Gluten Free...and Dairy Free?

My mom is intolerant to dairy, and I've wondered myself about it.  But cutting out gluten is a big deal, and to cut out something else would be even harder.

Because who doesn't think a yogurt cup, a snack cheese, or a bottle of kefir isn't a quick, great snack?  Especially for people on the road.

But after reconnecting with an old friend who is gluten free AND dairy free (and a few other things too), I became inspired that maybe I could become healthier.

For example, I hired a trainer and for about 4 months all I could lose was 6 pounds.  She was like, "what are you eating??"  Like I was sneaking 52 cupcakes every week and leaving it off the food journal.

I was eating greek yogurt all day!  Because it is a really good thing to eat.  I like dairy.  I like cheese, milk, etc. etc.

But this past sunday I quit.  I've been eating other things, using coconut milk creamer in my coffee, and had a little almond cheese.  Yes, I said almond cheese.

The thing that's been really different, is that I have energy all day and all evening.  I can work all day, eat dinner, and then practice the 3 or 4 hours that I really need.  I'm not too tired anymore.

And I weighed myself at the gym.  Since Saturday, I have lost 2.6 pounds.

Coincidence?  Possibly.

But I'm going to go on like this for a while and see.  Then inevitably I'll have some dairy somehow, and then I'll really see.

What I don't like about this change is that it puts me one step further out from "regular" food.  But I know I can deal with the hassle of telling everyone about being gluten free, and so what's dairy too?

I like the idea of making a positive change for better health.  In itself a reward.

Thoughts?  Comments?  Are you GF and dairy free?

Duinkerken Bread

I can't tell you how amazing this bread is.  While I was in NYC, we made this mix at my friend's house, and it was better than any eating out we'd done. 

What I mean to say, is that my friend made it.  I provided some moral support, of course.  And an appetite.  At first, it seemed like a bother to me that the directions require you to beat 2 egg whites.  I mean, who beats egg whites in recipes anymore? 

I'll tell you who.  The people who work hard because they want to eat some super-awesome gluten free bread, that's who!

Check this out:

Looks like bread to me.  Tastes like bread to me.  In fact, the best gluten free bread I've ever had.

Actually, I think the beaten egg whites make all the difference.  The ingredients do not contain any dairy, nor do the directions advise adding any.  Therefore, I have decided to take the leap of also going dairy-free.  (I have been holding out on this because my previous favorite, the Gluten Free Pantry Bread Mix, contains dry milk).

So I ordered a whole case of the stuff (that's 6).  It's not on Amazon, but my friend Jen found it on buy the case: http://www.buythecase.net/products/index.php?page_function=search&keyword=duinkerken&x=0&y=0

So yesterday I tried it in the bread machine.  I put the warm water in the machine with the yeast, then beat the egg whites, then added all the ingredients and mixed.  It went pretty well.  I also put the 2nd (not used in the recipe) egg yolk on top for a crusty top.

So here's what it looked like out of the bread machine:

Success!  Guys, you have to try this one!

Oh, Babycakes. Why.

I had the opportunity to spend this past weekend in New York City, and I had a wonderful time.

I stayed with an old friend from Ohio who lives in the city, who also eats gluten-free, so we had a lot to talk about and compare notes on.

We tried to go to as many places with gluten free offerings as possible, however we weren't able to get everywhere.  On my next trip, I really look forward to finding some Everybody Eats products to try, because I was disappointed to have missed them on this trip, having heard so many good things about them.

One of the places I was able to go to was Babycakes Bakery.  We arrived later in the day, and I was a little surprised that it is such a small storefront, but of course that doesn't matter.  Great things can come from small places!

Anyway, the location was extremely small, I would guess the storefront was about 12 feet wide, with the main counter just a few feet away from the door.  It was quite cramped, with a couple stools against the wall on the right, and two or three stools in front of the counter in the few feet between the counter and the front window.

When we arrived, there were two people sitting and talking on the stools to the right, which were directly in front of the main cooler with the baked goods.  About two or three people were ahead of us and so we were not able to look at the selections until after they had all checked out with their orders, due to the space.

