“National Gluten-Free Day is a holiday that’s observed annually on the second Monday of January. This is a day that raises awareness about gluten-free diets and how they can be beneficial to those with certain health concerns and/or food allergies.” National Day Today

Welcome to my world. A gluten “challenged” / intolerant one I didn’t even realize that I was part of until well into adulthood. Awareness (via diagnosis) of a lifelong, life-altering food allergy after an entire childhood, four years of college and many years thereafter, encumbered with congestion and needing to have a box of tissues on the ready at all times. Normalized affliction. For decades.

At a medical appointment for something entirely unrelated (so I thought), at the office of a progressive group of midtown doctors I saw at the time (early 2000’s), the doctor I saw that day suggested I try an elimination diet for a week to see if ….