Old Blog

This is my poor forgotten about blog. I've started a new blog that I plan to keep up with, so check it out.

Pizza & Beer

Pizza and beer! It's a combination you see all the time. But until 2 weeks ago I'd never tried it. It's been less than a year since I discover gluten is evil, but I always thought beer was. I tried drinking it in high school and my first year of college. Beer would also upset my stomach. I could make it through even half a glass without feeling sick. So I gave up and decided I just didn't like it.

I went to Whole Foods one Friday and bought some Gluten Free pizza and beer. I was so excited that on my way home I called my mother and told her. It sounds so funny to think about it. But it was a big deal...it was a first in my life.

I've discovered that there is very little in the way of Amy's foods that I don't like. The dry mac and cheese is the only one so far. Now the frozen is another story. I love it! I was pretty impressed with the cheese rice crust pizza too. Next I plan on dressing it up a bit with some topping though.

I knew there was a few different types of Gluten Free beers out there but I'd never tried to find any, until I heard about Redbridge. I saw the YouTube video of Elisabeth Hasselbeck trying it, and decided to do the same.

I really enjoyed the pizza and beer experience. I enjoyed the idea of pizza so much I ate the whole thing. I now regret it because I gained a couple pounds from eating to much. But all and all it was a great idea and I'm glad I can finally cross off "Pizza and Beer" from my list of things to do.

Amazing

Until recently I hadn't been to Chipotle in years. I also lived on the other side of the country, and was eating gluten still at the time. But I decided to finally go back a few weeks ago. I was hungry and it sounded good. I hated that I couldn't get a burrito, but I made due with some crunchy tacos instead. It tasted amazing.

I realize I use "amazing" way to much when I talk about good food. The issue is it's hard to find safe foods from restaurants. So when I find great tasting GF things, it's just so amazing to me. It's amazing the it tastes good and I can actually enjoy it without regretting it an hour or so later. Having a food intolerance is harder then most people think. Majority of the people I know don't have any food issues or only mild lactose problems. They don't understand what it's like. It can be depressing and painful at times.

Bread Oh Bread...

Oh bread! I love bread. I spend hours and hours dreaming about it. But damn I can't eat the regular soft stuff from Ralph's or Trader Joe's. That stuff is painful to my body, but oh so good tasting in my mouth. And most of the gluten free stuff...well...tastes gross. But finally in LA there is hope! Fresh GF bread from a new bakery in Culver City. "The Sensitive Baker" opened up recently and is getting high praises. The hours are limited for now, and the menu is constantly changing. Oh but who cares they've got good fresh bread, and everything is gluten free. There's no worrying about the food being safe or trying to figure out if eating out is worth the gamble. It's about time LA had a 100% gluten free store. I'm extremely thrilled. Now time to go get me some.

Just got back and the bread wasn't ready. So no bread for me today. I'll just have to come back next Sunday. But I did get the last cinnamon roll. It was so good. I went to my car and ate the whole thing (and half of a chocolate cup cake) before a left. I also bought a bagel and chocolate zucchini muffin. Can't wait to try those too.

http://thesensitivebaker.com/blog/index.php

Great Pasta

I love pasta, but the Gluten Free stuff can be disappointing at times. I love rice but I'm not a big fan of the brown. My mother on the other hand prefers it. So when I found GF brown rice pasta at Trader Joe's, I bought her a couple of bags. "Bought" being the word, because I never actually mailed them to her. Instead a few months later decided I really wanted some pasta and didn't want to drive to Whole Foods just to get some. So I decided to go ahead and try it. It was amazing. I cooked up the penne and couldn't believe how great it tasted. It was just how I remembered the wheat stuff. It wasn't mushy and didn't fall apart. I've since prepared it in different ways and it has always been delicious each time. I saw the other day they also make a spaghetti version. Haven't tired it yet, and am almost afraid to. I'm afraid that it might turn out mushy like a lot of the rice spaghetti or might fall apart like the quinoa or corn pastas do. I think for now I'll just stick with the penne and enjoy my new favorite pasta.

Great Indian Food

If you like Indian food, you will love this place. Amazing food that I just can't stop eating. Not only is a great tasting most of it is gluten free. In fact so much is that they mark the gluten free sections not the individual dishes.

My 2 favorite dishes are the Rogan Josh and Chicken Saag. I've only been there for lunch and haven't had an issues getting a table of I come in after 1pm. I was told it is a bit more difficult during dinner. Carry out is always an option and you can place your order online, fax or phone.

So if you're ever in the Westwood area of Los Angeles, you have to go.

Link to "Bombay Bite"
(the PDF menu lists the gluten free sections)

think Thin

My new favorite energy bar is "think Thin". I love them. They are sugar and gluten free. It's a high protein bar so not for everyone. But if you're active, they are great to have around. I don't like a lot of the gluten free bars because the main ingredient is usually dates. I'm not a fan. For those of you who like dates, they also have those bars with less protein. I've been able to find them at Trader Joe's (think Thin) and some Whole Foods stores (all products).

www.thinkproducts.com

Gluten Free Product Sites

Gluten Free Oats

GF Oats from Cream Hill Estates

Gluten-Free Recipes from Andre Prost Inc, plus they list their GF products for "A Taste Of..."

Tasty Bite

Thai Kitchen

Bob's Red Mill

Follow Your Heart® Natural Foods
21825 Sherman Way
Canoga Park, CA 91303
(818) 348-3240 Phone
(818) 348-1509 FAX
OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK, 8:00am - 9:00pm

Arrowhead Mills

Sylvan Border Farm

Pamela's is one of my favorite GF cookie bakers.

