Gluten Free - going away wasn't easy

At the tender age of 33, I was 3 months pregnant with my second child… but I didn’t know it.

I was sick. I had chronic tummy ache, bloating, sickness and diarrhea. It was not a good time.

I went to the doctors, and burst into tears. I was fed up of feeling like this, and had done every quarter since I could remember. Things had to change. After a number of blood tests,
and a bit of a wait, I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease.

I was shocked. Living all this time, and putting up with the symptoms. Wow!

After the endoscopy, I changed my life, and lifestyle for the better. With a BIG black bag, my husband and I went through the kitchen cupboards. We identified anything that had gluten in it (this was about 95% of the contents of the kitchen!).

We identified a gluten free cupboard. With this done, we started scrubbing, removing all traces of gluten. I even got an old toothbrush out, to get into all the little nooks and cranny’s!

With my galley style kitchen, the hob is in the middle. This has leant itself to accommodating both gluten and gluten free foods. I have one half of the kitchen, my husband and three children the other.

I didn’t really appreciate how well this worked, until we went on holiday. We were staying in a static caravan on the coast. While we paid attention cooking, the food and ingredients, and the cleanliness of the workspaces, what we didn’t account for was the washing up.

At home we have a dishwasher. Away we had ourselves. We clearly cannot get the water as hot as the machine can. Three days in and I was as sick as a dog. :(

The only thing we can relate this to, is the washing up. Washing up in fluids that contained gluten, not directly, you understand. But collated washing from the other plates and dishes (my husband adores a fresh bakers loaf while on holiday).

After a couple of days, I felt OK again. I kept a set of cutlery and crockery separate, and either washed these first, or in a clean set of water. To date, we’ve been OK with this.

On returning home, I hugged my dishwasher!!!

Jenny.