GF Giveaways

Check out all the amazing giveaways that are going on for the holidays! Love the free stuff...

Everything from toasters to baking mixes to books...oh my! I'm hungry already...


http://www.glutenfreefrenzy.com/

http://simplygluten-free.com/giveaways/

Gluten Free PhD

As I've survived graduate school and celiac disease, it feels as if I'm earning two degrees: one in Psychology and one in Gluten Free Studies. With my newfound knowledge, I'd like to start transitioning this blog away from my personal journey and more toward current gluten free issues, including cooking, travel and science. I will begin posting about news articles, food products and restaurants I encounter during my studies. I think I bring a particularly valuable perspective to this world because I know how to view science critically so I can comment on current research and news. In fact, I'm considering starting an entirely new blog that's less personal and more oriented towards useful information and commentary on all things gluten free. I gave a talk for an allergy support group recently and discovered that I have a unique perspective because I've experienced food restrictions myself but I can also communicate relevant research and coping skills from my studies in Psychology... I was thinking about titles and would love feedback. I was thinking "Gluten Free PhD" or something of that sort. What do you think?

What a Difference a Year Makes

Last Thanksgiving, I was miserable, inexplicably sick all the time, and depressed about my diagnosis. I hid away in a hotel room for the whole weekend and couldn't bare to eat with other people since I often felt the need to lay down to digest. I remember my husband telling me that in a year we would look back at that time and realize how much better I've gotten. I didn't totally believe him, but I agreed that would be nice.

I'm happy to report that this Thanksgiving was a complete 180. The entire trip to San Diego was completely enjoyable and devoid of anxiety. I made my own stuffing and gravy and brought some pumpkin bread, but otherwise the lovely hostess did a fantastic job making everything else gluten free! She hosted last year as well and felt guilty that I was feeling sick the whole time, even though I tried to tell her it wasn't anything she could have controlled. It was great to prove to her that she did everything right!

The last night, we stayed in the Gaslamp District and ate at our favorite place ever, Nobu. Even though they don't sport a formal gluten free menu, they had plenty of options and provided me with gf soy sauce for my enjoyment. Our very favorite dish,  black cod miso, happened to be marinated in gf soy sauce because it's so popular and they wanted people with gluten allergies to be able to eat it. Yummy!

We've really mastered the art of looking up restaurants that offer gluten free options, and Avi managed to find this super popular breakfast place, The Mission SoMa. They have DELICIOUS rosemary gf bread and had lots of great options. We overate but loved every minute of it!

The last meal we had before leaving San Diego reminded me that not everyone is exactly clued in when it comes to food restrictions. We ate at a cafe on Coronado to meet up with some friends who live near there. We needed somewhere that allowed our dogs to sit on the patio with us, and I figured I could get a salad pretty easily so I didn't look anything up about the place ahead of time. When I told the person at the counter, she gave me a blank stare. I said, "do you know the ingredients that go into the salad dressing, at least?" She replied, "Well, there's a guy who comes in once a week and makes it from scratch. No one really knows his recipe." Oooookay. I ended up having a very bland spinach salad with plain chicken and oil and vinegar. It just reminded me that even when the food options aren't great, the most important thing is getting to spend time with friends. Ultimately, I stayed healthy and enjoyed delicious food for nearly every meal... so all in all it was a success!

A little wisdom so far...

Sorry for the major lapse in posts! I'll try to get back on track...
I've talked to a bunch of people lately who are thinking of trying to go gluten free for a couple weeks to see if they feel better. I thought I'd post some of the bits of advice I'm giving here.

-Protein! Try to focus on getting lots of protein-- meat, nuts, soy, etc. I drank a lot of Ensure and Muscle Milk to supplement my diet at first. It also helps rebuild your damaged digestive system to eat protein. Think Thin bars are gluten free and help give you a bunch of protein too. Peanut and Almond butter was my best friend for a while. I'd eat it a lot on apples or rice cakes.

-Whole Foods. The Trader Joe's near me doesn't really have the best selection of GF stuff... so for additional things, I'd recommend Whole Foods. It's expensive so I usually only buy the things I can't get elsewhere. Keep an eye open for stuff by "Enjoy Life" brand-- they are mostly allergen-free and make AMAZING snickerdoodle cookies: http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/our_foods/cookies/snickerdoodle.html. I also really love "Food Should Taste Good" chips, which are made with a lot of GF grains:http://www.foodshouldtastegood.com/#/home/. Glutino brand makes great crackers, and Chex or Envirokids are great breakfast cereal brands.

