November 20, 2025 • 17 mins
If you’ve just gone gluten-free, you might be wondering — how long does it actually take to feel better? Is it days, weeks, or months?
Healing looks different for everyone, and it’s not always a straight line. In today’s episode, I’ll break down what happens in your body after removing gluten, what kind of improvements you can expect and when, and how to tell if your healing is on track. Stick with me until the end, because I’ll share one thing that helped me notice real progress — even when I felt stuck.
Come join us in our free Facebook Community, The Gluten Free Engineer.
It’s a space where you can connect with others living gluten-free, ask questions, swap tips and recipes, and get support from people who truly get it. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned gluten-free pro, you’ll feel right at home.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carrie Saunders (00:00):
Quick reminder before we get started on this
episode.
This podcast is based on mypersonal experiences and isn't
medical advice.
If you've just gonegluten-free, you might be
wondering, how long does itactually take to feel better?
Is it days, weeks, months?
Will I feel worse first?
Hint, yes, you might.
Healing looks different foreveryone and it's not always a
(00:21):
straight line.
In today's episode, I'll breakdown what happens to your body
after removing gluten, what kindof improvements you can expect
and when, and how to tell ifyour healing is on track.
Stick with me to the endbecause I'll share the one thing
that helped me notice realprogress even when I felt stuck.
Let's dive in.
Welcome to the Gluten FreeEngineer Podcast.
(00:41):
I'm your host, Carrie Saunders.
In 2011, I was diagnosed withceliac disease, a moment that
changed everything.
But I was determined not to letit hold me back.
With my two engineeringdegrees, I set out to reverse
engineer the gluten-freelifestyle, breaking down
recipes, safety tips, travelhacks, and everything in between
to rebuild a life I love.
(01:01):
Whether you have celiacdisease, gluten intolerance, or
simply choose to livegluten-free, this podcast is for
you.
Join me each week as wesimplify the gluten-free
lifestyle, make it fun, andprove that you don't have to
miss out on anything.
And for me, the longer I wasoff gluten, the more sensitive I
(01:42):
was to gluten whenever I got alittle bit.
So do keep that in mind.
That might be something thathappens to you, especially if
you're celiac.
Whenever I would tell this toother people who are newly
celiac, a few months laterthey'd come back to me and be
like, Yes, you're right, Carrie,this is actually happening to
me too.
It's, you know, you just heal.
So then you notice the littlebits of gluten.
(02:04):
But let's jump in first intowhat are the first 30 days like
of removing gluten from yourbody?
Say you're newly diagnosedceliac, say you're gluten
intolerant.
Maybe you want to help a friendbecause you feel like removing
gluten might help them too.
What are those first 30 dayslike?
Well, first off, in those 30days, your inflammation response
(02:26):
starts to calm down.
No matter whether you have aceliac or not, you're going to
have some reduced inflammation.
Gluten.
Gluten just causes inflammationin everybody's bodies.
We just all react a bitdifferently to it.
And some people don't noticethat it causes inflammation in
their bodies.
It's something that's beenscientifically scientifically
researched, and it's just aplain fact of this food.
(02:50):
It's part of its defensemechanism.
So your inflammation responseis going to calm down once you
remove that gluten.
And you might have some earlyimprovements.
You might feel less bloated.
You might have reduced brainfog.
You might have a bit moreconsistent energy.
But you could still have somefatigue and you might have
(03:10):
irritability, and withdrawal canhappen as your body resets.
So I was reading a bookrecently called The Plant
Paradox.
It's a great book if youhaven't read it before.
And in hit there, he talksabout how when we're eating
certain types of foods, we endup attracting certain gut
microbiomes.
(03:31):
And those microbiomes want tosurvive.
Well, they survive on thecertain foods that you're
actually eating.
So when we take out somethingthat we've been regularly
eating, let's say gluten, itcould be, you know, many
different things, thosemicrobiomes are going to kind of
fight for the life and wish,you know, want you to be eating
the thing that that helps themsurvive.
(03:53):
So and it sounds a little weirdto talk about this, but it it
totally makes sense.
You know, all living things areare they're wired to survive.
So you might become irritable.
It might be putting toxins inyour body that make you feel
bad, that make you crave that,you know, item that you just cut
out of your life.
