On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 5:29 PM, Susan Sloate <susan@susansloate.com> wrote:
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God bless you, Heather! I had a feeling you would answer first, and you have come through spectacularly!
Well, thanks! It does do me good to help others. There wasn't much support out there when I got stuck with all this. There are groups dedicated to just GF foods, and sites like celiac.com. But the biggest help is yes, there are good "staple" products these days. Sometimes a nice big bowl of pasta with fresh garlic and olive oil is the height of the day.
I have to admit that given what I've heard of GF substitutes for wheat products, I haven't felt too hopeful and was thinking I'd have to settle for very simple meals that are mostly vegetables, meat and fruit. (Damn, it was discouraging to see all the chocolate brands in the store today and find out they were made with whole eggs or egg whites!! I'm not sure, but I THINK I can actually eat Reese's Peanut Butter Cups – and yes, that would be a big deal.) For this junk-food junkie, life is going to be VERY different from now on!
Most of the "allergy friendly" foods are egg free. I think bread is probably the exception: Udi's has egg white I think. Schar doesn't though, and the nice thing about it is that it is shelf-stable. So you can just open it up when you are hungry. It's a bit dry until toasted, but that is true of most packaged foods. Makes really nice garlic bread toast, which my family has gotten addicted to.
In many places around here, there are local bakeries who specialize in "Gluten free vegan". Which sounds pretty horrid, but you know, the food is amazing. I got some muffins that were loaded with chocolate chips, quinoa and gooey something or another which was just one of the best muffins I've ever had anywhere. I eat the vegan bakery stuff a lot because it doesn't have dairy. But how they do it without eggs ... I have no idea.
But your input has been SOOO valuable ... and so quickly! It's heartening to know there are lots of things I can eat, and since I did think it was a good idea to start learning to cook decent meals, maybe this is more incentive than punishment! (Thank you especially for all the brand names – I'll look for them. Do you know anything about Ezekiel bread? I keep seeing it in the grocery store and I'm told it's GF and pretty good ... any thoughts?)
Ezekiel bread isn't gluten free, sorry! Nor are the "ancient grains" versions of wheat. Spelt is an earlier form of wheat, but it still isn't safe for people with celiac. Some people have a less intense issue with wheat, and "lower gluten" stuff works for them.
There really are some good breads available these days though.
What you will probably find though, based on listening to people over the years, is that at some point you'll just lose your taste for so much bread. A lot of bread craving is because wheat is somewhat addictive, and once you are eating gluten-free starches, there is just less desire for the starch. A lot of people lose their craving for sugars too. Instead they get cravings for foods they never thought to even think about much ... like blueberries or mangoes (what my daughter started craving: loads and loads of mangoes!).
But just don't worry about it. Listen to your appestat. Your body has a really great chemistry set built into it, and a bunch of dedicated nerve cells to, with the major job of helping you eat what you need. Gluten ... and more important the damage it does to the upper intestine ... messes up your appestat. Once that starts healing, your appetite will change. In the meantime, get food your really enjoy to keep your brain happy.
Also ... it is quite possible that your egg allergy will go away after awhile. The gluten issue seems to be genetic, an inborn defense against the peptides strings that are in gluten. That pattern is also found in candida, which might be the reason, but no one knows. Eggs though, seem to be a learned allergy, a result of the gut leakage that wheat promotes and the lack of stomach acid. Once the wheat stops, a lot of people "lose" the other allergies. Which makes life simpler.
I'm also VERY heartened to know that you believe F5 is a key to clearing up digestion problems. I always felt well and energetic when I was doing it, and I'm determined to get back to it and stay on it. (Come to think of it, I think I did it without even trying today – didn't eat today till well after 3 pm and have stopped eating for the night now ... so guess that's my five-hour window.)
Yes, it actually was a lifesaver at the time. It was getting so I couldn't digest *anything* ... even eating lettuce seemed problematic. But my digestive enzymes came back nicely on F5.
Probiotics are helpful too, esp. Sacch Boulardii or "real" kefir (the kind you grow yourself).
I think the key to my doing this successfully is having a variety of good things to eat that I enjoy, and therefore not feeling deprived. I think it's interesting that five minutes after I heard the diagnosis, I thought about what I'd have to give up, and already they had sort of retreated in my consciousness as something that was available to me. I know they're on the planet, but they're no longer relevant, I don't feel bad about not having them, and that's a very good start.
