After years of ignoring my stomach aches, I finally went to the doctor to see if I was allergic to gluten. While I was waiting for the results of the blood test, I had to eat gluten free. Turns out, I'm not allergic, but I learned a lot this past week about the crazy amounts of food that I didn't even know contained gluten. At first, I started with just eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, as well as meats and fish. I didn't really know much yet about it, so I figured that was the safe way to go. I got a little bored of it after a while though, and that is when I made some interesting discoveries.

Personally, I thought rice contained gluten, but I looked online and found out it didn't, so I did the obvious and ordered sushi. I was justifying that my eating habits could completely change with the idea that I could still consume sushi. What I didn't know was that soy sauce and wasabi had gluten in them. Sad, but I could work around it.

I went to the food store with my mom to buy some food for a BBQ we were hosting. I was walking around the store blindly, constantly checking my phone to see what kinds of BBQ foods I could eat. Potato chips were safe, and I got gluten free pretzels after hearing about how good they were (and I can confirm: they are amazing). Gluten free bread was in the frozen section, which I didn't know about, but we picked some up anyway. Turns out, finding BBQ food that was gluten free wasn't as bad as I thought.

Ice cream was a tough one. Most of the time, I prefer the stuff in the ice cream more than the actual ice cream itself. I love the cone, I love the cookies and the graham crackers and the other yummy ice cream toppings. Plain ice cream was definitely a thumbs down for me during the week.

I have had pasta that is kosher for Passover before, and I assumed that gluten free pasta tasted pretty similar to that, so I didn't even try. I did try the bread though, and it was way different than I expected. The pieces were smaller, but thicker, and had a ton of flavor. I don't know if it was the brand I bought, or if all gluten free bread tastes like that, but regardless I'm still unsure how I felt about it.

There are definitely many things I would miss if I had to be gluten free, like cookies, toast, cereal, pancakes, granola bars and more. I was mostly afraid of missing out on Saladworks rolls though.

All together, being newly gluten free was tough, and I can imagine that it remains that way. I give credit to those who find and make amazing gluten free meals because now I know first hand how hard it is. But to be honest, I'll probably still keep buying the gluten free pretzels.