Bone Scans and Other Fun Stuff

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm coming up on the 2 year anniversary of my Celiac Disease diagnosis.  I just saw my gastrointernologist and he said that, once again, my numbers (as in blood tests) are great and he's amazed by my success with the gluten-free diet.  Not because he didn't know the diet would help me significantly, but because many people that go on the diet have a tough time sticking to it.  I am proud of myself, but at the same time, I can't imagine why anyone would want to continue suffering just to eat gluten.  Especially now, with so many wonderful gluten-free options out there, new ones popping up in stores every single day.

A few months after my initial diagnosis, I had a DEXA bone scan.  This scan was used to check my bone density, because I was very calcium and vitamin D deficient and had been for quite some time.  The scan showed that my bones were on the verge of osteoporosis.  My doctor actually told me that I had the bones of an 80 year old!  It made sense, considering that for years I had been complaining of bone aches and I'd had several breaks in the past 10 years.  Since having the scan I've been pumped full of calcium and vitamin D, hoping for recovery.  Well, in 4 days I will find out how my bones are doing.  I'm sure they are better!

At the end of my doctor's appointment, I was told that I didn't need a follow-up.  Unless I have any issues, I will see my general physician for annual blood tests (instead of every three months) to make sure I'm not falling behind in any way.  My general physician will handle things after my bone scan as well.  It feels sort of strange, not to have any Dr. Dahnuka appointments set up for the future!  It's a good thing, he says.  Of course, I know that, but I almost feel that without anyone keeping an eye on me, something bad might happen.  I don't know what, it's just a feeling. I can tell you what I do know, though; I will continue with the gluten-free diet and I will never stray from it.  I will try my hardest to stay healthy and active.  I will never go back to being sick like that.  I feel strong and I like it. :)

What Progress....

It's almost been 2 years since my Celiac Disease diagnosis and I can't believe how different the world of gluten-free has become in that short time.  I remember being so very overwhelmed at starting my new diet. There were not a lot of gluten-free products available and it was all about label reading.  "Nowadays" that issue has almost been eliminated!  Kudos to all of the major name brands who have clearly labeled their products gluten-free (Kraft, Yoplait, etc) and have their websites up-to-date with important allergen information.  More and more gluten-free products pop up every day but it is especially wonderful when the  name brands create gluten-free versions of well-loved favorites (Bisquick Gluten-Free Baking Mix, Betty Crocker cake, brownie and cookie mixes).  I have no doubt that in just a few more short years all products will be clearly labeled so that label reading will be a thing of the past.

We do most of our shopping at Trader Joe's, who has also joined the gluten-free bandwagon.  Every month or so they have a new gluten-free product. All of their food is clearly labeled if it is gluten-free.  Many stores have entire gluten-free sections, along with natural foods.  I think our food industry is undergoing a major transformation and I hope it continues.  Not just for those of us who need gluten-free foods, but for any allergy or intolerance.  I hope that awareness of natural foods continues to grow as well, so that we can stop the poisoning of our children with cancer causing chemicals.

Just the other day I discovered that there is a gluten-free application for my IPhone!  It's called "Find Me Gluten-Free" and it will find you any restaurants in your current location that have gluten-free food.  It provides the menus of some of those restaurants, and tells you if they can accommodate a gluten-free diet or if they have a gluten-free menu.  Amazing!!

This progress astounds me and I'm so proud to be a part of it :)

Frustration!

Ugh!  Sometimes baking (or cooking) gluten-free can be so frustrating!  Trying to covert my favorite recipes to a new gluten-free version does not always work out.

Having been given an abundance of zucchini, fresh from the garden, I grated them all up and put those shreddings into bags to store in the freezer.  All except for 2 cups, with which I decided to make zucchini bread.  I thought it would be easy; Just substitute the wheat flour for g-free flour, decrease the amount of baking soda and baking powder and I'd have a freshly baked loaf of deliciousness.  Yeah right!  I did get a loaf of deliciousness, but once removed, my loaf crumbled into pieces!!  I wanted to cry.

The good news is, we are still eating the zucchini bread.  Piece by piece.  Now I just have to figure out what went wrong, hopefully before those bags of shredded zucchini run out.......

If you think I'm going to give up, you're wrong.  I'm always up for a challenge!  I'll post my new and improved gluten-free zucchini bread recipe, just as soon as I figure out what that is :)

Hi Again

Almost three months since my last post!  The weeks have passed by so quickly.....Unfortunately, besides the trials of living gluten-free I've got quite a full life and much has gone on this summer.

