Going Gluten Free

What do you regret from your early days of having celiac?  When you first went gluten-free, what mistakes did you make? How overwhelmed were you?  What are you happy you did?

Five things.  For today, I have just five things that I wish I'd known.

1. Let yourself be pissed.  There's a lot of positivity out there on the interwebs about going gluten-free.  And it's justified.  Certainly if you've been undiagnosed for any period of time, it feels like a miracle to finally get a reason for years of illness.  But let's just be clear.  It also sucks.  It sucks hard and, truly, there are aspects of it that suck forever.  Get mad about that.  Don't feel the need to be Pollyanna every day.  It'll annoy me.  
2. Don't go spend a fortune on processed food.  It is tempting to, as you purge your home of glutenous things, replace them with the gluten-free equivalents.  These are expensive.  They are usually filled with fattening, unhealthy fillers.  With some exceptions, they taste not-so-very good.  Particularly when you first go gluten-free and your body is healing, it is super important to eat well.  It is easier to heal when you feed yourself well.
3. Don't cheat, but don't beat yourself up if you slip. Self-explanatory.  It'll happen.  After five years with this disease, I still screw up.  
4. Explore unfamiliar cuisines.  When I was first diagnosed, I struggled with shopping.  I was trying to make all my old favorite foods gluten-free.  This is not so easy with things like macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, pizza, hamburgers, all the typical American foods.  It took a few months, but it finally occurred to me that Thai, Indian, Ethiopian foods are all typically naturally gluten-free.  Eating those is just simpler.
5. Prep your kitchen.  You'll be less likely to poison yourself if you have sufficient tools.  If you're using porous wooden spoons, those are tough to clean thoroughly.  If you toast glutenous bread in your toaster, you'll likely contaminate your gluten-free bread by toasting it in the same place.  If you put an open box of crackers on top of your open box of gluten-free cereal, you can just imagine the potential repercussions.  Separate and label your foods.  Get a separate toaster.  

Take care of yourself.  It'll get easier.