Here’s to 2021
As I reflect on the past 12 months, so much has happened in our external world that has altered the course of our lives. At the same time, I’m sure this may ring true to many of you that much has also happened in our internal worlds that will alter the course of our lives for the future.
GF Deliciousness was an idea I had for years.
I got my celiac diagnosis the weekend prior to a major surgery. This was followed by fatty liver, kidney lesion, abnormal heart rate, gastritis, fibroids, endometriosis, etc. It was surreal as I looked perfectly healthy, felt fine most of the time, but my body was slowly falling apart at a rapid pace. The crazy part is, the more people I talk with, the more I realize these issues I have aren’t out of the norm or all that unique to me. I’ve just been lucky to have a primary physician that connected the dots and pushed for me to investigate further, so I became aware of these issues.
Running between my primary physician, gastroenterologist, cardiologist, nephrologist, surgeon, gynecologist(s), lab work, it was a lot of monitoring and stop gap measures, but nothing was making me better/heal. It was by chance I came across a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doctor, who had both a TCM background and in-depth knowledge of Western medicine, that pointed the culprit to my lifestyle and diet.
I had to do a lot of learning and adjusting since. Much of my health issues boiled down to the diet I was, and wasn’t eating. And the sad part is, I’ve also learned that as celiacs, we’re more prone to developing health issues than the general population which makes it even more critical that we watch our nutritional balance. But for a long time I did not realize that, nor did many others I speak with.
There is a dizzying array of conflicting information on health and diet. I’m not a health expert by trade. I’m a celiac (with other ailments) who uses my prior work experience developing data products for scientific research and ability to read in multiple languages to dig further on food topics and cross reference across scientific literatures and TCM to develop my balanced philosophy on food.
I am also a (former) food explorer and reviewer who can recall food tastes from memory, with much of my cooking inspired by the wealth of food knowledge of different cultures. Health and flavors often don’t mix as well as we’d like, but my goal here is to try my best to strike a balance with the food I create, while sharing the healthy tips I learn along the way.
My goal in 2021 is to share what I’ve learned (and continue to learn) with GF Deliciousness so more of us can live out best healthy, well-balanced, and delicious lives. Here’s to 2021.
