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

I have the most excellent friends! Everyone has been great this month, not just understanding but enthusiastic about helping me eat well. Kirsti and Greg showed up a couple weeks ago with special treats. Natalie called last night to make sure I knew about the Wild Oats grocery store’s gluten-free ice cream social coming up. (Too bad I have to miss it because of travel!)

And last night, Matt and Meg cooked a fantastic dinner. Chips and salsa, followed by dill rice (with fresh dill from their garden, no less!), a grilled corn succotash that included red onions, edamame, green beans, tomatos, fresh basil and a yummy dressing with balsamic vinegar and lemon juice. Grilled pork chops with a tasty, spicy rub from The Spice House. (You really must try their rubs and seasoning combos!) And a big bowl of berries for dessert. All gluten-free naturally!

I felt so spoiled. They had made a similar spread earlier in the week and thought of me. Isn’t that nice? I think it just goes to show you that if you take the time and action to build a solid circle of friends - your support team (which I talk about a ton on ChronicBabe) you get to have special treats and surprises. And you feel less like a weirdo or an imposition and more like a welcome friend. You gotta love that!

Just had a fantastic dinner with my pal Alyssa at Nacional 27, one of Chicago’s Lettuce Entertain You restaurants. If you’re not familiar with this restaurant group, check out my coverage at Gapers Block - the group is known for training its chefs and staff to accommodate food allergies and celiac disease.

So Alyssa wanted to go there, and I was thrilled to join her and test out the group’s claims about their gluten-free-friendliness. And I wasn’t disappointed! I had stated my gluten-free preference when I made the reservation, and when we were seated the waitress confirmed that it was me. Alyssa got bread sticks, and I got plantain chips. Our server then cleared numerous ingredients with the chef as we pondered the menu, and brought out dishes with detailed explanations of ingredients. They adapted a soft-shell crab recipe so I could share it, and they had a killer chocolate dessert that include ice cream, mousse, a tiny shake, and a flourless chocolate cake.

Seriously, if only ordering gluten-free was this easy everywhere! And because it was so easy and fun, we ordered even more food than we maybe would have normally. So… let that be a lesson to restaurants.

Anyway, excellent grub, excellent service. And with at least 40 properties in the Chicagoland area, I’m spoiled. Yay!

So I haven’t posted much, mostly because a huge pain flare-up in my hands really limited my ability to type. Now I’m starting to learn how to use Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software, with big hopes that I will be able to get up to speed and maybe even work faster, hands-free.

It made me think about the gluten-free thing, though, and wonder if it’s helping any in the pain department. I’m not jumping ship yet, but I’m wondering. And trying to be patient.

Meanwhile, I ate out a lot this weekend and think I did pretty well. At a middle eastern restaurant, there were many options for me - so that was a real treat. (Not to mention the whole reason I was going out that night, but that’s another tale.) I’m getting better with ordering and asking questions, and with all the reading I’ve been doing I’m getting better acquainted with “no-no” ingredients, and it feels great.

I also tried Anheuser-Busch’s Redbridge gluten-free beer, and it’s yummy! I like it a lot more than the other brand I tried earlier this month, and it sounds like some bars are starting to carry it.

And…I learned a good lesson about letting my guard down. I gnoshed with some neighbors last night, who were kind enough to offer up some leftovers from their previous day’s BBQ. I chomped into a tasty salmon-spinach-feta goodie from the grill, and was about to have another bite when I thought, hey, I should really double-check the ingredients. Of course: breadcrumbs. The label even said “with gluten protein.” If I had celiac disease, I would have really been upset (and really sick). As it was, I realized that I have to be ever-vigilant, and not always trust it when folks say something is gluten-free. They’ll do their best, but it’s up to me to check labels, and as I read on one web site, “when in doubt, leave it out.”

So overall, things are going well. I’m learning! I have the feeling I always will be if I choose to make this a long-term lifestyle choice.

Today was a day of eating smaller, more frequent meals, and I liked it. For breakfast, yogurt and Udo’s Choice oil, and some berries. A banana before a meeting, a Lara Bar after. In the early evening, a little cheese and crackers, cherries and a small glass of wine. Later, some Trader Joe’s green curry tuna with brown and wild rice. And even later, another small glass of wine and a handful of Puffins cereal to take my evening meds with.

