Three weeks and beyond December 1, 2009

Thanksgiving has come and gone (SIGH). I’ve surpassed my goal of being gluten free for two weeks. It’s now time to re-assess the situation.

According to my weight on Wii Fit on Saturday, I haven’t lost any weight. My clothes are fitting a wee bit different, which is a bonus. But I secretly expected to drop some poundage. I suppose Thanksgiving is not a good week to try and drop some weight, but it’s frustrating nonetheless.

I know that weight shouldn’t be my primary goal — instead, it should be a healthy GI tract, and the ability to fully and normally digest my food. In this, I may have succeeded. Without gluten, I rarely end up with a “food coma” … yes, even after Thanksgiving dinner. I used to refer to them as “carb comas,” which may in fact be indicative that I actually knew what was going on. At the time, I thought that was normal.

The only time I’ve experienced reflux in the past two weeks is when I bend over soon after eating, or when I overeat.

This is a marked improvement over where I stood a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, since I started taking Aciphex in conjunction with a new diet, I can’t conclude that the lessened reflux was directly a result of the diet. But, I’m just happy to be able to drink red wine without (warning: TMI) throwing up in my mouth for hours. I can’t really afford to pay the $130/month that this prescription will cost, so I’ll probably switch to something OTC in 2010.

These results make it pretty easy for me to say that I’m going to commit to a gluten-free lifestyle for at least a little longer. I talked to my dad about it over the weekend, and he said that normally it takes 4-6 weeks for your body to manifest the results of changes in diet/exercise/medication. Since I’ve been doing this for more than three weeks, I only have a few to go. He said at the rate I’ve been exercising and changing my diet, I should start to see some marked results in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Unless I get crazy with the eggnog, that is (yay for dairy)!

Plus, I have a ton of gluten-free food in my pantry, waiting to be eaten. No sense in wasting it

With that being said, I continue my gluten-free journey. I’m going to keep blogging about it, because it really does keep me accountable. And, I like to share things that I discover … even if it’s only with myself a few months down the road.

I’ve set up my December desk calendar (I know, I’m such a nerd), and finished color-coordinating it (bigger nerd). There’s a lot of blue — my workout color. At this point, I’m doing 2 Pilates/yoga classes a week, and 3 — if not 4 — spinning classes each week, with Friday being my day off. I have planned my entire month, and I’m going to stick to it.

Or, if I feel like it, I may start run/walking those “off” days at the gym. On Saturday I went with my dad and brother, and was actually on the treadmill for an hour, doing run/walk intervals (5.1 flat and 3.6 on a level 3 incline, respectively). I managed more than 4.5 miles! My ankles, shins and hips hated me the next day, but I was so proud of myself. Even my crazy athletic brother was impressed.

My end goal is to lose weight by the time our cruise rolls around (we fly to Houston on January 17th). This may seem weird, but I don’t want to put a number down. Really, I’d be happy with making any progress toward a lower weight — and keeping that number moving down. I saw pictures of myself from the last 2 months recently, and I am heavier than I realized. It’s time to change things up.

wine photo from guttorm flatabo’s Flickr

cruise ships from jimg944′s Flickr

Day 16 November 24, 2009

I am so anxious to be home in Seattle, planning out the details of our Thanksgiving menu, and figuring out where I can plant myself in the kitchen. I got the impression that we are only having 2 people besides our immediate family over. This was kind of disappointing at first, but hio leftovers!

I am so antsy and ready to be home!

 

 

 

 

Food for today:

Breakfast: 1/2 c. peanut butter panda puffs, 1 banana, 1/4 c. almond milk

Snack: Apple, decaf lemongrass green tea

Lunch: Sushi!

Snack: Banana w/PB

Dinner: Something at Cafe 118 — going there with a friend tonight

I massively underestimated the amount of cereal I had left. It was a sorely disappointing meal, and unlike yesterday (where I was full until almost 1 p.m.), I’ve been really hungry since 10 a.m.! So, more protein in the morning = full longer. I guess all those experts really know what they’re talking about.

