As it turns out, I think that the Fires and smoke in the air were just contributing to my ill feeling. As the fires came and went, my allergies still kicked in. I was getting really frustrated and was trying everything. I started thinking that maybe it was a food allergy that I had and started the process of elimation.

I tried eliminating things that I’ve heard that people I knew were allergic to, like eggs, milk, peanuts, etc. Nothing seemed to work though. Then one morning, I woke up feeling good for a change and thought about my diet as I cooked breakfast for myself. During that week I had eliminated milk from my diet which meant I wasn’t eating my typical huge bowl of cereal every morning which I kind of missed. Anyhow, I sat down to the table and ate my whole grain wheat bagel and banana. Then it struck me about 5 minutes after finishing, I had the worst asthma attack I’d ever had. I ran for my rescue inhaler and had seemingly figured out my allergies to be wheat related since all I ate was a wheat bagel and a banana. I couldn’t imagine the banana doing much damage. I remembered that I used to have an employee who worked for me a couple years back that had celiac disease, which meant that she couldn’t get anywhere near gluten. From my research I found out that gluten is one of the proteins found in wheat. So, I started doing a little more research on this whole gluten thing and got introduced to a whole new world. Apparently it’s very common to be intolerant or allergic to gluten. Both terms are completely different by the way. Intolerant means that you get sick when you eat it, and an allergic reaction gluten is totally different. Both of these conditions can later lead to celiac disease along with other complications if ignored.

It turns out that one of my good friends here in Santa Barbara is allergic to gluten and turned me on to a slew of information. Ryan Swink of Swink Chiropractic is his name and here’s his free plug for his website: www.swinkchiropractic.com He sent me this link to a doctor in Texas that specializes in this type of disorder and I learned a ton of information from his site. Another free plug: http://towncenterwellness.com/resources-products/gluten-free/

So, I’ve now been gluten-free for about 6 weeks and I feel like a different person. I have way more energy, I feel better, and I have a more positive outlook generally speaking. I should mention that I have not gotten any recommendations from doctors and have not been diagnosed with a gluten allergy. This could all be coincidence, but for now, I feel good and I’m loving it. So, I’ll keep it going and am not too worried about not drinking beer or eating bread. I could really care less.