Still here

Nothing much on the gf/diet front. I’m doing some thinking about my current job/ environment.

Mind you, I do love my job, I enjoy being in web communications and the company I work for is great. But I’ve lived in the CS area for almost 2 years…and well, I keep waiting to truly love the town. I don’t know, it’s wierd.

I don’t know, part of me thinks it’s the way I grew up. By no means were we poor, definitely middle class, but I grew up with a variety of different people and different backgrounds. In high school, I completely hung out with the thugs, I grew up on the outskirts of Houston, I went to a college and lived in a town that was primarily Hispanic. And now, I’m living in a primarily white town with such pure and clean views, that sometimes I feel like a freak because I don’t share the same views as everyone in the town/people that I know.

It’s making me itchy to go to the Houston area (sorry, Austin is too expensive! But at the same time, I wonder if I’m being somehow defective in that I’m not so squeaky clean and nice. I do have a great job that pays great, so maybe I should just keep my mouth shut, drink the Kool-aid and join the crowd……..I just don’t know!

I’m becoming a hippie!

Heehee!

I’ve been dying to be part of a CSA(Community Supported Agriculture) but there haven’t been any created in my town. Well, I just found out that down in Brenham (about 40 minutes away) they have one!!!! Excitement. The deadline for applications is Thursday. Apparently, there is a group of families that rotate trips driving down there to pick up the boxes for everyone else. I’m trying to get in touch with them, and see if I can join in. Pickups are every Tuesday from 4-6pm. I know I can’t do that every Tuesday(cause of work), but if I had to do it once a month or whatever, that’d be fine. Very exciting!

So basically, learning I’m gluten-intolerant is making me learn to eat like a caveman, bake any type of bread-substance, and go local with shopping. Sort of hippie-ish don’t ya think :)?

B: Nutty rice w/almond milk
S: Banana
L: 2 oven-fried chicken strips (dipped in mashed corn chips); tomato & fennel salad; pineapple chunks and a gf choco chip cookie.
S: Pear or prunes
D: Shrimp, quinoa, sweet peas salad.

Tomato & Fennel Salad

1-Fennel, cleaned & sliced (I used a mandoline)
1- Medium Tomato, sliced
1/3 c olive oil (use the good stuff if you have it)
1/4 c champagne vinegar
Salt & pepper

Mix the vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper and throw in the fennel & tomatoes, mix well and let marinate for 10 minutes. Enjoy!

Roni’s Contest

Check out Roni’s new contest! I can win a Nutrition Smart Scale from Eat Smart and so can you! Click here for details!

Prunes, who knew?

Being newly gluten-free means I have to always have a food plan. Last night I had made my Wild Game Bake(recipe below) and packed leftovers for today’s lunch. All was good,until I woke up at 6:35 to my alarm blaring, feeling like I had slept like the dead. Seriously, I woke up thinking “where am I?” I was that out of it. I did my normal routine and headed out the door, it wasn’t until I was in my work’s parking lot did it hit me that I didn’t bring my foods. So up the road to HEB I went. Got soem Rice Puffins cereal(yes, I eat breakfast at work), a gluten-free Amy’s lunch and thinking I needed some healthy fruits(other than the canned pears I have at work) I grabbed a package of prunes.

Why prunes? I don’t know. I guess I’m just intrigued by the bad wrap they always get. Mind you, I HATE prune juice. I remember being a constipated young girl and my mother forcing warm prune juice in my body with no results (hello wheat allergy!). Ick! But you see, prunes themselves seem to be getting a makeover. They now come in flavors (cherry, orange, strawberry) and seeing as how I LOVE craisins (yet hate cranberry juice), I figured I should look into them. And guess what, I LOVE THEM!

I got the cherry flavored option and although I don’t think they taste like anything remotely cherry flavored, they are nice, sweet and offer all sorts of added benefits. Did you know that 1 serving (5 prunes) has more antioxidants in it than a cup of blueberries?! Also, they help your body increase its iron absorption (important for me, since I’ve suffered from low iron levels in the past). And, of course, there is always that fiber benefit :).

Anywho, last night was nice, TOM has arrived, so I pretty much lazed about after BodyFlow.

B:Honey Rice Puffins & Almond Milk (note to self: too sweet, try normal puffins)
S: 5 Prunes
L: Amy’s Gluten Free Enchilada Dinner
S: Pears and Nut-thins
D: Gluten Free Spaghetti

Recipe: (I improvised from a baked zucchini casserole recipe I found online)
Wild Game Casserole
(makes 6 servings)
1/2 pound ground Venison
1/2 pound ground pork
(or 1 full pound of any ground meat)
4 1/2 cups sliced zucchini
3 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups spaghetti sauce
1 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
4 eggs
1 cup Parmesan cheese

In a large skillet, heat 1 tbs of the olive oil. Combine meats and brown. Drain meat and transfer to a 9×13 pan. Add remaining olive oil to skillet. Add zucchini and onions, saute. Season with salt and pepper. Add spaghetti sauce and heat thoroughly. Pour over meat mixture. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese over the top of the sauce. Mix eggs and Parmesan cheese. Pour over the mozzarella cheese. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Let it stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Calorie King

Due to the new diet change, I’ve said goodbye to Weight Watchers. It’s entirely too much to have to make sure everything is gluten free and track the points, especially when half of the grains and products I’m starting to use are not in the tracking system. Instead I’m spending time with CalorieKing. He thankfully has everything from Nut-thins to teff flour in his lovely database.

