Why It’s Not So Easy to Just Go Gluten-Free

When I was first diagnosed gluten intolerant, it took multiple tests to fully convince me I couldn't eat gluten anymore. Not to mention I didn’t want to give it up! It tastes so good. Pizza, bread, pasta. The full fat, full of gluten kind I’d grown up on. Wah!

It was incomprehensible I couldn’t eat it anymore, yet there it was, in black and white, on my DNA test. And biochemistry doesn’t lie, so I knew it had to true.

People had been telling me to go gluten-free for months, but I resisted. Maybe it was a problem for some people, but certainly not me. Or was it? The bloating, the breakouts, fatigue and headaches – could it be that tiny gluey protein was to blame?

Much to my dismay, it was. And so I joined the ranks of so many others nowadays who are discovering the same for themselves. Yet none of it, not even the risk of leaky gut or more severe conditions like autoimmune, made me stop craving it.

It’s quite common to see a diabetic still eat sweets, or someone with heart disease chow down steak, but why, when they know full well what it’s doing them?

The answer is easy. They’re emotional eaters.

When I first found out I couldn’t eat gluten, I was devastated. Certain foods meant something to me well beyond how good they were and how they made me feel when I ate them. Buried deep in my subconscious was a deep-rooted emotional connection to each and every one of them that until then I was not even remotely aware of.

But it wasn’t so easy to just stop eating it and never go back to it again. In the beginning, I threw myself into it wholeheartedly, trying a variety of gluten-free foods while still allowing myself the occasional slice of pie or creamy cupcake every once in a while just for the satisfaction factor.

After a while, I went cold turkey, and lasted for a full two years. Until disaster struck, in the form of a boyfriend who shook me to my core. It was love, but not the mutual heady kind of love everyone craves, and it scared me. I put myself out there and didn’t get it back, which left me vulnerable and uncertain.

Then, to add fuel to the fire, I started a new job that only made matters worse. Vicious lies and rumors spread about things that were simply not true, yet I was targeted, and I felt it. I didn’t know exactly what I felt, but I felt off, and scared again. As if I was under attack. So I ate, and I ate the very foods I knew logically my body couldn’t handle.

How could it be that I could go gluten-free successfully for two straight years never thinking twice about eating it even once, yet all of a sudden, I couldn’t stop myself?

It never occurred to me that my brain was hardwired since childhood to turn to food when presented with circumstances I felt no control over, or that I feared. Left to the safety of being single and in a non-hostile work environment, it was easy to let go of food that didn’t serve me, but I had never conquered the part of me that depended on those very foods when I couldn’t emotionally survive my surroundings.

In other words, I was on autopilot, and whenever I was triggered, I reverted back to my old ways, regardless of whether or not I was on a diet or if I was consciously aware of what those foods did to me.

[bctt tweet=”Eating isn’t always a thinking thing, and in fact, many times it’s more automatic than not.”] Just knowing how you react to food isn’t always enough to change it, which is why diets fail so many people. Life happens, and until you have new strategies in place to deal with opposing circumstances, you’ll do the same thing you’ve always done despite what you know to be true otherwise.

If you’re allergic to any food such as gluten, and you’re finding it hard to give up, take heart. There is definitely a culture of people who get it, and who can help. For starters, work on overcooming emotional eating first, then the rest just comes naturally.

Love,
Angela

Angela Minelli is an author, speaker and founder of Angela Minelli International, a heart-based global business serving purpose-driven everyday women and entrepreneurs whose self-image and weight issues are inhibiting their confidence and blocking them from pursuing their life’s passion.

Angela's joy is in taking a stand for women who are living less than ideal lives, stopped by fear and doubt, which prevents them from stepping into their innate power and delivering their God-given genius to the world. Her coaching programs and products are designed for women with busy lifestyles yet allow for powerful transformation to take place within a small segment of time.

As a natural health practitioner and digestive health specialist, Angela specializes in helping people overcome weight and energy issues through holistic, non-invasive protocols that address the root cause of their conditions, including adrenal fatigue, candida, thyroid disorders, and more.

Explore the ideals that are the cornerstone of her work at angelaminelli.com.