6 weeks in... I'm still not feeling completely well (do I even know what that feels like?), but I do have more energy- thank you super awesome vitamins. I do feel like i'm hungry more often probably because i'm just not eating enough or not eating the right thing at the right time. I have a hard time because I have absolutely no particular schedule...im either busy all day or at home all day. If I don't have time to make a meal, I will just grab something, and thats not so easy anymore. Apples, string cheese, baked lays, honey chex cereal are those go to options. Other than that, I have to actually cook something on the stove or oven and that can take up to 30 minutes. Days at home are nice because I can do that. Pretty soon I'm going to get more into making new recipes... I just have found a ton that I like that don't call for some odd ingredient that I don't have in my pantry. I make a lot of quesadillas, stir fry, nachos, salads, and just overall veggies.
I think i'm finally figuring out that I really do have to be very strict on knowing whether the food is safe or not. The past few weeks I have been a little lax on that and I think a lot of the food I THOUGHT was ok, isn't. Mostly because of the issue of cross-contamination. The ingredients can all be ok, but if it isn't made in a "safe" environment, then it could be contaminated. And with Celiacs, that actually is an issue because any trace of gluten can either make you sick or delay healing of the small intestine. I've read that people can be more or less sensitive and you just have to test different foods out to see. Publix has a list on their website with their gluten free items from the publix brand... And "mini caramel rice cakes" are listed, so I just bought them thinking they are fine! 2 bags later I read the back of the bag and it says "may be processed in an environment that also produces milk, soy, peanut, and wheat products.".....No wonder I wasn't feeling better those first 2 weeks! So that goes to show, that you really can't trust anything that says "GLUTEN FREE". You have to know for sure! Its basically just safer to go with foods that you know are naturally gluten free like veggies and fruits and dairy. I am lucky I can still eat dairy- love me some cheese! I know some people are GF, and dairy free for health purposes, but I just don't think I could do it. (but hey, didn't think I could do GF either...)
The cross-contamination issue goes further than just manufacturing plants...If you are cooking in a NON GF kitchen, you have to be extremely careful that you don't contaminate the GF item you are making! Say you are making a chicken salad and you dip your spoon in the mayonnaise jar--that mayo could be contaminated because before you made a sandwich and dipped your knife in that same jar, and oops dipped it again, therefore contaminating that jar. Or say you are buttering a pan to bake your GF cake in and you cut butter off the stick but the time before that it was used for buttering bread or a muffin.... Or the knife you are using was used to cut a sandwich right before...There are just many ways that you can contaminate that GF treat, making it not GF at all and potentially making a Celiac very sick.
Restaurants are also a HUGE cross contamination zone. Eating out is just about miserable. There are certain places I have been that have been great, and others not so much. That is for another blog post!
Chain places are easy to find allergen info and gluten free options online, but others are not that easy.
Say you want french fries...they're potatoes, they're GF, right? WRONG. Not if they are fried in the same oil as chicken battered with flour for fried chicken! Most restaurants only have one fryer so they fry everything in the same thing... fast food is a little different. Chick-fil-a fries their potatoes separate than the chicken, so fries and hashbrowns are ok! I also contacted Milo's and they also fry their potatoes separate! YAY. However, I still haven't eaten any french fries yet.
OK, so you think you are safe with a salad. Most of the time, you are. WITHOUT CROUTONS of course. But you have to be careful with your salad dressings. At any "nice"restaurant I will always just ask for olive oil and balsamic vinegar and make my own...but if they don't have that you might as well eat the salad dry because salad dressings are very iffy. OR you can bring your own. And look so cute pulling your bottle of wish-bone (which are all GF) out of your purse! =)
Anyway, more about that later. Time for a salad for lunch!
***PS. Thank you to my sweet friends who made GF things for supper club the other night! I appreciate the gesture of making me feel more comfortable. Natalie made bean dip with fritos and Elaine made some chocolate and peanut butter cookies!
No comments:
Post a Comment