-Gluten Free Registry (http://glutenfreeregistry.com/) and Urban Spoon (urbanspoon.com). These are two websites I use to find gluten-free friendly restaurants. Urban Spoon allows you to search for gluten-free friendly places by selecting it under "Special Features" Don't assume Urban Spoon is always right because anyone can say they are GF friendly... but then take a look at the Gluten Free Registry and other reviews to see if people have commented on them. I'd recommend trying to stay away from eating out for the duration of your little experiment, although places with gluten free menus are helpful when you do eat out (California Pizza Kitchen, P.F. Chang's, and some other chains are good with that). 

-Bring your own condiments. Regardless of what I eat out, I seem to most often get exposed to gluten from sauces and dressing-- probably because of utensils double-dipping after spreading them on bread, etc. I usually carry my own packets of salad dressing and soy sauce if I'm eating out (soy sauce is nearly always made with wheat unless you buy it GF). I ordered mine from Amazon.com.

5 Months Gluten Free

How time flies! Fortunately, I think time has gone by quickly because I've been feeling so good. It's good timing because I've been working 12 hour days at work/school all semester, but miraculously I have the energy to keep going, even after giving up caffeine!

Let's see... to recap, I have ventured into restaurants since the 3 month mark. First I treaded carefully, ordering only from places that have very good gluten policies and special gluten free menus. Slowly, I've been moving into other restaurants, with some more successfully than others. I had In N Out Burger a few weeks ago, and was amazing! I ordered the "protein style burger", which is bunless and wrapped in lettuce. I told them I had a wheat allergy and they announced it to the staff, who carefully separated my order and changed gloves before preparing it. Recently, I've been re-incorporating dairy into my diet, which makes me very, very happy. In fact, I had my first gluten-free pizza last night! We went to Barro's, whose owner has family with Celiac disease. Gotta love the influence family can have on a business. It was pretty good! I was just happy to eat anything resembling pizza. The patience with dairy seems to have paid off, because at least in small amounts, I have no problem whatsoever. I never could have thought I'd be so improved after less than 6 months.

We just got back from Maui for our (very) belated honeymoon. The best advice I've heard about traveling is to either pack lots of food just in case or to stay in a condo with a kitchen. We opted for a condo, which saved us a lot of money in addition to reducing stress because we didn't need to buy prepared meals 3 times a day. I think the best meals we had were those we just threw together using local fish or beef from the island and grilling it. We enjoyed mahi mahi, ahi tuna, sweet okinawa potatoes (they're purple... my favorite color AND my favorite food!), and tons of fresh papaya, mango, pineapple and apple bananas. As for restaurants, we opted for inexpensive places, which are notoriously more difficult and clueless. So I'd suggest paying extra to eat at the fancy restaurants to get safer food, and calling ahead, which would have been smart!

The first night, we went over to Beach Bums in Ma'alea, which was a couple blocks from our condo. According to my husband, they had delicious BBQ chicken. Sadly for me, they had no clue what ingredients were in the BBQ and the person who actually makes it wasn't there that night. So I ordered a salad with grilled Mahi Mahi, and asked that they check the ingredients in the salad dressing. What I FORGOT to do was ask them to grill the fish on a clean pan and not to season it at all. I ended up with some cross contamination symptoms the next day, but fortunately for me that ended up being just some moderate stomach pains.

The places where I had successful experiences were at a sushi restaurant (I brought my own soy sauce packets) and Vietnamese food (I had pho, which is supposed to be naturally gluten free if made traditionally). We tried going to the Kahului Ale House, which was one of the few places on the island with gluten free options (pizza crust, wraps, etc). When we walked in, we asked the hostess about their gluten-free options. She looked at me like I had two heads. Turns out the restaurant is under a new owner and no longer even knows what gluten is. Such a shame. I tried to plaster the internet with comments about the restaurant that it is no longer gluten free.

 Our last full day there, we went to Cheeseburger in Paradise in Lahaina, which said they could serve me a gluten free meal if I ordered a cheeseburger without the bun, and fruit salad instead of fries (apparently most fries on the island use seasoning mix that includes flour to keep them crispy). Again, I sort of made a silly mistake. They served me a side of thousand island dressing, which comes spread on all the hamburgers. My guess is there were plenty of crumbs in the dressing from all the knives spreading it on buns over and over again. Like clockwork, 12 hours later I found myself wide awake in the middle of the night with stomach pains and a racing heart. Similarly to many people, my body gets sort of amped up when it's exposed to gluten. It feels as if my immune system is calling "all hands on deck!", which isn't exactly convenient at 1am. Nonetheless, it's tolerable, and seems to pass in a few hours. I think I'll survive.

