Gluten-Free Babe: My quest to live gluten-free for 30 days

So I said goodnight to gluten with a nice Frontera cheese pizza and a couple cool glasses of Stella Artois beer. Ah, sweet gluteny yummyness! Will we meet again? I don’t know…

I think I’m ready for tomorrow, and the month of June. Lots of people have weighed in so far with great advice, which I am oh, so thankful for. I stopped by Ethical Planet in nearby Evanston to pick up some goodies and learn a little bit about gluten-free (and vegan!) diets. And I did some major damage at Wild Oats, too. Even found some gluten-free beer, which I’m not feeling too hopeful about (I’m kind of a beer snob), but it’s worth a try. We’ll do a taste-test this weekend.

Suffice to say, it’s expensive to eat healthy! Or maybe it’s not any more expensive than eating out a lot, which I’ve been doing. We’ll see. I came home with a trunkload of healthy food, which should last me at least a week, and I’m sure I’ll be picking up produce every few days. Might hit the farmers’ market this weekend with some pals.

So this is it! Starting tomorrow I’ll be posting just about every day, with a little journal of what I eat, and how it goes, and how I screw up, and what I learn. Feel free to chime in and steer me in the right (or at least, interesting) direction.

The nice people at Pamela’s Products sent me a big box of sample items to try, since I was writing about them for a newsletter article for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, so I have piles of cookies and baking mixes - definitely enough to last me this first month, if not longer. (Well, except I keep sharing them with friends, so maybe not.)

And my pals at Tree Huggin’ Treats sent me samples of their Crispy Cat candy bars to try out, and they’re crazy delicious. So I’ll be seeking those out at Whole Foods later today, because girlfriend needs a candy bar now and then. The mint coconut, which I had not anticipated liking (each flavor is great, but mixed?), turns out to be my favorite. Yum!

Any snack suggestions? I know, I should be aiming for fruit and veggies, and I will. But I’m curious to know what other folks like when they’re craving the goodies.

…(I ordered a stack of books on gluten-free living) I thought I’d do a little light reading this morning, thanks to the Interwebs, which I luvs.

WebMD has tons of resources on celiac disease and gluten-free life, like this article on celiac disease symptoms, another piece on diagnosis and tests, and - most useful to me - this piece on treating celiac disease with the right diet.

Already, I can see I have some big adjustments to make. Like sushi. I’m definitely going to have to find wheat-free soy sauce, because I love sushi and I can’t live without it, I won’t! You can’t make me! So I’ve added wheat-free soy sauce to the shopping list for later today.

I was also not thrilled to see yogurt on a list of foods that often contain gluten, so I guess I’ll hunt for gluten-free yogurt. Not a food I would have suspected could have gluten, but shows you what I know. The article also suggests that vitamins can have hidden gluten, so I bolted into the bathroom and checked all my bottles - lucky me, no gluten to be found.

Oh, and lipstick. Lipstick?! Apparently it can have gluten. I don’t really wear lipstick, but I do use a gloss, Buxom Lips by Bare Escentuals, so I called my local boutique and confirmed that it’s gluten-free. Woo hoo!

It’s kind of crazy how much work you have to do to eliminate gluten. But I know I’m lucky, since I’m not allergic to it, so if a little slips by I’ll be okay. It makes me appreciate what other people go through, and how much work they put into being healthy. So my hat’s off to all the guys and gals out there who go through this! And I’m also reminding myself that a lot of research will be upfront - I won’t have to check my lip gloss every day.

I’m a newbie, so bear with me. This is the beginning of a month-long journey into gluten-free living. Throughout June 2007, I’ll be writing about what it takes to go gluten-free.

Testing has shown that I DO NOT have celiac disease, but as a health writer who’s been covering the condition, I got curious: what would it take to try it? Really, how hard is it? After interviewing almost a dozen people, I came away with a wide variety of opinions on how easy/hard it is to live gluten-free.

As a young woman living with fibromyalgia, I’m also aware that there’s lots of anecdotal evidence showing that going gluten-free can reduce symptoms. And you know I’m all about reducing symptoms!

So…my quest is born. Starting in two days, I will become gluten-free. The nice people at Pamela’s Products have already sent me a few goodies to sample, so I’m glad to have cookies and baking mixes on hand so I don’t go completely insane.

And I’m headed to Wild Oats in Evanston tomorrow to go shopping and re-stock the kitchen with stuff I can eat. Luckily, I won’t have to be vigilant about cross-contamination, so I know I have it a little easier than your typical celiacbabe.

Wish me luck! And if you’ve got advice, I would LOVE to hear it.