Gluten Free: One year later

Well it's officially been a year since I started a Gluten-Free lifestyle. After almost dying of Crohn's disease last year (I lost 20 lbs in 3 weeks), I found an awesome doctor who suggested from my symptoms and medical history that I might have gluten intolerance. While, I thought that was crazy, I was desperate, so I gave it a try. 2 weeks later, I woke up without pain for the first time in 15 years. I was able to discontinue the 4 medications I And it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be.

This year I learned the following about Gluten Free living:

1) It's not just for hippies.
2) Wait staff usually don't look at you funny when you ask for a gluten-free menu or what they have that is gluten-free
3) Making gluten-free pastries from scratch with weird flours (coconut flour does NOT work like wheat flour) is NOT the way to go. These are much easier to work with:

  

             Cup 4 Cup                                                             Betty Crocker Brownies and Cake Mixes

4) Bring something you can eat to potlucks in case no one else does.
5) Splurging on something not gluten-free is NOT worth being sick for a week
6) Making your own GF treats is actually kind of fun :)
7) There's lots of stuff you CAN eat... replacing wheat stuff with rice (but check the spices for MSG), potatoes, and corn products is pretty easy.
8) Hotdogs are gluten-free.... soy sauce is not (but the GF version tastes mostly the same).
9) I miss doughnuts and ranch dressing the most!
10) Mexican food and Japanese food have tons of GF options... even though they may not know it at the restaurant themselves :)
11) The biggest thing I learned is how supportive my friends could be! (Thanks again, Sarah for the birthday fiasco of 2012!)