By Lindsey Burke

How A Gluten And Dairy Free Diet Helped Me Heal

My Journey Started When I Was Just 4 Years Old

The journey to how a gluten and dairy free diet helped me heal began when I was four.  Like any normal four year old, I went to receive my Kindergarten vaccinations and immediately after receiving the shots – within 30 minutes – the petite mal (absence) seizures started.  The doctors did all of the usual tests that they do and confirmed the fact that 100’s of petite mal (absence) seizures were occurring in my brain each day.  They recommended pharmaceuticals and told my parents that this was a normal thing for kids my age and that we would check again once I hit puberty, because many times kids tend to ‘outgrow’ the seizures and can get off of all the medications.  We tried the route recommended by my doctors to stop seizures, anti-seizure medication, for a very short time.  It wasn’t long (just several days) before I developed severe reactions to the medications.  It was a very scary thing being a then five year old who had no idea as to why she felt like her body was on fire and why no one could make it stop.  It was at this point that my mom sought out a Naturopath who said that the first thing that needed to to be done to stop seizures due to heavy metals was to try and remove the heavy metals from my body as soon as possible.

We Tried So Many Things To Stop Seizures

I have to give major props to my parents for getting me, a challenging and picky five year old, to do the natural heavy metal removal protocols that were necessary to stop seizures due to heavy metal toxicity.  Growing up, we learned to ‘deal’ with the petite mal seizures, and adjusted life as was needed.  The 100’s of little seizures (which look like zone-out spells to everyone else) that occurred each day became a normal part of life.  Because I was so young when the seizures started, I didn’t really remember life as anything else.  This was just a normal part of my life that I knew not a lot of people around me understood, I just didn’t know why they didn’t understand.

Grand Mal Catamenial Seizures Started At Puberty

Up until the time that I hit puberty, we had no idea the toll that the heavy metals and other vaccine additives were truly taking on my body, and had no idea of the downward spiral of my health that was about to occur.  Fast forward to 15 years old, about two years after my menstrual cycle started, and I began also having grand mal seizures throughout my cycle (Catamenial Seizures).  This started a whole new set of issues, concerns, lifestyle changes and more.  As time went on,  the grand mal’s happened more and more often throughout all of the hormone changes during my cycle. (For more about the hormone related seizures and how we treated them as well, click here).

The Gut Brain Connection To Stop Seizures

At that point, my parents realized that the doctor’s ‘prognosis’ to stop seizures by puberty wasn’t the path that we were going to experience.  We knew that we needed to do something different, something more.  That is where Passionate For Truth truly began.  My parents began researching intensively.  We sought out alternative professionals and tried everything we could think of to reverse and stop seizures that seemed to be increasing with time.  We would get bits and pieces of information regarding re-building health from some, but overall, most others were of no help.  We realized that it was up to us to figure things out.

I don’t know what I would have done without my parents and their constant research, support and encouragement for me to push onward and continue to follow their (and God’s) lead.  They helped me to be willing to try the sometimes seemingly never ending, supplements, diets, detoxes, exercises, etc… anything and everything you could possibly imagine! Without God and my ever faithful family, there is no way I could have ever made it through many of these past years while trying to stop seizures!

When my mom came across research about the gut-brain connection, she began to understand the dangers of gluten, and even grain and dairy on the brain through the damage that those things can do to the gut.  That is where the start of a gluten and dairy free diet began to stop seizures in my life.

How A Gluten And Dairy Free Diet Helped Me Heal My Migraines And Seizures

I Started With Gluten Free Diet Changes

In our effort to stop seizures, let alone recover my other spiraling health issues, we began with gluten and dairy free diet changes that were easy.  First we started with gluten.  One thing at a time is the only way to do it, otherwise you most likely won’t stick with it at all – it’s too big of a challenge!  I got rid of loaves of bread and snack crackers in the house, and started using all of the packaged ‘gluten and dairy free diet’ foods like bread mixes, gluten free rice noodles, and pre-made gluten free snacks.  Although the original gluten free diet changes (before I was fully on a gluten and dairy free diet) helped a bit in the way of less migraines, we realized that there seemed to be a lot of cross contamination in the packaged gluten free products due to their manufacturing.  After about 6 months of solely a gluten free diet, our efforts turned into a gluten and grain free diet.  See what I mean?  One step at a time if you are changing to a gluten and dairy free diet for your health recovery.  After mourning the loss of bread, pizza, crackers and other snacks and desserts, my mom wanted me to try removing corn, rice and oats as well.  No fun.  I was mad.  What was I supposed to eat?  As I began to adjust to that additional change (my mom began eating the same way as me to support me and help me to not feel alone), I saw even more changes in my health (she did in her health too!).  My daily headache wasn’t as strong.  My energy was getting a little bit better.  I was getting used to eating a lot more potatoes and actually started enjoying more veggies than I ever had before.