When it was our turn to step up to the glass, I began to look at the selections when a young lady carrying two large trash bags (I mean large, they were about 5 feet tall each) came out of the kitchen area and asked us to move so she could take the trash out of the front door.  We walked all the way up to the front of the store and got out of the way.

After she had passed by, we returned to the counter, and because the written item descriptions were not all matched up with the trays of cupcakes, etc., I asked the man behind the counter which gluten-free (non-spelt) selections were still available.  He looked at me like I was stupid and said, "what it says on the glass."  Then he seemed to be obviously annoyed that I was not selecting a baked good soon enough for his taste, because he said, "Can I help anybody who knows what they want?"

That comment, I felt, was pretty rude.  I really didn't appreciate someone talking to me like that, someone who is asking for my business and my money.

So anyway, I went ahead asked if I could please have a red velvet cupcake.  He said Ok, I also selected a vanilla, chocolate and carrot.  Then my friend ordered a "Healthy-Ho" which is something like a sandwich of two brownies with cream filling inside.  He brought the order to the front, with a total of only three cupcakes and the fake Ho-Ho.  I said, "that's only three cupcakes," to which he replied, "Oh, did you want the carrot?"

To which I replied, "Um, no."  Which was my best decision all day.  The total price for these items was 16.60.

We took our selections to go, which he packed in boxes and put into an "I heart NY" plastic bag.

We then walked briefly around the Chinatown and Little Italy neighborhood, returned to the car, and drove up to Lincoln Center and sat down to enjoy them while watching the fountain.

The man at the counter had packed the three cupcakes in a box with a plastic window that was not glued to the top of the box, so the piece of cellophane had fallen onto the cupcakes under the weight of the box containing the Healthy Ho.  So when I opened the box, it looked like this:

But it's not what it looks like, it's how it tastes, right?


So I picked up the red velvet to taste what I expected to be a great cupcake.  But it was heavy.


So I pulled back the paper and took a bite.  I'm sorry to say, it was quite dry, and rather dense.  And the icing was very oily.  The texture was kind of inconsistent, with a moist spot here or there, a harder spot here or there, and the rest just, well, um...dry.

And the taste?  Well, I must admit I grew up in the midwest at a time when most every woman baked and many were masters.  So for better or for worse, my background dictates certain expectations for baked goods, and I am sorry to say that the taste fell far below my expectations.  It had more of a taste of fruit ingredients than that famous taste of red velvet cocoa with creamy frosting.

And so I did what my grandmother, who taught me how to bake, would probably have done.  I put it back in the box.

But I don't think it's fair to judge an entire bakery based on two bites of one cupcake.  Fortunately, I had two more chances to be delighted.

I moved to the vanilla cupcake with the green frosting.  Again, as I picked it up, it felt a little heavy.  I took one bite--and how was it, you ask?  Dry, yet again.  And it tasted more like orange or citrus than vanilla.  I commented to my friend that I must have been given the wrong flavor, and she thought it might have been "flavored" with lemon extract, or there may be lemon juice in the icing.

Well, the last time I baked anything "vanilla" flavored, I used vanilla.  And the last time I baked anything "lemon" flavored, I used lemon juice.  And so on.

So to me, this was not a pleasing flavor when I expected "vanilla."

After my first bite, I also returned it to its box.

When we made it back home, this is how the box looked (Uh, yum?):

I would just say, that in terms of an overall experience, I am going to have to give Babycakes a thumbs down.  

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest, I'd give them a 1 for customer service, a 1 for price/value, and a minus 2 for taste.  (Maybe that's a little harsh.  How about just a minus 1.)

When we got home, my friend made a batch of homemade gluten free chocolate donuts, which were awesome.  That cheered me up!  But the ironic thing, is that when I was leaving Raleigh to come to NYC, I stopped by our awesome local dedicated gluten free specialty store, Rosie's Plate, to pick up some pita bread, they asked if I wanted to buy some cupcakes to also take to my gluten free friend.  I declined.  But next time, that is exactly what I am going to do.

