It's been a very busy two weeks. I don't want to bore anyone with mundane details, but suffice it to say that I didn't get a lot of shopping done (but I did manage to avoid getting the sickness the girls came down with). Our refrigerator was the better part of empty for over a week, but I was too busy to do much about it. So we did some take-out, which is normally a luxury but recently it's been a necessity! And I have to say, eating out while being gluten and casein and soy free really kind of rots! There are not a lot of options, and I'm afraid to take chances. I've decided that unless an establishment has a bona fide gluten free menu (and they can also assure they can make stuff casein and soy free), we just can't go there. Here's a list of things that I thought would be safe, but which bothered me (most likely a gluten infraction):
Tamales at a local restaurant (wheat in the tamale that's supposed to be made with cornmeal?)
Hydrolized wheat protein in the soups and tamales at local markets
Chicken with Broccoli and Egg Drop Soup from a Chinese place (no soy sauce! No idea what was in that!)
Clearly I can't be eating stuff I don't have a list of ingredients for...which is a major pain in the rear (not only for me but for whoever happens to be with me). That leaves like, next to nowhere I can go. And what's even sillier is that the smallest little bit of gluten gives me a reaction - it's worse now than when it used to be when I was eating gluten all the time. And I'm told that I don't have celiac disease and that the antibodies in the blood test to gluten were so low they are practically negative. That has to be a false negative (I've heard of this happening to others too). This is not all in my head. And as far as the casein...that's the only thing that showed up on the blood test. I've been dairy free for about a month and I feel better (more energy, less migraines) but I don't fee like testing the effect of a little dairy intake. I don't feel like I can eat out anywhere (what a drag)!
So a friend and I were discussing hospitals the other week - even if a dietician stops by to get the lowdown on food sensitivities, do we trust the hospital to know enough about food sensitivities to take them seriously? We agreed - no. Of course my friend ended up in the hospital, and I told her not to worry, I'd bring her meals. So all day today I was baking and cooking. I've got nothing new to post right now, but I thought I'd write down what I made and brought to the hospital room for future reference. Everything was simple, sturdy and easily portable. And it is tastier than hospital food!
Hospital To Go List
Cranberry Orange Muffins
Fresh Strawberries
Spinach Wraps with pesto, turkey and greens
Hummus with Crudites
Fritos with salsa
Snickerdoodles
Chili with Black Beans and Sweet Potatoes
Cornbread Muffins
Pulled Pork with sliced avocado and warm corn tortillas
Spring greens with orange bell pepper, cucumber and Ranch Dressing
I brought the above items to the hospital in a heavy cooler and nobody even blinked twice, so no worries there!
7 comments:
Hi Erin,
I empathize (yes, I'm an Aspie and I empathize! ;-) with how hard it is to eat out when the list of foods you can't eat is much longer than the list of foods you can eat. Unless I want to feel sub-par for a day or so, I generally go for the salad and eat my protein at home.
I've never had gluten or dairy allergies show up on a test, but I have enough of a sensitivity that I avoid gluten and dairy most of the time. When I don't avoid them, I feel the effect (congestion, sore throat, less energy). I'll live with the effect for special occasions (holidays, mostly), but even then, I try to keep it pretty minimal.
Hi Rachel,
it's good that you recognize what foods bother you. I never would have known if my daughters had not displayed bigger sensitivities than what I have. Actually it was Megan who presented with a dairy allergy out of the blue at 2.5 years old. So I got Anna tested as well because allergies run in families...she doesn't have true allergies but she does have definite sensitivities. I never would have known about mine if I had not given their diet a try. I'd still be feeling lousy and thinking it was normal! I feel so much better now that there's no way I want to go back. :)
erin
Erin, I know what you mean. I went for years thinking that I was always coming down with a cold that never quite appeared. Of course, the sugggested treatment was a) do more work in therapy, because it must be psychological or b) take lots of anti-histamines to control the symptoms. Needless to say, neither one worked.