The act of having a few small meals sprinkled throughout the day, rather than feeling  like I have to plan some big fancy multi-course productions, seems much more do-able. It’s fairly easy, I’m eating pretty healthy, and I don’t get that over-stuffed feeling.

Thoughts?

Can’t help myself. I was a big fan before going GF, and I’m a big fan still. Yesterday was so hectic, I ate terribly throughout the day - woke up late and had to eat during a morning conference call, so I had a Lara Bar. Then was running late for a doctor’s appointment, and silly me, thought I had enough time to make a grilled cheese sandwich. It took a while, and I had to eat it while I walked around the condo gathering the things I needed for the doc appt, but it was the best darn grilled cheese I’ve had in recent memory. I used the GF bread I baked days ago (froze slice pairs) and some terrific cheese from the farmer’s market, with sundried tomatoes and olives in it. Yum!

So in the evening, after the gym, I was feeling too tired to cook, and wanted veggies. Chipotle called out to me. A burrito bowl with black beans and tons of their corn and tomato salsas and lettuce was perfect. Ironic that it was “fast food,” but I felt like it was the healthiest meal I had all day. A pal is the manager at our local store, and he was telling me recently how the quality of their food is extremely high, and much of it organic, so I feel pretty good eating it.

Of course, later, ice cream. But who’s counting.

Today was another not-feeling-good day. Sometimes being a fibrochick really sucks! But despite how bad I felt, I forced myself to go to the gym. I’m thankful that I pushed past the pain, exhaustion, brain fog, depressed feelings…and hit the gym. The trainers were so encouraging and I felt supported and inspired to work hard.

So, on to food today - there was lots of snacking, and I craved sweet, salty, crunchy. I think it’s mainly because I felt so bummed out and not feeling good. Breakfast: yogurt, Udo’s, berries. Lunch: brown rice and a Trader Joe’s Thai tuna packet, with some yellow and orange bell peppers chopped into it. (I haven’t been to Trader Joe’s since I started this little experiment, so I must head over there this week and see how they handle their GF selection and labeling!) Dinner: salmon steaks marinated in spices and white wine, wild rice, corn on the cob. Kind of heavy on the fish and rice today, purely by accident, but I could do worse.

Being in pain, and exhaustion, is a bummer. Being bummed out causes more fatigue and pain, as well. So I’ve been in a vicious cycle for a couple weeks now. Yes, I have “up” days and moments, and I’ve gotten lots done workwise, but overall I’ve been feeling a malaise that I can’t kick, and all my typical fibrochick pains are flaring bigtime. It’s not the easiest time over here at ChronicBabe (and Gluten-Free Babe) HQ, but going to the gym today got me feeling a little more positive and hopeful. All the lovely comments and emails help too, so thanks.

Yesterday I wasn’t feeling well at all, and today’s not looking so hot either. That’s the way it goes for us fibrochicks sometimes. So a quick chow recap:

Sunday night dinner: sushi delivery. I think everything was fine, but wondered later about the seaweed salad. So I need to do more homework.

Monday: GF toast with butter and honey for breakfast; a banana, small cheese (Bonbel - love the smiling cow!), GF crackers for lunch; chipotle veggie burrito bow, chips ad guacamole for dinner. A couple cookies before bed with my meds.

I don’t think not feeling well has anything to do with the GF experiment. Mostly, I think it’s because I haven’t worked out regularly for a couple weeks - I was sick two weeks ago, got out of my routine, and now I’m having trouble kick-starting it again. This is the cycle lots of us fibrochicks go through: we know that working out will help, but we feel so crappy the idea of working out seems impossible. I’ll go today, and it will suck, and will likely suck every day this week, but I’ll go and by the weekend I’ll feel better. Eating well will help.

OK, back to bed for this babe. More later…

This morning, I had my final GF Whole Foods almond scone, and my customary yogurt and Udo’s choice oil. As I prepped for the bridal shower I was attending, I wondered if people would like the GF foods I prepared to bring. Earlier in the week, I had emailed one of the hostesses, explaining my situation and offering to bring dishes that I could have and that everyone could share. I felt a little self-conscious showing up with food when no one else was doing so.

I didn’t have to worry, because the party was great - people seemed to like the food, and we talked about it a little, and I felt comfortable. They had a delicious fruit salad, too, which I ate a big heaping pile of. But it’s challenging to explain to people that even though they think I can eat something, I can’t. For example, they had made a salad which looked awesome, but it had bacon bits on it, so those were iffy. They had two kinds of fruit popsicles, so I read the packages - one kind was ok, the other wasn’t. A couple folks were incredulous that a popsicle could have “wheat” in it so I explained that it hides in lots of ingredients. It started an interesting conversation, but then I felt weird that we were all talking about my food needs at someone else’s party and changed the subject. All in all, it was a very nice party, and I was glad that everyone was so cool about my chow.

