In April 2008 my daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 3.5yrs – it was devastating at the time. Whizz forward 18mths and she was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease at 5yrs old – double whammy! I’d been baking all my life, there are photo’s somewhere in my mum’s albums of the celebration cakes I made and decorated in my teens. To suddenly find my gorgeous daughter was diagnosed with two long long auto immune diseases knocked me for six. My baking days were in jeopardy.
Baking once more but now gluten free
After a few months I brushed myself off and started experimenting with baking again. I brought loads of books to ease my transition into the world of gluten free. Guess what, I’ve sold them all since, you heard me, every single one of them! I used ‘normal’ recipes and adapted them.
Then, as my confidence grew, I began to develop an amazing skill. I like to think its my superpower, but basically I can bake anything gluten free and make anything gluten free for family dinners too. That is some statement to type here in black and white but I honestly believe it can be done.
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How Glutarama started
The idea of a blog had been ping-ponging around my mind for some time. People kept telling me I should write a book or something similar, maybe something to illustrate the complexities of life with a Type 1 and Coeliac child. I’ve written about the two conditions here in A day in the life of Diabetes and Coeliac Disease! I love to educate people about Beth’s medical conditions and I share my thoughts, experiences, trials and tribulations on Glutarama in my Behind the Scenes category.
But as I wrote about our lives I felt better. This gave me more motivation to go back to baking and I typed up the recipes. Before I knew it, people were commenting on the bakes and loved my recipes.
The person behind Glutarama
So, I’m Rebecca and I gave up a 15 year career working with young adults when I narrowly avoided a nervous breakdown. The fact is, I was spinning too many plates at once and during my time off work ill, six months to be precise, I gradually came to realise that being a mum was my primary job, my children needed me to be 100% well in both mind and body and have the strength to guide them through each obstacle course.
Bethany
Bethany (born 2004), has Type 1 Diabetes (diagnosed 10.04.08) Coeliac Disease (diagnosed 18.08.2009) and also struggles off and on with a condition called Pica.
Beth grew up with a ‘who cares’ attitude to her diagnosis’ but the teens have hit her like a truck and some days can be very difficult indeed. In 2019 she was finally diagnosed with Autism and as a away to elp Beth put her thoughts and concerns into words I gave her a corner of my blog to do just that. You can read about Autism in Beth’s words here in My personal experience with autism by Bethany. R. Smith.
Lewis
In 2017 Lewis (born 2006) was diagnosed with Autism, Sensory Processing Disorder and Anxiety. It was a really, really tough time as you can see in this post Autism vs School; the child’s right to an education.
We’re learning about Lewis’ ASD every day and we have direct experience that no two people with autism are the same.
Thus both children have conditions that often leave me feeling an extreme lack of control, and control is something I feel I must have in order to cope!
This site and my blog began as part of my self therapy, I was exhausted spinning all those plates. With the strong urge to regain some control within this drama I decided that my fingers could help to alleviate some of that negative energy, even as I type now, beating down on the keyboard, I can feel an element of calm wash over me, and that can’t be a bad thing can it?
We’re called Glutarama because the gluten free baking is actually the happy ending to each drama, whilst some may be pulling their hair out over perfecting the worlds best gluten free Victoria Sponge, I simply love to bake, recipe develop and create something from scratch. My sister actually came up with the name, we were playing with ‘gluten free’ sounding words and I kept joking about how everything was a drama…and hey-presto Glutarama was born.
So, if you’re interested, come follow me and my family in the challenges and toils of Type 1 Diabetes, ASD and Coeliac Disease and take comfort in the that fact that we’re just your non-average family dealing with non-average challenges…because no one’s truly average right?
Recommended sites if you affected by any of these issues: Coeliac UK | JDRF | National Autistic Society