(Also a shout out to other triangle bakeries like Moonlight Bakery, The Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse, and Meepcakes in Winston-Salem.)

Food in our lives, what changes and what doesn't

I read a great post this week from Wendy at her Celiacs in the House blog.  She talks about the complicated relationship with food, and how that can change when we find out we are celiacs, and it is then necessary to make diet changes.

It has me thinking about the bigger picture of food in our lives.  What culture in the world doesn't have its food playing a major role?  Having meals together, "breaking bread" together (if you will), is a part of life, everywhere in the world.  We all must have food, clothing and shelter to live.  Whatever else we have culturally (arts, entertainment, etc.) is just details.

Everyone remembers our mother's cooking.  She was the first to care for us and make sure we were fed.  Similarly, many of us remember our grandma's cooking, and her bringing infinite wisdom to the kitchen that would sparkle, often brighter than our own mother's prowess.

So we have these memories, these tastes.   But sometimes we didn't like everything.  Who here likes brussel sprouts, for example?  We don't always make the foods our grandmothers made and integrate them into our lives.  We don't always have the same non-food traditions that our grandparents and those before them had.   I mean, I sure don't.

But I do know that I am who I am because of their care and values.  I know there are many kinds of dishes that I love, that were made by my grandmother, like Beef and Noodles, every kind of home grown vegetable, jello, custard pie, pumpkin pie, all other kinds of pie, sugar cookies, Turkey and homemade stuffing, baked ham, baked chicken, sweet yams, scalloped potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet Easter bread, scrambled eggs, bacon, etc. etc.  You know, Ohio german farm food.

What traditions have I not continued?  I don't cook up a pan of bacon.  I don't work on the farm 8 hours a day, and will not work that fat off while sitting at my desk at work.  So I am discarding this tradition, one which would be unhealthy for me.  I think my grandmother would agree that's a good idea.  Also, I don't make sweet Easter bread (yet).  That would take something like 2 days to do, if I could even figure out how to make it gluten free (which I probably could).  Instead, I am spending those 2 days working and networking, or practicing, all things that are leading me to greater opportunities in my life.  And I feel like that is alright as well.

And what new traditions do I have?  My mother started a tradition of making soft sugar cut-out cookies as a family around Christmastime.  We would bake them together--she, my 2 brothers and me--and then we would frost and decorate them.  We would give them to all our teachers, friends and neighbors, etc.  This wasn't an old tradition, but now that I've successfully adapted this recipe to gluten free, I do the same in my life.  I share cookies with work contacts, local friends, etc.  It's inexpensive, and so I can give more to people, can take a plate to share with everyone at work, and something homemade means so much more than store-bought anything.  And I think it's a fun thing to do.

********************

I have always maintained that Celiac Disease doesn't change your life.  It might change a few details about how you have to plan ahead your meals, a little bit, but it doesn't change who you are, your dreams, and what you can do, one bit.  However, I do see that it is becoming part of my story.  Just from the way I live, and how planning my eating has changed.  But I'm really OK with that, and I think the fact that I do approach eating and food a little differently is just an extension of taking care of myself.  Something I know my ancestry would smile upon and support.

Whenever someone is asking me, "isn't that hard?  That would be so difficult.  Don't you miss eating things?"

My response is always, "Anything you can have that's made with wheat or gluten, can be made without.  I don't feel deprived of anything.  If I want something bad enough, I know I can have it, although I just might have to make it myself."  I've found it to be true.  And I'll share with you if and when I ever get that Easter Bread converted to gluten free, because I'm sure it can be done.

Read this if you're a celiac tempted to eat gluten

Last fall, several of us in my area were duped, I am sad to say, by a guy who was selling bread that he claimed was gluten free, baked in his own bakery.  Turns out, it was wheat bread he was repackaging that he'd purchased wholesale and passed off on us.  It was lie after lie after lie.  You can read about it on Zach's blog here.