Our last day, we went on a 6 1/2 hour snorkeling/whale/dolphin cruise through the Pacific Whale Foundation. I called ahead (the only time I did this the whole trip, silly me!), and they assured me they would ask the caterer for a gluten free meal. They served breakfast and lunch on the boat, and I was skeptical they would have anything I could eat. I was partially wrong, fortunately. For breakfast, they served fruit, bagels and muffins. So I ate the fruit and some rice cakes I packed. At lunch, I told them I was the gluten free person and they excitedly pulled out freshly grilled chicken breasts. Turns out the caterer sent them 15 breasts for just one person! The staff were happy because they got to eat the extras. They grilled the meat separate from the other food, and called me down first to get mine before they opened up the buffet. I ate it with sliced veggies, which was pretty good. Although I was sad that the only side they had was pasta salad. Oh well. Avi tasted some of mine and said mine was actually better than the regular grilled chicken. They were the only people on our trip who seemed to handle the gluten-free situation appropriately. To be fair, though, it was probably the only time I handled the situation appropriately as well...

So I was glutened twice on the trip...and yet I barely noticed. Being exposed to gluten wasn't as nightmarish as I thought it might be. In fact, it didn't get in the way of any of our plans. That said, I don't plan to go eat a slice of bread anytime soon. But it's good to know I can at least work on being better at ordering in restaurants and be "normal". It's certainly a steep learning curve. I think the hardest challenge for me is being okay with taking a lot of time to explain exactly what I need to my server. I hate being difficult, but I guess I can always make up for it with good tipping.

The next venture to prepare for might be a little more challenging... going to a conference in Montreal. My guess is it's a very gluten-free-friendly city, but I'll be busy and with other people the whole time. I requested a fridge for our room and will either find a grocery store once I get there or pack some of my own bread, etc. for the trip. That will be a good test. Fortunately, I'm getting more confident and healthier every day.

The 3 Month Mark

January 9th was my 3 month mark of being Gluten Free!

It has felt more like a year. It's been an emotional roller-coaster, and a more intense coping process than I expected. I had to mourn the loss of a simple food lifestyle for the rest of my life (or until they invent an enzyme to allow me to digest gluten, which my doc says is likely to develop in my lifetime). Still, in order to accept my current status, I had to deal with the likelihood that I will never eat certain things again-- at least not in their original form.

Right around that point, though, I suddenly noticed feeling dramatically better. My digestion is just, well, normal. Better than normal, I think. Granted, I'm still avoiding dairy, soy milk, eggs and most coffee and tea. Still, it's nice to just be able to eat and run and know I'll be feeling good. The anxiety about food is going down, and as it does, I feel care-free again. It's a feeling I haven't felt in a long time.

I had my follow-up bloodwork and guess what? I'm officially gluten-free as far as my Celiac is concerned. I had 54 antibodies in my original test. Know how many antibodies I have now? Three. Just three little guys. That is a completely negative test. As far as my body is concerned, I'm not sick anymore. What a strange little disease.

My other nutritional bloodwork came back totally normal too, which is a shocking but great surprise. All the fatigue and dizziness turned out to be allergies. Once I started taking the right medicine, it helped a lot. And I'm getting started on allergy "drops", which is a new alternative to shots I take on my own every day.

Since seeing the nutritionist and eating a ton more protein, combined with cutting out difficult foods, it's been a rapid change. We've been getting more creative... we sort of had to, and I think I'm eating more well-rounded and diversely than I ever have before. I discovered almond cheese, which sounds nasty but is actually a pretty decent substitute for real cheese, especially shredded and melted into stuff like pasta.

So overall, things are stabilizing. Maybe the next step is getting foods back that I didn't have before. I thought I couldn't digest peppers at all, and this week I've had peppers three times with no issues whatsoever. I also had given up nearly all raw veggies for the same reason, but now I feel great after having salad. Amazing! It's like I'm re-learning how to eat. I've even had Chipotle twice... FYI, all their food is gluten free except the wheat tortillas. Both times I've gone and told them about having a wheat "allergy", and they've gone to impressive measures to make sure my food isn't contaminated at all. I'm actually becoming a bit less afraid of being contaminated, which is liberating.  I'm drinking about a 1/4 cup of coffee on weekends successfully, so hopefully I'll build up to tolerating occasional coffee when I have a long day. I don't really know how much better I can feel past this point, but I look forward to whatever comes of continuing to be gluten free!

