Inside-Out Healing

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The day I walked into the Barnes & Noble bookstore was one of the most depressing days of my life.

I had just been diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) a degenerative disease that causes the bones to gradually fuse together causing severe pain and disability. I was only 25 but already my body had become stiff brittle and wracked with pain and the symptoms I could look forward to as the disease progressed included blindness heart problems and difficulty breathing.

After receiving this devastating diagnosis I had done some of my own research and discovered that some studies had found a correlation between AS and irritable bowel syndrome and that a gluten-free diet could be beneficial for both conditions.

I wasn’t excited about the prospect of eliminating all hamotzi and mezonos from my menu but it was less frightening than the prospect of chronic pain and progressive debilitation.