Why Eating a Bowl of Cheerios Makes You Feel Normal Again

There are certain foods that bring back fond memories for each of us. Maybe it’s cookies that remind you of cooking with your grandma or grilled fish that reminds you of the fishing trips you used to go on with your dad. There are so many foods that I can just smell and I am taken back to a memory.

Food is a major part of our life, holidays, family gatherings and social events. However when you have eating restrictions due to allergies, diets, disorders, or a disease many of the foods you loved may not be a part of your life anymore.

I, along with our three-year-old twins, live a Gluten Free lifestyle due to having Celiac Disease and Gluten Sensitivity. I’ll spare you all the science and medical terms behind it but at its core; Celiac Disease is an autoimmune disease. There is no cure for Celiac Disease and the only treatment is a Gluten Free lifestyle. When we ingest Gluten our body is damaged and a number of issues will arise. Anything from headaches, swelling, bloating, gastro issues, fatigue, loss of focus are just a few of the over 300 symptoms that people with Celiac Disease suffer. Long-term effects of untreated Celiac Disease include osteoporosis and cancer. To learn more visit Celiac.org

If you are scratching your head wondering what Gluten is let me explain; Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye and barley. So basically anything made with wheat flour will make us very sick like bread, pasta, cookies, crackers and many other foods.

How does all this tie into memories and food? Well there are many childhood food staples that I can’t have anymore nor have our twins even tried. Growing up Cheerios was one of my favorite cereals, Honey Nut being my preferred flavor. I remember enjoying big bowls of it at the breakfast table with my sister, taking bags of it on road trips to snack on and even an occasional bowl for a bedtime snack with my dad.

When I went Gluten Free 5 years ago, Cheerios was one of the many foods I had to say goodbye to. Not because oats contain Gluten, but because of how they are grown, harvested and processed. The oats are cross contaminated with other grains like wheat, rye and barley making them unsafe for someone with Celiac Disease.

When we had our twins we kept them Gluten Free since Celiac Disease is hereditary and we wanted to be on the safe side. This means that while they were learning how to eat real food, Cheerios were never on their highchair tray. There little fingers never got to figure out how to pick up the little O’s.

I never realized how much Cheerios meant to me and how much it meant to share them with our children until I held a box of the Gluten Free Honey Nut Cheerios. I stood in the cereal aisle on a Sunday and cried, a lot. I cried because I could finally have Cheerios again, a food that resembled my childhood. Most importantly I cried because now our twins could eat Cheerios.

To you it may just seem like a box of cereal but to me it was the ability to help our kids feel normal. Everywhere we go I have to pack safe Gluten Free food for the kids. We bring our own cupcakes to birthday parties, our own pizza to pizza parties and our own snacks to pre-school. Now that Cheerios are safe we have another food that they can enjoy along with everyone else. Cheerios makes them just like everyone else, normal.

General Mills has put a ton of time and resources into making the Cheerios Gluten Free. This past spring I was honored to visit Minnesota to tour the processing facility to see how they are making the oats Gluten Free. Here is my post about my visit.

Now that the Gluten Free Cheerios are finally hitting the store shelves we have been going a little cereal crazy. We are now almost through our seventh box in 6 weeks. I love seeing all the messages and photos on social media of people sharing their happiness over having Gluten Free Cheerios. Everyone from toddlers to grown adults are happily filling their cereal bowls with Cheerios, many of whom haven’t been able to in years!

Now that I have Cheerios back in my life, I look forward to making memories with our children over a bowl of the O’s.

Have you found the Gluten Free Cheerios yet?

Want to learn more about the process? Check this out.

 

Disclaimer: This is the first time General Mills has compensated me in anyway for speaking about Cheerios. For our family Cheerios have been a positive and healthy experience. None of us have gotten sick from eating the Cheerios.  Please do your own research and use your own judgement regarding the Cheerios. We each have to decide what is best for us and for our families.