(Since I haven’t posted our lunches for three weeks, I have a massive backlog of lunch photos to share. I’m going to try post twice this weekend and two lunch posts next weekend to catch up…)
Recently I said to my husband, “Do you think I am going to be able to be ‘cured’ and my body won’t hate gluten one day?”
There was no hesitation, “No, you are going to be gluten free for life.” I was taken aback. I thought maybe he’d entertain me for a second.
The reason I asked him that was not because I’m not enjoying the food I’m eating. I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen. At home it’s not a problem. It’s just hard when you have to leave the house.
When I google map “gluten free” in my area, I find a few different restaurants have gluten free menus. Finding restaurants with gluten free menus is actually not that hard, but I’m also dairy free. Then there’s the fact that there’s contamination. Unless you go to one of the few strict gluten free restaurants, you are taking a risk. If I had Celiac disease, I wouldn’t trust anyone aside from strict gluten free restaurants to prepare my food. The risks are too great. Gluten sensitivity like I seem to have, well, sometimes I venture out.
When I’ve inadvertently had gluten, I’m wiped out the next day…among other consequences. (Weird, I ate gluten for 30+ years and I’ve always been “tired” — never made the connection until last fall) I get nervous taking risks by eating out when we go out because sometimes having a meal out is not worth what happens the next day: bathroom, sleep problems, exhaustion, and irritability.
My husband is not gluten free. But he has noticed that his body is a lot happier on the weekends…when he’s not eating gluten. At work he goes out with the guys for burgers or Potbelly’s (a restaurant here in Illinois) or whatever. We still have gluten in the house for him, but not very much.
I’d rather be gluten free than fly to half a world away and eat parasites (and I’m not recommending anyone do this — check with your doctor if you have health problems). However, it does make me wonder if our bodies were meant to have organisms living in them, like symbiosis.
I did ask my husband, “Do you think our little guy will be able to eat gluten one day and be okay?”
He thought about it and answered, “Maybe.”
For lunches, click below:
My son’s lunches
Monday
Goat cheese mac and cheese with bacon and broccoli (from a gf restaurant),
strawberries, yogurt, applesauce, (don’t remember what’s in the bag!)
We have some friends that live right by an amazing gf restaurant and so it’s really nice for us to meet there with our little toddlers. My son didn’t eat all of his large portion of mac and cheese so I was able to send with him to day care the next day. Day care menu: ground beef, tater tots, applesauce, peas with fruit and blueberry muffins (junky mini ones) as snack.
Tuesday
Lamb rice dish, strawberries with sunflower seeds,
cornbread muffin, yogurt, kale chips
My husband cooked the lamb/rice dish. Sorry no recipe – it’s from a library cookbook, which we photocopied and returned. Don’t know whatthe cookbook is called. It was delicious. Day care menu: cod nuggets, blueberry muffins, pineapple bits, green beans, with fruit and yogurt as snacks.
Friday
Cheese melted on gf pita bread, roasted beets with sweet potatoes,
sliced chicken sausage, yogurt, strawberries
We were home sick for two days (when I started my blogging break). During that time my little guy basically stopped eating. I tried to entice him with favorite foods and it didn’t work. I would have taken a picture of what he ate for lunch at home, but he didn’t eat. Friday’s lunch (above) was on the light side since he had rejected many attempts of mine to feed him and I didn’t want to waste anymore food. Day care menu: tuna with pasta, pineapple bits, green beans.
My lunches
Monday
Spring rolls with shrimp, sliced fruit, yogurt and “go raw” bar
I bought those rolls at Whole Foods and they contained no gluten. Reading every label is essential.
Tuesday
Lamb rice dish, strawberries, sunflower seeds, kale chips.
Roasting beets! (Thursday night)
Thought it would be fun to buy something new and roast it!
Friday
Italian chicken sausage, beets, sweet potatoes,
onions, crust of pita bread (top)
This is what I considering an “old school” lunch. If I was working construction in the 1940’s, I’d carry a sausage, simple roasted veggies, and a crust of bread thrown in there. I felt like one of these guys:
What if you laugh too hard at a friend’s joke?
I added some strawberries too!
I enjoyed my lunch — the beets were fun and different!
I wouldn't laugh! But it is a nice view for lunch I have to admit.
Just Better Together
Have you heard this Radiolab about parasites?
http://www.radiolab.org/2009/sep/07/
Fascinating and disgusting!
You mentioned the hazards of eating out when you are gluten free. A friend of mine has celiac disease and is now embroiled in a court case around a local bread company who falsely claimed their bread as gluten-free. She testified last week against him about the effects of the bread on her body.
