In 2005 I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, which meant from that point on I could no longer eat anything that contained gluten. Finding this diagnosis took many, many years though. For years I had been experiencing abdominal pain and spasms. If I ate certain foods, my symptoms would be worse. After certain testing, doctors would say I must have IBS (Irritated Bowel Syndrome). They also said that I was stressed and should relax more. Relax was not in my vocabulary. After all, I have three children under the age of seven. Who wouldn’t be stressed? But during the summer my symptoms became worse. I started experiencing parenthesis (tingling in the hands, feet and actually at different times, all over). The joint pain had gotten so bad at times I couldn’t move parts of my body. Looking back now there was a lot of signs and discomforts along the way that I can attribute to my diagnosis of Celiac Disease.
Once diagnosed I quickly realized that most gluten free foods were tasteless and that I had to start finding my own recipes so the experimenting began. My family has always enjoyed eating mommy’s chocolate chip cookies so that was my first task. I sampled many gluten free cookies and was very disappointed. They were flavorless, in fact they were terrible. At this point, I knew I had to make my own gluten free chocolate chip cookie. After many attempts at trying to perfect the same flavor of chocolate chip cookies that I made before this disease came into my life, I believe I’ve found it. From there I guess you can say I became “mom the baker”. Then in 2007 I started baking in a dedicated gluten free kitchen in my home and experimented with other recipes. Soon word got out and I quickly realized that the celiac population was growing quite rapidly. I began selling my gluten free products to many local health food stores and in October 2008 I opened Sweet Christine’s Bakery. Everything I bake now is gluten free, organic and has no artificial flavorings or preservatives. This venture has become my passion. Being diagnosed with Celiac Disease has changed my life, but I think for the better. What a difference! The energy is amazing.