Yes! Concentrate on one good meal a day. I mean the most yummy meal you can come up with. The majority of foods that are not easily replaceable are the fast food items or candy bars and such. They are really junky food though. Most fast food is also rancid and made cheaply from bad meat, and much of the GOOD chocolate is GF.
The one food I couldn't replace easily was fried chicken and fish and chips, and I did learn to make that. And it's amazing. Turns out though that my family doesn't really care and would just as soon have stir-fry or baked potato. It feels good to me though, to know I CAN have it whenever I feel like it.
Check out restaurants with a good GF menu though. We have a really nice one near here, upscale with a great view, and they make a killer pizza. PF Chang's has a great GF menu, and I go there for my Chinese food fix.
I still would like to know if frozen yogurt is okay (remember, I can eat dairy, but not egg whites). Is chewing gum and/or bubble gum? (And yes, despite my dentist, I won't give those up if I don't have to!) I suspect that between F5 and the demands of the new nutrition, I'll probably gradually get to a much better way of eating, but I'm sure at the start I'll still want my crutches. Also, do you know of any kind of GF matzo meal? (I love chicken soup w/matzo balls and would LOVE to be able to make that still!) And since I use whole eggs in the making of matzo balls, do you know if I could substitute just egg yolks and get the same result?
Jewish food is often GF, esp. the mixes made for Passover. A lot of celiacs stock up on Jewish food around Passover time! I've never made matzoh, but I'm sure someone has a vegan GF version.
I do know that most dumpling recipes work fine made with egg yolk, or no eggs at all. My grandma's German dumplings she made with wheat grits, but I just switched to rice grits or hominy grits and they work fine. She just made the grits, let them cool down in the pan, the spooned them into the hot soup before serving.
My chicken soup never did have wheat or eggs in it though, since I grew up on hominy grits. We just cooked a chicken in some water and vegies. My secret was always to make sure there is skin and bone in it too, and cook it forever. Then cool it down, take out the bones, take off the fat. Also when I cook it, I use lots of garlic powder. Add the vegies the next day, and only cook the vegies for 20 minutes or so, so they aren't overdone. Then add dumplings.
Also – a little off topic – I use parsnips in making the chicken soup, and it always turns out delicious. Would love to eat parsnips in other ways, since making chicken soup is kind of an all-day situation. Someone suggested roasting parsnips in olive oil, with salt and pepper added. Is this good, and are there other ways to eat them? Would love to include them more actively in my diet.
I've gotten pretty good with vegies. My family loves vegies these days. The secret is: ethnic cuisine! I tell you, most of the world cooks vegies a lot better than Britain or old America.
I don't think parsnips take all that long though. For root vegies in general, you can do a simple "adobo style" dish ... put some chicken pieces in a pan with some water, salt, garlic powder, whatever, to cover. Let them cook til the water starts evaporating, and the chicken is tender. Then add root vegies and cook til the vegies are tender (you can add the vegies earlier, if you want them really cooked). Add some vinegar toward the end.
Root vegies are usually very good just tossed with olive oil and baked too, like you suggested. Green beans are good like that too, oddly.
Thank you again, Heather – I do have millions of questions and right now am not finding a specialist in my area whom I can consult. What kind of doctor do you use for this? (I was referred to a rheumatologist but someone told me I should be seeing a gastroenterologist ... is that right?)
Well, at the time I was dealing with this, the local doctors didn't believe celiac existed, and mostly when I tried to get tested I got a long lecture about how it doesn't exist in America. NOW my gastro looks at my chart and says I'm celiac. Go figure. Thing is though, the "treatment" is mainly, "learn to eat". A local celiac support group is a really GREAT thing and there is likely one near you. Probably listed at celiac.com.
A gastro can scope your insides though, and see what kind of damage you do have to your intestines. It depends on the kind of reaction you have. Some people do have a lot of damage, and are at risk for certains kinds of cancers. Other people have little or no damage. But it would be good to check with the local support group for a referral. Right now some docs are really convinced "this gluten stuff" is all a fad, and THAT is very discouraging.
And thanks to everyone else on the list for whom this is totally irrelevant – I appreciate your patience as I try to get some much-needed answers!
Yes, in some ways it is off-topic for sure. I do have to say though that for people who do have special dietary needs, F5 can work very well. It's a lot easier to manage one meal rather than three.
The gluten-free groups are a great resource though, and you can find local people who can tip you onto the great places to eat and shop!
Heather Twist -- Seattle 7B
http://eatingoffthefoodgrid.blogspot.com/
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