Attitude of Gratitude

I began learning to cook gluten-free late in the year of 2002. At the time I was seeking to understand more about the candida diet when I discovered how gluten grains feed candida. I had been eating a low carbohydrate, dairy-free and sugar-free diet, but not gluten-free . At this point I had been so sick that I was willing to do anything to heal myself of this persistent infection and began attempting to cook gluten-free.

As you may imagine, I experienced many challenges. Internet research was new to me, and I didn't know anyone who had ever done this. I kept working in my kitchen turning out many failures. The bitter taste of too much stevia is forever etched in my mind. Then there were the rock hard biscuits that reminded me of those made by Elly May Clampett from the TV show, The Beverly Hillbillies. Can you hear that laughter? Just ask my kids about the goldfish crackers and they will give you a look with big eyes and a screwed up face and tell you how awful they were. We look back on those days now and laugh, because we all learned a valuable life lesson: our greatest struggles can become our greatest victories - we just need to keep trying and not give up.

It's kind of funny to me that recently Linda, The Gluten-Free Homemaker nominated me for the Attitude of Gratitude award. For you see the week before I received the nomination it had been a very difficult week where I struggled with the symptoms of detoxification. During this process I couldn't find much to feel grateful for when my cognitive abilities were diminished and my body presented with weakness at the shedding of many stored toxins. I'm grateful for making my way through the week and the past years of this process knowing I'm avoiding what could have been something worse down the road.

Now I have the honor to hand this award to one of my friends, Cathy, who writes about her life and beautiful family while going through the process of healing her rheumatoid arthritis with natural supplementation, a gluten-free diet and alternative doctors. I admire her attitude of gratefulness even while she might be in pain. Her friendship is a precious gift that I would never have known if I had not been gluten-free. Thanks Cathy for being an inspiration!

Your instructions are:

• put the logo on your blog or post
• nominate at least 10 blogs that show an an attitude of gratitude
• link to your nominees within your post
• comment on their blogs to let them know they've received this award
• share the love and link to this post and the person who nominated you for the award
• tell us how you've come to have an attitude of gratitude

Thank you Linda for nominating me and sharing your story and wonderful gluten-free recipes with us.

Exodus 15:2

The Lord is my strength and my song;
he has given me victory.
This is my God, and I will praise him—
my father’s God, and I will exalt him!

Bless you all,

Debbie