At the end of June, my husband and I took our children to Disneyland and it was so much fun!  The last time we visited Disneyland was 5 years ago so this was my first time experiencing Disneyland post Celiac Disease diagnosis, so that changed the dynamics a little bit.  Luckily, my husband researched and planned our vacation down to the tiniest detail.  I also did some research of my own so that I knew what to expect.  After reading about other people's gluten-free experiences I wasn't worried at all; it sounded like it would be a piece of cake.

We decided to stay at Disney's Paradise Pier hotel and we had a great experience there.  We ate at their restaurant, PCH Grill, for dinner one of the evenings we were there and, although they did have a gluten-free menu, the chef actually created a meal just for me!  I was really impressed.  Everyone was so nice and accommodating.  We also tried Tortilla Joe's in Downtown Disney, both the tacoria and the restaurant.  I wasn't very impressed by the tacoria portion, it was just "ok", in my opinion.  The Tortilla Joe's restaurant, on the other hand, was great!  The majority of the food on their menu was gluten-free, I was amazed by all of the choices (as most gluten-free menus are quite limited).  Everyone in my family of five enjoyed their meals at Tortilla Joe's.

Inside Disneyland Park and Disney's California Adventures Park, I was impressed by the food kiosks.  They sell water, juices, fruit, and other healthy snacks.  I noticed these during our last trip to Disneyland and couldn't believe that a theme park actually had healthy options for families!  I was able to create lunches from the kiosks that were light and refreshing.  We also ate at Redd Rockett's Pizza Port in Tomorrow Land where I devoured my first gluten-free pizza, Award Wieners in California Adventures where I enjoyed my first hot dog IN THE BUN(!) and Rancho del Zocalo offered a selection of gluten-free Mexican food that was just okay.

While the majority of our summer has been full of activities for our kids, trips to the lake, and other fun things like that, we are also in the process of moving (which, as everyone knows, is stressful and time consuming).  On top of all of that, eight days ago I had surgery to remove my tonsils and a polyp in my left sinus.  An outpatient surgery, no big deal, but in terms of recovery it's been quite the nightmare.  I've never been in so much continuous pain in my life and the pain meds only take the edge off.  Trying to figure out how to eat has been interesting.  Everything has had to be liquid or strained and my doctor said no dairy.  Even foods that were suggested to me, like popsicles, burn when they go down.  I've been trying to stay away from too much sugar but when I'd think of options I'd realize so many things I thought might work were not gluten-free!  It's just been so frustrating.  I ended up being limited to vegetable or chicken broth (gluten-free, free-range, organic, etc), coconut milk ice cream from Trader Joe's (delicious!), and Jello (not my favorite food).  I wish now that I had planned better, and maybe prepared foods beforehand.

Thanks so much for reading and I promise to have something new and interesting up very soon  =D

Label Reading: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good

So.... My family enjoys the frozen yogurt shop called "You Top It".  It's a great experience; several flavors, you serve yourself your own yogurt and your own toppings and pay by weight.  When I started the gluten-free diet I asked if they had any flavors that were gluten-free.  The teenager that was working that day showed me a huge binder containing each yogurt flavor's nutritional information.  I was happy to find out that one of their flavors that week was, indeed, gluten-free.  The toppings were easier because they were (and still are) choices of candy I was already familiar with, nuts, granola (count that one out) or fruit.  However, it was sort of a pain to have to pull out that giant binder, search for each flavor and then scan the information every time we visited.  Luckily, it only took a couple of weeks before someone got the idea to do the work for us!  Above each yogurt machine there had always been a large label with the flavor of that particular frozen yogurt typed on it.  Now, above the name label, there is another label with any specific information a person with a food allergy (or Celiac Disease!) would need to know:  Gluten-free/Lactose-Free/etc!!!  I can't tell you how excited I was to see that we, and other's who visit "You Top It" have impressed upon the employees how serious the need is for labeling of their products.

The Bad

Now, my only advice to you is to please pay close attention to which labels belong to which yogurts!  I made the silly (yet serious) mistake of misreading last week and asked for a sample of a frozen yogurt flavor that is not gluten-free.  I realized seconds after I took my first healthy bite that the "Country Vanilla" flavor had the gluten-free label, not the "Chocolate Custard".  Luckily I had only swallowed approximately 2 tablespoons, rather than an entire serving size.