I’m going to go check out the Cafe 118 menu later in the day. It’s a raw foods restaurant, and I’m really excited to try it!

Also, I’m going to try and blog what I end up eating at home for the next week. I have a feeling it’s going to be difficult. I have a lot of comfort foods I associate with being in my parents’ home, and about 75% of them are wheat-based. Thank goodness my sister and mom want to eat gluten-free, too. It’ll ensure I’m focused on something positive, and not all the foods I really want to be eating.

Here’s to a quick work day (please please please)!

Thanksgiving Menu November 23, 2009

My family gets pretty amped up about Thanksgiving. In fact, it’s my favorite holiday of the year.

Since I was old enough to responsibly wield a knife, each year Dad_D and I would set up shop in the kitchen between 7 and 8 a.m., eat some oatmeal, and then commence destruction of the space over the next 4 hours.

At first, I just prepped for the stuffing (and seriously, we usually have 16 people over, so that’s a lot of onions and celery to chop). I was the sous chef to my dad’s executive chef, always with Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant” playing in the background. We’d leave the windows and door to the patio open to let the brisk air blow in, and make a dent in the awful heat that comes from using all four gas burners and an oven simultaneously.

My dad and I are pretty adventurous in the kitchen, so each year, we tried something new.

We’ve deep-fried a turkey (messy messy messy), we’ve rotisserie’d a turkey on the BBQ (if you do this, make sure your rotisserie device can handle the weight of your turkey. Take it from me — a device designed for a 4-6 lb chicken will not correctly cook a 22-lb turkey. It will set it on fire). We’ve tried about 20 different recipes for stuffing (and found 2 that work!). I discovered “the ultimate gravy recipe” last Thanksgiving. I’ll share it when I get home. Warning: It involves giblets. Yes, I am that hardcore.

What we’re trying this year is a gluten-free Thanksgiving. I thought it would be a stretch, but my dad just emailed me and told me that both my mom and my sister want to start gluten-free diets, as well.

Not only does this make me feel less guilty about controlling the menu (because it’s not just for me), but it’s reassuring to know that I have two other people who support me … and who look to me for support in return.

I’ve been collecting Thanksgiving recipes on Delicious for the last two weeks, and sent the list to my family last night. I think my dad was worried that a gluten-free menu would deviate a lot from that which we’ve grown accustomed to. As I said above, we’re all for innovation, but is Thanksgiving really Thanksgiving without stuffing?

That being said, just because food is gluten-free doesn’t mean it has to be vastly different from what you’re used to eating. We’re still having turkey (this recipe from Gluten-Free Girl and The Chef), stuffing (a swiss chard one with gluten-free bread cubes instead of potato bread, and then a gluten-free cornbread sausage stuffing), mashed potatoes (already gluten-free!), and some vegetables. I’ll post the recipes for the stuffings later — I don’t have them on hand.

Here’s my Delicious list of Thanksgiving recipes (HA HA PUN). Peruse, and enjoy!

onions/celery picture from tsuacctnt’s Flickr

fire picture from Ciaran McGuiggan’s Flickr

 

Day 15 November 23, 2009

I can’t believe I’ve been eating gluten-free (with minor setbacks) for more than 2 weeks now.

The surprising part?

The hardest part was the first three days. Gluten-free requires an entirely new set of habits. I still tend to reach for bread when making meals, but it’s getting easier. I’ve just started to think about meals and cooking in a different way. The only thing that’s going to be really hard is baking. I’m unsure how my gluten-free all-purpose flour replacement is going to react in baked goods.

I think, to get my bake on, I’m just going to make a whole bunch of baked goods this holiday season and give them away. I get to bake, I get to make people happy. I’ve never had a huge sweet tooth, so it’s not the “eating” part of baking that I’m going to miss. There’s something very relaxing about baking. Sometimes I’ll even forego the stand mixer and do the hard work myself.

