Do you ever find yourself consumed in the latest food trends? One month it's avocados at every meal because they are the greatest superfood of all time, and the next month it's a 30-day vegan-ism lifestyle. If you are familiar with these fads, then you can understand how difficult they are to navigate and how they can fade as fast as they were started. But what if you couldn't break this trendy new lifestyle?

The summer before seventh grade was the year my mom began diving into healthier living. Only organic, no GMO, no processed food, no dairy, and no gluten. Before my family realized it, we were all eating this way and had suddenly stopped eating the way we once did. I didn't realize the effect until months later.

Like every school function in middle school, they had chips, cookies, pop (soda for everyone else besides Michigan), and the infamous deep dish pizza from Jet's with it's equally as an amazing ranch. It hadn't occurred to me that it had been months since I last ate this food, and I had no idea the pain I was about to endure.

Within hours, I was sick as a dog. My face swelled; my stomach hurt; I was irritable; it was awful. The only thing my parents and doctor could think caused it was pizza and cookies I had eaten. It turns out I was gluten intolerant.

Now having Celiacs and having an intolerance to gluten are two different things. I can eat gluten (which is a terrible idea) and it is not life-threatening. However, I have symptoms like swelling, irritability, and stomach issues that last for days.

In the beginning, it was rough, it was a constant struggle trying to find good foods that were gluten-free. Bread was the most difficult of all. Being Greek, bread is a staple. The first 4 months were the toughest, but after that, it began to get easier, and I started to realize the good that followed.

For the most part, most of my stomach issues went away as well as most of my acne. The biggest change I saw in just a matter of two months was the weight that I lost, especially on my face.

So here I am 7 years later, for the most part, gluten-free. I can count the number of times I've eaten gluten in the past 7 years on one hand. It has to be something amazing for me to be willing to get sick for a week to eat gluten. Even though I have found delicious alternatives to gluten it is still a struggle. Going out to eat, school functions, etc. But for the most part, it's the people.

The usual comments are "I tried that for a week, it was rough" or "that sucks," or my personal favorite, "I bet you're really not allergic, people fake it." Some people have to live their lives being gluten-free and some people just don't get it.

In the long run, I see how this has been better for me health-wise. This helped me realize that there are things that aren't good for me like dairy, processed foods, and of course gluten.

And I know this is not a fad, this is a lifestyle.