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Going wheat free is kind of something I never thought I’d do. Not for any other reason than the fact that gluten-free diets started to become a fashion statement in 2015 (not for everyone of course, but it was starting to be glamorised a little too much by celebs for my liking) and I didn’t really want to be a part of it. But, after starting my new job and still experiencing random flares of my eczema as usual, I started to become fed up again. Eczema is something I have struggled with since I was little, and no matter how much hair I ever lost and stares I received over years of suffering on and off, I always accepted my eczema in a matter of fact manner. But I had a new job, I was happy, so why was my skin getting progressively worse at times? Tied in with the fact that I had accepted I was constantly bloated eating just a snack or two, I knew something in my life had to change.
It took me a few hours to research properly into food intolerance testing, where I was met by reviews ranging from “intolerance testing is a load of crap” to “intolerance testing changed my life, don’t miss out” and various different companies displayed on Google promising to pin-point allergies and intolerances with just one hair sample. After much deliberation, I was convinced that this was the right decision for me, rather than trying to convince my doctor for months on end that a free intolerance test on the NHS is something he ought to help me with.
So, £54 later, I had purchased my intolerance test from ‘The Intolerance Testing Group’ and was cringing as Mum snipped a few roots of my cared for locks and popped them into a bag. A week or so later, I received the results by email. I’m intolerant to wheat.
Not gluten. Just wheat. Amongst many other random, bizarre things such as pigs urine. Remind me to keep away from pigs when they do the deed next time. So it took me years of never-ending bloating that made me feel as though I was about to give birth to a food baby, years of scratching and patchy skin to discover that wheat was my root issue.
Shopping at Tesco’s for wheat-free food was actually a delight (please don’t think I’m boring). A whole row dedicated to wheat-free products. I couldn’t believe it. Rows and rows of wheat-free pasta, wheat-free bread, wheat-free spaghetti, wheat-free rolls and wheat-free biscuits. I came home all chuffed with my new shopping list for next week.
One and a half weeks on from quitting wheat it’s hard to say whether my skin has improved, but I’m definitely not as bloated anymore. I no longer sit at my desk after eating a sandwich and feel hideously full, like my stomach has grown to the size of a balloon for the whole day. I would say, for anyone who’s had years worth of bloating or any other food-related symptoms, go and get an intolerance test. It is seriously so worth it. Don’t put up with these symptoms if you don’t need to, because quitting wheat has improved the quality of my life so far and without being too sentimental, all it takes is one test to improve your life too.