I’m sure BF won’t mind having to be my taste-tester, either.

Today’s Food:

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs, with leftover sausage, onions, mushrooms and olives, sprinkled with some cheese. Put this over a Van’s gluten-free frozen waffle (SO GOOD, I swear they are better than Eggos), glass of OJ.

Snack: Apple or banana, decaf lemongrass green tea

Lunch: An Amy’s frozen meal — I picked up the baked ziti and the rice pasta mac and cheese last week.

Snack: Whichever piece of fruit I didn’t eat in the morning

Dinner: Something with chicken breasts and mushrooms, with broccolini on the side. Can you tell we’re trying to clean out the fridge?

It’s 10:30, and I’m still full from breakfast (I usually don’t have that much protein in the morning), so I may not need a snack. Then again, we’re not going to lunch until about 1, so who knows what my tummy will do.

Some important lessons I learned in eating this weekend:

• Beer has gluten in it (even if it’s not wheat beer). I didn’t feel too awful afterwards, but I only had a pint before switching to Magner’s Cider. And then moscow mules. Saturday was fun.

• Getting a burger without the bun is the best idea ever. Leaves more room for things like cider, and french fries!
• The Publix by my apartment in Sanford/Lake Mary has as good of a selection of gluten-free items as the Whole Foods in Winter Park. I was so impressed this weekend, when I took the time to browse the aisles. No more making a second trip to WF!

 

 

Pie image from Benimoto’s Flickr

Moscow Mule image from WikiTender’s Moscow Mule entry

Day 12 November 21, 2009

Apologies for the late post. I wasn’t able to access WordPress from work today.

No big news, other than

a) it’s Friday

b) I saw New Moon. And it was awesome. But I left work in a less-than-stellar mood, so I was pretty grouchy for the first 20 minutes or so.

Menu!

Breakfast: Bob’s Red Mill hot cereal, the usual way (flax, almond milk, coconut)

Lunch: Turnip/kale/bean soup, 1 slice bread

Snack: Apple, 3 slices of turkey

Dinner: Pizza eggs (scrambled eggs with sausage, olives, onions and mushrooms, topped with pizza sauce and 2 T cheese), probably a bottle of wine

Apparently I have to eat my bread faster than I did this week. I have 2 slices left out of the ones I set out on Sunday, and they were too moldy to save Maybe it will help if I keep it in the refrigerator?

I may try to make a gluten-free pie crust this weekend, to try it out before T-day. I’m stunned that I’ll be home with the fam in FOUR DAYS

Day 11 November 19, 2009

So, I’ve come to some conclusions recently.

First of all, when I went to Ethos on Tuesday with a coworker for lunch, I was an idiot and ordered a cookie with my lunch. This sounds harmless, except that I totally neglected to ask if the cookies were gluten-free.

They weren’t.

I spent the majority of Tuesday evening feeling like total crap (super bloated), and confused as to what triggered these feelings. To my knowledge, I had eaten gluten- and dairy-free the whole day. Except not. That one stupid cookie.

Last night, BF brought home some Publix carrot cake (to my chagrin). I asked him why he did that, since I couldn’t eat it, and he said, “but the doctor said you could!”

This is frustrating. No, I don’t have celiac disease. But yes, obviously my body doesn’t react all that well to gluten. I’m still confused as to where to get tested for gluten sensitivity/intolerance. When I point this out, BF shrugs — he thinks I am kind of a hypochondriac.

So, I had a small piece of carrot cake, and lo and behold … felt like crap after what was actually a wonderful dinner (the risotto turned out FABULOUS!! We are having leftovers tonight).

So, now that I know gluten isn’t so cool with  my body, I’m going to try on some lactose. I’m currently drinking a packet of Oregon Chai’s chai latte mix (there’s powdered milk in there). We’ll see how I do with this, and then with cheese maybe tomorrow. If I can eat cheese again, I think this whole diet-change will be marginally easier.

