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

I was supposed to lunch with my pal at Lula Cafe, but she wasn’t feeling well, so instead I picked up some ginger ale and crackers for her and headed over, thinking I would leave her place and have lunch at Lula anyway. But my pal was WAY sicker than she thought at first, and instead, I wound up taking her to the hospital. I’m still not sure what’s going on - last I heard last night, she was being moved to the ICU. Needless to say, I’m worried for her.

My food challenges, I realize, are minuscule compared to what’s going on for her. But I committed to logging all food into this blog of mine, so I’m forcing myself to write even though I really don’t feel like it.

Heading to the hospital was a real question: it’s a place of health, so they must have gluten-free stuff, right? Uh-uh. Not special food, anyway. I had enjoyed a tasty popsicle with my pal before we drove (it rehydrated her and sugared her up enough to find the energy to climb into the car) but it was way past my lunchtime by the time she was dropped off. So I headed to the cafeteria, which is really an Au Bon Pain. After scouring the offerings, I came up with a romaine salad with walnuts and gorgonzola, and a raspberry salad dressing that was mostly sugar, and of which I used only a tiny amount. I scarfed it and grabbed a banana and headed down to the ER waiting area to meet my pal, and we waited.

I was hungry an hour later. Seriously. After a breakfast of yogurt and berries, a salad and a banana don’t get me too far. But there was no way I was going to complain, of course. Later that evening, when it was clear her parents were on their way, I headed out to drop off her car, feed her dog, scour her fridge for anything I could eat (nothing but pickles) and drive home. I succumbed to the call of Chipotle on the way, since I know it’s GF and basically nutritional. A little rice, some black beans for protein, and tons of veggies. And a few chips and guacamole. And then I just crashed.

This morning I am still feeling wonky. I had my customary yogurt, Udo’s Choice oil, and a pear. Around lunchtime I had a Whole Foods GF almond scone and I just feel like taking a nap and not thinking too hard - I’m still waiting to hear what’s up with my pal. Worry makes me hungry. I did mention earlier that I am an emotional eater, yes?!

So all in all, despite a super crappy awful no-good very bad day for my pal (and some residual crappiness for me), I think I’m doing good, all things considered. I’m glad I was able to help my pal, I’m proud that I didn’t give up and eat a ton of cookies at Au Bon Pain. And re: dinner, even rushed and going for fast food, I managed to make it fresh vegetable-focused. I bought a bunch of fresh produce this morning to keep me on the right path.

That’s the lesson I’ve gleaned from the past two days. As work stress overloads, I take it out on my tummy. After a long, frustrating day, I craved a snack - so I had a Tree Huggin’ Treats Crispy Cat, and then I went to the gym. Kind of counter-productive. For dinner, I had more leftover pasta salad with asparagus, mozzarella, and red peppers; and a few corn chips and salsa, followed by a little more chocolate. Oh, and a mandarin/lime soda. Sheesh! It was all about the crispy/salty/chocolaty today.

So to repeat: what have I learned in the last 48 hours? When I get busy, I don’t plan ahead, then I scramble for food, which usually leads me to less-than-optimal choices. Luckily, the GF experiment has forced me to be slightly healthier. Barely. Also: when I am stressed or highly emotional, I scarf, and my urge is to go for unhealthy snacks.

Next steps: get some more healthy snacks for those freakout moments. Fruit. Veggies with tasty (healthy) dip. Rice crackers and cakes so I can get crunchy and sweet with minimal calories. And, keep writing all my food down, because I’m learning A LOT. Slightly embarrassing to be putting this out there for the public to see, but hopefully it’s helping other people to see the process. I know your comments help me. So thanks for listening and chiming in.

So I’ll keep it short and sweet. Breakfast: yogurt with Udo’s choice oil, strawberries, and a rice cake. Lunch: leftover shrimp and dill rice, plus a little cheese, and three tiny cookies and couple squares of chocolate.

