Goodbye To Everything that I Knew

I never thought I would be that person that would have to avoid specific foods. Ever since I was a child I have always indulged in whatever I wanted. I never gained a pound and I thought I was healthy because I was thin and active. 

When I started middle school I started having stomach issues, especially at school. I started sneaking pepto bismo to school. Sometimes during class I would get bad stomach cramps and get very hot. I always ran out of the class and told my teacher later. This went on for years. When I was 20 years old I had a colonoscopy and was told I have bacterial colitis and that there was nothing I could do about it. I was adviced to take Imodium everyday. I was told my condition would never be cured but could be dormant sometimes. 

I continued living everyday with my embarrassing stomach issues. Every boyfriend had to know at any moment I might need to rush to the bathroom. When I got pregnant with my daughter at age 24 my stomach issues went dormant. I thought I was doing great!

I let myself gain 50 lbs and thought it would just fall off afterwords. Well, it didn't. Two months after I gave birth I  was rigorously exercising by doing P90x and other workouts. I wasn't losing any weight. 

As the months went by I began to feel worse. I was exhausted all the time. I didn't have the energy to work out and my stomach issues came back. I started losing tons of hair and noticed a bulge in my throat. I had blood tests done and was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, which is why I couldn't lose any weight and why I was so exhausted. I have a goiter on my thyroid. It's putting pressure on my throat more and more each day. 

In the last two weeks I have had to completely alter my diet and get rid of all gluten. Gluten actually causes my immune system to attack my thyroid tissue. I am trying to learn how to live a completely new way. I feel like I am learning to walk or something. I have had to chuck out everything I knew about nutrition out the window and start from scratch. No more indulgences, no more gluten. I have to heal myself or my condition will get worse. 

I'm excited to learn how to live healthier  but at the same time it's very overwhelming. I'm not the type to try the newest diet because everyone else is. Trust me, I would love to eat pretzel pizzas and sausage mcmuffins all day. I guess I am at a crossroads. I believe we have all the tools around us, we just need to use them. Healing is within reach, if we would only extend our hand. 

Wish me luck!