Show Notes:

What does a gluten-free life look like?

There are quite a few aspects of going gluten-free. I mean honestly this is a big change. Food happens to be what most of our lives revolve around! Have you ever gone to a party where they didn’t serve food? It seems bonkers, doesn’t it? Well, with that said there are a lot of changes that are needed to take place, when you change your diet at all!

You may be gluten free for the reason of wanting to live a healthier life, you may have an allergy to gluten or wheat, or maybe an intolerance to it, or you may be like me and my family and celiac disease be our motivating factor to never cheat!

Today I want to share with you the tips for gluten-free success and what a gluten-free life even looks like!

Before I dive in I want to assure you that you are not a lone. This information is to help and give you encouragement as well as the tools to be successful at living a gluten-free lifestyle. Today I will walk you through the basics, to set you up for success… but if you are wanting more support, more answers and more guidance I have broken down thoroughly for you as I walk you through the entire process with my NEW ‘A-Z about Living Gluten-Free eCourse’.

Of course if you have celiac disease I have my celiac coach eCourse that will help you out tremendously as it has with the dozens and dozens of people who have had a great success with the course.

There are 3 aspects to living a gluten-free life that I want to touch on today… The mental, the emotional and the physical (what does this look like)

1. MENTAL

You may be thinking, I don’t need to be educated on the mental side of it all- just tell me what to eat… this is where I beg to differ. How many times have you told yourself that you were going to ‘diet’ or eat healthy or work out every day? I am pretty sure if you are anything like me… you have told yourself these things all your life and how many times do you fall short? For me, pretty much all the time… I have great intentions and am honestly motivated… but how my brain works is that I tell myself- this is a good goal, this is a dream to me… I will try it out… hopefully it works…I am not 100% committed like now matter what nothing is going to stand in my way of reaching this goal. No one can talk me out of it, no one is going to change my opinion, no one will effect the way I show up!

At the end of the day… it comes down to how bad do you want it? How bad do you want it today, tomorrow, in a year from now in 50 years from now?

You have got to get your head in this Gluten-free game. Decide today that you are never backing down. If you listened last week you know that you have to choose YOU every single time, even when that gluten-filled chocolate cake has your heart and your taste buds… you have to create a strong will! You are worth it! You are worth changing for. You are worth feeling your best.

Are you ALL in or are you still on the fence?

Do you accept it?

Are you still fighting it?

Are you wanting to but not really wanting to?

This is up to YOU to dissect. Get your head in the gluten-free game and WIN every single play- every single day! You are amazing! You are a winner. Act like it. Show up like it. BE A Winner!! Be ready to put in the work! Cause nobody gets anything worth having for no cost… for no effort… we have to put in the work!

2. EMOTIONAL

This is a tough one… we all are on different emotional playing fields here. I get that. I come from a long line of manic depression in my family. I understand emotional imbalance more than the average person. So wherever you are on the emotional level, remember you are not alone. PERIOD.

And just a side note gluten free living has been known to help those fighting depression… https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201410/is-gluten-causing-your-depression

they claimed that after doing a study on this very topic that… ’90% of the final participants reported more depressed mood while eating gluten compared to placebo, and the differences in the scale measurements of depression did reach statistical significance’

Wow isn’t that a mind blowing result?? I think so! Realize that you are worth it.

I am here to share the message that you are not the victim- you are the hero!! Live for yourself. Live for your family. Show up your best self. Serve yourself. DOn’t hold back. If you find that it is hard to be around certain people because they aren’t supportive or understand your choice or your need to be gluten free and the severity of a crumb… well… guess what… choose to not be around them. ADD You get to choose who gets in your head… you choose how their words will effect you. DON’T LET ANYONE CHANGE WHO YOU ARE OR HOW YOU ARE! Choose to not be offended. Consider it their problem cause ultimately it is their problem, not yours!

