Hi everyone,

My name is Dustin. I'm from the Pacific Northwest, and Washington specifically. I like to say that I am from Portland, Oregon, but I'm really from the less cool Vancouver, WA across the bridge. I like to listen to good music, read a lot of self-improvement books, and draw. I'm actually moving to San Francisco in less than two months to attend the California College of the Arts to pursue my degree in Industrial Design.

My life as a gluten-free dieter began somewhere between 2011 and 2012. I was with a group of my girlfriend's friends, meeting them for the first time. We were eating at a restaurant and I drank beer. At this time, I had no idea what gluten was or that it was currently making me sick from the inside. I just thought I had heart burn and asthma. After that beer, I started having trouble breathing. I assumed that it was my asthma acting up for some reason, so I excused myself to go to my car. Well, long story short, I collapsed in the middle of the mall parking lot and had to call my girlfriend to come out and help me. I blacked out and sat in my car for 3 hours before feeling well enough to move. But even at this point, the doctors had no clue what happened.

Then I was reading my blog feed and saw one that my friend had posted. She had problems with eczema most of her life and had pursued a lot of different options. Eventually, she tried this gluten-free diet that began with a fast. After the detox period, and being gluten-free for a month, her eczema magically disappeared. She also mentioned that her stomach problems and tiredness were gone as well. A lightbulb just went off in my head. I went to get tested at my local allergist and the blood tests confirmed that I was indeed gluten intolerant.

After a frustrating journey with doctors and learning to narrow my diet down, I am now healthier and stronger than I've been. I still have residual asthma, but I have faith that it will stop after getting myself into a better environment. My main goal is to begin a juice bar that helps inform people about gluten and possibly help someone else like my friend's blog post helped me. This juice bar is meant to make it easy for others to transition into a gluten-free lifestyle, but will also have detox programs as well. I'm excited for the future of food and the increased availability of gluten-free food items.