Gluten Free for the Holidays

We took it easy this holiday season and opted out from visiting family back on the east coast. We Skyped in for Christmas and opened presents we had mailed to each other, which was nice. It was 75 and not a cloud in the sky here, so we were okay with just taking it easy here. I also made GF cranberry cornbread using a Pamela's brand mix and some fresh cranberries. Not too shabby! To be honest, it felt sort of weird to be eating bread though.

I used the break to really pursue the health oddities that have popped up lately. I started off by going to a new doctor, who is an osteopathic doctor. I'd never seen one before and looked up what a DO rather than MD means. My understanding is that their medical training is slightly different than MDs in that they view the body as more of a system rather than a series of functions and symptoms. He came highly recommended by my nutritionist, so gave it a try.

The doctor suspects anemia and maybe Thyroid issues, which are common in Celiac suffers early in their diagnosis. Once he mentioned those possibilities, it seemed like a big possibility I've been getting dizzy spells and easily fatigue from exercising. I'm coming up on my 3 month follow up with my GI, so the new primary care doc added some blood tests to the antibody and nutrient tests that were already ordered. I'm actually sitting in the lab waiting to get that done as we speak. Hopefully, I'll have some answers soon. They never told mr that my health would likely feel worse before it gets better!

Just over 2 Months GF- Airplane Noodles & Aloe Juice

Let me start by saying I did my math and thought I was GF for 3 months when I first wrote this post. Then I realized... no, it just feels like 3 months. My 3 month GF anniversary is Jan 10. So this is a retrospective of the last couple weeks, which begins right as I reached my 2 month mark.

A couple weeks ago, I finally got in with a nutritionist who knew about all the issues that can come with Celiac Disease. Thank goodness! I realized I had lost 9 lb since going gluten free, which was very unintentional. She said she could tell through some analysis that I have been losing muscle, which indicates malnutrition. It was surprisingly emotional to hear her acknowledge that I'm having trouble getting enough nutrients on a daily basis. She told me to try to get 80-90g protein a day (40g more than the recommended daily allowance)! Also, she agreed I should not only cut out dairy but also soy, at least until I start feeling better for a couple months. So where do I get the protein? Oh yeah, I also think I'm allergic to eggs... love it. Oh, and coffee and black tea have been too acidic for me lately, so I'm off caffeine. When it rains it pours.

I'm just eating lots of meat and nuts for the time being. I noticed a difference immediately, which is worth the dietary sacrifice though. My mantra for all these additional restrictions has been "It's only temporary". Man, it's gonna seem like a breeze if I can ever start having these foods and ONLY cut out gluten. Ironic.

Last week, we took our first plane trip to go to Florida for a quick vacation. We knew we were going to a condo with a kitchen, and that there were plenty of good grocery stores nearby, but the plane trip was another story. We didn't check a bag, so I couldn't bring any significant amount of food in liquid form. Going there, we made chicken salad and rice cakes with peanut butter and some fruit. Pretty good. We had almost nothing to do in Florida except cook lots of good food for me, so it was almost like rehab. I felt so much better by the time I came back. The one thing we forgot is what to pack for our plane ride home. I packed a bunch of gluten free crackers and sliced apples and a Thai Kitchen dry noodle soup. Just add hot water. So on our layover, I asked for a cup of hot water at Starbucks, and decided to wait until we were on the plane to assemble the dehydrated noodles, sauce etc all in the plastic bowl it came in.

I finally put it together just before take-off, and fortunately it didn't leak or slide anywhere. It sat and "cooked" in the hot water in Avi's footspace, which would have worked, except the water had cooled just enough to NOT cook the noodles fully. The best part? I forgot to take the packet of oil out of the container before filling it with water (it was hiding under the noodles). Oops! It was a bit raw, but I ate it anyway out of hunger. Note to self: add hot water to noodles IMMEDIATELY!

I went to a more local support group for Celiac the other night, and got lots of great advice about places to eat nearby. I ended up winning a big basket from a gluten free store, which is owned by one of the members who attends. He had hand-picked lots of yummy soup mixes, pasta, and baking mix. It was really nice to meet people who are still working on making their gluten-free life stable.

Today, I finally followed through on a suggestion from my nutritionist to get protein powder and make shakes with almond milk, frozen fruit and the powder. The lady at Hi Health talked me into also buying Aloe Vera juice, which she says is like putting aloe on a sunburn, except on the inside. She said she thought it would be a good first step to help everything heal. It's worth a try!

Weeks 7 & 8

I made it through Thanksgiving, although not as well as I had hoped. The hostess was amazing and did everything in her power to cook lots of foods I could eat. She cooks mostly from scratch, so the issue was more cross-contamination than actual ingredients. But since there was flour floating around from other dishes, I think a bit probably got into my food anyway. I wasn't ill that day at dinner, which was my biggest fear, so that was a big plus. But I was still sorta sick that night, and I realized over the next few days that I must have been exposed just enough to cause damage inside. Every time I ate, I'd feel discomfort and stomach pain. Oh, the gluten monster. It's been over a week and I'm still not healed from it. It's a good exercise in positive reframing and acceptance.

