Do not follow where the path may lead.

Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Chapter 1

Our Personal Journeys from Both Sides of the Table

Chapter Overview

We view life as a series of journeys which lead to new adventures. Every journey has its ups and downs, from positive moments that you always want to savor to those so painful that you may want to forget. Most journeys and adventures typically take unexpected twists and turns which give us the opportunity to learn something about ourselves, others and life in general.

From our perspective, the only failures in life are when we do not learn from these opportunities. As the saying goes, every education has its tuition. We would like to share our journeys with you, the reader, to provide our first hand insights reflecting:

• Kim’s journey to embracing the gluten and gluten / wheat free life
• Robert’s journey in dealing with special diets: The other side of the table

Kim’s Journey to Embracing the Gluten and gluten / wheat free Life

I’ve definitely had my fair share of twists and turns with their accompanying lessons along the path called life. Writing our first book as well as this enhanced edition has forced me to summarize my experiences and make sense of them. It’s amazing how much I had forgotten or blocked out of my mind.

My health concerns over the years include 12 orthopedic surgeries, multiple broken bones and over 3 years of physical therapy, combined with 9-plus years of digestive disorders, skin conditions, fatigue, joint inflammation and misdiagnosis. It finally all made sense in 2002, when I was diagnosed with celiac / coeliac disease as well as dozens of food allergies and environmental intolerances. Then in 2008, I was diagnosed with osteopenia.

Although many of my health lessons have been extremely challenging, I think of them as gifts and something to be appreciated. I did sometimes question how I was going to get through all of them in one piece. Sometimes, that light at the end of the tunnel did seem like it had been turned off, yet in the end they were each unusual learning opportunities!

Looking back, I am now very thankful for each of these experiences which have led to my current path in life. Despite my health challenges, I continue to enjoy being as athletic as possible while having fun with family and friends. I am very grateful that I traveled extensively prior to my diagnosis of celiac / coeliac and food allergies, and still love exploring the world to this day. I also appreciate all of the opportunities, both personal and professional, that I have had to live, work and experience local cultures first-hand on four continents as an international management consultant. Working with global clients and traveling while safely eating outside my home continues to be an integral part to embracing my gluten and gluten / wheat free lifestyle.

I would like to share my story with you, in the hope that it may help with your unique adventures. My journeys are organized within the following six areas:

• Early evidence of allergies and intolerances
• Adventures in traveling
• My journey with sports and health
• Discovery and diagnosis
• The road to empowerment
• Thanks to family, friends and restaurants

Early Evidence of Allergies and Intolerances

Ever since I was a young girl, I’ve been allergic to cats, fish and seafood. My throat starts to close, my eyes water and breathing is difficult. Sometimes, I feel nauseous, start sneezing and wheezing. In my teenage years, after experiencing skin reactions, it was determined through the process of elimination that I was allergic to goose feathers, down and wool. I also had reactions to various chemicals and additives in detergents, soaps, creams and make-up.

In my mid 20’s, I had swollen and blood shot eyes. Again, through the process of elimination, my optometrist determined that this was an allergic reaction to thimersol, a chemical in some saline solutions for contact lenses. It still makes me laugh thinking about the questions I received from friends concerning my appearance during that time!

In my late 20’s, I experienced bladder issues which were extremely rare for my age. After visiting numerous specialists and extensive testing, I consulted with my general physician. Based on her recommendation, I removed caffeine as the first part of my elimination diet. My condition improved slightly; however, the symptoms were still occurring. Next, she identified another potential culprit—aspartame. After eliminating all foods with aspartame from my diet, the issues were immediately resolved. I was so relieved that we had finally figured it out. I am eternally grateful to this physician for identifying the causes of these symptoms.

A few months later, I realized that I had the tendency to get sick within 30 to 60 minutes after eating Chinese food. Once again, through the process of elimination and investigation, we determined that Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) was the cause of my reactions.

Another situation occurred within a few minutes of receiving anesthesia for one of my surgeries. My throat started to close up and my breathing became extremely labored. Realizing that I was having an allergic reaction, I found out that they had given me penicillin. Luckily, I remembered that my great aunt had died from a shot of penicillin, so I was grateful that they immediately counteracted my reaction with an injection. Looking back, these may have been early warning signs of things to come. I just wasn’t aware of my level of sensitivities at the time. In hindsight, there was a definite pattern emerging which unfortunately took over 15 years to fully decipher.

Adventures in Traveling

I’ve always been very fascinated by new places, people and cultures. The first time I realized my love for traveling was when I was five years old and my family drove from Chicago to my Aunt Greta’s farm in Ohio. Throughout my childhood, for two weeks every summer, my family and I trekked throughout the United States and Canada in a camper trailer, exploring different destinations and experiencing new adventures. I loved it! For my 8th grade graduation present, my parents gave me the choice of flying to New York to visit relatives or a new bicycle. I chose the trip, of course, and still remember where I was sitting on the plane to this day!

Hearing my grandparents occasionally recite phrases in French and German always intrigued me. I started taking French lessons at the age of 13 and adored learning languages. One of my teachers in high school even taught me Spanish in her spare time after class. My first trip to Europe was at the age of 16 with my French class as an early high school graduation present. After falling in love with Paris, my new criteria for choosing a university focused on two areas: a study abroad program and a Big 10 sports program.

During my third year of college, I lived in Strasbourg, France and studied all of my courses in French. My diet primarily consisted of baguettes (French bread), petit pains au chocolat (chocolate croissants), yogurt and cheese. I backpacked through Europe, played tour guide when friends and family came to visit and felt great physically. To this day, I still meet friends in Paris every year to enjoy the culture and, of course, the outdoor cafés.

After graduating from Purdue University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in the French language with a minor in business, I worked with domestic corporate clients for six years. I then earned my Masters in International Management at the Thunderbird School of Global Management and met lots of excellent friends along the way.

For the next 17 years, as a global business consultant with Accenture, the world’s leading management consulting firm, I worked with clients all over the world. Leveraging my expertise in customer interaction solutions, I managed diverse project teams across global customer relationship management (CRM), worldwide technologies and business integration practices. We collaborated with cross-industry Fortune 500 clients delivering innovative sales and service engagements on four continents, including 12 first-ever industry leading implementations.

Discovering life and cultures in South America, Europe and Australia was also extremely rewarding, both personally and professionally. I lived in Sao Paulo for seven months, Sydney for five months, Turin for three months and numerous European locations such as Geneva, London, Munich and Prague for one to two months. While living in these countries, I learned conversational skills in Italian and Portuguese. Throughout this time, I continued to avoid foods that I knew did not agree with me and managed my knee-related problems.

Working in North America, my travel typically involved flying two to eight times a week. I consulted with clients from New York to San Francisco, Dallas to Toronto, Los Angeles to Washington DC, Montreal to Mexico City and everywhere in between.

Working my way up the corporate ladder to Partner, I loved my clients, my career and almost every minute of my personal and business travel. Since establishing GlutenFree Passport® and AllergyFree Passport®, I have continued working with clients and organizations across the globe enabling me to travel to Australia, Europe,...