I Knew I Had To Change To A Gluten And Dairy Free Diet

The last step of what started as my gluten free, then gluten and grain free diet later included removing dairy.  There you go.  Gluten and dairy free diet with a twist of grain for good measure!  With my seizures, we made an absolute, obvious connection between when I ate dairy and my seizure activity.  So now my gluten and dairy free diet was complete; no cheese (my favorite), no ice cream, the works.  That was it – I felt like my life was over as far as food choices went, but my health was getting better, so I knew I needed to keep moving forward.

How A Gluten And Dairy Free Diet Became My Passion

What Do You Do When You Love Gluten And Dairy?

Growing up I always loved to bake. For most of my childhood my knowledge of baking consisted of following the directions on the box, or a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Slowly but surely, I started looking up recipes and learning how to follow them. I ended up becoming quite the baker. When I knew I had to have a gluten and dairy free diet for my health, I stopped baking all together.  It was too frustrating baking for everyone else when I couldn’t enjoy anything that I had put so much time and effort into making. It was upsetting and saddening that I couldn’t eat like a normal person anymore. So much so that I wanted to cry, and did cry on many occasions, especially when I got back home whenever I went out with friends. I didn’t feel like I was normal or a part of the group. I felt like I was all alone and no one else understood what I was going through and dealing with. I hated having to say no every time someone offered me something to eat or drink, because I didn’t know what was in it. I hated being looked at with pity or like I was weird. I hated everything about it to be honest. I came to the point of being so sick of not feeling normal, however, that I decided to change how I was handling things.  I needed to figure out a way to eat the way I needed to, while being able to feel normal again. When I realized my health and my happiness depended on it,  I started teaching myself how to cook and change recipes so that I was capable of eating them. Substituting root vegetables like yuca for my pizza dough, or yuca and plantains for my tortillas was just the start.  It was a lot of work, super frustrating and disappointing at times, but when an idea/recipe actually worked and tasted good it was so exciting! Even on a gluten and dairy free diet I could have cookies! French fries! Cake! Brownies! Tortillas! Slowly but surely the list of things I could eat started getting bigger. I wasn’t missing out on as many things and my friends ended up wanting to eat what I brought, rather than what they had ordered off of the menu.

How A Gluten And Dairy Free Diet Makes It Worth It

The changes we saw when removing those food groups and embracing a gluten and dairy free diet was astonishing. The longer I went along in my gluten and dairy free diet, the fewer the petite mal seizures. the longer periods of time I had in between the daily migraines and monthly grand mal seizure attacks. My energy improved.  The dark circles under my eyes disappeared.  My blood sugar crashes tied to my thyroid deficiency became non-existent.  The healthier my body became because of just these lifestyle changes, the less frequent the symptoms became – almost to the point of nonexistence.  When I saw the difference that simply changing how I ate made, I knew there was no going back for me.

How Easy Is It To Change To A Gluten And Dairy Free Diet?

Now, I’m not saying that changing your lifestyle and how you eat is simple.  It isn’t.  I won’t lie to you; it can be a long, tiring, frustrating, and sometimes disheartening process.  But in the end, it is completely worth the work that you put into it and you won’t want to go back when you see the drastic results that I did.

I have been through the ups and downs of the lifestyle changing process; I know how difficult it can be. I have had to learn a whole new world of food.  A whole new way of looking at food as nutrition.  A whole new way of eating and overall food prep and cooking.  Untold hours in the kitchen trying to re-create foods that I felt had been stripped from my life has turned into my passion.  Finding out that I don’t have to live without tortillas or cookies, breakfast breads or amazing desserts has brought joy from my pain and given me a hope and a purpose.

How A Gluten And Dairy Free Diet Can Change Your Life

I am now capable of saying with hope and encouragement that I am on the other side and well into complete recovery!  I no longer suffer from multiple migraines a week, and my daily headache is no longer there.  My energy has been renewed, which I have to say is absolutely wonderful!  Best of all, I have been able to stop seizures, in no small part thanks to my gluten and dairy free diet.  Because of this I am now working, taking college courses, and involved in my family’s missionary/ministry efforts, have my own baking business, and have written and published my first gluten and dairy free diet cookbook, Sinlessly Savory Gluten Free Holiday Recipes (That Actually Taste Good!).

Health Changes Can Take Time

Throughout my healing journey, I had my setbacks before I became 100% seizure free.  The most notable part in the beginning was that the amount of time in between bad days and seizure activity grew!  I now know that this is normal for those on the road to recovery to have setbacks, so I can encourage others to continue to pick themselves up, move forward and keep pressing on toward what’s in store for them!