Then, a friend of mine started coming down with all kinds of strange symptoms and did an elimination diet to figure out what was causing them. Now she just stays away from the foods that trigger her sensitivities and she feels just fine. ;-)
I've been thinking about your post. I just think it's so much more complicated than we know - and much more simple too. A friend of mine whose son is definitely verifiably gluten intolerant said she was talking to an endocrinologist and he was kind of rude about the gluten thing, but what he said I partially agreed with. And I'm not saying this is you but maybe it is partially you...But our food is so full of preservatives and mystery ingredients. When a person does gluten free they get rid of most all of those preservatives. When you go out to eat, even if you get rid of the major souces of gluten, the food is sooop full of all sorts of odd ingredients. It's no wonder it causes you problems. The same thing that makes you and your daughter sensitive to gluten - a leaky gut - makes you sensitive to food additives. It's not your imagination. It does the same to my daughter whom I'm sure is Asperger's or Mild Autism, plus has gut issues, but for whom I'm not sure it's worth trying to get a diagnosis.
Have you seen this website?
http://www.gutandpsychologysyndrome.com/
Now, I'm not advocating her book or products - I haven't bought anything - I just think the whole theory makes sense and doctor's ought to consider it as a possibility more.
I really like your website and all your recipes. I'm doing GF Lactose Free with my daughter because it just feels so hard to me to go without cheese. What do you think about this - do you think going all the way with dairy provides a huge benefit?
Thanks-
Cathy
Hi Cathy,
thanks for your thoughtful comment. It's funny that you mention food additives. I have slowly been omitting food items from our pantry that have additives or preservatives in them. It feels like a natural extention of our diet in a way. I try to avoid carrageen for myself like the plague because it bothers me, but I will buy the rice cheese with carrageen in it (figures the only GFCFSF "cheese" available has carrageen in it, ugh)for the girls because they are kids and they should enjoy what they eat as much as they can on this restricted diet we have. I think when they are older and can make their own informed choices, and they know how to listen to their own bodies - if they want to omit more than what I'm doing now then it will be up to them. I'm afraid of going beserk and denying them so much that by the time they are adults they revolt against everything I've tried to do for them, you know?
Anyway, the additives and mystery ingredients you suggest in take-out, etc. makes sense to me. I had not thought of it like that. The chinese food probably had MSG, and it's supposed to be fine on a gluten free diet but maybe it's the very thing that bothered me. A lot of what is supposed to be fine and not bother someone who's gluten sensitive ends up bothering me - it's strange, especially since I don't have celiac.
I looked at that website...it's interesting, but right now the GAP diet list of foods to avoid is really long. That is a heck of a lot to avoid - even all sorts of healthy grains? That's more restrictive than I want to consider right now, especially with small children.
As far as going dairy free...I think it does provide a huge benefit. My daughters and I feel so much better since removing dairy from our diet. I won't lie to you, I do find myself missing cheese, but not so much that I'd go back to eating it. Feeling bad is not worth it. The only way you can really test it is by doing a trial (or an allergy test, which I needed before I'd go dairy free myself!). Remove dairy for 6 months and see if there is any difference. There's really no harm in that. Being dairy free is easier than being gluten free so if you've already done gluten free, it will be easy to do dairy free. Also, gluten and dairy intolerances tend to go hand-in-hand. So if you have a gluten intolerance there's also a good chance you'll have a dairy intolerance...those pesky proteins take advantage of a leaky gut. Strange but true!
erin
Bless you for feeding your friend in the hospital. I had nobody like that when I had unexpected major surgery 4 years ago. The hospital staff tried, but the upshot was I wound up on a near-starvation diet during my 4 day stay (I'm GFCF and can't do soy, citrus, or nightshades). It made a very bad experience even worse. I was so hungry by the time I got home!
BTW, I want to link to your graham cracker recipe on my blog. Thank you!! Love them!
Ellen
Hi Ellen,
I'm so sorry you had such a bad hospital experience. I really don't know why, when gluten sensitivity is so much more well known these days, that people can't get it right. It's very frustrating.
I really like your blog, by the way. And thanks for asking about the link to the graham cracker recipe - please feel free!
erin
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