Sometimes it doesn’t matter how careful you are, how prepared you are, the unwanted gluten contamination CAN still happen. Being 100% gluten free is taken very seriously in our home. Everyone is cautious, everyone works together, but sometimes – there is a slip up. Sometimes, I don’t see the hidden gluten.
The Rookie Mistake…
The other day, the Head Gluten Eater was preparing dinner for himself and our children. Nothing out of the norm since my diagnosis. If the meal contains gluten in any way, my existence in the kitchen is only as a support when needed, generally when it is time for plating. My dinner was cooking away in my personal toaster oven, I hadn’t ate a thing all day and was excited to see they were having fries with their meal.
Score!
Now, generally in our household fries are either homemade or we buy gluten free options. Not thinking even for a second, I grab a plate and start munching on those nice, warm, delicious fries. No one notices, no one thinks twice either.
There wasn’t a plan for me to be eating dinner with everyone, but the smells of their foods of course started to cause some tummy growls. It wasn’t long until the Head Gluten Eater looks over to see me downing those fries, and his face drops.
They were in fact NOT gluten free.
Whoops.
It didn’t take long for my usual Celiac symptoms to kick in. My system is already crashed beyond belief battling a brutal cold and constant migraines daily. It isn’t often this kind of thing happens. We are extremely proactive in our home ensuring things are safe. We are lucky to have a big kitchen with two prepping spaces, but also many evenings our dinners are gluten free. It felt like such a rookie mistake, but I am still a rookie so I didn’t beat myself up for letting it happen… too much.
It has been a few days since I was glutened and I am still feeling it. Pain head to toe, constant brick like feeling in my stomach, and my goodness have I ever become emotionally & physically sensitive. Being glutened is very difficult. There haven’t been many moments since diagnosis that I have had this happen. Any time I experience a gluten contamination, it was due to “gluten free” products in actuality NOT being gluten free. Thanks.
Well… we learned a valuable lesson this week. I need to pay a little better attention to everything, even if I think everyone else was cautious. This was no one’s fault but my own. Everyone felt bad, but things happen and we now know to take an extra second to double check.
Can you remember that one gluten contamination that just makes you shake your head now? Share with us in the comments below or send your story in to us!