Some days will be tougher than others. I get it. I live it! Thankfully we can start a new day the next time the sun raises. When I realize that I am a little off or just having a lame day… and I see that more than 3 people are annoying me or offending me- well that is when I realize that it is probably me and that I need to change my train of thought… change my negative thinking –

And ultimately I get it- some days are just off and starting a new the next day may be your best hope!

3. PHYSICAL

Physically what does a gluten free life look like? I mean what does a gluten free person eat? Drink? Do at parties, do at school? What should a pantry look like? What do mealtimes look like?

Start with Pinterest… get a feeler out for what recipes and foods are gluten free

Head over to my IG account and to other POSITIVE gluten free bloggers and social media influencers. They will help you feel not so isolated and alone, more like wow, we have a HUGE community and power house of instant GF friends!

But let’s touch on the fact that you have no idea what your new pantry and fridge is supposed to look like… that is okay… baby steps here. GO through your pantry- go through your fridge and check out if your favorite brands are gluten free and safe. if not start searching on the internet for safe alternatives. And if you are wanting to live a healthier lifestyle as well, then don’t replace all of your gluten filled foods with gluten free. They have more fillers and ingredients to make up the difference for the lack of gluten. So maybe instead of equally swapping out- you may want to change from eating bread to brown rice cakes. or from pasta to Zoodles. You get to choose what this change will look like. You don’t have to spend a ton more on groceries. Yes packaged gluten free foods are more expensive… but who says you have to buy every thing packaged?? No one… you can eat more whole foods. I guarantee you will feel so much better if you go with this approach. It has taken me too long to figure out this concept. And talking about the money… guess what If you are used to eating out a lot… well then you my friend are going to start saving a ton of money!!! To feed my family of 6 a good average decent home cooked meal it costs about $20 and sometimes a lot less than that even. But if I were to run through Mc Donald’s and get 4 kids meals and a couple extra chicken nuggets and 2 adult sized meals I holy smokes I am spending well over $40. Crazy right?

I am not going to lie… it takes a lot more prep work. Okay accept that. This is your new norm. So no need to wallow in your sorrow about it. You will probably need to change your schedule around a bit to fit in more cooking time. Have a prep day. Do your best. There are still quick and easy meals to make on those nights that are just insane. Sometimes I send the kids in the car with a plate of gf chicken nuggets on the way to a sports practice and that is their dinner. That is fine. I don’t even feel bad for those days. I actually feel really good because It is way more healthy than running through the drive through. We almost always have apples, cuties, bananas, string cheese, popcorn … all to help us in in between meals and I love that. They are easy to take on the go and such better choices. Now I say this a lot, but just because you are gluten free does not mean you are healthy. You still get to choose what your food looks like. You can have a whole bag of Hershey kisses. Yes and we are grateful they are gluten free. But if I am picking up a bag of them every time I go the store… I am not going to be eating my best at all!

What are your new go to brands?

Stores? I shop at Walmart a lot! I do Walmart pick up with is incredible LINK

Online shopping now? Thrive Market is a great resource LINK

Can you still go to restaurants? We do in n out and red robin.

Can you still send your kids to someone else’s house to play? Yes educate your kids before! Have them eat before they go. Don’t send them over during a mealtime.

Do you have a shared living space where people eat gluten in it? Then make the best out of it. Have separate cookware. Have your own sponge…

Three take aways:

Mentally you got to get your head in the game. Play some pumped up music, make this exciting, like a renewing like a January first new years resolution that there is no going back!!! This is one that you are going to do and with some trial and error- and you will be sooo much better so much healthier for making this choice!!! Don’t lie to yourself.. don’t say your going to do it and then cheat… why do we do that to ourselves? We can be so loyal to other people about keeping your word

Emotionally- You are literally not alone. You aren’t the victim- you are the hero. Retrain that negative thinking.

Physically- You are getting a new make over. Embrace it. Research it. Live it. You got this.

For more gf resources- go check out ‘A-Z about Living Gluten Free eCourse’. If you do have celiac disease I have the celiac coach course Both are tagged in show notes… so check It out.