To make a long story short, I may be allergic to wheat. A couple of years ago I had a skin patch test and a skin biopsy. Based on the results, my dermatologist suspected that a food allergy was responsible for my very annoying eczema. She referred me to an allergist. I opted not to follow up. Now my naturopathic oncologist suspects a wheat allergy and suggested that I try going gluten free for a couple of weeks and see what happens. Since my cancer treatment put me into menopause, I am experiencing an increase in eczema flare-ups. So my skin is even more annoying than usual.

I love wheat. I really, really love wheat. Bread and pasta, yum, yum, yum. I eat very little in the way of prepared food so I’m not so worried about hidden wheat. I have to tell you though, the corn and rice pasta noodles look gross. Also, I’m not crazy about increasing the amount of corn in my diet. Corn is in everything!

I just whipped up my very first batch of gluten-free bread dough. It looked doughy. The ingredients were incredibly expensive—sorghum, brown rice, and tapioca flours. I forgot about the xanthum gum. That was a fortune but I only needed two tablespoons. If this ends up being a more frequent baking project, I’m going to go to a store with bulk bins of this stuff, sold by weight.

I’ll let you know how it goes.