How to Do a Gluten Challenge

You jumped the gun and stopped eating gluten before you had the tests to prove or disprove a celiac diagnosis. Now your scientific doctor wants you to go back to eating the food that you've banned from your life.

Although you'd probably kill for a baguette that won't rip your guts in two, you're afraid of going back to the unhealthy place that led you to abandon gluten in the first place. What to do? It all depends on you. But if you decide to do the challenge, I'll help you through; I'm going through my own challenge after 7 years of being on a very strict gluten free diet.

Instructions

1




First of all, you must decide if getting a definitive answer to your health issues (celiac disease specifically) is enough to for you to endure the physical and mental discomfort.

If you don't mind the inconvenience and cost of gluten free food, maybe you don't want to do a challenge.

For me, the glaring misdiagnosis of my children and my mistakenly putting them on a gluten free diet without cause for the first few years of their lives was catalyst enough. So when our wonderful doctor, the legendary Dr. Fasano, suggested I get the gene test and start the gluten challenge, I gladly followed.

If my first GI doctor and I could have been so wrong about our family risk, then maybe we were wrong about me, too. Being the sole one eating gluten free is inconvenient, but doable. But if I didn't have to eat gluten-free, then a world of possibilities opens up for our family.

So is it time for you to know, really know, for sure? If the answer is yes, take a deep breath and get ready to undo whatever tricks you used to make glutinous food less desirable.

2




Undo the mental tricks you've used to keep you from falling prey to the taste, smell, cheaper price and convenience of gluten. This is not as easy as it sounds.

For me, that meant deleting the mental picture of rat poison I attached to everything gluten and reminding myself that lots of people eat regular bread every day and Don't get sick!

3




Find a source of gluten that you can eat daily without over-indulging.

You're going to need the equivalent of 1 piece of bread daily for the blood tests to accurately portray your body's reaction to gluten. But remember, your body needs time to adjust to gluten again whether you're celiac or not. So I suggest stocking something mundane, not what you crave most.

For me, that means no baguettes. That elusive crusty bread is so hard to duplicate when eating gluten free that I'm sure I couldn't control myself.

4




Enjoy your grace period. You've chosen your path, for better or worse. Savor every bite.

Use this time to indulge. Go out to eat. Have "one for the road," but don't get attached to the food or lifestyle. You may still have to return to your former way of eating if your suspicions about gluten food prove correct.

Good luck in your quest for answers.