The Ugly

Later that night I began experiencing some serious burning pain in my digestive system and I am sure that my villi incurred some damage.  The moral of this story is that while labeling is super awesome and helpful, actually reading the label and identifying which item it belongs to is even better!  =D

Gluten-Free Skillet Stew

The other day I was craving stew and since every recipe I've tried has ended in failure, I thought I'd play around with ingredients and create something new.  The result was fabulous!  This stew is thick, meaty and full of flavor. The most important part for me is that it is gluten-free but it helps that it is easy to prepare as well.  The best time (in my opinion) to devour a bowl of stew is on a cold, windy day, however, my eight-year old son informed me that he would eat stew "any day!".  Enjoy =)

Gluten-Free Skillet Stew

1 lb stew meat
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup diced onion
1-2 32 oz cartons gluten-free beef stock
4 cups chopped potatoes
2 cup chopped carrots
mustard (essential for flavor)
gluten-free flour
olive oil
salt/pepper/garlic powder

1-2 hours before preparing stew:  Coat stew meat in mustard (I use French's) and marinate.

Coat marinated stew meat with gluten-free flour.  Heat large skillet, add approximately 1/3 cup olive oil.  When olive oil is hot add the gluten-free flour/mustard coated stew meat to skillet.  Brown the meat, then remove.  Add approximately 1/4 cup gluten-free flour to meat drippings (if needed add more olive oil,), this will make your stew thick. Slowly add diced onion and chopped celery.  Saute' for 1-2 minutes.  Add beef stock, stirring well with whisk.  Put stew meat slowly back into skillet.  Add potatoes and carrots.  Add salt/pepper/garlic powder to taste.  Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.  Reduce heat to simmer and cover.  Cook for approximately 45 minutes or until potatoes/carrots are tender.

*To shorten cooking time, potatoes and carrots may be blanched (boil 3-5 minutes) before hand.  This reduces the simmering of the stew from approximately 45 minutes to approximately 15 minutes.    

A Brand I Love

Recently I happened upon a "new" brand of food called Amy's in the freezer section.  Amy's makes easy to cook frozen meals and snacks, as well as canned products and more.  While they aren't new by any means I only just tried them myself after a recommendation from a family member.  Not all of Amy's foods are gluten-free but they are all natural, healthy and filling.  My local grocery stores don't carry a large selection of Amy's foods but so far I've tried the Chedder Cheese burrito and the Tortilla Casserole with Black Beans.  The frozen burrito is made with a garbanzo bean tortilla and stuffed with cheese, beans and rice.  It is delicious!  I eat mine topped with even more cheese and sour cream.  The Tortilla Casserole was awesome as well, although it makes for a light lunch.  So far I'm really impressed - Amy's makes gluten-free food taste yummy and homemade!  I'm planning to beg my favorite grocery store to order more of Amy's gluten-free meals.  I can't wait to try them.  Thanks Amy!!

Check out Amy's Kitchen online

Snickerdoodles

Do you know how you can tell if you are eating a true Snickerdoodle cookie?  If what comes to your mind is a treat that looks and tastes like a sugar cookie with cinnamon and sugar on it, you haven't had a Snickerdoodle before.  Besides all of the ingredients necessary to make sugar cookies, a batch of Snickerdoodle's contains something called cream of tartar.  Cream of tartar is the common name for potassium hydrogen tartate, an acidic salt that is naturally gluten-free.  It may sound bizarre to put acidic salt into your cookies but cream of tartar is used in all sorts of recipes.  It has a very distinctive taste, a subtle tartness to your otherwise sweet dessert.

Please enjoy my gluten-free Snickerdoodle recipe:

1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups gluten-free flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
sugar/cinnamon mix

*if using a gluten-free baking mix that contains baking soda, you will have to adjust the amount of baking powder you put in.  I'm using Pamela's and I reduced the baking soda to 1/2 tsp.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix shortening, sugar and eggs.  Add dry ingredients.  Shape dough into balls and roll in cinnamon mixture.  Bake 8-10 minutes

My Gluten-Free Anniversary!

Yes, today is my one-year anniversary of being gluten-free!  I am so proud of myself for having the strength of will to undertake this journey, never having looked back once.  I literally became gluten-free the day after my Celiac Disease diagnosis, and while it was really confusing and tough, it felt so wonderful to be taking some sort of action that would make me a healthier, and ultimately happier, individual.

As the year has gone by, living gluten-free has become easier and easier.  I now have no problem asking questions at stores and restaurants, or reading labels (for the most part).  It helps that awareness of Celiac Disease has increased greatly, just in the year since I was diagnosed.  That doesn't mean that I don't get frustrated sometimes because I do, I just feel more confident and relaxed about my situation.

When I first learned that I might have Celiac Disase, no one I knew had any clue what it was.  No one knew what gluten was either, or what it meant to be gluten-free.  As I educated myself on those topics I also educated my friends and family.  Over this past year I have found myself explaining the disease to complete strangers.  It feels great to be a part of this movement! 

I embark on year two of my journey knowing that I can do this for life.  I can live without gluten forever and still find great tasting foods to eat and delicious ingredients to create my own gluten-free recipes with.  I might have some struggles or moments when a Hostess Cupcake looks too good to refuse, but I can work through them and preserver.  Gluten-free is so good! (and yummy, too) 

Thank you Safeway!!