Um, you know, in our case,we're cutting out gluten.
So expect that you might becomemore irritable temporarily and
(04:18):
you might have some withdrawalsymptoms.
You might feel um, it's kind oflike if you ever have gone on a
keto diet or paleo where you'vecut out all carbs, you might
have those withdrawal symptoms.
And for some, it can actuallytake weeks for digestion to
start normalizing.
And this is absolutely normal.
So don't feel like it's nothelping if when you've removed
(04:42):
gluten in in one or two weeks,you're still having, you know,
swinging digestive issues.
You know, one day you havediarrhea, the next day you have
uh constipation and so forth.
And it's just part of our bodyhealing and re-regulating.
So in those first few weeks,that is completely normal.
Don't you don't give up if thisis something that you're not
(05:03):
necessarily diagnosed withceliac, but you're, you know,
trying to um eliminate someprocessed foods in your life.
So you're removing gluten, oreven if you are celiac, don't
get discouraged if you're stilllike having digestive issues
after you've completelyeliminated gluten.
Our bodies are readjusting.
It's something that you'velikely been eating your entire
(05:24):
life, and your body needs sometime to adjust to not eating
that um type of food.
But I will say that youprobably by about three to four
weeks, you're going to feel somuch better.
For me, when I first wentgluten-free, that first week, it
I just felt like I was in highdefinition.
(05:44):
Like I feel like I could seethe world again.
And that was probably the brainfog that was lifting.
Um, I started feeling actuallyreally good.
I didn't have the digestive umcontinual issues.
I don't remember having that.
So you may not experience that.
Um, another thing that Inoticed after about week two or
so, my allergies startedsubsiding.
(06:06):
They weren't even sure what Iwas allergic to, but I was
having all these allergysymptoms.
And it was likely the highinflammation that was in my body
from being undiagnosed celiac,and then I'm eating, you know,
this thing that is aggravatingmy immune system and causing all
this inflammation.
So then I was more sensitive tothe things that I actually
wasn't truly allergic to, atleast not in a clinical setting.
And then as I went probablyabout week three or four, oh my
(06:30):
goodness, I felt like a brandnew me.
I felt like myself when I was,let's say in childhood, I had so
much energy, so much, like Ijust felt wonderful.
So, no, when you stick with it,you're going to feel so much
better.
But you might have a rough, youknow, first few weeks.
I would say by about, at leastin my experience and most people
(06:51):
I've talked to, week three orfour, you're going to start
seeing the light at the end ofthe tunnel if you are having
those withdrawal symptoms andhaving that bad, you know, how
you don't feel well after youremove this food.
And then the first three to sixmonths, your body's going to
start repairing itself andrebalancing your intestinal
villi, the tiny littlenutrient-absorbing structures in
(07:14):
your gut that kind of look likefingers if you've zoomed in on
them or seen like a um textbookuh view of what they look like,
they're going to start beginhealing.
Hopefully, they're going togrow back.
If you've been undiagnosed Clike for many, many years, like
myself, you may not uh have themall like restore and be good.
(07:35):
But then what I've experiencedwith my kids is they healed so
much faster because we caught itso much earlier.
You know, they each were, Iwould, I think about 12 years
old or less.
Um, me, I was in my uh 30s, andso I had been, you know,
damaged for quite a while.
And then you're also gonna haveyour nutrient levels start to
(07:58):
readjust and get better.
Things like iron, vitamin D,and B12, those might start
slowly improving.
And if you're celiac or even ifyou're gluten intolerant, this
is going to be some vitaminsyou're gonna want to work with
your doctor to get regularlytested, especially in these
first few years, to make surethat you're improving because
likely you are deficient inthem.
(08:19):
It's just very common forceliac or those who aren't
tolerant with gluten.
You're also gonna find yourhormones and energy levels begin
to stabilize.
This is one thing that Inoticed.
I was having such um angerissues, I would call it, and
they were all internal.
It's not who I was.
I'm not an angry person, and soI wasn't sure what was wrong
(08:40):
with me.
It was almost like anout-of-body experience the more
I was on gluten and not knowingI shouldn't be on gluten.
And then when I removed it, ohmy goodness, my demeanor calmed
back down.
Um, and and this was somethingI hid.