If you've ever played Apples to Apples, you'll appreciate that I played with our family the day after Thanksgiving and I picked the green adjective card "Overwhelming". When everyone handed in a card they thought met that definition, lo and behold, someone had handed in "Wheat". Clearly, they had me pegged. It was very funny, in that dark sorta sad kind of way. Hopefully that same card won't be true by next Thanksgiving.

Otherwise, I'm just trying to make it through my commitments till things lighten up with school over winter break. With the discomfort I've been experiencing since Thanksgiving, I've been eating way too little. I've tried supplementing with nutrition shakes like Ensure, but I don't think that's nearly enough. So I'm in the process of scheduling a nutritionist and plan to change primary care doctors-- No one at health services knows anything about Celiac... I actually came in for my follow-up visit and the triage nurse wrote that I was there for "lab results". Not exactly, honey. The doctor forgot I was there because she had asked me to do so after I got the final diagnosis from my GI, and she let the student doctor see me, who tried to explain to me that there's no pill he can prescribe to "cure" it. Uh, thanks for the novel information, man. I had no idea.

I'm thinking of trying some digestive enzymes or probiotics to help speed up the healing and help aid digestion. I've read about a ton of possible ones to try, but I'll have to sift through them to find one to try first. I'm actually wondering if the new legalization of medical marijuana might be an option for me if this keeps up for very long...

GF Week 6

Nov 9-16

Time to start gearing up for Thanksgiving! That will be quite a trip, I'm sure. I'm heading to San Diego to visit some family, and we're staying in a hotel for several days. I've been advised to bring some of my own food and also research gluten-free friendly restaurants in the area by contacting local support groups and other organizations. I need to start planning for that. My husband's cousin, who's hosting Thanksgiving, is very eager to help cook things I can have, but I worry about cross-contamination. It's weird to want to trust people, but not make them responsible for me getting sick either. I'd hate for someone to feel guilty about my health. So I sent her some resources and I'm hoping we'll talk more in the coming week to figure out what she's going to try to make gluten-free and what might not be possible.

In other news, my health is officially random. I'm told it's just part of healing, and that you'll often have weird symptoms without knowing why. I'll literally have an hour or two of feeling super ill, and then feel on top of the world the rest of the day. It's definitely practice in mental self-control to not spend all my time preoccupied about what I might have done to cause any of it. I've reached a point where I sort of just have to go along day by day and try not to worry about why I'm feeling however I'm feeling. I'm not the best at it yet, but I'm sure I'll learn.

This week I'm going to prioritize setting up an appointment with a nutritionist. I could use all the help I can get to find things to eat. I had a bone density scan yesterday, so they'll know whether I'm calcium deficient. Vitamins, here I come!

GF Week 5

Nov 1-8

This was a roller coaster week. In retrospect, I'm definitely feeling very good on average. Even on my bad days, they're definitely worth the good days. And I can only believe the good days will become more and more plentiful as I progress. The three most dramatic changes I've noticed, aside from the obvious digestive stuff, are feeling hydrated, well-rested, and more mentally alert. I was guzzling water all the time before my diagnosis, which I think had to do digestive issues... totally unexpected though. I'm also sleeping about 7-8 hours a night, rather than 9-10 hours, which was my norm whenever I could have that much. My need for coffee has gone way down. All good things! I need to keep these in mind when I have my bad days.

At the beginning of the week, I felt sick for several days without really knowing the source. I've started to get sick of the guessing game, which I'll call "Find That Gluten!". It has all the workings of making a person go crazy and very paranoid (which seems to be common on some of the celiac message forums). So I'm trying to keep my sanity intact. Regardless of why, my week started with mini vertigo attacks in which I'd turn my head quickly and the room would spin momentarily. Also felt some pretty significant fatigue. Ended up cancelling several commitments and going home to sleep on Tuesday. Very frustrating and depressing.

I went to my first Celiac support group meeting on Wednesday. Avi drove me because I was feeling too dizzy to drive-- bizarre, huh? I never really had that kind of feeling in the past, but maybe I was but it was hidden behind other symptoms. Anyway, it was good to have gone, although I still felt under the weather. I did meet some very nice people who were definitely sympathetic to my very recent diagnosis. They also sent us home with some good resources on recipes for the holidays.

