gancan's Blog

Next week will be my 4th month gluten free and I have only recently discovered how badly my body reacts to any cross contamination.

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The first time it happened (and last time! so far..) I had made my dinner completely gluten free. Then I made my daughters lunches for the next morning, some rice pilaf and cut up meat, and while cutting up the meat some of the rice fell onto the counter. I picked it up and threw it away. Later sat down to watch tv and snack on some gluten-free pretzels and then it hit my.. the stomache aches and pains. I racked my brain trying to figure out what could have caused it and the only conclusion was.. that darn rice pilaf! Ironically that same night while I was sitting there I read a post on here and someone had had almost the exact same thing happen to them and I realized it definitely was the rice pilaf. Since then my husband has seen first hand how important it is to keep everything clean and keep washing our hands. He has been so supportive and is now constantly washing his hands too... like when he sticks his hands in the ice bucket he washes his hands first so he does not contiminate all the ice cubes. (He thought of that all on his own!! )

BUT now I am thinking... how can I educate the visitors to my home about how serious this is... My family comes to my house and babysits my 3 girls during the day when I go to work. They are there all day and bringing their own food (which 99% of the time contains gluten). Plus my girls are still eating things with gluten like english muffins or sandwiches. I keep my gluten free items in a different cabinet so no one goes in there... Since this all started running through my mind I feel like I have serious OCD! The first thing I did when I got home from work yesterday was wipe down all my counters and fill the dishwasher with all the dishes they used during the day. I hate feeling like I come home and a completely infected home, and its my home! I am still in the learning stages of this and until I was sick from cross contamination - even I didn't realize how serious it was so trying to educate my family who doesn't live with me and see it first hand will be a challenge. Especially since I am still no expert!

I am sure over time it will get easier for them to understand and for me to explain... only I can really feel out how to bring the subject up. But isn't it so true, that with gluten intolerance or celiac (any food intolerance really..) along comes its partner in crime - obsessive compulsive disorder!! ("how did you make that food?" "what touched it?" "what are the ingredients?" and "did you wash your hands????!")

Just have to keep at it, and stay healthy!