The Gluten and Allergen Free Expo

A couple of weeks ago my husband and I attended our very first Gluten and Allergen Free Expo in Chicago.  We told Josh he would be coming with us and he was very against it, telling us he would rather play with his friends than come with us and walk around all day.  Regardless, he was told he was coming with us!  Much to our surprise, halfway through the walk through he was thanking us for bringing him and was super pumped to find all these new foods and brands we either never knew existed or never knew he could have.  It was by far one of the best experiences we had as a family.  Having started this diet about a year ago, we have really searched high and low to find a variety of foods to stock for Josh, and have put in a lot of time and energy in the process.  The GFAF Expo saved us a lot of time and energy by placing all these products and foods in one place for us to browse through.  There was no research and reading reviews, no running to three different stores to find what we needed, and no spending money on a product we were not sure Josh would approve of.  We ate our way through the expo (which this preggo certainly didn't mind), got a ton of great coupons (which are hard to find with these foods), and discovered a bunch of new foods that all of us really enjoyed.  Companies whose brands we were familiar with were there, but we discovered other products that they had available that we were completely unaware of, along with companies we did not even know existed!

Having gotten to experience this AFTER going through what seemed to be a not so easy transition to this diet, was definitely an eye opener.  When we first eliminated the gluten and casein from Josh's diet, as well as our own, all we knew was that clean meats, fruits, and veggies were safe.  We had to do a lot of research to find out what kinds of cereals, breads, chips, sauces, desserts, juices and drinks were safe.  Along with that, we also had to find what medicines were safe as well as shampoos, soaps, lotions, toothpaste, and lip balms. When you think of diet changes, you only think of things you eat and drink, you do not give any thought to the fact that gluten, more so than casein, is present in other products as well.  Products that when you touch them can be absorbed into your body through your skin.  The changes you have to make when committing to this diet change your entire lifestyle, which is never an easy thing to do.  There were times when we were discouraged and annoyed and felt like giving up.  There were times we just wanted to go back to our old lifestyle, but we told ourselves we had to stick to this, that we had to be committed to this change for Josh!  We needed to find something that worked for him, something that helped him to feel safe and comfortable in his own skin.  Well needless to say, this difficult lifestyle change did just that...almost 1 year later and Josh is a totally different kid!  All the hard work, all the research, all the trial and error, the financial burden that the diet brings with it...all worth it!  It may have not been easy getting where we are today, but I have learned  that when you want something bad enough, you do anything you need to do to get it.  Today Josh still has Asperger's Syndrome and ADHD, but his symptoms are lessened greatly and on most days Asperger's is not even something that seems to slow him down.