I’m quickly learning that my eating habits are shaped heavily by emotions, and by stress levels. It’s something I’ll think about more in the coming days, when I don’t feel quite so stressed. :}

Seriously, we have to get them out of the house. They’re too good! I keep eating them, and so does hubbie Steve. Darn you, fantastic cookies!

At least I had a healthy dinner. Grilled mahi mahi in a lime juice/white wine/olive oil marinade, and a huge salad with lots of mixed veggies.

For the first time in I don’t know how long, I skipped breakfast. I NEVER skip breakfast, and for some reason today, I didn’t feel hungry until almost 11:30 - I had sat down to work for a few minutes and a couple hours later, whoa - lunchtime! Very weird.

So I tucked into the pasta salad I made yesterday and it still tastes great - I was pleasantly surprised the pasta still had a nice consistency. I had a “dessert” of a nectarine and strawberries, and I feel full without being stuffed. Nice!

OK, off to the pharmacist to check the new vitamins…

…so today I’m catching up. Let’s see, I had yogurt and Udo’s choice oil again, and a slice of toast (from the GF bread I baked on Saturday) with butter and honey. It was delicious! And some OJ/cranberry juice. For lunch, I had an Amy’s cheese enchilada; those are the only frozen meals I eat anymore, and they’re terrific.

I realized yesterday, after having read Vanessa Maltin’s Beyond Rice Cakes, that my multivitamin does have a no-no (dextrin, which could be wheat-derived) so I headed to Whole Foods to pick up new vitamins. After a helpful conversation with one of their staffers, I grabbed DailyFoods Medi-Safe, and will run them by the pharmacist in a bit to ensure they don’t conflict with my other meds. Also at Whole Foods, I checked out their GF selections. They post a few helpful signs on shelves, but most products aren’t labeled as such, so I got a list from the concierge desk - at 19 pages, it’s very comprehensive. I can tell I’ll be spending more time there.

When I got home I whipped up a fave pasta salad using Tinkyada pasta (on a reader’s suggestion) and it is fantastic! Love their pasta - it tastes just like my regular brand, and has a great texture. (I tossed it with steamed asparagus, fresh mozzarella cheese, fire-roasted red bell pepper, and some Italian dressing.)

We had pals Kirsti and Greg over for the afternoon and evening, and they brought yummy farmer’s market cheese, grapes and cherries. So thoughtful! Also gnoshed on some potato chips before dinner, which we ordered from our fave middle eastern place. I stayed simple with grilled shrimp and dill rice, and was really pleased - and I have tons of leftovers. It was hard to order over the phone, though; while the staffer did take some time to answer my questions, it was the dinner rush and it sounded noisy in the background. I feel fine about my choices, but I’m not convinced she completely understood my requests (which is why I kept it simple). More advance research will be important, I think, when eating out, so I need to get into that habit.

All in all, a very busy weekend, with WAY more cooking than I usually do. It was nice, actually! I could get used to this.

To tide me over until dinner at Tamra and Brian’s house, I had a few corn chips and a little quacamole from Whole Foods. I’m definitely going to learn how to make my own this week! I also baked (well, our Breadman did most of the work) my first GF bread from Pamela’s Products - the Amazing Wheat Free Bread Mix. It is very, very good - soft inside, crispy crust, excellent taste. I’m impressed! I sliced it up and froze seven baggies of paired slices so I can make some sandwiches in the next few weeks. (Or maybe french toast!)

At the cookout with our pals, Brian made chicken, vegetable medley, and baked potatoes, all on the grill, all super-yummy. I also contributed my favorite side dish, corn and black bean salad from Cooking Light magazine, which is easy to make, fresh, and naturally GF, which rocks.

I paired the meal with a couple bottles of New Grist beer, which everyone tasted. Not the worst beer I’ve had, but it definitely was lacking the “beer-y” taste I was craving. We agreed it was the malt taste that was lacking. I’ll keep a few bottles in the fridge for moments that simply require beer, but I don’t think I’ll be gulping it down. Then again, I’m kind not exactly a boozehound, so it’s not biggie.

