Happy 2-year gluten-free anniversary to me!!

2 years ago today, I cut gluten out of my life completely, cold turkey. It was gone, like a bad boyfriend. The day before this momentous break-up, it was Z's birthday party and I feasted on pizza and a wheat-filled pound cake shaped as Barbie's skirt, that we had worked on through the night the night before. It was a great way to send off my gluten eating lifestyle and enter a new phase of my life. I made sure everyone at the party took home the leftover cake and pizza so there would be none left in the house. I knew I could not cheat once I started, so I wanted a clean slate.

I spent the next week scrubbing out kitchen cabinets, drawers and my toiletries to be sure no traces of gluten remained.

Thankfully, M was on board so he kept his gluten eating to outside the house.

A year ago, I couldn't believe how much I had learned, but I can say the same of this year. Everyday make it a little bit easier and even sometimes fun. Sure, I still miss certain foods, but most of all I miss the ease of going to a dinner party or restaurant and just being able to eat whatever I want, but this is my life and I know what will happen if I do get accidental gluten, so I will NEVER intentionally cheat. That pain and discomfort is not worth it. Not to mention the damage it is doing to my health.

We recently returned from a fabulous trip in Disney World where eating gluten-free was easy-peasy. More on that in the next post.

I want to send a huge heartfelt thank you to all who have helped me along the way on this gluten-free journey and shown me patience and guidance....un grand Merci!!!

Quoted

I have the pleasure of being quoted in this month's Woman's World magazine about my love for Glutino gluten-free pretzels...how fun!

Udi's introduces.......COOKIES!!

Oh yeah....look at the latest and greatest from Udi's!! I know, this doesn't exactly jive with my desire to loose weight, but is nice to see more items available for the gluten-free community. Yes, I did taste them, I had to review them, but next time, I am going to resist.

I found this nifty display at my local Kroger in the deli section, complete with Udi's breads, pizza crusts, bagels, muffins, granola and cookies in chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and snickerdoodle. Kroger is rolling out this display nationwide, so keep your eye peeled.

To read more about, read my review here.

Thyroid Schmyroid, part deux

I apologize I have been totally MIA, somehow life seems to be moving way too fast. Z is going to be six, and I am just shocked that it was six years ago I had my daughter.

Ok.....got that out....anyway...I finally saw a doctor. I was going to just go to my girlie doctor, since that is the only doctor I have down here so far, but decided I should go straight to the type of doctor that specializes in this, so I made an appointment with an endocrinologist. I must admit, I have not read obsessively about underactive thryoid stuff online, because I know me, and I know I can't handle medical stuff and the more I stay away from medical research online, the better.

I must admit first....since going gluten-free my anxiety level has tremendously dropped, except when it comes to going to a doctor. Once I get ten miles from the doctor office, my heart starts racing, and I desperately need a bathroom. Yes, I said it...I get the most nervous tummy, and usually the first thing I have to do when I walk in the building, even before checking, is go to the bathroom. Am I crazy, or what?

Since this is a new doctor, I am extra nervous, and probably loose 5 pounds before I even get into the examining room. A good weight loss program for me....having to regularly go to a doctor. Major white coat syndrome.

I told the doctor what my thyroid numbers were for the last couple of years and all the sudden she breaks out an ultrasound machine....cue, my need to go potty! I wasn't expecting this, I don't like the idea of there even being a need for someone to have to look at my insides even if it is my fingertip. And honestly, if I have to have an ultrasound, I would rather it be to look for a baby and heartbeat....not some mystery thing in my throat. I thought I was going to hyperventilate and pass out when she was looking at my throat, I couldn't even look at the screen.

Thankfully, everything was fine there and then she ran a bunch of bloodwork.

The result, my TSH is 4.62, and she has me started on 25 mg Synthroid. It seems like a small amount, but I go back in, in six weeks to see how my TSH is liking it. I don't love that I have to take it first thing in the morning, an hour before food, but I am very curious how it will change how I feel. I always thought I was pretty energetic, but maybe I am not as energetic as I could be. And if I could loose weight once again, I would be more than thrilled!

And as I try to step cautiously into maybe, possibly TTC, well then I know my thyroid needs to be in good shape, and at almost 39, I don't have much time to mess around.

Other than my thyroid number, I also learned I am a little low in vitamin D, which was 28 and should be between 30-100. Hmmm...well I have taken a gel cap of 1,000 iu D3 daily for 2 years...do I need more? Do I need to lay out?

I did not yet find out if I have thyroid antibodies, but I will save finding out that bit of info until my follow-up visit.

I had spoke to some friends about Armour, the natural form of thyroid hormone, which comes from pig thyroid, and they love it, but somehow I am not in love with that idea right now.

Again, I would love to hear from people who have experience with underactive thyroid and Synthroid.

Thyroid Schmyroid

Why is it every time I make an effort to loose weight, I gain? Seriously, this sh*t is getting old, and fast! I admit, I was much better about it last year....I would not miss a Zumba class for anything, and if Zumba wasn't so fun, I would have quit after 2 months of not seeing any weight loss, but it was just so fun and made me feel so good.

So, if you remember last year, I had my doctor run all the tests to see why I am not loosing like I should be - regardless of Zumba, the gym, walking and how much I eat. I thought there has to be something going on with my thyroid or blood sugar, because this just isn't right. Granted, I have a weakness for baked gluten-free goodies, but I am not scarfing them down daily (ok, well maybe once in a while). My doctor had told me everything was normal, and I accepted that and never looked back. I figured this is the doctor who discovered out I had celiac, when I thought there was no way in h*ll I could have it, so I assumed she covered all the bases and I took her word on it.

However, the other day, a friend mentioned that sometimes thyroid numbers may seem normal, but may really be borderline and need to be treated. And that some doctors actually use different ranges as to what qualifies as "normal". I just couldn't get that out of my mind, so I called my doctor, who did the tests, and asked for the exact numbers. And funny enough, the nurse called me back with the information as I was in a bookstore looking at a book called the "The Thyroid Diet" which I just happened to walk by a minute beforehand. I was actually at the store buying I'm with the Band for my next book group meeting, not obsessing about my health, believe it or not. Sure enough the numbers looked very borderlike (according to the thyroid book I had in hand) with hypothyroid.

I called my new doctor here, and asked her opinion. She said that indeed if she ran those numbers, she would have been treating me. So now I have an appointment to get the numbers rerun and to go from there.

And of course me being the paranoid freak that I am, and who hates taking meds of any kind, am now wondering...great..what kind of side effects will I have from this? And after a brief search online, I saw some people said "weight gain"...and my jaw dropped. I will not do something that will make me gain weight! I just want my "normal" metabolism back! Also, an underactive thyroid is also not good for TTC...which is a whole other issue.

I don't feel like I have many of the symptoms except for my inability to loose weight, and I do feel pretty energetic most of the time.

Doing some more research, I see that it is very common for an underactive thyroid to go hand-in-hand with celiac, but one would think that eating gluten-free would help that out. And then I see how there are actually certain foods to avoid, which are called goitrogen foods....how nasty does that sound? And of course, most foods on this list are my favorite fruit and veg! So, let me get this....because of celiac, I can no longer eat fiber-rich whole grain bread as I used to, and with an underactive thyroid, I can no longer eat most healthy veg and "super foods"?

I may have an answer to one thing, but that just leads to so many questions. Do I really have to give up brussels sprouts, bok choy, tofu and strawberries, or is it just when they are raw? Soy, I have been trying to cut down anyway, because I think too much is not good of anything, but I do like my tofu and veggies.

I would love to hear from people who also have celiac and hypothyroid, and your experience with it.