A quick calculation from him and I see why I’m losing weight. I’m averaging about 1300-1500 calories a day (not counting exercise). I’m trying to increase that to 1400-1600, seeing as how I’ve been doing BodyFlow and BodyPump and those burn calories! But, when gluten & wheat is out of the picture, that is a LOT of fruits and veggies!

Take today for instance:
B: Nutty Rice cereal & almond milk (nutty rice uses rice flour instead of actual brown rice, my tummy was great today)
S: Banana,1 Apple Fruitabu and 4 Hazelnut Nut-thins(my new favorite obsession)
L: Shrimp Salad Lettuce Wraps, carrots & hummus and 2 gf chocolate chip cookies
S: 3 cups Popcorn
D: Zucchini and Wild-Game bake (I’m taking a gf recipe and experimenting) and quinoa

All of that only puts me at 1345 cals for the day. I’m doing BodyFlow tonight and CK averages that to be 156 calories, so my intake goes down to 1188. Yeah, there is wiggle room if I want to throw in an extra snack, but not a 400 calorie snack! I need to do more research.

This is still my first week of eating gluten free and on the whole I think it’s going great, but I still want to make sure I’m doing this right. I’ve yet to experiement with gluten free flours and I think some calories may get into there.

Curiouser and Curiouser

Blood tests came back: My AGA IgA were positive, but my tTG was negative. Doc feels this does not indicate full blown CELIAC’s but it DOES indicate Gluten-intolerance.

I wonder if I’m also allergic to rice?? Other than the steak house incident, I’ve been gluten free and pain free for 5 days. Yet the past 2 days I’ve had some uncomfortable gas in the mornings after eating brown rice cereal and almond milk. Thankfully, nothing odorific, but still gassy. This doesn’t happen when I eat quinoa… I’m gonna switch to a breakfast quinoa tomorrow and see what happens.

Another interesting thing is that I’ve dropped a little weight, down to 159.5(from 163 last week). Orla noted she lost weight when she first started, and several of the books I checked out from the library mentions that if you are gluten-intolerant, eating gluten-free will drop weight if you are overweight, and you will gain weight if you are underweight. I’m interested in seeing what happens. Though I will be slightly annoyed if I drop the remaining 30 pounds quickly. I’ve been plump all my life, I’ve also eaten gluten all my life, so if it turns out that all I needed to have done was eliminate gluten, that is just an annoying step in the process!

Anywho, I’ve decided to keep this blog and just transform it into a glutenf-free related blog that will also monitor my weight-loss (if it happens).

B: Brown Rice Cereal & Almond Milk
S: Banana
L: Leftover chicken & quinoa; apple slices; carrots & hummus; 2 gf cookies
S: Popcorn
D: Grilled Chicken Salad

Going Gluten-free

Went GF on Friday. On Saturday night, my family wanted to go out to eat. I was leery, as I realize it’s hard to control GF ingredients in a restaurant. But I didn’t want to be the party pooper, plus my family still didn’t quite believe I was allergic to wheat (lots of jokes have been told this week). Well, I ended up ordering chicken & seasoned veggies. I explicitly expressed not marinating my chicken in anything and the server was very gracious. I’m just an idiot who forgot that when your order a side salad, I should also say no croutons. My family rolled their eyes when my salad came out, and told me just to scrap off the croutons. So I did…..even though my GF books have told me that this is still considered contaminated food. Within 30 minutes, stomach troubles started. Even my family was a bit taken aback by this. So, gluten free, I be. I realize I will always take a chance when eating out, so I’ll definitely be doing this less often. I’m going to be doing research to see if I can find GF food listings for restaurants.

I had a religious experience this weekend, by having my first trip ever to Whole Foods Market. They finally made their way to Houston, so I swung by and stocked up on some GF bread and grains (hard to find in CS). Mad love to them for having a 20-page shopping list of GF foods that they carry. They hand it out at the Guest Services counter. I’m on a tight budget until the first, so it was a quick trip, but I plan on going back to get some produce and meats!

Finally, I might start another blog that deals solely with being a Gluten-Free beginner. I haven’t decided….

B: Brown Rice Cereal & Vanilla Almond Milk
S: Banana
L: Shrimp Salad in lettuce cups, rice noodles, and 2 GF cookies
S: Carrots & Hummus
D: Crockpot Chicken Wings, salad, and steamed veggies

Spooky!