I hid mostly from my family andmy friends because I didn't
want people to think I was angrybecause that's just not who I
was.
But I had all these internalfeelings of anger um inside me.
(09:04):
I just get irritable so easily,like little tiny things would
just really set me offinternally.
And so you're gonna startseeing those things start to
stabilize and your energy levelsare going to start stabilizing
too.
However, in this stage,accidental gluten exposure can
set you back.
So this is like your relearningphase.
(09:26):
This is going to be your phaseof learning how to be really
strict with this and you know,listen to your body and make
sure you're taking care ofyourself and your body.
So don't be discouraged if youget accidental gluten exposure.
We've got other podcastepisodes on how to deal with
that.
Um, but just note that whenthat happens, you might feel
(09:46):
like you've taken a few stepsback.
But the more you'regluten-free, the faster you'll
recover from accidental glutenexposure.
And then in that six to 12month range, you're going to
notice, you know, reallynoticeable healing.
Most people are going to noticeit definitely by this point.
Many people feel dramaticallybetter.
Their digestion is better,their skin is better.
(10:08):
I had so much skin issuesbefore I found out I was celiac.
That was disappearing by thistime.
Our energy, our moods are goingto be so much better.
If you have celiac, yourantibody levels on your blood
tests often decreasesignificantly by this stage.
You might have some symptomsthat might linger.
(10:28):
You might still have somefatigue and you might still have
some joint pain.
I know gluten causes joint painin a lot of people.
And while your immune system isresetting, you might still have
these symptoms.
And like I alluded to earlier,healing really depends on age,
the severity of how you'reeither intolerant or celiac and
(10:49):
other health complications andhow strict you are on being
gluten-free.
So the more strict you are onbeing gluten-free, the faster
you're going to heal.
So once you get that naileddown and understand how to be
really strict with beinggluten-free, you're going to see
that good snowball effect offeeling better and better and
better each week, each month.
(11:10):
It's just going to be peopleask me, how can you not eat
gluten carry?
And I tell them, I'm like,well, it makes me feel so bad, I
don't even consider it anymore.
Once you get to that pointwhere you feel so good, it just,
you know, it'll be like a vaguememory of like, well, yeah, I
enjoyed that food when I had it,but now it's not worth it
(11:32):
anymore, is what I feel like alot of people feel.
And then beyond the first year,you're just going to be a full
recovery, hopefully, andmaintenance.
So your gut lining and thevilli can take one to two years
to fully regenerate for somepeople with celiac.
And again, some people might besomewhat permanently damaged,
(11:52):
but it's definitely so muchbetter for you to be off gluten
because it's just going tocontinually damage you,
obviously.
And other people might takelonger.
If you're diagnosed later inlife, I know for me, it
definitely took me a lot longer.
And if you have additionalautoimmune conditions, it can
also take you longer tocompletely heal.
And feeling healed doesn't meanyou can relax on being
(12:16):
gluten-free.
It means your body finally hasa chance to thrive and you're
finally on the right track.
You're finally doing what yourbody needs to be doing.
It's, you know, think of itlike I know it's not an allergy,
but I'd like to sometimesequate it to be to it being an
allergy.
Like you wouldn't risk and takeand eat something that you're
(12:37):
allergic to.
You know, this is we need totreat it like that, even though
it's an autoimmune condition andnot an allergy.
That way it kind of, I feellike our brains associate with
allergies a bit more than celiacor gluten intolerance, just
because, or at least from ourgeneration that I am, you know,
celiac disease, it I had neverheard of it until I accidentally
(12:59):
figured out I had it myself andthen later got confirmed.
And then I what I want toencourage you to is I want you
to track progress and it willhelp your supporting and
healing.
So if you're one of thosepeople who needs to see proof
that you're feeling better, keepa food and symptom journal.
Look back occasionally, youknow, weeks or a month back to
(13:22):
how you were feeling, and thenlook at how you feel today.
That can really help you seethat healing progression.
It also can help you spottriggers of what might have
caused you to feel bad.
And it can help you celebratethose wins, how much better you
feel today.
Make sure you're working withyour doctor to recheck your
nutrient levels, like we talkedabout iron, vitamin D, uh, B12,
(13:47):
um, some other ones too I didn'tmention in this episode is like
folate or calcium.