Tried Udi's bread, which has come very highly recommended by nearly any gluten-free person I've talked to. It's not bad! Definitely not exactly the consistency of bread I'd typically eat, but it still seemed like bread to me, which is nice!

By Friday, I finally recovered and started to feel normal again. I ate every meal ravenously and snacked all day. It was literally a high to feel normal again, and it made the misery from the rest of the week fade away a little bit.

Last night, we did a bunch of cooking, which helped my anxiety over what to eat for the week. It was a cooking bonanza! Pulled BBQ chicken, steak, rice, stir-fried veggies, and potatoes. We also talked to our relatives which we're visiting for Thanksgiving and gave them a heads up on my situation. They were very receptive and wanted as much info about cooking safely for me as possible. Now I just have to decide how much to trust other people's food... it's not that I don't trust the people, but their gluten-contaminated kitchen is the big problem.

I bought some all-purpose baking flour that has a strange assortment of gluten substitutes (rice flour, potato flour, xantham gum, etc). I'm thinking of trying to make cranberry muffins or something... Might be a disaster, but you gotta start somewhere, right?

GF Week 4-- Baking: Attempt #1

Oct 25-Nov 1

I decided to make some cookies to bring to a Halloween party on Saturday so I'd have more goodies to enjoy. I found a very highly-rated recipe and carefully checked people's reviews & suggestions. I thought I did it perfectly, but for whatever reason the texture of the batter was strangely gooey. After 5 minutes in the oven, I peeked inside only to discover that the cookies had expanded into one giant cookie bar in the baking pan!

Nonetheless, I let them finish baking and figured I would cut them like brownies. Took my first bite and they melted into sugar and stuck to my teeth like taffy. Still tasted good, but definitely not quite right. Oh well. You have to start somewhere, right?

Talked to my aunt with Celiac yesterday. She told me she thinks it's fanatical to replace all my plastic storage containers and segregate them from gluten. She lives in a shared gluten household and said she has managed to get her antibodies from 800 to 3 and still uses shared cutting boards, utensils and storage containers (after they are run through the dishwasher). Even more exciting, she says she is super sensitive to gluten, but still doesn't have any issue with food that says it's made in "shared facilities" with wheat. I'm still trying to be strict for now, but it gives me hope that I'll be able to expand my foods after a while to include stuff like that.

It's still difficult stocking my kitchen with enough food to feel like I can have a substantial meal. Last night, I had a little meltdown because I was stressing about what to cook for the coming week. I spent an hour wandering the supermarket for stuff to buy and ended up making a huge salad with a big variety of ingredients, but then ate a bunch of it for dinner. So much for leftovers. Plus all that roughage is giving me stomachaches. Maybe more potatoes are in my future, at least till my gut heals more. The trouble is, I don't want to be too repetitive with my diet or I could develop food allergies. Oh gluten...such a journey. An adventure, right?

GF Week 3

Sun Oct 25, 2010

Ate at my mentor's house on Sunday, which was my first attempt to eat at someone else's house. I was anxious all day about it, even though he had asked me for pointers to help prep correctly and all.

The biggest issue that is difficult to communicate is that porous materials like wooden or plastic cutting boards, spoons, etc can hide gluten and contaminate other food. I told him to think of flour like raw meat. Anything it comes in contact with needs to be cleaned thoroughly and segregated from anything I would eat. It's hard to tell people how careful they need to be, and I really disliked having to be that person to be so difficult. I guess I'll just have to get rid of it.

So I brought a side dish to share so I knew at least that would be safe. Luckily, my mentor went to great lengths and actually did all his slicing of ingredients on plates. We had carnitas, with all the veggies separate, so it was pretty safe. He even kept the containers of chicken broth and other products so I could check them. I also brought ice cream for dessert, which was fortunate because my labmate had baked a cake that looked delicious (but deadly for me). I managed to enjoy the dinner, miraculously. That really made my week. Over time, I'm realizing this will be doable. 

GF Week 2

Oct 17-23
It took all week to really get back on track and begin to feel good again. It's crazy that getting exposed can do so much damage, but it seems true based on that one experience last week.

My first week entailed eliminating gluten as an ingredient from my diet, but this week I began to investigate my medications and certain foods that say "manufactured in a facility that also processes wheat". My doctor told me to avoid that for now, so I can get a baseline of health. Then, since I was symptomatic before going GF, I should be able to notice if the minimal exposure from shared facilities might bother me or not. It's frustrating though... even Trader Joe's and Fresh & Easy say some of their stuff is gluten free, but then are made in facilities or on machinery with wheat. I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can re-introduce them again!

