End of week 2 eating Gluten Free results..

Well I am two weeks into my gluten free challenge and here are my results so far,

Stomach pain gone after 3 days
Stomach cramping gone after 5 days.
Bloating and gas gone after 3 days.
Energy level started going up after 5 days.
Skin started to take on a healthier tone after one week.
Fullness in my ears started to feel better after a week and a half
Tinnitus has cut down to half as loud after two weeks.

Those are some pretty MAJOR changes in just a two week period of taking gluten out of my diet.
I have also tried very hard to stay with the 1500 mg level of sodium that the ear Doctor wants me at but that has been the biggest hurdle. Many foods that are GF free are a bit higher in sodium than some of the things I had been eating. But it;s not impossible. I seem to be hitting around 1700 mg of sodium and I feel if I can stay under 2000 a day I should be good. Especially if the GF free diet is helping in so many other areas.
I am pretty convinced I am Gluten Intolerant which has probably been causing inflammation in my body and such causing all these other health issues to spring off from it.
I strive to eat healthy and have most of my life. I have always used vitamins and searched out natural methods to get well since I was in my twenties. When I had my daughter I made all her food myself ,never bought a jar of baby food.(this was before you had those Organic baby foods available,but I still would have made my own.) Breast fed ,grew my own veggies, etc. Have always been very health aware and exercised.
So that is why I was so frustrated as to why I was continuing to get illnesses and feel terrible. You can only blame it on getting older and menopause for so long. So I kept searching. I was getting hives,I was getting pains off and on in my joints ,I was running a low white blood count,I was tired way more than I felt I should be,I started having the ear issues this last fall and than the diagnosis with Meniers.

I was researching, researching, researching everything like crazy to help this ear issue as many people have gone deaf or partially deaf from this disease. When the stomach problems started I felt I was getting smacked in the face with the one choice I felt in the back of my mind could be at least part of the solution. Eating Gluten Free.
Having Celiac disease in the family history should have made me aware that I could be Gluten intolerant if not full blown Celiac, but I was resistant.Plus I had had TWO negative tests for gluten sensitivity.
 It is not easy to avoid Gluten. It's EVERYWHERE in our foods. But at least I knew how to approach it and was no stranger as to how to do it since my daughter is Celiac.

I have been mainly sticking to my own cooking for the first two weeks but last night we went out to Red Robin and I had my first experience with dealing with a restaurant eating GF free. Red Robin is Gluten friendly. They have a few choices and they will go the extra mile in the kitchen to help you eat gluten free. So I ordered one of their hamburgers with avocado and the fixings on a lettuce wedge bun and a side salad. The wait person asked how sensitive was my issue,did they need to change gloves in the kitchen clean work area etc. I said yes. What the hell even if I wasn't that sensitive having them wear new gloves and clean the work area to make my food just sounded like a good idea in general.LOL! So out comes my meal.The hamburger is prepared wonderfully and there tucked right next to it on the same plate is my bowl of salad topped with several croutons!! What?? Didn't we just go over the whole I can't eat bread issue... They took it back an redid it and I was adamant they not just pluck off the croutons but make a new salad please.
They were very wonderful about all of it though ,so I was grateful. But it was a good example of the challenge people with special diet needs face when they go out. I really don't like making a big deal of my ordering. I don't like to be that "fussy" customer. I'm pretty laid back most of the time. But to feel good after I eat and continue on this path to getting healthy I guess I will be that person.
Two more weeks of my GF free challenge left and I can already tell I will be eating this way for the rest of my life. I am thankful that at least things are changing in this regard for people. More choices ,more options are out there.
NOW if we can only get the government to stop Monsanto from poisoning all of our food...