I met a lady in Walmart after I overheard her speak of gluten-free options in the store to her husband. Then I found her again to share about the options available at Aldi. She seemed to not know.

In September of 2019, I discovered that I had to stop eating gluten because it was causing me side pains, cramps, bloating, instant gut problems, arm numbness, and migraines. Nine days without it, all those problems stopped. I only get migraines now when the atmospheric pressure changes, it rains, or my shoulder muscles start feeling sore in the morning, and usually two Ibuprofen pills clear that pain up within four hours. Ever since that discovery, I have become more sensitive to gluten that just a tiny amount I start feeling cramps or a migraine within fifteen minutes or less.

In some restaurants, they know what it is and in others they say they know but then bring out fried food with batter or croutons on my salad, which I send back. Most of the time, I have to tell them the items to take off the plate when I make the order. I have to admit that when I first heard about it, I didn’t understand the word. Through out my life, I’ve seen people bring their own sandwich to meals. I’ve asked and I’ve heard that they can’t have gluten but it didn’t sink in until I had to leave it out of my diet. Gluten is found in wheat, barley, rye, MSG, soy sauce, and sunflower seeds (when processed in the same plant as wheat). I had to stop eating at McDonald’s and left sushi. I can’t eat any foods unless I scrutinize the menu and ingredients first. As a good side affect, between September 2019 and now, February 2021, I’ve lost 60 pounds and counting.

In the neighborhood Walmart, they have a section dedicated to gluten-free items. I was happy to see Oreo cookies there after some time and gravy. Walmart also sells a gluten-free spaghetti and only offers two brand boxes of gluten-free pizza. In Aldi, they sell gluten-free meatballs in the cold shelves, an end cap of cereals and granola, cake and cookie mixes, cookies, and they used to have the bread on that end cap but since moved it over to the bread aisle. I’ve also discovered pizza choices and Kombucha on the cold shelves. MingFu, in the next strip mall, has a gluten-free menu if you ask.

If you have any suggestions for places to eat in Waxhaw that have gluten-free options, I’d like to hear from you in the comments.