And we had a few Pamela’s Products Peanut Butter Cookies, which I thought were great. Brian had picked up some chocolates but the package didn’t have a complete ingredient list, so I had to take a pass, which made me a little sad. I love chocolate! But it wasn’t the worst thing. I still got to have a tasty (and healthy!) meal, hang out with the hubbie and wonderful friends (and they’re darling kiddos) and it was a beautiful night. So as many folks have already admonished me to do, I am focusing on what I can do and have.

This morning I went to the Farmer’s Market with BFF Natalie, so to control my hunger (last two summers, our tradition has been that we stop first to get almond croissants, which are now a no-no) I had a yogurt, Udo’s Choice oil, and a rice cake. Not very thrilling. I sampled a few cheeses at the market, picked up some goodies, and we headed to the Heartland Cafe.

I had called ahead to make sure they had gluten-free options, and after passing me around to a few people, I finally got confirmation that they did have some gluten-free offerings, but that I would have to ask our waitperson. I was pretty shocked - I had heard the cafe was celiac-friendly, and they’re certainly vegetarian/vegan/family/hippie-friendly.

But we chanced it anyway. The waitress confirmed their cornbread has only corn and soy flours, so I had that, along with a veggie omelette and some pink lemonade. It was yummy, and it was nice to go to a familiar place. And now…off to the bread machine!

Easy peasy. Bionaturae (scary-sounding name) GF spaghetti, Wild Oats spaghetti sauce, with sauteed mini bella mushrooms. A salad with red bell pepper and a little goat cheese, with a GF salad dressing: raspberry with lime, destined to become a favorite whether I stick to this dietary change or not.

Plus, for dessert much later, a Sun Flour Baking Company vanilla shortbread cookie, which is pretty darn tasty. But in addition to being GF, it’s vegan, and I can tell - I’m really missing the buttery component that I was craving. No biggie. (And yes, for those keeping track, that’s two desserts in one day. Not my usual thing. But I have to have a little snack before bedtime with my evening meds, and the cookie was giving me the eye.)

The spaghetti smelled weird raw, tasted funky when I tested it at 6 minutes like the package suggested, but was actually quite good once it was done about 90 seconds later -in fact, my husband, Steve, thought it was really good. And that’s a pretty tough sell, believe me. So I consider dinner to be a success.

And I’ve officially had more fruit and veg today than I’ve had in recent weeks, so, urm, that could get interesting. Might need to invest in some Beano. Not to get too personal. But I guess this whole thing is pretty personal, isn’t it? Urm…

Oh, Chipotle, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways, starting with your delicious burrito bowls that stay the right temperature for long periods on the drive home, and delicious quacamole and chips. Oh, and a manager who prints out nutritional information for me during the lunchtime rush, because I didn’t plan ahead. It’s going to be a challenge for me to lose this “fast food” mentality that has allowed me to eat wherever, whenever, whatever.

On my return home with Chipotle in hand, I read up: according to their web site, gluten-free folks can eat everything but the flour tortillas, and should consider not eating the red hot tomatillo salsa, which sometimes contained distilled vinegar. (They note that some web sites say it’s a no-no, but everything I’ve seen says distilled vinegar is OK.) They offer to change gloves for folks, too. Nice!

So I had a tasty burrito bowl, with rice, black beans, corn and tomato salsas, cheese and lettuce. Awesome comfort food after an exhausting doctor’s appointment this morning.

And because I was craving comfort food, with Chipotle in hand, I walked next door to Swirlz and snagged a grasshopper mint gluten-free cupcake. Slightly pricey, totally worth it. I learned about them while writing a piece for Gapers Block.

And because I had the doc appt during my regular lunchtime, I had a Lara Bar for a snack. I’ve been a fan for a while now, and they’re conveniently GF. And an apple, which is just naturally GF, and darn healthy.

I’m feeling pretty good so far about my choices. Even with impulse comfort eating today, I managed to stay GF, though I still have a couple questions about today’s yogurt, which folks are offering advice on. So thanks for all the comments so far!