My stress level has felt strangely lower this week, even though emotionally, I've been getting into gloomy moods more easily. I think that's just because it's tough to find foods that are satisfying all day. I keep going to grocery stores looking for things to stock up on. Eventually, I'm sure I'll get used to it all. I do think that having a healthier GI system must be reducing the tension in my body though. So that's good. Hopefully it will keep getting better. Avi says I'm too anxious to see results. I guess I just want to know it's all worth it.

On Friday, I got a very odd voicemail from a number listed as Newton, MA. The voicemail said, "You're the winner! You're the winner of the gluten free basket at Whole Foods! Call us back and you can come pick it up."

Very skeptically, I called the number back. I was thinking, could someone have stoled my info and is now scamming me for a credit card number or something? But the chirpy voice on the other line answered "Whole Foods" and seemed more clueless about the situation than I was.

The girl on the other side said my name, and said, "Oh, yes, you're in Phoenix? Yep, you can pick it up whenever you get a chance".
I replied, "At which location?"
She said, "Oh it's the Newton location, which is right between the streets..." And I interrupted her, saying, "But I live in Phoenix... like 3,000 miles away"... "Oh, that is strange", she said.

Turns out, my friend Hammy had been at Whole Foods that day and saw the contest. I guess she thought it was a national contest? Anyway, she kindly offered to pick it up and mail it to me, which is very exciting! I'll be sure to share what came in it once it arrives.

Glutened...?

Sunday, Oct 17, 2010


Last night, I made a lovely meal of citrus-marinated tilapia, jasmine rice, and broccoli. A great, carefully-checked gluten-free meal. Just before dinner was ready, I took a CVS-brand version of Excedrin because I had had a headache all day. Not sure what caused it, but within 15 minutes after eating, I felt funny. My belly gurgled, I felt bloated, and I got nervous. Could I have had gluten?


In the Celiac world, they call this "getting glutened". Basically, if you have Celiac, gluten is treated like poison in your body, so it's the equivalent to food poisoning if you have enough of it. I've read that as you eliminate gluten from your diet, you become more and more sensitive to any amount of it. Well I'm not sure if I'm already that sensitive or what, but I was up sick till 5 am. The pain was quite surprising, and different than my past symptoms. All of this is consistent with what I've heard "getting glutened" can be like. I looked up remedies, and basically they say to drink lots of water and green tea. But between the pain and the caffeine in the tea, I was wide awake all night watching bad TV to distract myself. This sucks. 


I'm trying to remember that it will only get better from here, but it's tough. I got almost no sleep and feel completely wiped today. The best thing I can figure is that maybe the medicine I took had gluten in it. Apparently CVS generics cannot guarantee being gluten-free as they change depending on the batch. Ick. So just to be safe, I think I'll have to go out and buy more reliable, brand-name (and unfortunately more expensive) meds. Awesome. 

I'm trying to keep looking for the silver lining in this whole experience. At least I know the cause of being sick and am in control of getting better. I just have to work hard to educate myself. It's nearly 24 hours after the start of this first episode, and I'm just looking forward to recovering and trying again. I read that gluten in your system is sort of like falling down and scraping your knee. If you keep falling down, your knee will never heal, but if you stay away from the pavement for a few days, it starts to heal quickly. I think this week, I'll need to try to be extra careful and basic with my diet. Maybe the memory of this weekend will help motivate me.

GF Week 1

Oct 9-16, 2010

My first week of going gluten free was...challenging, actually. I started out pretty good and even refused the offer to have one last "good" beer from friends. But without even thinking, I ate some candy corn I had purchased and placed in a cute little pumpkin bowl near my front door. I had a couple handfuls... bad idea. I was sick for a couple hours on Tuesday morning, but I popped some meds and managed to make it through the day.

So far, the biggest change I've noticed is that my energy is much higher. I've been requiring probably a full hour less of sleep per night, and still wake up ready to go. I had been barely making it till 10pm and sleeping till 7 or so every night, but this week I had to make myself go to bed by 11 or even 12, and would be wide awake by 6:30. Pretty dramatic. Maybe that's why I've been drinking more and more coffee lately...

After my little slip-up on Monday, I started to notice my digestion stabilizing on Wednesday. I was just less aware of digestion that was happening inside me, which was a very welcome change. I used to eat and want to sit quietly or even lie down to help the process. Now I'm starting to learn I can eat and keep going through my day without grumbling and gurgling going on. I had a day there where I felt like digestion slowed too much and I felt really full, but things seemed to equalize after that, and I'm feeling good!

