I'm One Proud Mama

This is my son Eli Blahut. He is in Iron Man magazine the March issue as a Rising Star.
I'm one proud Mama.
Eli is 22 and in December of 2009 won first place in his weight class at the Excalibur body building competition. He decided 3 weeks before the competition to enter. He was graduating the week after the competition.
When he called me to ask if he should do the competition the only thing I could say was "Go for it". He has worked so hard and has endured much pain due to his digestive disorder.It all paid off. He WON!
He had to fly out to CA from VA, for the competition.Then after he won he had a whirl wind of photo shoots.He then had to  fly back to VA to graduate college.WHEW!
Why Eli's story is unique is due to the fact that he suffers from a digestive disorder and major food allergies. When you are a body builder and you need to build muscle you have to eat. Eat something like 4000 calories a day. Eli can only eat a handful of foods. His diet mainly consists of organic brown rice, fish, and chicken. He can tolerate organic spinach but not many other veggies. His diet has to be gluten free, corn free, soy free, and dairy free. The tricky part of the gluten free diet is that we haven't been able to find prepackaged food items that are gluten free and free of other allergens. Eli is also allergic to potatoes, corn,soy, tapioca, sorghum etc. Many gluten free items contain these ingredients for thicken agents. Eli is able to consume pineapple, apricots,mango,kiwi, and papaya but I think that is it for fruit. Can you imagine eating the same thing everyday for months and months on end?
Eli graduated from VCU with honors. He has blown me away with his dedication and passion for this sport. He has tackled every obstacle that has presented itself to continue his dream. Everyday he has to deal with his digestive disorder, the discomfort, the pain, but everyday he pursues his dream. I know it takes alot of will power, mental strategies  ,courage, and passion for Eli to get thru the day. I'm so proud of him that I feel I could burst at anytime.
Eli hopes to be able to inspire children to have dreams and to know they can achieve them , no matter what the obstacle. 
Eli is now living in Venice CA and is continuing with his passion. He has a big competition in Las Vegas in July. I'm excited to be at that competition. He will be in a few more magazines in the next couple of months.
And yes I make all his skin and hair care products.
He looks Amazing! Did I mention that I'm One Proud Mama! If your interested in watching a video of my sons Eli and Michael for Iron Man magazine you can check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZO0gPk2-Hs
I will be bragging about another one of my kids next week. They are all amazing people and they have taught me so much.
Peace