Very hot and humid here yesterday, and once again I had the feeling of being nauseous until I started exercising.With the humidity however, the feeling passed even quicker, which would add even more credence that it is from detoxing from gluten. I mentioned the nausea to Bob and his reaction was "Are you pregnant ???" said in anticipation, glee and dread. Nope- I can pretty much guarantee that I am not pregnant. And strangely enough when I was that way in the past I never suffered from morning sickness. This I am pretty certain is from getting off of gluten , and just whispers to me I am on the right track and should keep on it.
Which suddenly presented a big problem with an unexpected bit of good fortune. Bob had a meeting with the company president and was given a bonus for the 10 years he has been employed with his company. While on first response the impulse with such things is to run amuck with toys or travel or so forth, for us this will prove to be the saving grace for the summer months. During the summer his Cantor schedual drops, income drops, electricity rates double ( no matter if you run an AC or not) and we are left with time but no money. This bonus will help us to be able to actually do something. However, Bob suggested we go out to dinner to celebrate, I said lets do, and then it hit me- where in the heck can you go out to eat that is gluten free, not an hours commute away and will not have a bill that makes me cringe ??
I told Nick about the good fortune, and he suddenly began telling me all the things we should do, the name of every video game being released, details of every video game he has ever played, where you can find old Nintendo 64 sites on line, every color that game cartridges come in and a million other game related things. Did I mention games ??? Meanwhile I am thinking , trying to search for gluten free restaurant options finding only bakeries in twoards the city and I started freaking out. My first thought was Outback , but then remembered the points value ( calorie , fat and fiber calculation used on Weight Watchers) for even a simple chicken breast and baked potato meal , and then things about the sodium content of most of their meats and realized this is NOT an option. I remembered that up till now our only acceptable restaurant options because of fat, calories, sodium and so froth was Sweet Tomatoes or the deli bar at our produce store, and now with the gluten factor Sweet Tomatoes was out ( gluten in most of the soups, the pasta and the breads). So I moaned about it on Facebook. and was offered some helpful advice from several friends and a site from a cousin in law that listed several restaurants in our immediate area with gluten free options. There are several, but it seems you have to order them in a very specific way. It is doable, but it can take a little pre- planning. I stopped freaking out and started thinking. Then I got 30 seconds chatter free and I thought some more. I realized that my problem may not be as severe as some. I do not have celiac disease, but I do have a problem with inflammation from wheat, so is it absolutely necessary to drag out the big guns ?
Then it dawned on me that for me another possibility would be a restaurant that we had gone to in the past but have never been able to go to for a while because of crowds- Golden Corral ! Many argue that buffets are a disaster, but if you drop the "all you can eat" mentality and see it as a great palate with which you can paint your own meal, it works beautifully. As long as I avoided anything with bread, breaded or in a sauce, I should be fine. So once Bob got home we headed out to Golden Corral for a celebratory dinner. It was a very good choice ! I was able to make a salad with baby greens, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, spinach , fresh fruit and a sprinkling of sliced almonds ( skipped the dressing because they had nothing that sounded like a match, a roated chicken breast with a baked sweet potato, asparagus ( not disgustingly wimpy canned stuff) and corn on the cob. I splurged and got a squirt of chocolate ice cream and a rice crispy treat. Thank you rice crispies for being wonderfully gluten free and almost as common as water !!!
I think I did well. This morning the nauseous feeling is back, and I am off to work out !
7 comments:
You did great!! I can't imagine having to worry about gluten. I already worry just trying to find healthy choices.
Hooray for going out to eat!!!
Rice Krispies, though, aren't gluten free. Sorry. The Kellogg's name brand isn't, anyway, as it still has malt and malt = gluten.
Karen- This is one thing I am struggling with ! While I know wheat is definitely a problem in the form of flour, I don't suspect it is a problem when it gets down to things like barley malt, modified food starch and so forth, so if it is not obviously wheat ( rolls, bread, pasta, cakes, flour thickened sauces) it seems to be okay, based on my own non scientific but cause and affect observations. It makes it a lot easier, but makes me wonder just what exactly is my issue. Is it simply a wheat sensitivity or ?????. It was one thing that was making me absolutely crazy when trying to figure out where to eat- while places offer gluten free dishes, you basically have to memorize all of the seasonings and so forth that go into the dish, order them specifically without them, and in my case do so with Nick is full Chatty Cathy/Rain Man mode from the different stimulation.I think the term is "character building ". I have seen a couple of brands of rice krispy type cereals labeled as gluten free here( off brands, and I have no idea if Golden Corral's source is actual Rice Krispys brand or an industrial sized knock off) , so I thought it would be safe. I did wonder if the marshmallow stuff used contained gluten though. Most are made thick with gelatin, but is the dusting outside cornstarch or wheat starch ? Not sure on that one. Like I said, I am learning and doing it on an unscientific( meaning confirmed with a lab test) kind of observation. This alone is causing me some real head scratching times. I can only sympathize and learn from those who have a much worse degree of this issue !
There's a lot of head scratching/pounding that goes on even for folks who've been doing it for years. If it were just a wheat sensitivity here our lives would be SO much easier.
I can understand and sympathize ! Gluten comes in so many things and so many forms that at times it has to feel like you are trying to avoid water. I was teasing Bob that the gluten thing can make you terrified of food and make anorexia look very attractive for about a half of a heart beat. Why can't we just have plain ole food that is not improved for shelf stability, consistency, flavor and so many other things ? It makes me want to scream
You made a great choice. A lot of people might have had a problem with the abundance of food there, but you selected exactly what you wanted (and coule eat) and enjoyed it.
I hope that you continue to feel between following your gluten free diet!
Hi there, Diane! Come on over to my blog to pick up a prize for you. Dated May 25th.
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