And then prioritize your rest,your hydration, and balanced
meals.
Your body is rebuilding afteryou remove this gluten, and we
want to make sure that we areeating the nutrients we need to
eat.
The one downside to beinggluten-free is that, at least in
(14:08):
the American diet, we havefortified our gluten-full foods
uh with vitamins and mineralsbecause we generally don't eat a
great diet that's you knowvarietied in fruit and
vegetables and all themicronutrients and
macronutrients.
So, what we want to make surewe do is make sure we're eating
balanced meals because we needto be getting the nutrients like
(14:30):
folate and B12 and iron and Dand calcium that are many times
in the gluten foods.
We want to make sure we'regetting them naturally in our
diet too.
So make sure you're workingwith your doctor to be checking
these things because it is um apretty common thing to not be
eating enough of those in ourAmerican diet.
If you're American and arelistening here, and I want you
(14:52):
to give yourself grace.
Healing isn't linear, it'sdefinitely a yo-yo.
It can be a roller coastersometimes.
So give yourself grace if youum have some setbacks and then
you're gonna have to have sometriumphs.
So just be gracious toyourself.
And if you haven't yet, be sureto sign up for my newsletter at
theglutenfreeengineer.com.
(15:14):
That's where you can getsupport while your body does its
incredible work of healing.
And then I want to talk aboutthe thing that helped me see
real progress even when I feltstuck.
And that was my tracking my nonlike scalable victories, ones
that you couldn't um put anumber to.
(15:35):
I started taking note of thingslike not feeling super
exhausted, not feeling bloated,not feeling blah.
Seeing these littleimprovements over time reminded
me that healing was happening,even if I couldn't always feel
it right away.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of the Gluten Free
Engineer.
If you found value in thisstory, please share it with
(15:57):
someone who might needencouragement on their own
gluten-free journey.
For more tips, recipes,resources, and even links to my
YouTube channel, head on over totheglutenfreeengineer.com.
It's your one-stop hub to makegluten-free living simple, fun,
and full of flavor.
And don't forget to subscribeso you never miss out on an
(16:17):
episode.
And we will see you next week.
The Gluten Free EngineerPodcast is for informational and
entertainment purposes only.
I share my personal experiencesand stories about living with
celiac disease and navigating agluten free lifestyle.
This podcast does not providemedical advice.
Always consult with a qualifiedhealth care professional for
medical questions, concerns, oradvice specific to your health.
Quick reminder before we get started on this
episode.
This podcast is based on mypersonal experiences and isn't
medical advice.
If you've just gonegluten-free, you might be
wondering, how long does itactually take to feel better?
Is it days, weeks, months?
Will I feel worse first?
Hint, yes, you might.
Healing looks different foreveryone and it's not always a
(00:21):
straight line.
In today's episode, I'll breakdown what happens to your body
after removing gluten, what kindof improvements you can expect
and when, and how to tell ifyour healing is on track.
Stick with me to the endbecause I'll share the one thing
that helped me notice realprogress even when I felt stuck.
Let's dive in.
Welcome to the Gluten FreeEngineer Podcast.
(00:41):
I'm your host, Carrie Saunders.
In 2011, I was diagnosed withceliac disease, a moment that
changed everything.
But I was determined not to letit hold me back.
With my two engineeringdegrees, I set out to reverse
engineer the gluten-freelifestyle, breaking down
recipes, safety tips, travelhacks, and everything in between
to rebuild a life I love.
(01:01):
Whether you have celiacdisease, gluten intolerance, or
simply choose to livegluten-free, this podcast is for
you.
Join me each week as wesimplify the gluten-free
lifestyle, make it fun, andprove that you don't have to
miss out on anything.
And for me, the longer I wasoff gluten, the more sensitive I
(01:42):
was to gluten whenever I got alittle bit.
So do keep that in mind.
That might be something thathappens to you, especially if
you're celiac.
Whenever I would tell this toother people who are newly
celiac, a few months laterthey'd come back to me and be
like, Yes, you're right, Carrie,this is actually happening to
me too.
It's, you know, you just heal.
So then you notice the littlebits of gluten.
(02:04):
But let's jump in first intowhat are the first 30 days like
of removing gluten from yourbody?