Also, as a bonus, on Tuesday my Pilates instructor said I had noticeably lost weight – awesome, especially considering I’ve been taking it easier at the gym lately (that will have to change come December, got some lbs to lose before that cruise in January!). I’ll weigh in on Sunday, and see what happens. Even if I’ve lost a 2 pounds, that’s a step in the right direction. With the right diet and consistent exercise, I’ll finally be able to achieve the results I’m looking for

Today’s meals:

Breakfast: Bob’s Red Mill Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal, shredded coconut, almond breeze, flax; decaf lemongrass green tea

Snack: Banana w/PB, chai tea latte (seriously, I love this stuff)

Lunch: Kale/bean/parsnip soup, 1 slice GF bread

Snack: Apple, w/PB (I may not even need this, b/c of the chai tea latte, I will probably eat lunch kind of late)

Dinner: Pork roast (on sale at Publix! Go BF!), leftover risotto, steamed or sauteed broccolini (haven’t decided yet).

I’ll avoid the cake for dessert tonight, but I am thinking about dropping by Whole Foods or Chamberlain’s to see what they’ve got cooking in the GF desserts section. It’s easier to resist the siren song of Publix carrot cake if I’ve got something else to occupy myself with.

cookie picture from denise cross’ Flickr

cheese picture from cwbuecheler’s Flickr

Day 10 November 18, 2009

Went to bed with a fever last night. It hadn’t broken this morning, so I decided to work from home today.

I must work better from home or something, because I definitely got two great hits for one of my clients this morning. And, I got to make a sweet lunch (although my gluten-free bread doesn’t hold up as well to this treatment).

Today’s food:

Breakfast: 1 piece gluten-free toast, + peanut butter, flax seeds, banana

Lunch: Grilled “cheese” sandwich with turkey, faux American cheese, grilled onions and tomatoes, with pizza sauce (bizarre-sounding, but awesome)

Dinner: Chicken thighs, wild mushroom risotto (!!) and broccolini. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Day 9 November 17, 2009

I’ve been pondering over the test results I got over the phone yesterday (although I have yet to get anything in person, grumble grumble). When it comes down to it, I am glad I’m celiac-free. As twisted as it sounds, h. pylori would have been okay, because really, you just take a bunch of antibiotics and are done with it.

But at this point, here’s what I’m thinking: I do feel better not eating gluten and lactose. And at this point, 9 days into it, I’m starting to discover that it’s not the end of the world. I can still have bread, pizza, cookies, cereal, oatmeal, etc … but I don’t have to always feel like crap anymore.

Plus, if I decide that a particular food is worth feeling like garbage for (I’m looking at you, cannoli, with your gluten-y, lactose-y goodness), I can go for it and know that the discomfort will only be temporary.

I am considering getting tested for food allergies. But, when they do this, are they straight up just testing for allergies, or do they look for food sensitivities as well? I’d just like a little bit of official guidance on what my body would rather I didn’t eat.

So, I’m still eating gluten-free, per the plan. With a little effort and planning (and understanding friends and family), it’s do-able. Although the beer thing might be a problem (so says the 6-pack of Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale in my fridge).

Today’s eats:

Breakfast: Panda puffs, almond milk

Snack: Lemongrass decaf green tea, 1 banana + peanut butter

Lunch: Ethos tofu coconut curry wrap, pineapple and a chocolate chip cookie (yum yum and yum. Although the wrap itself left something to be desired)

Snack: Apple and peanut butter

Dinner: No cooking risotto tonight. BF and I have work to do (for actual work), which totally sucks. I will be thinking about Borderlands and Mario the whole time We will probably just have pork chops, a vegetable (I bought green beans and broccolini this weekend), and a salad or rice or something.

cannoli photo from ajagendorf25′s Flickr page

beer photo from bernt rostad’s Flickr page

 

Test Results November 16, 2009

I just called about the results from my upper endoscopy: Celiac and h. pylori negative.