I do not know of any studies that have looked into the long-term effects of "glutening" over a period of time.  In any case, here are photos of me, before and after being glutened, so you can see what it looked like on me.

The first photo is me in November 2009 (before):

The second is me at Christmas, Dec. 25, 2009.  I ate wheat bread at almost every meal for approximately 2-3 weeks, starting November 25 and finishing probably around Dec. 11th-13th, somewhere in there.  So this 2nd picture is from AFTER I was glutened, and I think it's pretty obvious that I had still not recovered by Christmas.

I felt horribly tired and could barely do anything outside the bare minimum for work, which was excruciatingly difficult itself.  All I felt like doing was staying in bed.  All day.

Check out the bloating of my face and hands.  Not to mention my coloring.
















Thank goodness I am feeling better.  I've been working to lose the weight I gained over the winter (that I really believe was in a large part secondary to the glutening), and I feel much better overall now.  Here I am yesterday with my gluten-free little brother (a little sweaty after an outdoor concert--but looking and feeling much, much recovered!).

So you might be thinking, gee, one little wheat cookie (or two, or three)/piece of bread/cake, etc. might be OK.  If you want to kill yourself and feel horrible, go right ahead.  Don't say I didn't warn ya.

(and what I really mean, is--please don't.  It's not worth it.)

The Three Kinds of Celiacs

I originally started to write this entry, titled "The Two Kinds of Celiacs," and then had a Monty Python Spanish Inquisition sketch moment, if you know what I mean.

It seems like I largely meet diagnosed Celiacs who roughly fall into one of the two categories:  1) learned about the disease on their own through research, collecting information from family members, and presented this to their healthcare provider begging for the test, and for answers about why they feel sick all the time, or 2) after prolonged illness, misdiagnosis, and having to almost die in the hospital, as a last resort, some doctor, as a last ditch effort, gives a celiac test, which turns out to be positive.

In the first category, most of us who did this met were dismissed as crazy by doctors, were refused the test, or in some lucky cases like mine, were listened to and given the test.  I've heard stories that relatives of diagnosed people would save all their money to go in and see a doctor to ask for the test and be refused, being told that Celiac Disease is a rare thing (1 in 133 is rare???????).

The second case is far more tragic, I think.  My heart goes out to those people.

In both cases, doctors have failed.

For people like me, the doctors over the years who just told me I was tired because I didn't exercise enough or that I needed to take iron pills, or the dentists who told me I should just stop eating candy and drinking sodas--all failed.  Failed to see the real thing that was going on, that I had a very common condition called Celiac Disease, and for me, the very staple of our diet, wheat, was killing me slowly.  I felt horrible all the time but people just thought I was lazy, because I was so tired and lethargic.

In both cases, the two groups have been failed by the US Medical system, because people are not routinely tested to rule out Celiac.  And if we were tested, many of us could avoid our related conditions altogether, like autoimmune disorders of the thyroid, neuropathies and ataxia, etc.  The conditions that once acquired, cannot be reversed.  I think that's a tragedy, and a crime by doctors.

The third type of Celiac is the undiagnosed.  Especially I am thinking of the people who are related to us, the already diagnosed.  Those undiagnosed people who refuse to be tested, despite the fact that there is a genetic link.  Doctors especially fail these people when they do not insist they be tested.  It seems like all of us have them in our families.

When someone says, "I have cancer," no one says, "No you don't.  That's not a real illness."

I hope that someday there is only one kind of American Celiac.  The one who is diagnosed early by way of routine screening, as a child, who successfully eats a gluten free diet and lives a long and healthy life.

Wraps!! Go Get 'Em! (in Raleigh)

Hey everyone!  I was over at Fresh Market today, one of the few places where I can find Wick Fowler's Taco Seasoning (Gluten Free), and look what I found:

I found the pot of gold!

That's right, here in Raleigh you can have a wrap that doesn't break when bent, La Tortilla Factory's Smart and Delicious Gluten Free Teff Wraps!  As I mentioned in this earlier post. 

And they were on sale for only 3.99.  If we keep buying them, they will keep stocking them, I hope.