I had read on many a PCOS group that gluten was not beneficial to those who struggled with PCOS. I would read that and say to myself, “Sure — that might be the case for you, but not me. I’m just fine eating gluten.” Why would I say this knowing that others with the same struggles were nearly screaming the need to get off of gluten?

Y’all, I come from a looooooooong line of wheat farmers. I even own land that produces WHEAT! Every summer, my family would help bring in the wheat harvest. Some of my favorite memories of those hot summers included riding in the dusty cab with my mom in the wheat truck and the times where she would let me crawl into the back of the wheat truck and play in the wheat with my brother while we waited for a wheat combine harvester to be full. (In fact, if you want to learn more about how wheat is harvested, you can check out this video which some might find interesting…) So, you can imagine why I was in denial thinking that even though my PCOS was flaring with cystic breakouts, weight gain, and hair loss, I thought that I only needed to get off of dairy and that would help. Can you say denial? That was me. Fully, 100 percent denial.

A little bit about my struggle with PCOS

I had come to the point where my joints hurt so bad, it was excruciatingly painful to walk the 15 paces from my bed to my bathroom each morning. I would grip the end of my bed frame, using it as a sort of crutch to help stabilize me and aid me in walking four paces as the pain shot up throughout my body. It got so bad, that my feet even began to hurt. I would comment to my husband about the pain and he wondered if I might have broken something in my feet – perhaps fissures. (Looking back, it was a major flare up for gout — I learned of this after reviewing my blood test results.)  So, every morning, after I fought thru the initial getting-out-of-bed pain, I would grab some Ibuprofen (thinking this would help my inflammation and reduce the pain). I would pop three of these pain pills in my mouth (not realizing this was hard on my liver and adding harmful metals to my body) along with two allergy pills and all my daily vitamins. Then, I would make my way to my chair where I would sit until the pain subsided as I sipped on tea (I use to sit and sip coffee before I got off caffeine) at least enough for me to get up and do a few things. I would avoid stairs. I would avoid getting up and ask for my kids to run and get me things. This. Was. Not. Living.

I felt horrible. And it just wasn’t a week or so of this, it was month after month. (And I write this not for you to have pity, but simply as a reminder to myself just how far I’ve come.) After fighting off three bad rounds of illness and feeling like I was constantly getting sick from November to February and tired of the pain, my frustration level with my health hit an all time high and I finally made an appointment with a naturopathic doctor my friend and recommended and it took her testing me and me seeing the results for me to come to terms that I was not only lactose intolerant, but intolerant to gluten, corn, and even rice. My doctor put me on the Blood Type Diet and gave me a list of foods that were beneficial and those to avoid based on how the lectins in each food interacted in my body based on blood type. She also adjusted my vitamins and helped me with a plan on when to take these nutrients throughout the day.

How I came across this recipe

I remember coming home that day and knowing that in order to make this transition and survive, I needed something that would resemble bread to me. I needed something to replace what I was taking away. I knew if I could find at least one thing, I could make it work in the short term. So I hopped onto Pinterest and began to deep dive into research mode, hoping to find something that would work for me. By the grace of God, I came across a post that featured a recipe that intrigued me on mynewroots.org and when I began poking around on her web site and looking at her recipes, my eye was drawn to her “Life Changing Cracker” recipe.  My eyes quickly scanned the ingredients. For the most part, I could have everything in it! Eureka! I found my bread replacement! I needed only to swap out the sunflower seeds (I chose to chop up some pecans) and instead of dividing the dough into two different kinds of crackers like she recommends, I added a mix of the two different cracker ingredients and loved the outcome.

Did my tribe go for these “Life Changing Crackers”?

My husband, who is diabetic, really likes these Life Changing Crackers as a snack. We take some goat cheese and/or some sun-dried tomato spread and 2-3 crackers would hold us over until meal time and it truly does satisfy. They are tasty with a dried fig on the side, too if we are craving something sweet. What’s more, my kids like them. This is huge! My kids are some of the biggest food critics out there and if they eat it, that says something to y’all! We even like smoothing some almond butter on it if we were missing peanut butter (yes, that was on the avoid list as well.)

Great for on “the go” or as a snack

I make a batch once a week (sometimes a double-batch because I have a crew of seven to feed). I keep them in a Zip-lock gallon size bag in the fridge and the kids know they can go to this as a snack resource (and that they should only eat a few). These also are a great grab and go item if you know you’ll be out and about running errands. They will be a life-saver if you find your blood sugar levels crashing (you often feel nausea if you’re pre-diabetic or diabetic when this happens.) I sent a bag of these with my hubby when he took the boys out fishing and it (along with a few other healthy snacks) helped him manage his blood sugar levels throughout the day until they had a meal.

Here’s how I made them (a few changes from her recipe):

Coming across this recipe was truly a boost in my faith and gave me the tools I needed to take a monumental step in saying goodbye to gluten as I sought to change my life. She did not stretch the truth when she named these crackers.

— Erin
PS: The wheat farmer’s granddaughter (that would be me) is gluten-free. And as a wheat grower, I may be looking into growing canola instead. Stay tuned on that one. 😉