Guess what!  Safeway is making it easier to shop gluten-free!  Besides a gluten-free product list available on their website, Safeway is now labeling items that are gluten-free with colorful labels that are easy to see.  That way you don't have to scan the tiny ingredients list that is on the back of the packaging.  This is fantastic! 

Check out the link below:
Safeway Simple Nutrition:  Benefit Shelf Tags

Gluten-Free at School

Recently I was surprised to find out that there are two children in my son's second grade class who are gluten-free.  For some reason it had never even occurred to me to ask if there were gluten-free children in either one of my kid's classes this year!  Since I've changed my own diet I've been sending in treats to school that are gluten-free without informing anyone that they were and those kids were missing out!  I felt really foolish.  It was actually my son who told me:  He came home from school one day and said that the next time I made a treat for his class to make sure that it was gluten-free so his friends could eat it.  What??!!  I immediately emailed his teacher for confirmation.  After that I spoke with the parents of the two boys to give them reassurance that yes, I do know what I'm doing when it comes to preparing gluten-free food and that I would love to provide treats for the class that EVERY child could eat! 

It felt really great!  In fact, I recommend that every parent who sends food in to their child's classes find out about possible food allergies among their classmates.  Not just gluten, but the other common things that children are allergic to as well.  If you don't feel comfortable preparing food using special ingredients, than maybe send in something that is store-bought.  There are store bought treats that will accommodate just about every food allergy I've come across.  It is really sad for a little boy or girl to have to sit and watch his or her classmates enjoy cupcakes or peanut butter cookies when they can't have any.

For Those Who Miss Their "Hamburger Helper"

While I've never been a fan of prepackaged, boxed meals, my husband is.  So, when he saw that there is a gluten-free brand that makes similar products, he jumped at the chance to try them.  We were on one of our rare trips to Super Walmart when we decided to check out what they had to offer as far as gluten-free items.  Walmart does have a specialty foods section, but it is very, very small.  On the shelf we saw this brand:  "Mrs. Leeper's: Gluten-Free since 1927".  We chose to try the Cheeseburger Mac and the Beef Stroganoff but they also have Beef Lasagna, Mac & Cheese, Chicken Alfredo and Creamy Tuna.  My husband said, "They'll either be really good, or really bad". 
In my opinion, they were actually pretty good and they taste just like the Hamburger Helper brand.  I wouldn't choose to make them for my family on a regular basis but they are a great alternative when you have a short amount of time to make dinner, or just feel like being lazy, because the total cooking time is approximately 15 minutes :)

The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide by Elisabeth Hasselbeck

No matter what you might think of her political views, Elisabeth Hasselbeck's book about the gluten-free diet is really great.  Not only does it contain a lot of information, it is also a very easy read.  When you are newly diagnosed with Celiac Disease and completely overwhelmed, the last thing you want to be doing is flipping through an extremely boring medical text book. The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide reads like a journal and is actually very entertaining.  It contains information about Celiac Disease as well as general information for anyone who might be interested in going gluten-free, no matter what their reason for it may be.  There is also a forward in it by Dr. Peter Green.

Happy New Year!

Today is New Years Day and I am proud to say that I made it through my first holiday season completely gluten-free.  No cross contamination, no accidental gluten ingestion at parties.  I never once had the inclination to eat anything I wasn't supposed to, either.  It was great!

Of course, that doesn't mean that everything was easy for me.  Disappointments seem to be a regularity when it comes to gluten-free baking.  My Christmas shortbread didn't come out right at all.  But, my sugar cookies tasted pretty great! Because I do bake so much at Christmas, I decided to use regular flour for most of my goodies.  I send Christmas treats to work with my husband and we share them with friends.  This of course, is tricky because it means I can't taste anything. I have to find someone else to tell me if my goodies are coming out okay (finding a willing taste-tester in my home isn't that hard) and I have to make sure not to sample any of that yummy batter.  Other than that, I did okay.

My goals for 2011 are to keep learning more about Celiac Disease, to continue to spread awareness about Celiac Disease, and to be healthy!

Please try my sugar cookie recipe:

Rolled Sugar Cookies

3 1/4 cups of your favorite gluten-free flour
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2/3 cup of shortening
2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla


Frosting

1 cube margarine (softened)
1 box (16 oz) powdered sugar
1 tsp milk
milk

Blend ingredients with hand mixer.  Add milk one tbsp at a time for desired thickness.


Mix ingredients and form dough into softball-sized balls.  Refrigerate for 3 hours.  Roll out and cut into your favorite shapes.  Frost and decorate.