing in my body. I noticed an improvement in my energy right away. After the eight weeks, the burning in my stomach was improving.
I purchased Danielle’s other books, Against The Grains, and Celebrations. Her recipes are so easy and taste great. With her recipes and shopping lists for each week, my confidence in my cooking increased and I was ready to try other whole food diet authors.
I stuck my toes in the water. I was exposed to a different way of healing myself. I didn’t feel completely deprived of my favorite foods. I had a long way to go to heal myself. It was time to research stricter diets that would treat my gut fungus.