Edward and Sons... I really enjoy their Brown Rice Snaps™ with cheese or dip.

Enjoy Life makes only Allergen Free food products.

Bakery on Main has GF granola.

Natures Path has great buckwheat wildberry waffles. These are the only GF frozen waffle I will buy, and I love them.

Alti Plano Gold makes instant hot quinoa cereal.

Quinoa is a side dish.

Schar has mixes, pasta, bread, biscuits and sweets.

Orgran Natural Foods carries cookies, bread mixes, packet mixes, crispbread, and fruit bars.

Bumble Bar are organic gluten-free energy bars.

The Kitchen Table Bakers makes hand made parmesan wafer crisps. They are great with tomato soup.

Mariposa makes biscotti and brownies. The biscotti are low fat and extremely good. Great for dripping in hot chocolate or a chai latte.

PatsyPie makes biscotti, cookies and brownies.

Sunstart Bakery makes 5 different types of cookies.

Ancient Grains makes hot cereal, baking mix, pancake mix, and gluten free/dough enhancer.

Gluten Free Restaurants

Chilis has gluten free menu suggestions online.

PF Chang'shas a gluten free menu online and at the restaurant.

Outback Steakhouse has a gluten free menu online and at the restaurant.

Chipotle Mexican doesn't but most of their stuff is gluten free.
Their menu is gluten-free, except the burrito and soft taco tortillas, as well as the hot tomatillo salsa (due to white vinegar).

Claim Jumper Restaurant has gluten free menu selections online.

Fit 2B Thai Healthy Cuisine has a gluten free menu.

Fog De Chao

Uno Chicago Grill has gluten info listed online.

Pei Wei has a gluten free menu online and at the restaurant

Boston Market gives allergy info on all products.

Z'tejas Sotuthwestern Grill has a gluten free menu online and at the restaurant

Flemings Steakhouse has info online.

Real Food Daily is a vegetarian restaurant that also serves gluten free products.

TASTE OF THE GODDESS CAFE is a vegan restaurant that also serves gluten free products.

My Story

I'm gluten intolerant, and think it has been effecting me for years. I'm not sure if I'm Celiac or not because I'd been gluten free for about 4 weeks or so when the doctor tested me.

On Halloween day I started having pains on my left side and blow up. I've also got acid reflux and would just assume any issue was because of it. I was wrong and began to discover most of my health issues where because of gluten.

I've had a history of major sinus issues and infections. I had to withdrawal from one semester of college because I wasn't getting better. I saw so many doctors, and they just kept giving me more drugs that didn't seem to work. One gave me prescription painkillers for my head that didn't do a thing. The rest of my body was fine, but not my head. Finally after 9 months I was feeling better. One doctor said I had chronic sinusitis. I now believe gluten was behind it.

I ended up developing asthma too. The problem was I kept confusing it with my sinus issues and acid reflux. It continued to get worse.

I've also had arthritis problems and TMJ. My feet, hands, wrists and jaw would hurt so bad that I couldn't walk, write, type or eat. I've still got issues but I'm taking a lot less Ibuprofen now.

Last Halloween was the day my body finally broke. It had been poisoned for so many years and it couldn't take one more day. I believe my body completely stopped breaking gluten down altogether. I was so scared and didn't know what was wrong with me. I went to the doctor’s the next day. He ran all the basic tests on me. I discovered I have healthy kidneys and liver, but not why I felt the way I did. He thought I might have a lung infection and give me some anti-inflammatories. He was wrong. I'm great at Internet research and started trying to figure it out myself. I thought maybe I had an ulcer but no that wasn't it.

My mom had been telling me off and on for months that it was probably a food allergy, probably gluten. I told her if it was a food allergy I'd be in the hospital. I remembered that from a class I took in college called "Man's Food." I knew if I had a food issue it was some sort of intolerance. But I didn't think I did. I would keep telling her that pasta, bread and things like that "was my comfort food." Little did I know that I was getting a high because the gluten was drugging or poisoning me.

11 days later I woke up feeling the best I had in weeks. I thought whatever was making me sick was gone. I made a berry yogurt smoothie and 2 pieces of toast. An hour or so later, I started feeling bad again. I thought I was going to explode because my skin was pulling so tight. The pain on my side came back and I was having trouble breathing. I spent most of the day laying down clinching a pillow. I hurt so bad and there wasn't anything I could do about it. Several hours later I was starving but still blown up like a balloon, and in pain. I needed to eat something even though I was afraid and felt like I didn't have any room for food in my body. Thankfully I remembered my mom telling me veggie, fruit and meat are usually safe bets when it comes to food issues. I made a burger (no bun) and edamame. I didn't realize at the time that soy was common food intolerance and should have chosen broccoli instead. But I don't have an issue with soy so I was fine. I ate it and didn't get worse, which was a big deal. I realized after that gluten was my issue and my mother was right.

The next day I gave one of my roommate my baking mixes, cereal, instant oatmeal and anything else bad for me. I started looking up gluten free sites and foods online. After that I took off for Whole Foods to get me something to eat, seeing that I felt great from not eating gluten in over 24 hours, but starving because I had no food at home.

It took me about 2 months to really start feeling better. My body had to detox from gluten in a similar way a drug addict or alcoholic would. But after the new year I started feeling better than I had in years. My asthma issues pretty much just disappeared. My sinus and arthritis issues got better.

I believe I'd been suffering from this my whole life. I'd always had stomach problems. When I was 16 years old I think it stared getting much worse and slowly progressed until Halloween. Halloween was when my body couldn't take it anymore, it broke.