How I Healed my Gluten Sensitivity in 4 Steps

My journey with my food sensitivities has been long and sometimes frustrating, but it has improved not only my physical health, but also my mental health. And for anyone who does not know, food sensitivities are basically when your body reacts negatively to a certain food but does not cause any acute side effects as a food allergy would. But nonetheless, it can prove to be a very difficult thing for many people to manage throughout their life. I have definitely had my struggles with my gluten and dairy sensitivities, but I also want to touch upon how they have contributed positively to my life. If I did not have these setbacks, then my experience once I was able to manage them in a way I enjoyed would not have been as special. I would have never experienced how truly amazing and complex my body is.

Because of my food sensitivities, I have developed a greater sense of gratitude for the food I am eating as well as my body’s ability to use it to produce the energy I need to productively go through my day. And this is something I would not trade for the world. With that being said, I am going to take you guys through the steps I took in order to heal my body from my gluten sensitivity. I want to note that everyone has a unique body that requires different things. I am just here to share my story and give people struggling with food sensitivities a starting place to experiment with and find what works best for them.

Step 1: Create a Healthier Lifestyle

From what I had researched about food sensitivities, there seemed to be a consensus that developing an overall healthy lifestyle was a foundational piece to improving gut health. So first I had started by incorporating 3-4 days of exercise every week. And I can attest that this is easier said then done. But I truly believe that exercise should not be something that you dread when you wake up every morning. Instead it should be something that you look forward to when you wake up.

And in order to do so, I experimented with a variety of exercises until I found what I truly enjoyed doing. And for me this was having a workout plan that incorporated different kinds of exercise. I had split my workouts between cardio, HIIT, and yoga and I was loving how it made me feel while doing it, as well as afterwards.

With that being said, although you may love doing certain types of workouts at one time, it can change. We are constantly changing and so will the workouts that we enjoy doing. In my own journey, I have gone through many periods where my body was loving a different type of workout and sometimes multiple types. For a time, I have found a love and appreciation for yoga, pilates, HIIT, cardio, lifting, and bodyweight workouts at one point in my journey. But what is important is to accept these changes with open arms and truly listen to what our bodies need.

Once I felt as if I had a solid workout schedule that I was consistent with and enjoying, I moved onto food. For myself, I had made the decision that I would not force myself to eat foods that I did not enjoy. I wanted this process to be positive because it would have ensured that it could be something that I could stick with.

My overall goal was to gradually cut out gluten and dairy, but I decided to start by incorporating whole foods first. This was my starting point and from there I started to look up recipes containing the ingredients that fit with my goals. I tried them out and kept what I liked and discarded what I did not. I kept going through this cycle of trying new recipes until I found a set of meals and snacks that I truly enjoyed to make and eat. I did not try any diet trends because I am a firm believer that the only way to improve your health is by making lifestyle changes.

Health is not something that can be attained in a matter of weeks. It is something that you are constantly working towards, which is why its so important to love your journey getting there. Because if you do not, then it will not be something sustainable for you. And what was sustainable for me was to make healthy eating exciting. Once I found what worked for me, I would wake up every morning ecstatic about what I was going to eat that day. And although the meals I was eating were enjoyable, as time went on my body started to change and so did my taste. And that is okay.

It is okay to listen to your body and adjust your recipes based on what makes you feel good at that moment, while also staying true to your goals. For me this looked like replacing my recipe for peanut butter banana oatmeal to blueberry almond butter oatmeal. During certain periods I would crave meals that were sweet and during other periods I craved savory foods. And by accepting these changes openly I was able to create a much better relationship with my body, and ultimately myself.

Step 2: Food Diary + Eliminating Foods that Didn’t Make Me Feel Good

The next part of my journey involved keeping a food diary. This was something extremely positive because I was able to form a connection that changed my mindset around food. When I ate a food that made me feel amazing, it would become memorable because I was taking the time to appreciate how it made me feel after eating it. And if a food made me feel bloated or gave me stomach pains, I would write it down.

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And after writing down everything that I was eating for 2 weeks straight, I saw that the foods had two things in common. And those were gluten and dairy. From there I continued to do more research into gluten and dairy free recipes. I was a bit disappointed because it was extremely hard to find recipes that were both gluten and dairy free. Most of the time, recipes were either just gluten free or just dairy free. So I decided to instead make a list of all the foods I liked that were gluten and dairy free. From there, I started to come up with my own versions of recipes I had researched that included what I could eat. Then, I started to slowly incorporate one recipe at a time into my lifestyle until I had completely changed the way I ate.

By taking this process slowly and well prepared, I was able to create a lifestyle around my food sensitivities that I truly enjoyed and looked forward to. And as these new recipes were added, I started to feel immensely better. My stomach pains were going away and I had no longer been nauseous. I was still experiencing minor bloating, but it had made such a huge improvement from how it was before. Because I was seeing such positive results, it motivated me to keep going and ultimately maintain this way of life because for the first time in a long time, food had a positive impact on my life. I was so used to food being something that made me feel gross or uncomfortable and now it was a source of my happiness. I had used to be so unhappy in the body I had and how food had made it feel, but that all changed.

The whole foods had made me feel light and confident in who I was. Not only did I feel happier, but something unexpected happened. Without even trying, I had adapted an intuitive mindset when it came to food. I had figured out what my body needed and the more my lifestyle aligned with it, the better I felt. A positive feedback loop was created and I became extremely in touch with my body and how it connected to what I was consuming. And this was such an influential part of this process because being in tune with my body during this time prepared me to be able to continue this throughout the rest of my life.

