Why I broke up with dairy and gluten

My journey to no dairy and no gluten

I didn’t want to break up with dairy and gluten, truly I didn't. I loved them! The smell of freshly baked bread layered in lashings of melted butter. I was, as Lady Gaga so eloquently puts it, caught in a bad romance and I was having issues. Bloating, feeling sluggish, putting on weight, overactive allergies and generally feeling blah.

I didn’t really connect the dots until I started seeing an expert in the field of functional nutrition. Basically, my body and digestive system were overloaded, and needed a break. She wasn’t saying that dairy and gluten were the cause of my symptoms, but she did want me to strip back on what I put into my body and give it a chance to reset. Part of that reset included no diary and no gluten.

Initially it felt like my heart was ripped out but as the days progressed into weeks things began to make sense.

For three months I didn’t eat dairy, gluten or any processed foods and I felt really good. It wasn’t easy but day by day I started to notice small changes. No bloating, sleeping a bit better, less allergies and more energy. 

"I noticed I wasn't the only one that made the switch to gluten and dairy free."

I started to hear of friends who were also doing the same thing. Then we discovered my 1 year old grandbaby had a severe dairy allergy. A friend was diagnosed with Coeliac disease. Another friend had her kids tested for dairy and gluten sensitivities and they were positive.

What was going on? It seemed there were a lot more people ending their bad romance with dairy and gluten.

It was around this time when the idea for Iconic Cookies began to grow (either that or I was becoming a little obsessive about food!). I’d heard about a gluten free bakery in the US and the owner shared a story about a little girl who was diagnosed with Coeliac disease. It was the first time this little girl had ever been able to walk into a bakery and safely choose anything she wanted. She’d never been able to do this before.

Here's what I know to be true (sorry Oprah I've stolen your line)...when you change or are forced to change what you eat, for whatever reason, it changes your lifestyle in some way and the way people view you...they treat you differently ('she's on some fad diet', 'she's a weird hippy' or some other derogatory view).

While I loved how not eating certain foods was making me feel, it wasn't easy stepping outside of the four walls of my house. Either I avoided eating out or I went out and didn't eat (neither of these is a good option for me especially if I'm hungry).

I realised that the options for people were still rather limited (or excluded people like me).

"I wanted to create inclusivity rather than exclusivity with gluten and dairy free food."

The idea of creating something that would encourage inclusivity rather than exclusivity was cemented in my brain. I knew that food had the power to connect people to one another. Yet all the while I was hearing how disconnected our world is and how we are in dire need of a hefty dose of inclusiveness.

As Iconic Cookies evolved, we knew that we had hit on something special when we considered making cookies without any dairy or gluten. Not only did we want to cater to our friends who were already struggling to find delicious treats that didn’t taste like cardboard, we wanted them to be able to be shared and enjoyed with others and make inclusivity the heart of our business.

It hasn’t been easy but it hasn’t been hard. It’s taken time but that’s allowed us to be thoughtful about what ingredients goes in, about who we want to work and walk alongside and it's allowed us to get to know you better. We’ve even started making cookies with less sugar because…well…sugar is a bitch (I think that’s my perimenopausal voice speaking). More on that to come.

Why don't you try some of our Iconic Cookies? 

In the meantime though, why not let our cookies be your excuse to send an invite to your girlfriends…those ones you haven’t seen for a while and together enjoy  time to reconnect with one another (these ones are perfect…or these ones…and maybe some of these ones).