I no longer suffer from food allergies. I’ve learned to simply accept – even embrace – that my body requires certain foods to thrive and there are some foods that don’t make the cut.

I’ve had celiac disease my whole life, but I wasn’t diagnosed until I was in my 20’s. I fell off the wagon with that in my early 40’s (that’s a story for another day), but quickly figured out that gluten is just a protein my body absolutely hates.

I also developed an anaphylactic relationship with tomatoes. I was about to teach an essential oils class and the hostess had provided some yummy snacks for everyone to enjoy beforehand. I popped a cherry tomato into my mouth (like I’d done ten thousand times before) and I broke out in hives and my throat started closing up! The reactions have gotten worse and worse over time, to the point I will break out in hives if I even touch something with tomatoes in it.

Fortunately, tomatoes are pretty easy to avoid, gluten free food is easy to acquire and is delicious these days. I give thanks to God for companies like JP’s Pastry (a local NC bakery), Feel Good Foods, Canyon Bakehouse, and so many more. Even restaurants are easy to navigate.

I was on a retreat with some ladies from church where meals were provided. It was a large group of people and I had my eye on the cook. I do admit, I freaked out when she put gluten-containing ingredients in the soup!

I went to the group leaders in tears and panic. It turned out that the cook had already made separate gluten free soup (which was delicious and amazing!) but Jessi and Vic said something to me I’ll never forget: “Kay, God wants to show you that you’re not powerless in this situation.”  And they were right … any time I felt uncomfortable with the food options, I could order door dash, Instacart, or make a store run. I wasn’t trapped in their opinion of my opinion of the food safety! (And, because it was a meals-included event, they’d have reimbursed me for the cost).

I. Wasn’t. Trapped.

For the first time in my adult life as an individual with food allergies, I realized … I am 100% free!