Week 3

Hello all!
So today is monday, June 29, 2009 and I am on week 3 of my Celiac/Gluten Free lifestlye. I read the Idiot's guide to Gluten Free Eating from front to back in 1 week. I have also read a million forums about Celiacs. The internet has saved my new life. Also a co-worker of mine has two 20 year old daughters who have Celiac Disease and they were diagnosed when they were babies, so his family has been cooking Gluten Free for 20 years! He is a such a wonderful resource. He has given me 15 of his family recipes, a shopping list for a nearby GFree store and his daughters are putting together a dining out guide. I am so blessed to know someone who has all of this information and is willing to share with me. =)

I have been doing a lot of shopping at Henry's until Sprouts in Brea opens up. I now shop at 2 or 3 differnet markets every week. It has been pretty intense, but it still gives me an answer to my craziness. I have been making a lot of meals at home, some really good, others ok. I even made some GFree Brownies. All of my friends and family are being really supportive of the process. My hubby is even eating some of my GFree foods on his own without me making it for him! My parents want to get the blood test to see if they may have Celiacs Disease. It is quite interesting that when one family member gets diagnosed with a disease, others are quick to think about their own symptoms. If this discovery helps me and my family and makes us a healthier longer living family, then, thank you GFree.

Eating out has been a small chore. Part of me doesn't want to go out at all because I am scared to feel sick afterwards, and I hate being a nusiance to the servers and cooks. But then again, their job is to serve the customer right? =) Well, I went out to lunch with some co-workers on Saturday. We went to Red Robin. They had a GFree list of things I could eat. Sweet. I ordered a salad with grilled chicken and honey mustard dressing on the side. The salad came out with Bread on it! AHHH. But my server knew I couldn't and send the salad back to be remade. It tasted great... but in about an hour, I felt sick. Upset stomach, cramps, yuckiness... Don't know what it was, dressing? Bread leftover? Chicken? Cross Contamination. I am not sure, but I am weary about going to the Bird again. ON a lighter note, B and I went to Outback on Friday night with some friends and they have a GFree MENU! Hooray. I got steak and baked potato with a glass of wine. I reminded the server about a clean grill and workspce, and she said no problem... they have a Gluten Free Button on their register!!! Love OUTBACK! I ate everything on my plate and didn't get sick! So refreshing.

Well as the days go by, somedays I don't feel well, gluten or not, and I am tired or have an upset stomach. So I really need to pay attention to what other foods I am intaking since my intestine isn't healed, I could react to a lot of other things. Dairy, Sugar, Soy... I am in a constant state of thinking about what I ate and what is in my food. But as everyone says, It could be worse. And that is so true, I am surviving and liking a good amount of GFree food. We will see what happens...

Day 2 of Celiac Disease

Ok, Now I have an answer to why I have been feeling soooo miserable. Tired, nauseated, migraines, weight loss, anxiety, depression, gas, bloating, to name a few! All of these things have gotten worse and worse over the last year or so. I was feeling miserable and couldn't lose any weight. And for women to feel that way....IT SUCKS! I will spare you more of those details, but I knew something was wrong with my body, it just didn't feel right. So I started writing down all of my symptoms and thought to myself, there has to be something going on. I started out with Lactose Intolerance due to upset stomach with milk products, i.e. my vice: Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks, ice cream, non-fat milk in cereal. All made me feel horrible after a Vegas trip that I didn't have any dairy for almost 4 days. So off to the Doc I went with a self diagnosis of lactose intolerance. Doc felt something was going on... took 7 viles of blood from me to test for Thyroid, Anemia, Celiac, some other things and Factor V Leiden (more on that later). A week later, not feeling too much better, I get a call from the nurse telling me I am positive for Facto V Leiden (my sis has it, and it is inherited, not too suprised about that one) and I am positive for Celiac Disease. I said say again, she said Celiac Disease, the Doc wants you to start a Gluten Free Diet and come back and see him in a couple of weeks.

I was on my way to work when this happened, so I am thinking, ok change my diet, feel better. But what is Celiac Disease and what new diet am I going on. Well come to find out Saturday morning when I had time to do some research online, I can not eat any food containing Gluten, which is in more than half of the foods I eat! No Wheat, Rye, Barley, Malt... cookies, cakes, bagels, bread, brownies, pizza, etc. Are you getting the idea, NOTHING with Wheat or flour in it. After my mini meltdown, I said ok... what CAN I eat? Fruit, Veggies, Meats (not seasoned with gluten) rice, corn tortillas, ice cream & other dairy (although I can't eat too much of that due to lactose intolerance being a result of celiac disease, but I could grow out of it... www.celiac.com if you want to read more about it) =)

So all is not lost, but it is going to be a long road ahead. But as the books say, it could be worse. and I can survive. More to come...