Our Health Coach and Functional Diagnostic Nutritionist, Diane Kazer, has one-on-one calls to support us in wherever we are at in the program, whether it is physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual. In addition, we have a weekly group call where we all check-in and celebrate together what comes up during the week. One of my unicorn wellness sisters, Kaitlin Hendry, shared this on-point letter she wrote to gluten. It resonated so beautifully with where I am at with my relationship with gluten, that with her permission, I had to share. 

Dear Gluten,

I am writing you this letter, as I have a lot to say, and it’s been time to say it for a while now. So without sugar coating it, as you do enough of this already, IT’S OVER!

I am so done with you. I have been done with you before, but I kept taking you back, only for you to hurt me again and again. You’ve been tricking me into thinking it wasn’t you, clouding my thoughts literally because of your ability to interact with opiate receptors in my brain, causing me to crave you more and not think properly! Every time I interact with you I am sent in to flames, literally, in more ways than one! You cause me pain and I am done letting you hurt me! I’m done being tired all of the time, not able to focus on simple tasks and do things that make me happy. I’m done with the bloating, constipation and diarrhea! I’m done with your sticky, disgusting self, literally attaching yourself to multiple parts of my body and attacking it!

You’re a sneaky little bustard who cannot be trusted, lurking into everything, making it hard to go out and not run into you! Not only are you in wheat, but, barley, bulgur, cous cous, farro, graham, kamut, oats, orzo, rye, semolina, spelt….and do you stop there? NOPE! You gotta be in personal care products like make-up, shampoos, conditioners, and toothpaste!

You make me sick to my stomach, literally, and I thought it stopped there until I noticed how much my joints and muscles hurt when I was around you too. Thankfully, I know there could be a lot more that you could cause me, like allergies, sinus pain, migraines, and nervous system dysfunction. Well, I sure as hell am not sticking around to find out just how much more damage you can cause me. You no longer serve me, nor will I ever want to explore that in the future. You block the absorption of nutrients that I need to heal and be healthy. You are standing in my way of losing weight and building muscle. You are affecting my quality of life! I am not going to cave in to your multiple identities anymore, I don’t care what kind of social occasion it is. There is always something else I can enjoy, and no, not your friend dairy, who is also getting a letter just like this! Oh and who could forget your other friends, sugar, corn, and soy, don’t you worry, they are getting one too!

I could go on and on, but before you start causing more auto immune conditions in my body, I’m stopping here. You’ve had enough of me to harm already, and I’ve certainly had enough allowing you to. I don’t feel one ounce of guilt letting you go, you have ZERO benefit to offer me. Unless I feel like f*@#ing up my body some more. So, gluten, I bid you fair well, good riddance, and stay the heck away from me!

After returning from a month trip through Austria where I lived off of bread and dairy, it was no wonder my respiratory issues went from seasonal allergies and a persistent cough to a severe case of walking pneumonia, where I was hospitalized with stabbing chest pain, fever, and nausea which continued for weeks even after a round of antibiotics. With the antibiotics killing my gut flora, which I learned can take up to a year to recover, I was left with a vaginal yeast infection, chronic fatigue, and a low to practically no libido. With weekly visits to my general practitioner and almost 2 dozen blood tests, all I was told was that my inflammation level was high. I had been told by a homeopathic doctor that I should not be eating wheat, but it was never explained why, until one day, I was listening to sex therapist Dr. Cat Meyer and Functional Diagnostic Nutritionist Diane Kazer's podcast, Eat, Play, Sex, where they interviewed Dr. Tom O'Bryan, world renown expert on gluten-related disorders and author of "The Auto-Immune Fix".

Since I have cut gluten out of my diet, inflammation has decreased, my energy level has gone up, and I am feeling better than I have ever felt. It also helps that I sought out help from Diane Kazer and her powerful 8-week coaching program CHI: Hormone Warrior Transformation Program.