Celiac Awareness & Why I Love Being Gluten Free

5/21/2014

I'm a little late to the party this month, but I could let May pass by without doing a little blog style celebration of National Celiac Awareness Month! To all of my sweet friends and family who eat gluten free with me - let's celebrate!

Did any of you see that video a few weeks ago from Jimmy Kimmel where he is asking people who are on a gluten free diet if they know what gluten is? If you haven't seen it - here's the link. The clip itself is really pretty funny, but sadly, it's also really true! More and more people are going gluten free for lots of different reasons, but a lot of them don't even really know what it is! YIKES! That's like saying you're going vegetarian without knowing what meat is!

I had a whole post written about being gluten free, what gluten is, and resources for a gluten free diet. And then I realized how boring it all was so I scrapped it and decided to have a little more fun. In honor of Celiac Awareness Month - I thought I would share with you the top 10 reasons I LOVE being gluten free!

1. My tummy doesn't hurt anymore!

2. I get to bake with things like "sorghum", "xanthan" and "quinoa". I know how to pronounce them all and I know how to make delicious food with them!

3. I have more energy!

4. I get to nerd out with my other gluten free friends over things like gluten free muffins sold at a coffee shop.

5. I have met some amazing friends through gluten free groups that I continue to learn from and have fun with!

6. Having "Celiac Disease" is a perfect, scary threat to security to let me into athletic events with my bag full of homemade granola bars and apples. And GF BBQ pork sandwiches. And cake. Ok you caught me...I've snuck GF cake into a football game. If that's my biggest offense...

7. I have gotten to explore tons of new ways of cooking. Hello cauliflower pizza crust and spaghetti squash!

8. Speaking of pizza...being gluten free makes finding a delicious GF pizza more exciting than pretty much anything else in the world. And no one but the friends in #4 will understand.

9. I have gotten to educate a lot of people about what gluten really is and why it's important to take seriously, especially when more and more people are doing it "for fun".

10. I love experimenting with new recipes and proving to my friends that gluten free really can be delicious!

For those of you who still want the boring, but helpful post...here are a few links that are helpful to newbie gluten free's...or if you're just curious.