On Thursday, I had the official biopsy results finally come in. I have Celiac disease. Big surprise! But it's actually pretty good to get that final confirmation. On Friday, I had my follow up with Dr. Patel, my new GI doc, and he told me I am level 3B, which apparently indicates that I have all three possible signs of Celiac damage: intestinal inflammation, dulling of the villi, and widening of crypts (the openings between the villi). So basically there's no doubt about the diagnosis. I've been reading some books I ordered on Celiac, and am learning that my diagnosis is amazingly straightforward, compared to the average Celiac. So I'm very thankful about that. The doctor also said that the healing process can be very rapid, so I might start getting much better within a few days, even with all the damage he saw. Pretty amazing!

Day 27: Goodbye Gluten

Oct 8, 2010


After nearly a month of waiting to act on my Celiac blood test, I get to finally rid my body of gluten! I never thought I'd be so excited to get started, but I'm sure it's good that I feel that way.


For the "Closing Ceremonies" of my Tour de Gluten, we returned to Chompies for my final glutenous meal. It was quite a fest...


While we were waiting to be seated, my friend handed me a sample of chocolate fudge brownie at the bakery. As I put it in my mouth, she yelled, "Don't do it, it's gluten-free!". Ironically, the one product in the whole bakery that was gluten-free happened to be the sample. But reassuring I can still find a decent brownie after today.


Anyway, we proceeded to order everything imaginable with wheaty goodness: Matzo ball soup with noodles and a bagel chip, Jewish sliders (potato latke, brisket, mini challah and au jus), and  a massive Reuben. I had a bite of my friend's granola crusted french toast too. Mmmm.


 Both Avi and I felt like we were still digesting 2 days later. Project gluten accomplished!

Day 27 - The Transition Begins!

Well, good news. Sort of. We have a pretty solid answer to this giant question mark that's been hanging over my head. The endoscopy was a success and the doctor felt pretty strongly that I have Celiac.

That damage they were looking for? It was there! Is it odd that I'm happy about it? I think the suspense of waiting has gotten to me. To me, it's clear I have Celiac at this point. So I guess I was just waiting to get the green light on making a lifestyle change so I can feel better. Anyway, I excitedly got to look at photos of my intestine and-- what do ya know-- there was scalloping just how that photo I posted looks. Between that and the high levels of antibodies in my blood, the doctor was pretty certain. We still have a week till the biopsy results come back, but I can start transitioning now.


So today we're having a Goodbye Gluten dinner at Chompies. It makes me sad to have this condition, but I'm more than ready to start feeling good... maybe for the first time in a very long time. 


I started looking at the things you need to do to make your kitchen gluten free and it's daunting to say the least. At least one document I was reading said you need to keep exposure down to less than 5 parts per million. That means keeping gluten free ("GF" in the gluten-free world) foods separate from other foods. It means replacing my cutting boards and wooden cooking spoons in case bits of gluten could be lurking inside. And it means buying new plastic food storage containers that are dedicated to remain "uncontaminated" by gluten. I think it will be a process. But I'm happy to start moving forward.

Day 26- Endoscopy Day

Thur 10/7

Today's the day! I just want to get it over with.
Lots of people are asking what they're looking for. Here's what I understand (anyone feel free to correct me if there's anything inaccurate):
Basically, there are two things. The first is they want to look at the condition of the small intestine. If it's Celiac, they might be able to physically see scalloping on the lining of the intestine (the top picture shows healthy anatomy, and the bottom is what it looks like with Celiac).
Sometimes that damage isn't visible though. So they also plan to take a biopsy of the lining, which contains villi, finger-like projections which absorb nutrients from our food (shown on the right photos). If the villi look short and worn down, that means it's Celiac. Celiac results in damage of the villi, so this is a definitive diagnosis.
I'm actually hoping for the diagnosis because otherwise I think it's going to be a long, difficult road to figure out what's wrong. I've been feeling so much better just from reducing gluten, I'll be really surprised. But it might take a couple weeks to get the biopsy results. This process drives me crazy!

Day 25

Wednesday 10/6

Last day before the endoscopy. We decided to have a gluten-riffic dinner of my favorite pizza from Oregano's: Rosemary Chicken and Potato Pizza. Mmmm. Plus Avi threw in an order of bruschetta. I started to say I'll really miss bruschetta and then I realized I'll be just as happy with caprese salad and other stuff without the bread. But it was still tasty.

A bit nervous about having anesthesia (they didn't want to just use sedation because I woke up in the middle of my wisdom tooth removal). Don't wanna wake up with a tube down my throat, so they plan to bring in an actual anesthesiologist. I know it's a super minor procedure, so as long as I react okay from the drugs, I think I'll be good.