Getting it down to the gluten - a process of elimination

I tried eliminating many different foods and drinks before I finally found out what was causing my digestive disturbances.  The first thing to go was red meat.  That was about 25 years ago.  I was newly single and cooking for myself.  I hadn't made a steak for myself in months and as I wasn't a fan of hamburgers, they had gone from my eating habits too. It wasn't a conscious decision.

Then one Saturday night I went to an event with friends and prime rib was on the menu.  I dug into it with gusto!  The next day I was really sick.  I called my friends.  Were they sick?  No, not one of them.  A couple of weeks later, I ate my first hamburger in ages.  Next day - sick again.  Slowly it began to dawn on me.  My gut just found it tough to digest red meat.  When I looked back into my eating history, I could see other occasions on which red meat had made me sick.  I stopped eating it and have never returned.

The next thing was alcohol.  My insides seemed relieved and I no longer had a pain in my side after the previous evening of drinking.  Then came caffeine.  My doctor recommended cutting down on coffee and anyway, I was beginning to like herbal tea a lot more.  Cola and soda went next.  If I was going to adopt a healthier lifestyle, I couldn't really justify consuming them.  About five years ago, I realized that, although I was still eating chicken and turkey, I wasn't enjoying it very much.  Maybe I would let those go too.  I did.  I kept eating fish (I still eat fish) but I didn't miss the white meats at all and......I did feel somewhat better.

The results of all this food elimination were variable.  I did feel a little better with each food given up but I hadn't got the results I wanted.  Then came the years of the creeping digestive eruptions.  The upsets got worse and worse.  Eventually it was happening every ten days or so.  Enough!

I went to my doctor who tested me for everything she could think of, including celiac disease.  Results - all negative.  Now what to do?  Even though the Celiac test was negative, I still had a nagging feeling that I ought to try eliminating wheat and gluten.

The rest - as they say - is history.  Three days was all it took to reveal that my body loved being gluten free, and another three weeks to discover that it also wanted to be free of soy.  Not a lot of time in the grand scheme of my whole life.

Although my process of elimination took a couple of decades, it was helpful for me to see what effects taking certain food and drinks out of my diet would have.  I could see the benefits of each one although none of them was as spectacular as being gluten and soy free.

If you suspect you might be intolerant or sensitive to gluten or soy or both, just try it for a few days, maybe a week.  This isn't long in the whole spectrum of your life.  If you don't see any benefit at all in that time, then maybe that isn't the answer for you.  I suspect however that, if that is the issue, you will begin to feel better very quickly.

I'd like to hear about your experience below!