Step 3: Managing and Reducing Stress

I think this is something that many people believe doesn’t have as much as an effect on themselves as it actually does. And I used to be one of those people. I have always been a very high stress person because I have always put a lot of pressure on myself in all aspects of my life. And it took me an extremely long time to realize the impact that stress can have on my body. I would feel my body stiffen, my stomach start to feel uneasy, and my head start to throb whenever I was presented with a situation that didn’t align with what I wanted or the goals I was trying to achieve.

At this point I had become much more in tune with my body than ever before and it allowed me to realize the strain I was putting on my body because of stress. And I was determined to figure out a way to manage my stress in a much healthier way because life isn’t going to be rainbows and butterflies. Difficult times and stressful situations are inevitable and uncontrollable. But the one thing that is in my control is how I react to that situation.

And I did so by creating a personalized system of activities that I would do whenever I felt myself starting to stress out. For me, this looked like taking 10 deep breaths or doing 10 mins of yoga or reading a chapter of a book.

But I didn’t just want to learn how to respond better, but I wanted to get ahead of the stress. Every morning I use the affirmation “today I release stress, worry, and negativity” and it was a small start to this process. And what I realized from this was the power behind the words you speak, especially to yourself. Our thoughts become our realities, which means that we can change our realities by adjusting our thoughts and words. And affirmations are part of this.

“Our thoughts become our realities, which means that we can change our realities by adjusting what we think”

But another important aspect that I have implemented into my life is changing the beliefs that are hindering my growth. And what I found was that these limiting beliefs were the ones causing myself the most stress. I have always been the type of person who looked to others for approval and recognition. I would stress myself out trying to appease those around me. It wasn’t until reading a chapter out of Rachel Hollis’ book, Girl, Wash Your Face that I had a realization. There was one sentence that had spoken so deeply to me I had to take a minute to pause and really think.

The words were, “Other people’s opinions of yourself are none of your business”. This was such a powerful thing because it was the very reason I was stressing out. She opened my eyes to a new way of living that has allowed me to reduce my stress levels. I think this is something that everyone needs to hear because the only opinion that should matter is what you think about yourself. And I would repeat these words everyday as a sort of mantra and I found myself having the courage to make decisions that truly mattered to me regardless of what others thought. I felt so free. Free from the judgement of others, and finally finding happiness and approval from myself.

“Other people’s opinions of yourself are none of your business”

– Rachel Hollis, Girl Wash Your Face

In addition to this, my mindset around negativity in my life was also causing myself unnecessary stress. And so I decided to change the way I viewed myself and what happened to me and it completely changed my life. For every situation in my life, good or bad, I would force myself to find what I could learn or had learned from it. And I was shocked to figure out that there was always something to learn from each situation. So I continued with this mindset and found that I no longer viewed difficult times or situations in a negative manner because there was always a positive. I always learned something that would allow me to grow. And with that I was no longer stressed out by them; I was more so looking forward to learning something new, which is something that I could have never imagined saying. But here I am.

“I found that I no longer viewed difficult times or situations in a negative manner because there was always a positive. I always learned something that would allow me to grow”

By implementing these techniques I was able to better manage my stress, as well as eliminate the unnecessary types. And I immediately saw physical changes. I was no longer experiencing headaches, stomach pains, and stiffness. I finally saw results that traditional techniques could never accomplish. My favorite books for learning about stress, as well as managing it are of course, Rachel Hollis’, Girl Wash Your Face and Dale Carnegie’s How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. I highly recommend checking these books out because they have completely changed the way I live and how I view stress.

Step 4: Eliminating Caffeine

This was something I never thought I would give up because it had been such a large part of my life because I felt as if I needed it for the energy. But I also had noticed that I would get a bit bloated and have an uneasiness in my stomach after drinking coffee. And I made the decision that I would cut out caffeine for a couple of weeks to see if I would feel better. But in the back of my mind I told myself that if I had tried out a caffeine-free lifestyle for a week or two and didn’t see any changes I would go back to drinking it.

So I made the decision to quit caffeine cold-turkey. And I started feeling the effects of the withdrawals on that first day. I experience horrible headaches, exhaustion, and cravings for caffeine for 4 days. It was not pretty but I think what allowed me to be able to push through was the symptoms of withdrawals. I was honestly shocked at how my body was reacting. I had no idea that I was dependent on caffeine to the degree I was. The withdrawals were a wake up call for me because I finally realized that my body shouldn’t be dependent on anything to the extent it was.

But after the rough couple of days, it was as if a switch had turned on. I no longer craved caffeine and I still had energy. This is something that I was worried about because I had previously relied on coffee for energy. But I was amazed that my body bounced back as fast as it did. It took me 4 days to be free from caffeine. I had also noticed that my stomach irritation and bloating was completely gone. My energy was replenished to unexpectedly high levels just from the whole, nutritious foods I was eating.

As I am writing this, I haven’t touched any caffeine for a month and a half and have never felt better. I am full of energy and without any stomach problems. Although this step was an unexpected one, it was integral to healing my gut especially when caffeine had always been something that irritated my stomach but I couldn’t fathom to stop consuming.

But when it comes to creating your healthiest self, nothing should ever be off limits. If there is something that is irritating you or doesn’t feel right, you have the power to change it. You are 100% responsible for your life and for making the changes to create the life you want.