Say you're newly diagnosedceliac, say you're gluten
intolerant.
Maybe you want to help a friendbecause you feel like removing
gluten might help them too.
What are those first 30 dayslike?
Well, first off, in those 30days, your inflammation response
(02:26):
starts to calm down.
No matter whether you have aceliac or not, you're going to
have some reduced inflammation.
Gluten.
Gluten just causes inflammationin everybody's bodies.
We just all react a bitdifferently to it.
And some people don't noticethat it causes inflammation in
their bodies.
It's something that's beenscientifically scientifically
researched, and it's just aplain fact of this food.
(02:50):
It's part of its defensemechanism.
So your inflammation responseis going to calm down once you
remove that gluten.
And you might have some earlyimprovements.
You might feel less bloated.
You might have reduced brainfog.
You might have a bit moreconsistent energy.
But you could still have somefatigue and you might have
(03:10):
irritability, and withdrawal canhappen as your body resets.
So I was reading a bookrecently called The Plant
Paradox.
It's a great book if youhaven't read it before.
And in hit there, he talksabout how when we're eating
certain types of foods, we endup attracting certain gut
microbiomes.
(03:31):
And those microbiomes want tosurvive.
Well, they survive on thecertain foods that you're
actually eating.
So when we take out somethingthat we've been regularly
eating, let's say gluten, itcould be, you know, many
different things, thosemicrobiomes are going to kind of
fight for the life and wish,you know, want you to be eating
the thing that that helps themsurvive.
(03:53):
So and it sounds a little weirdto talk about this, but it it
totally makes sense.
You know, all living things areare they're wired to survive.
So you might become irritable.
It might be putting toxins inyour body that make you feel
bad, that make you crave that,you know, item that you just cut
out of your life.
Um, you know, in our case,we're cutting out gluten.
So expect that you might becomemore irritable temporarily and
(04:18):
you might have some withdrawalsymptoms.
You might feel um, it's kind oflike if you ever have gone on a
keto diet or paleo where you'vecut out all carbs, you might
have those withdrawal symptoms.
And for some, it can actuallytake weeks for digestion to
start normalizing.
And this is absolutely normal.
So don't feel like it's nothelping if when you've removed
(04:42):
gluten in in one or two weeks,you're still having, you know,
swinging digestive issues.
You know, one day you havediarrhea, the next day you have
uh constipation and so forth.
And it's just part of our bodyhealing and re-regulating.
So in those first few weeks,that is completely normal.
Don't you don't give up if thisis something that you're not
(05:03):
necessarily diagnosed withceliac, but you're, you know,
trying to um eliminate someprocessed foods in your life.
So you're removing gluten, oreven if you are celiac, don't
get discouraged if you're stilllike having digestive issues
after you've completelyeliminated gluten.
Our bodies are readjusting.
It's something that you'velikely been eating your entire
(05:24):
life, and your body needs sometime to adjust to not eating
that um type of food.
But I will say that youprobably by about three to four
weeks, you're going to feel somuch better.
For me, when I first wentgluten-free, that first week, it
I just felt like I was in highdefinition.
(05:44):
Like I feel like I could seethe world again.
And that was probably the brainfog that was lifting.
Um, I started feeling actuallyreally good.
I didn't have the digestive umcontinual issues.
I don't remember having that.
So you may not experience that.
Um, another thing that Inoticed after about week two or
so, my allergies startedsubsiding.
(06:06):
They weren't even sure what Iwas allergic to, but I was
having all these allergysymptoms.
And it was likely the highinflammation that was in my body
from being undiagnosed celiac,and then I'm eating, you know,
this thing that is aggravatingmy immune system and causing all
this inflammation.
So then I was more sensitive tothe things that I actually
wasn't truly allergic to, atleast not in a clinical setting.
And then as I went probablyabout week three or four, oh my
(06:30):
goodness, I felt like a brandnew me.
I felt like myself when I was,let's say in childhood, I had so
much energy, so much, like Ijust felt wonderful.
So, no, when you stick with it,you're going to feel so much
better.
But you might have a rough, youknow, first few weeks.
I would say by about, at leastin my experience and most people
(06:51):
I've talked to, week three orfour, you're going to start
seeing the light at the end ofthe tunnel if you are having
those withdrawal symptoms andhaving that bad, you know, how
you don't feel well after youremove this food.