I keep reminding myself that I’m not allergic, and I don’t have celiac disease, so if a tiny bit of something slips in, it’s not an emergency. But I want to be as faithful as I can be; otherwise, what’s the point of trying it? And I don’t want to preach to people, but I like educating folks, because they likely bump into other people with similar limitations and it’s good for them to know something about it. It’s tough to know when to explain things, like last night with the waitress - should I have stopped her and explained that she had goofed? Probably. But she was harried, and it wasn’t going to hurt me, so I passed.

Another example: In a store yesterday, my pal Natalie and I were looking at chocolates to give as a gift, and out of curiosity I was checking ingredients. A store clerk overheard me, and she asked about it. Once I explained what celiac disease was and why I was being so thorough, she said, “I’m sure a little couldn’t hurt. After all, everything in moderation, right?” Wrong! “Well, for someone who has the disease, even a crumb can be enough to make them really sick,” I replied, and she shrugged and turned away. What’s the right thing to do in that situation? Should I chase after her and make her understand? What if someone with celiac asks her for help with a product and she steers them the wrong way? I guess I could make myself crazy every day with those kinds of questions.

It’s a fine line to walk. I can imagine that for folks with celiac, it can become tedious, or infuriating, or a crazy mixture of both depending on the circumstance.

Woke up and had my standard yogurt, Udo’s choice and GF almond scone. Lunch was rushed, in between cooking various dishes: a bowl of pasta salad leftovers, a hard-boiled egg, some berries. Meanwhile, I cooked some tasty chocolate chip cookies (using a Pamela’s Products mix that was fantastic) and also making more pasta salad with tons of veggies. The dishes were to bring to a bridal shower (more on that later).

We were heading out to a couple bars tonight for some friends’ birthday gatherings, so I ate an Amy’s GF frozen meal in advance so I wouldn’t be starving. But the onion rings at Moody’s Pub made my mouth water, so I gave in and ordered something: a cheeseburger, bun-less (I told the waitress I was gluten-free), with fries on the side (so my pals could eat them).

So what does the waitress bring? “Cheeseburger, fries on the side ‘cuz you’re allergic to wheat,” she announces to the table - and the burger is on a bun. Grr. Thankfully, I’m not a celiacbabe, so I just tossed the bun. But still! Imagine if I was - wasted burger. It was way too noisy and overcrowded to have a heart-to-heart with the waitress, but in a different setting I would have. And later, my tummy hurt, and Steve and I decided it was probably because I rarely eat red meat, and I had it without the bun, which would normally soak up the grease. Hmm.

Meanwhile, I am not missing fried foods as much as I thought I would. But I still think I might get a fryer and try making GF onion rings. It could be my annual tradition - a big fry-off greasefest.

At both bars (the second joint was awful) I had wine, because while I had researched ciders earlier today, I couldn’t get served one. No biggie - but it was unexpected.

The lessons of the day were at Moody’s: 1. Even if I eat beforehand, the smell and sight of others’ food might tempt me, so I need to watch out for that. I regretted the burger later. And, 2. Even if a waitperson seems to completely understand what you’re asking for, you still might get screwed, so be prepared. If I had celiac disease, and hadn’t snacked earlier, I would have been in bad shape after sending that burger. (I would have worried about cross-contamination from the bun.)

It’s a big pain day here, so a quick catch-up for posterity’s sake:

Dinner last night: pork chops, wild rice, corn on the cob. Yum! Easy. Delicious. Healthy. Then came Hagen-Dazs coffee ice cream. Yum! Easy. Delicious. Not so healthy. But I only had the “serving size” so it wasn’t all bad. A rice cake later with my evening meds.

Breakfast: one of those incredible almond scones from Whole Foods, and yogurt with Udo’s Choice oil. Lunch: all-veggie salad with oil & vinegar, plus a Lara Bar (the cashew kind).

Evening: I’m relaxing with a glass of red wine and a good book. I’m thinking more wild rice, and some corn, and maybe a slice of cheese from the farmer’s market. And probably more coffee ice cream. It’s been one of those days.