Looking back to how I was suffering, I realize how my family was suffering right along with me in their own way.  All of our difficulties as well as all of the health concerns that seemed to keep piling on seemed endless.  When I compare all of that to where I am today, I can say with confidence that reversing your condition is truly possible.  I have personally proven that there are ways that you can change your diet to help stop seizures.  Changing to a gluten and dairy free diet may not be the only thing that you do (it wasn’t for me either), and it’s not fun in any way shape or form, but it is possible.  It is one of the most difficult things you will ever do.  It causes a constant battle within yourself that seems unbearable at times.  As someone who’s been there,  speaking from experience, it is also one of the most rewarding struggles you can conquer.

I Know You Can Do It!

I don’t know what you are battling or what your struggle is, but I do know the feeling of being willing to do whatever it takes to fix it and keep moving forward!  As someone who’s been through a lot, I want to encourage you to please consider researching for yourself. learning from my story, and using the resources that my mom is sharing on Passionate For Truth. She is trying to use my story as the catalyst for what not only has become my recovery, but for many others to recover, stop seizures and heal as well.

How A Gluten And Dairy Free Diet Is Possible During The Holidays

Holidays eating is tough. Especially when you’re trying to eat a specific way and not everyone else does the same. They have no reason to understand how or why you eat the way that you do. I’ve been there.  You’re looking at a holiday feast, questioning if there is even a single dish on that table that won’t do you in. The most common answer to that question is usually a big fat NO….and there you are,  feeling hungry and left out.

Here’s How You Can Start Your Gluten And Dairy Free Diet

I’ve found a way to turn the answer into a big fat YES. With the recipes that I have included in my Gluten Free Holiday Recipes cookbook, I have created gluten and dairy free diet friendly recipes specifically geared toward the holiday side dishes and sweets we all know and love.  You’ll be able to stuff yourself silly at your next holiday feast and feel good!  No more worrying about anything – just enjoying the tasty goodness that’s about to enter your belly making you feel like you are normal again.

How My Gluten And Dairy Free Diet Holiday Recipe Cookbook Can Help You Transition

As I’ve been creating my own menus, meal plans and foods for myself, by outstretch of that my friends and family have been along for the ride on my healing foods journey.  When they started wanting the gluten and dairy free diet dishes  that I could eat much more over the food that I was cooking for them (that I couldn’t eat!), I realized that I was onto something that could be a game-changer for others like me.

Recognizing that I’m not the only one who is trying to change things for my health, I decided to try and help others who are trying to figure things out and make it easier for them by perfecting my recipes to share.  This, for me, has not only made the transition easier, but enjoyable as well!

If I can do what I love, help someone who’s going through everything I went through, and make the process of changing to a gluten and dairy free diet easier for them?  For me, there’s nothing better.

It’s not just about finding gluten and dairy free diet recipes that you can actually eat,  it is finding the recipes that you WANT to eat.  Recipes that you will want to make over and over again that your family will love.  I wanted recipes that anyone who eats differently from you won’t even know the difference!

Healthy recipes so good they taste like you shouldn’t be eating them.  Gluten free.  Grain free.  Dairy free.  Sinlessly Savory.

The cookbook that I have written will allow you to bring gluten and dairy free diet dishes to a family holiday get together or church potluck without worrying about what you’re going to eat because you have brought something that you know you can!  Watch these recipes make people go back for more of your dish because it tastes so good, and have them not even notice the difference.

Enjoy the holidays again with these simple, delicious recipes.  Indulge sinlessly, with Sinlessly Savory!  Get a download copy of my ebook today!

Follow Me On My Gluten And Dairy Free Diet Journey

You can learn more about my story, and how I was able to stop seizures and migraine on my healing journey at www.passionatefortruth.com.  Also, be sure to like my Facebook page and follow me on Instagram for new gluten and dairy free diet meal ideas, recipes and future cookbooks.

I pray that you can find recovery, health and healing as well!

Lindsey –

Lindsey began her love of baking at a young age.  After her family moved to Costa Rica, the lack of restaurants where she lived fueled her love of baking and cooking even further.  Her own reasons for cooking at home from scratch have grown over time, as have her types of foods and her outlet for sharing them.

She served as the chef for the young adult interns who visited the family ministry during the summers in Costa Rica, bakes for short term missions teams working in the area, and sells her baked goods at various locations, restaurants and coffee shops throughout the San Ramon, Costa Rica region.

Sinlessly Savory Cookbooks And Recipes focus on her gluten and dairy free diet specialties.  She has plans in the works for sharing her specialty dishes at various markets in Panama in the near future as well.