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/9405885/
The link also have an archive of other articles on the case.
I have a friend with celiacs and she has found that she can eat at most Asian-style restaurants, Thai and Japanese being the easiest.
I'm so glad you said you aren't totally enjoying the special "diet." Not weight-loss diet, but food elimination. I'm also on a particular diet and it's so hard when I'm at work and my team wants to go to a particular restaurant and I'm thinking "I can't eat anything there!!"
Have you experimented with the dairy you can/can't have? I'm relatively lactose intolerant myself, but I have found that I can eat hard cheeses (pretty much cheddar on up), yogurt, and even small amounts of ice cream without feeling miserable afterward. If I break down and have a glass of milk with my cookies, or a big bowl of creamy potato soup, it's like WWIII for my stomach. It's just like I've got the flu! 🙁
I know everyone's bodies are different, but it might be worth while to experiment with small amounts/types of dairy to see what/how much works and doesn't work for you. (I would advise waiting until you're on vacation and can handle a sick day). Are there any gluten free vegan restaurants in your area? That seems like a surefire way to find a varied menu that won't have any dairy/gluten. I also ditto the japanese/thai suggestion. They tend to use buckwheat or rice noodles in their cooking, and dairy is practically nonexistant in most asian cuisine. A big plate of pad thai (rice noodles, chicken/shrimp, steamed carrots and bean sprouts topped with peanut sauce) is one of the most delicious things on the planet, and is well worth the trip.
We are a gluten-dairy-free household and I really don't mind. My husband is really sensitive to gluten and dairy (even goat) and my daughter can eat a bit of goat cheese, but not too much. I keep goat cheese in the house for me, but that's really all the dairy we keep. I find it fun and challenging. We find ourselves about 75% grain-free and I use coconut flour and almond flour weekly. Check out my blog for some easy recipes, if you would like. 🙂
I think it's really great that you try to match what the other kids eat at daycare. I tried that with my daughter and she decided she would rather eat different things than her peers. 🙂
I love me a good chicken sausage. mmmmm.
This is a bit off-topic, but I just wanted to share this link with you: food4celiacs.com.
This lady and her husband opened the country's first gluten-free grocery store in 2000 and they ship!
My Mother was diagnosed with celiacs in her early 30's, It made for some interesting dinners when I was a vegetarian and she had to be gluten free. In her mid-50's her doctor told her it would be ok to try gluten again as celiacs sometimes clears up in 20 years or so. It worked out that she could eat gluten again. I can't tell you how strange it was to eat a piece of pizza with her after not seeing her eat bread since I was 3
Hi Mrs. Q!
You should try Fattoush on Halsted, just south of Diversey, in Chicago. It's a gluten-free, BYOB, Lebanese restaurant that is fantastic! Check out their menu and story here: http://www.fattoushrestaurant.com/
Hey Mrs. Q-
I've been GF for a year. The peanut sauce that accompanies the spring rolls from WF has soy which has gluten in it. I got terribly sick from those a few months ago.
Like you, I wonder if I will ever be able to eat gluten again. Deep down, I know the answer is no. I'm okay with that now. I don't even miss it. The only thing I really miss is cheese {b/c I react to dairy as well}.
Karyn's here in Chicago has a wonderful assortment of gf plates that leave you feeling good. Other than her joint, I really can't trust much else. I eat before I go out now, to be safe. And have a drink. lol…
My husband and I suffer from the same health problems and so I can relate. It's nice to know we are not the only ones out there. I have heard that taking acidopholous and probiotics can help heal the stomach quicker from damage that comes from gluten. I also know that lactose intolerance can be a result of gluten intolerance…perhaps that will go away with time for you when your stomach heals up some…good luck!
To give you some hope on the gluten and your son: my step daughter — at age 13.25 — realised that she is no longer lactose intolerant.
also, I am one of those people who loves your lunch photos. heck, today I borrowed an idea from you — put some blueberries in my man's yoghurt. He sent me an email from work:
"Fresh blueberries in yoghurt; who knew?!"
it made me laugh.
🙂
I am behind on my blog reading but caught up to this one…I'm not gluten-intolerant, but at some point I realized that eating bread made me very…very…sleeeeeepy. Ditto potatoes, pasta, and white rice. Now I eat very little of these things but I sometimes have a rye crisp or some other very high-fiber wheat product.
A question–do you notice that your mood has been positively or negatively affected by your new diet? I found that I COMPLETELY eliminated gluten + any form of simple carbohydrate it made me MEAN. I know that's not what you're doing, but i was curious anyway. (I should say I have a severe mood disorder and take several medications for it, it's possible I am more sensitive to this problem.)