Hi, I am Tiffany Hinton but you may know me as GF Mom Certified. I am a best selling author and lifestyle blogger, professional brand influencer, herbalist, certified health coach and all around gluten-free expert based in Chicago, IL. This is my story, and why I choose to live a gluten-free homesteading lifestyle. Looking at me now, you might not believe I was born on a farm and spent many of my childhood years in rural America. I was the girl taught to hunt and fish, along with garden like your great-grandmother. I had the unique opportunity to live with both of my grandmother’s while I was growing up and learn from 2 ladies who lived through the Great Depression. They knew more than a thing or two about sustainability and living off the land. I packaged this knowledge away for many years and pursued a life in suburban America with a focus on a corporate career. The stress of the fast pace life, coupled with my mis-diagnosed autoimmune diseases led me down a path of severe illness, fear and depression. In 2007 after a failed marriage and bouts of depression, I found myself in the hospital again with severe stomach pain. Within 3 months of that trip to the emergency room I was diagnosed with celiac disease, stage 4 endometriosis on top of my existing crohns disease and IBD. I was informed by my doctor I could no longer be his patient and he did not understand how to treat my case. This news brought me home in tears. I knew I needed help and could not go on living with the pain I was suffering everyday. I found myself on google looking for the answers. I am sure you may have been there too at one time. What I discovered on google was a double board certified doctor who was also trained in Eastern Medicine and raised in Pakistan. This man was my savior. He helped me find the paleo diet and eventually helped me overcome 14 years of infertility using a gluten-free paleo diet and spirituality, along with mindset and acupuncture. What I discovered was the ways our ancestors ate using whole foods like vegetables, fruit and simple proteins would heal my body and bring me joy. Will and I had 3 girls in less than 3 years. The girls were born with food allergies, which brought on more fears. Looking back there were days I would cry and other days I was viewed by the fellow moms as a Super mom, all because I had made a super cute lunch. In reality I was only trying to get them to eat food that would not kill them. Having 3 children with different allergies brings out the creativity in you. Franki was born 6 weeks early with galactosemia along with a gluten sensitivity and currently is allergic to egg whites, gluten and Red40. Lillie was born with a peanut, night-shade allergy and diagnosis with celiac and crohn’s disease on the same day at the age of 2, after being diagnosed failure to thrive at 14 months old. She is now a competitive gymnast who has out grown many of her allergies. Josi was born with an anaphylactic egg allergy, which she out grew at the age of 6. Currently Josi is allergic to sunflower oil. What does all this mean? That I walked through life many days praying my girls would just live through the day, be safe at a birthday party and that the school would not need to call an ambulance. We have learned a lot along the way and yes, we have had to use the epi pen at times. These past 2 years have been game changing on the home front. I have moved to working from home 100% of the time, doubled our backyard garden to over 350 square feet. Added an additional herbal garden, planted fruit trees and berry vines. Our homestead has expanded and so has the girls knowledge of gardening and the healing properties of food. In 2020 we turned to homeschooling and I loved studying greek mythology, plant life cycles, moon cycles and nature with the girls. My spiritual journey has allowed me to embrace a deeper understand of kundalini yoga, angels and spirit guides, like my guardian angel Ezekiel. I love incorporating the moon cycles into our homesteading practices from planting intentions with the new moon to celebrating and fire rituals with the full moon. Planting our garden in line with the moon cycles and sending prayers and positive energy for the plants we grow which provide us nutrients. At GF Mom Certified we have evolved, I have evolved. I believe the growth, herbal knowledge, over a decade creating gluten free recipes, health coaching along with my 40 plus years of gardening and being in nature has positioned us perfectly to serve you in creating your own modern suburban homestead. We welcome the birth of Cultivating Guts our new Podcast and Online Education Platform. My mission is to inspire modern suburban homesteading from our ancestral roots using functional herbalism, lifestyle techniques and mindset to cultivate healthy guts, personal intuition and harvest more joy in life.