I use my blog posts as an accountability tool. See if I'm being honest I didn't really sign up for my half marathon when I made that post about it. I made the post so that I would follow through on that commitment. I have to stay true to my word when 100+ people now know about it. That's partially why I'm sharing my story today.
If you're one of my close friends you know about my struggle with acne and inflamed skin, feeling sick/bloated, and overall just not feeling 100% of myself. In mid-November I vividly recall so desperately wanting a Domino's pineapple and ham pizza so I ordered one, ate it and felt my stomach twist and turn. So since around that point I began vocalizing to my friends about how I should go gluten free and that I thought I had an intolerance but I did nothing about it.
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| Surprise- Bread Co's oatmeal is gluten free... but really this photo has no relevance to this post I just needed to put a picture in or else a picture of my skin would be attached with the preview of this post and I didn't want that. |
I told myself that over winter break I'd go gluten free but then the holiday treats surrounded me and, trust me, I didn't come close to being gluten free.
That led me into this semester. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. I did A TON of research and it was challenging because some was mixed and other things I read made it clear that I had some sort of gluten intolerance. I found hope when I discovered a fitness YouTuber, Sarah's Day. She also suffered with gut problems and hormonal acne similar to mine. As I watched more and more of her content I realized how similar our stories were.
I decided to do a little trial and I went gluten free for 7 days (January 31-February 6). I started to notice an improvement in how I felt both in my energy and mood. But then on February 7 I ate some pasta and I was ready to have that sinking feeling again, but it didn't happen instantly like with the pizza. So I thought "well maybe I'm overreacting." Over the course of the next 5 days (Feb 7-11) I started consuming gluten again. Which leads me to two days ago. I felt so drained and demotivated. I was bloated, unhappy and my skin started to itch again. I talked with my friend Kaitlyn who is gluten intolerant about my symptoms and they aligned with hers. So as of Monday, February 12 I started going gluten free again.
I've already noticed some positives- my mood improving, my motivation to work out going back up, etc.
I do still have a dermatologist appointment scheduled to get a professional opinion on my skin, but I have a feeling that cutting out gluten will vastly help. I have documented my skin through photos so if my skin really clears up by the time I go to the dermatologist I will still have pictures to show him.
Here are some photos of me without makeup around September/October. I have more recent ones but they're just me staring deadpan into the camera and I don't really want those on the Internet forever.
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| Ignore the weird cropping |
Until next time,
Taylor xx
PS: Even if I am not gluten intolerant, I mentally and physically feel better when I don't eat it and that's a good enough reason for me to cut it out of my diet. When I go home for spring break I will most likely meet with a doctor to see if my suspicions are confirmed.
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