I have been complaining (mostly to myself, my mother, and yesterday, the doctor) that every morning that I eat breakfast (normally oatmeal or Kashi or Nutrigrain Eggo)between 7 and 8 am. Between 9 and 10am I guarantee, I will be in the bathroom praying for the horror to end. This morning, I had Perky’s 100% Natural Nutty Rice (gluten and wheat free) with Soy Dream milk. Nothing. Not even a stomach cramp! Spoo–hoooky!

Soo, now I’m perusing gluten-free blogs (Thanks Marta!) for product recommendations and recipes. I also picked up a copy of “Living Gluten-free for Dummies” at the library last night. Good thing, too, as it’s supposed to sleet all weekend long!

The Doc Visit

First off, it’s awesome that random folks typed in Foltx and celiacs and got this blog!!

I just got back from the doc’s office. Thankfully, I ran home and found my labwork results from when I had the B12 anemia (pays to be a packrat)! Took that with me and he made copy and listened to my list of complaints. My new doc found the old labwork interesting:

1) All of my thyroid levels were borderline low, ex: My TSH is exactly .40, .39 is considered hyperthyroidism.
2)My iron levels were extremely low
3) My cholesterol was 270

He was “concerned” that the doctor who ordered these tests didn’t do a 3-month followup. So all of those tests got added to my list of bloodwork for tomorrow.

He said he is “golfing buddies” with a doctor who practices allergy & immunology, and asked if I would mind if he discussed my case with him. I was like ‘discuss my issues with whomever you want, if you think it’ll help me!’. So he requested my cell phone number that way he could call me if he gets any advice or recommendations from that doctor. My new doc is definitely leaning towards me having an allergy or immune system issue.

Another thing I thought was funny is that when I mentioned celiac’s, he was like “It’s quite possible and if I was you, I’d already start removing gluten. The worst that could happen is that you feel better”. LOL, good point.

I do lab first thing in the morning. Results may take up to 2 weeks.

Autoimmune Issues

Ok, I know off and on I complain about not feeling well. Mind you, I’ve had intestinal issues pretty much all my life.

TMI to follow:

In 2002, I started harping on doctors about it and all they diagnosed was IBS. I’ve been on various IBS meds since then and all that really does is ensure I can go to the bathrooom. I get bloated, have bad (stinky) gas, have terrible diarhea or terrible constipation. I’m not talking about occasionally, I’m talking every week I have stomach issues that last days at a time.

In 2005, I started having wierd memory problems and a doc did a different round of blood tests and found my B12 levels were really low (pernicous anemia)-standard is 200-800, I was at a 182. Most twenty-somethings are in the 700-800 range. So I was given Foltx. He couldn’t explain why. I took the Foltx for a year, then moved to College Station. I had a new doc test me and was told my levels were in the “normal” range and he would NOT refill my prescription. My mistake may have been to just accept this and not see if I was in the “normal” range for my age group.

In 2006, I started having the gallstone attacks and that wasn’t properly identified until last year (my college station GP didn’t believe I had gallstones because I was too young). Well, I had the gallbladder removed in May 2007 and my surgeon told me that that is probably why I was experiencing so many stomach issues and he expected everything to be “normal”. It’s not.

It’s now Jan 2008, and for the past month I’ve been feeling “off”. Hard to explain, but I feel like my brain is fuzzy, I’m having trouble concentrating at work, my back hurts, my stomach issues now have included having wierd acidic smelling stool, finding blood in stool (twice last week). I’ve had 3 fever blisters in the past 2 months on my mouth and I’m just freaking out and want some damn answers about what is going on with me!

So, yesterday, after being overwhelmend with lack of concentration, I googled my symptoms. Guess what pulled up?

Celiac Disease (aka Gluten Intolerance)

Now this pisses me off for a few reasons.
1) I was told about this disease back in 2004, when I had the B12 anemia, the doc mentioned this disease and had a scope of my large intestine. He told me I didn’t have Celiacs….well…guess what?? THE LARGE INTESTINE DOESN’T SHOW CELIACS!! IT’S THE SMALL INTESTINE THAT NEEDED TO BE SCOPED!
2)Celiacs is an autoimmune disease and is genetically predisposed. Other autoimmune diseases in this category are Diabetes, Thyroid and Lupus. Guess what? ALL 3 OF THOSE DISEASES RUN RAMPANT IN MY FAMILY (BOTH MOM & DAD’S).
3)Gallstones are a symptom of celiacs
4)The Celiac Foundation has done studies and shows that it generally takes 11 YEARS before proper diagnosis is ever made. WTF MEDICAL COMMUNITY!?!?

So, I have an 2pm appt today with a new general doctor who I’m hoping will at the very least give me the Celiac’s blood test. I’m hoping he will go above and beyond and recommend me to a gastroenterologist or an allergist.