Hey there! Today was super busy. My husband’s first father’s day, church, his soccer game, and a host of other community events to attend kept me busy. Our dinner was something that I wouldn’t have considered two years ago: Grilled Steak, potatoes, and broccoli! See…I used to be a vegan (actually was a vegetarian for 20 years and a vegan for several). To make a long story short…I had to find a diet that could sustain me and keep me healthy with two autoimmune disease and a mandated dietary restriction. So, yes my diet includes animal protein (we try for grass fed). It was a shift, I’ll tell you! I have definitely changed my cooking habits over time and I’ve also accepted that I am a complex person with basic needs..nutrition being one of them!
Community is also important for me and my family. I think community can come in various forms for so many reasons – but having community supports me. That said, my first thing to seek out once I went gluten free was a local Celiac support group for community because I definitely feel excluded from the rest of my world’s food-culture.
Anyway, something happened this morning at church that made me stop and wonder at how amazing life is! We go to a church where communion is served and our minister suggested that the entire congregation is going to go gluten-free (no kidding!!) to make it easier. I was floored! I didn’t ask for this extra effort (in fact I was willing to forgo communion if it was too much)…but I guess it just shows me that people really can and do step up. Community is so important and I’m glad that I can be gluten free and not feel like an outcast everywhere.
Do you have a community that involves food? How does going gluten-free affect your relationships in your community?
