The Lymie

So my 13 years of living a vegetarian lifestyle came to a screeching halt due to two main things: getting Lyme Disease and subsequently becoming gluten intolerant. I was first diagnosed with tick borne Lyme Disease in the late summer of 2009, but I probably became infected many months or even years earlier from the bite of a deer tick. I was one of those lucky people that never developed the initial, early symptoms of Lyme. So, the bacteria spread through my body and eventually to my brain. Truth be told, I had been feeling tired, run down, mentally foggy, and generally crappy for a long time, but my then doctor told me to just take a vacation. I came back even more tired. Then she suggested that I was going into menopause. At 37??!! My second doctor discovered the Lyme. My symptoms had progressed to be neurological (memory loss, tingling in my hands and feet), arthritic (swollen, calcified joints in my hands, feet and knees), and other weirdness we won't discuss.

One of the many side effects of Lyme Disease and long term antibiotic treatment is that the body sometimes develops allergies among many other oddities. I started getting horrible stomach cramps when I ate bread, pasta, and especially when I drank beer (horrors!). I soon discovered that I had become gluten intolerant, also called idiopathic gluten sensitivity (IGS) which arises from an "unknown" cause. Some people with gluten intolerance get diagnosed with Coeliac Disease. I was tested for Coeliac, but came back negative. The bottom line was I had to start eating a gluten free diet. Possibly forever. Which meant giving up all bread, pasta, pizza, crackers, pretty much all prepared foods, most restaurant foods, and beer.
Here's the rub: I basically existed on gluten as a vegetarian. If I couldn't eat gluten, what was left?

The answer was meat. I felt so awful, I would have done anything to just feel healthy again. So I made the jump back into being an omnivore. The problem was I hadn't eaten meat for 13 years. I had never even learned how to cook it properly. That was about to change...