And then the first three to sixmonths, your body's going to
start repairing itself andrebalancing your intestinal
villi, the tiny littlenutrient-absorbing structures in
(07:14):
your gut that kind of look likefingers if you've zoomed in on
them or seen like a um textbookuh view of what they look like,
they're going to start beginhealing.
Hopefully, they're going togrow back.
If you've been undiagnosed Clike for many, many years, like
myself, you may not uh have themall like restore and be good.
(07:35):
But then what I've experiencedwith my kids is they healed so
much faster because we caught itso much earlier.
You know, they each were, Iwould, I think about 12 years
old or less.
Um, me, I was in my uh 30s, andso I had been, you know,
damaged for quite a while.
And then you're also gonna haveyour nutrient levels start to
(07:58):
readjust and get better.
Things like iron, vitamin D,and B12, those might start
slowly improving.
And if you're celiac or even ifyou're gluten intolerant, this
is going to be some vitaminsyou're gonna want to work with
your doctor to get regularlytested, especially in these
first few years, to make surethat you're improving because
likely you are deficient inthem.
(08:19):
It's just very common forceliac or those who aren't
tolerant with gluten.
You're also gonna find yourhormones and energy levels begin
to stabilize.
This is one thing that Inoticed.
I was having such um angerissues, I would call it, and
they were all internal.
It's not who I was.
I'm not an angry person, and soI wasn't sure what was wrong
(08:40):
with me.
It was almost like anout-of-body experience the more
I was on gluten and not knowingI shouldn't be on gluten.
And then when I removed it, ohmy goodness, my demeanor calmed
back down.
Um, and and this was somethingI hid.
I hid mostly from my family andmy friends because I didn't
want people to think I was angrybecause that's just not who I
was.
But I had all these internalfeelings of anger um inside me.
(09:04):
I just get irritable so easily,like little tiny things would
just really set me offinternally.
And so you're gonna startseeing those things start to
stabilize and your energy levelsare going to start stabilizing
too.
However, in this stage,accidental gluten exposure can
set you back.
So this is like your relearningphase.
(09:26):
This is going to be your phaseof learning how to be really
strict with this and you know,listen to your body and make
sure you're taking care ofyourself and your body.
So don't be discouraged if youget accidental gluten exposure.
We've got other podcastepisodes on how to deal with
that.
Um, but just note that whenthat happens, you might feel
(09:46):
like you've taken a few stepsback.
But the more you'regluten-free, the faster you'll
recover from accidental glutenexposure.
And then in that six to 12month range, you're going to
notice, you know, reallynoticeable healing.
Most people are going to noticeit definitely by this point.
Many people feel dramaticallybetter.
Their digestion is better,their skin is better.
(10:08):
I had so much skin issuesbefore I found out I was celiac.
That was disappearing by thistime.
Our energy, our moods are goingto be so much better.
If you have celiac, yourantibody levels on your blood
tests often decreasesignificantly by this stage.
You might have some symptomsthat might linger.
(10:28):
You might still have somefatigue and you might still have
some joint pain.
I know gluten causes joint painin a lot of people.
And while your immune system isresetting, you might still have
these symptoms.
And like I alluded to earlier,healing really depends on age,
the severity of how you'reeither intolerant or celiac and
(10:49):
other health complications andhow strict you are on being
gluten-free.
So the more strict you are onbeing gluten-free, the faster
you're going to heal.
So once you get that naileddown and understand how to be
really strict with beinggluten-free, you're going to see
that good snowball effect offeeling better and better and
better each week, each month.
(11:10):
It's just going to be peopleask me, how can you not eat
gluten carry?
And I tell them, I'm like,well, it makes me feel so bad, I
don't even consider it anymore.
Once you get to that pointwhere you feel so good, it just,
you know, it'll be like a vaguememory of like, well, yeah, I
enjoyed that food when I had it,but now it's not worth it
(11:32):
anymore, is what I feel like alot of people feel.
And then beyond the first year,you're just going to be a full
recovery, hopefully, andmaintenance.
So your gut lining and thevilli can take one to two years
to fully regenerate for somepeople with celiac.
