Book Review: The G-Free Diet

In this adventure that is Celiac Disease, it is IMPOSSIBLE to have too much information. Since the diagnosis, hubby and I have been sponges when it come to Celiac info (hubby more than me than me thanks to lots of crummy brain fog issues). Recently, I soaked up Elizabeth Hasselbeck's book, The G-Free Diet. Elizabeth Hasselbeck is a co-host on The View. I never would have known that she had Celiac without some of my co-workers in Kentucky telling me. She was sick for about 10 years before her diagnosis... ugh. I thought a year was terrible. She realized she had issues when she was on Survivor, eating a completely different diet than she ate here, she felt so much better. So she came back to the US and went on the hunt for what that terrible food was. She figured out for herself that it was gluten. It took her a very long time to get any doctor to test her for Celiac (Sidenote SoapBox: This is ridiculous!!! If a patient tells you "This is what is going on with my body, I seriously believe this is the issue, nothing you are doing is working, give me this test" and you say no, you are making a bad choice. People aren't all hypochondriacs. Some people listen to their bodies. Furthermore, if you don't know about Celiac and you have a patient who thinks she has Celiac... you BETTER learn about it real quick.) So anyways, EH has done a lot of this Celiac adventure on her own. She is one of the brave ones who still allows gluten containing foods in her house. That was a really interesting part for me to read. It gave me a little hope for once hubs and I have kids... maybe they can be normal. I just have to get me under control and get out of survival mode first. The G-Free Diet was a book full of seriously helpful tidbits of information. From what to do at dinner parties to lists and lists of products that do not contain gluten. I think I gained some confidence in my Celiac journey from reading her book. She has it down. She knows what she needs to do to protect herself and she does it. One of my favorite parts was when she was talking about how she deals with dinner parties or weddings where it would be an insult to not eat the food. Her and her husband have an agreement that she would just sort of push the food around her plate until he was about half done or a little more with his plate. Then they would swiftly trade plates. No one would have any idea that she didn't eat the food in front of her! Brilliant!
So when it comes down to it, this book was very helpful! If you are just beginning your G-Free diet, I totally recommend this book. If you have been on it a while but still have some questions, I totally recommend this book. If you are an old pro but what some fresh G-Free ideas, I totally recommend this book. If you have friends or family with Celiac disease, I totally recommend this book.
Enjoy!

New Beginnings...

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. So, I eliminated all grains for 2 and a half or 3 weeks... I kinda forget which. :) I was still not feeling great but I was feeling better. I went to the GI. He was great. Really helpful. He answered all my questions (oh yeah, there were a lot of them!) and he recommended me to a dietitian. I'm pretty excited to go see the dietitian. I'm hoping for some new good ideas and some professional help with this gluten free thing. This past week I began reintroducing my most common grains. Quinoa first, then rice, last corn. All fine... but I was still getting sick. Then it dawned on me. I referred to my handy dandy food journal to confirm the culprit. Lactose. I've been lactose sensitive for a long time; drinking only lactose free milk but still eating cheese, ice cream, etc.. No longer. I am full blown lactose intolerant. It's no fun but it is what it is. So, this too I will embrace in order to make myself a healthier person. My body continues to heal... hopefully... and I continue to strive to be 100% gluten free. The doc did a Celiac blood panel so I'll see how I'm doing with that any day now when I get the results. Hopefully I'm not failing... Gluten is sneaky. It sticks to manufacturing equipment and gets in my otherwise GF foods. Flour can travel through the stinking air!! This is rough. It takes a whole lot of trusting that companies are following safe manufacturing techniques and labeling the products correctly. We shouldn't have to take leaps of faith like that when it comes to things that could totally destroy our bodies. It is time for the FDA to set strict regulations and to make sure that companies are following them. The health of thousands and thousands of people with food allergies and intolerances are on the line. -- End rant. :)

Research and Ramblings

Does all the "research" out there ever make you crazy. I've spent most of my day today reading web page after web page full of contradictions and unclear results. All you med students out there (that I'm sure are not even reading this because who has time to read a blog in med school?) seriously consider doing some hard core, legit celiac research. We need you. We need answers.

Anyways, great news! Yesterday was a good day! I felt as good as I have in probably two weeks yesterday. Praise God for that relief. I was able to get some good things done around the house, plus a little relaxation at the pool. I'm finding that throwing myself into little projects is a welcome distraction. I realized the other day that since we moved the rest of the house is decorated and looking nice but our bedroom was still pretty blah in the decorations department. So, I weighed my options. I could either spend 60-80 bucks buying art for the walls or I could go to Hobby Lobby and create my own for about 20 bucks. I'm all for Design on a Dime so I went with it. I think it turned out pretty cool. It's not on the walls yet because by the time I got home from coffee with good friends it was too late to be banging on the walls. (We have little kids who live in the apartment above us) It looks great sitting on my living room floor though! HA!
Yesterday I also made some more homemade potato chips to have on hand. They are safe from foods that I know are bad for me (and hopefully foods I don't know are bad for me) and they are super tasty. I also decided to get a little adventurous and make some homemade ketchup. Hubby said it's the best ketchup he's ever had. I'm ok with that. :)
Today I got Elizabeth Hasselbeck's book "The G Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide" from the library. I'll let you know my thoughts as I read.

That's all for now.

Sam

PS Pics are of the bedroom decs as they are now. On the living room floor but laid out as they will go on the walls.

New Experiment

So, I realize more and more everyday how much of a blessing it is that God has me at home right now. For the past few days it has been because I've been sick. Today, it is because I need to research and learn more and more about this disease. Apparently, it isn't enough to just go gluten free. I'm beginning to feel more and more that I have other food intolerances secondary to gluten. Anyone else out there? So, I was doing some research last night and I learned about a test called an ALCAT test? Anyone have any info on that? Let me know. I want to do some serious research on this one. Also, if you have any awesome websites you use to get good info let me know! I've got two books set to arrive in the mail today or tomorrow (fingers crossed) but I need some good reading until then.

Anyways, I'm feeling a bit better today. Bananas and Pedialyte are a blessing I tell ya! I'm making hubs lunch today. So far all I've got is homemade potato chips. Going without corn too has ruined the menu I had initially planned. (Corn is something that has been giving me issues) I better go figure it out. He'll be home soon! :)

Welcome!

Ok, here goes. I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in April of 09. Since then I have gone completely gluten free. It all started off great. I immediately felt better. I had energy I hadn't had in months. I had my "bubble" back, as I was told. But a month or so later I started feeling bad again. And now, 4 months later I am back to feeling the way I was feeling pre-diagnosis. Why? I'm still completely gluten free. I have called company after company trying to find the one thing my husband and I aren't catching, but nothing is coming up to still contain gluten. So, today marks day one of my new challenge. I will not eat one bite of food outside of my house for one month to see what happens. I will not eat at friends houses. I will not eat at restaurants. I will not even eat food that I take places to consume. I will eat every single meal in my own home. Now, if I get a job this will be difficult and the plan may need to be altered. But for now. That is the plan. I will cook. I will be a clean freak. I will not have one bit of gluten in my home. I may even go so far as to make people wipe their hands off with a Wet One at the door. Is that overboard? I just can't take the pain, mind fog, exhaustion and other issues anymore. Also, I have started a food journal. I'm writing down everything I eat and my reactions after eating in hopes of catching the culprit. Does anyone out there have any other suggestions? What do you do when you are having troubles without any clue of the source? What do you do when you have a reaction? What makes you feel better?
Sam :)