I’m going to lunch right now, and will mull this over. As it stands now, part of me is really glad, because it’s hard to eat gluten-free (although I’m not sure if their tests for celiac include gluten sensitivity). Part of me is frustrated, because that means no answers.

Day 6-8 November 16, 2009

Bonefish was delicious. I literally ate everything on my plate, plus 98% of one of their flourless brownies (I thought I left more for BF … oops). Also, it was more reasonably priced than I’d expected. Would go back again, for sure.

This weekend was relatively laid-back. I am really enjoying the mornings here in Orlando right now. We’ve been sleeping with the bedroom windows open, and the cool breeze that wafts in during the early morning hours is divine.

I went to Whole Foods (albeit the smaller one in the Orlando area, in Winter Park) to stock up on g-free essentials, and was disappointed with the selection (ie – there were super fancy soy sauces, but no gluten-free ones?). Maybe the larger one at Phillips Crossing would have been better. Sometimes I can’t help but feel like Whole Foods is straying into the super-yuppie, instead of doing what it used to do best — helping people who needed a wider variety of diet choices.

I did, however, pick up some brown rice pasta, bread mix, all-purpose flour and pizza dough mixes, and arborio rice. Yesterday in Publix I saw that their gourmet mushroom mix is on sale 2 for $5, so with those ingredients + Barefoot Contessa’s recipe, I’m going to attempt a wild mushroom risotto later in the week. Wish me luck.

I made the bread mix yesterday, and to my surprise, it turned out really well. It was pretty easy to make (full disclosure: I have a stand mixer), and didn’t take very long, other than the proofing. I sliced it up and froze half for next week, and have 7 slices for this week. The box was only $5 or 6, so I think this is a manageable way to get my bread fix. I also made myself an awesome kale/bean/parsnip soup from this recipe at Phoo-D (I know, it says turnips but I had parsnips to use), and will be eating it for lunch twice this week.

I actually enjoy spending a decent amount of Sundays cooking. Preparing food is Zen work for me. I love it.

BF wanted pizza for dinner yesterday, so I broke out the gluten-free pizza crust mix so I could indulge in my favorite meal ever. It wasn’t too hard to make, but the consistency is SO different than normal pizza dough … it wasn’t even dough (it wouldn’t stay together). It was just super fluffy, so I had to scoop it on a greased/corn-mealed baking sheet and then use a greased spatula to spread it out to the thickness I wanted. It tasted pretty decent. We’ll see how it saves when I eat leftovers … and how the other half of the batter takes to being refrigerated for a few days (the box makes 2 crusts).

The hardest part about this was the timing of BF’s pizza vs. my pizza. I’d gone to Publix to pick up some stuff for the week, and he ordered pizza from Pizza Hut while I was gone. So, it got there just as I was starting my crust — which required almost an hour to proof, and nearly 20 minutes to bake.

So, I was face-to-face with my biggest temptation, PIZZA, as I was struggling to make my own g-free, dairy-free version. It was so hard to not give in and have a slice. I was seriously crabby about it … but the pizza turned out pretty well in the long run. I’m definitely glad I waited instead of splurging and then feeling like crap all night.

Today’s meal plan:

Breakfast: Bob’s Red Mill Hot Cereal, made with vanilla almond breeze, shredded coconut, flax seeds (although my cereal exploded in the microwave this morning. Stupid Monday)

Snack: Good Earth lemongrass green tea, 1 banana

Lunch: Kale, bean and parsnip soup, 1 piece of g-free bread

Snack: 1 Fuji apple w/natural crunchy peanut butter (the kind you have to stir, yum!), maybe a 100-cal bag of smart pop if I’m starving

Dinner: Salad with a variety of toppings, and probably 2 glasses of wine (book club night!!!)

risotto photo from bloggyboulga’s Flickr

pizza photo from thepizzareview’s Flickr