And again, some people might besomewhat permanently damaged,
(11:52):
but it's definitely so muchbetter for you to be off gluten
because it's just going tocontinually damage you,
obviously.
And other people might takelonger.
If you're diagnosed later inlife, I know for me, it
definitely took me a lot longer.
And if you have additionalautoimmune conditions, it can
also take you longer tocompletely heal.
And feeling healed doesn't meanyou can relax on being
(12:16):
gluten-free.
It means your body finally hasa chance to thrive and you're
finally on the right track.
You're finally doing what yourbody needs to be doing.
It's, you know, think of itlike I know it's not an allergy,
but I'd like to sometimesequate it to be to it being an
allergy.
Like you wouldn't risk and takeand eat something that you're
(12:37):
allergic to.
You know, this is we need totreat it like that, even though
it's an autoimmune condition andnot an allergy.
That way it kind of, I feellike our brains associate with
allergies a bit more than celiacor gluten intolerance, just
because, or at least from ourgeneration that I am, you know,
celiac disease, it I had neverheard of it until I accidentally
(12:59):
figured out I had it myself andthen later got confirmed.
And then I what I want toencourage you to is I want you
to track progress and it willhelp your supporting and
healing.
So if you're one of thosepeople who needs to see proof
that you're feeling better, keepa food and symptom journal.
Look back occasionally, youknow, weeks or a month back to
(13:22):
how you were feeling, and thenlook at how you feel today.
That can really help you seethat healing progression.
It also can help you spottriggers of what might have
caused you to feel bad.
And it can help you celebratethose wins, how much better you
feel today.
Make sure you're working withyour doctor to recheck your
nutrient levels, like we talkedabout iron, vitamin D, uh, B12,
(13:47):
um, some other ones too I didn'tmention in this episode is like
folate or calcium.
And then prioritize your rest,your hydration, and balanced
meals.
Your body is rebuilding afteryou remove this gluten, and we
want to make sure that we areeating the nutrients we need to
eat.
The one downside to beinggluten-free is that, at least in
(14:08):
the American diet, we havefortified our gluten-full foods
uh with vitamins and mineralsbecause we generally don't eat a
great diet that's you knowvarietied in fruit and
vegetables and all themicronutrients and
macronutrients.
So, what we want to make surewe do is make sure we're eating
balanced meals because we needto be getting the nutrients like
(14:30):
folate and B12 and iron and Dand calcium that are many times
in the gluten foods.
We want to make sure we'regetting them naturally in our
diet too.
So make sure you're workingwith your doctor to be checking
these things because it is um apretty common thing to not be
eating enough of those in ourAmerican diet.
If you're American and arelistening here, and I want you
(14:52):
to give yourself grace.
Healing isn't linear, it'sdefinitely a yo-yo.
It can be a roller coastersometimes.
So give yourself grace if youum have some setbacks and then
you're gonna have to have sometriumphs.
So just be gracious toyourself.
And if you haven't yet, be sureto sign up for my newsletter at
theglutenfreeengineer.com.
(15:14):
That's where you can getsupport while your body does its
incredible work of healing.
And then I want to talk aboutthe thing that helped me see
real progress even when I feltstuck.
And that was my tracking my nonlike scalable victories, ones
that you couldn't um put anumber to.
(15:35):
I started taking note of thingslike not feeling super
exhausted, not feeling bloated,not feeling blah.
Seeing these littleimprovements over time reminded
me that healing was happening,even if I couldn't always feel
it right away.
Thank you for listening to thisepisode of the Gluten Free
Engineer.
If you found value in thisstory, please share it with
(15:57):
someone who might needencouragement on their own
gluten-free journey.
For more tips, recipes,resources, and even links to my
YouTube channel, head on over totheglutenfreeengineer.com.
It's your one-stop hub to makegluten-free living simple, fun,
and full of flavor.
And don't forget to subscribeso you never miss out on an
(16:17):
episode.
And we will see you next week.
The Gluten Free EngineerPodcast is for informational and
entertainment purposes only.
I share my personal experiencesand stories about living with
celiac disease and navigating agluten free lifestyle.
This podcast does not providemedical advice.
Always consult with a qualifiedhealth care professional for
medical questions, concerns, oradvice specific to your health.
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