Check this out!

If you're a dork like me, you might find this interesting. I haven't quite looked through it as in-depth as I want to, but I plan on going through it closely over the next week or so.

Today I went to (I know, this is totally unrelated to gluten intolerance ;)) a conference about Childhood Apraxia of Speech (pertains to my career as an SLP) and the speaker told us about the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) website that was created by researchers at Johns Hopkins University...basically you can look for genes for anything that you want. Naturally, I typed in "gluten intolerance" and came up with the following page about Celiac Disease....
Check it out for more information if you are interested!!

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/dispomim.cgi?id=212750

Also, in other news....I ate a fast-food lunch today during the break at the conference...I went with some friends to Wendy's since I had read that they have a gluten free menu. I ordered the baked potato with cheese sauce, broccoli, and sour cream (ok....I know I wasn't exactly eating healthy! ;))....all which are listed on Wendy's Gluten Free Menu....but I felt like crap all afternoon. Bloating to the max....and I still feel terrible. No idea what is wrong or what is up with that, but I am not liking it! Sigh.....

"Additional Things to Beware of to Maintain a 100% Gluten Free Diet"

I found this article...and I thought it had some great info! Here's a breakdown of the info:

Additional Things to Beware of to Maintain a 100% Gluten-Free Diet

Rice and soy beverages because their production process may utilize barley enzymes.
Bad advice from health food store employees (i.e., that spelt and/or kamut is/are safe for celiacs).
Cross-contamination between food store bins selling raw flours and grains (usually via the scoops).
Wheat-bread crumbs in butter, jams, toaster, counter, etc.
Lotions, creams and cosmetics (primarily for those with dermatitis herpetaformis).
Stamps, envelopes or other gummed labels.
Toothpaste and mouthwash.
Medicines: many contain gluten.
Cereals: most contain malt flavoring, or some other non-GF ingredient.
Some brands of rice paper.
Sauce mixes and sauces (soy sauce, fish sauce, catsup, mustard, mayonnaise, etc.).
Ice cream.
Packet & canned soups.
Dried meals and gravy mixes.
Laxatives.
Grilled restaurant food - gluten contaminated grill.
Fried restaurant foods - gluten contaminated grease.
Ground spices - wheat flour is sometimes used to prevent clumping

News....

So things have been busy...but I should get back into my old "blogging" habit! :) Recent happenings include, but are not limited to the following:

I attempted the "CORE" Weight Watchers diet plan with my friend Jillian for a week...talk about torturous. I craved refined sugar like none other!

I met my first "internet friend", Kristin, in person

I made some delicious gluten free chocolate mint cookies and sent 62 of said cookies with Jeremy to work this past week for a "food day"....to rave reviews!

I sampled (TWICE) the new GF Valencia orange cake from Starbucks...it's so good, it's honestly crave-worthy, as evidenced by my need to get one on Thursday for lunch! HA! Not exactly a balanced lunch, but it was delicious!

I discovered that Naturally Yours here in Bloomington carries fresh baked goods...including a delicious raspberry muffin that I gleefully sampled

I am still asked quite regularly what gluten is

I've made a number of gluten free meals here at home for a number of guests

....I found out I do NOT have Celiac Disease.........yeah! Weird, huh?! Well, I have
"gluten intolerance" or "gluten sensitivity"...so really, nothing will change in the arena of my diet/current lifestyle. But the knowledge that I don't have an autoimmune disease is a good thing.

Ok, so I had my follow-up appointment post genetic testing with Dr. DeWeert, a GI here in town, on Tuesday.....and....I don't (yes DON'T) have Celiac Disease....I don't have either of those 2 genes that predispose people to Celiac Disease! 35% of the population has at least one of these genes in some form and I have NOTHING! When I first went in to see Dr. DeWeert a few months ago he told me that he was pretty darn sure the genetic testing would come back showing that I had at least one of the genes. I definitely have gluten intolerance according to Dr. DeWeert, though, and I am not arguing with that! Gluten is definitely key in whatever was screwing me up for so long...eliminate it and I am suddenly basically fine. Also, I can definitely tell if I had something that was "contaminated"...or at least I think I can. What if it is in my head?! Well, I don't think some of my....err...SYMPTOMS ;)...can be just "in my head". So, now I am in this weird non-Celiac but still gluten-intolerant population. I did some reading about this recently, too, when it became apparent that maybe this was the category I fell into. People talked all tragically about how they feel "forgotten" since they don't have the "label" of Celiac Disease but still have the same symptoms...just don't have the auto-immune disease component/etc. I don't plan on being that tragic about it ;).
Well, like I said though, nothing for me is going to change...I mean, it's obviously good to have this information and I may even try something glutenous (since I know it won't permanently damage me) at some point...but the thought freaks me out!!! I don't know if I can really bring myself to do it. I mean, sometimes it sounds really tempting (bread bowl from Panera anyone?!)...Obviously I know what I was like pre-diet-change and don't really want to go back to ANY of that suffering! Plus, there is a tiny percentage of Celiac's who supposedly DON'T have the genes ;). I totally recognize it's a long shot...but I could be in that ;). HA! I hope people don't use this news as some kind of excuse to be less careful around me. It's still totally obvious that I get sick when I have gluten...boy oh boy. I have to admit, though, sometimes I do doubt myself...like, am I just some kind of hypochondriac who made all of this crap up!? Then I remind myself....um, no...not likely! This isn't exactly FUN. It's been incredibly hard and it's definitely not about getting attention or anything like that. I don't even LIKE being the center of attention/having something "different" about me! Not to mention the fact that, well, there's no way that practically pooping my pants after eating gluten can be just IN MY HEAD! HA!
I just read on celiac.com : In some rare individuals, especially some men, a negative genetic test may not exclude the possibility of celiac disease anymore than a negative blood test. Men more commonly have negative genetic tests and blood tests, especially older men with long-standing severe disease.
Well...I'm clearly not a man. And definitely not an OLD man ;). But who knows!!!
Well, for not I am content....I don't have Celiac Disease, but my body still hates gluten. That's fine...with all of the support I've been getting, I've been doing pretty darn well. I am finding things to eat that I actually enjoy and I am not suffering by any means! So, bring on the rice pasta and the Chebe bread! :)

Explanation of the last post ;)

Ok, ok...here's the latest drama with me and my silly "medical issues"...
I had 2 blood tests when I went in to see Dr. DeWeert (of Digestive Disease Consultants here in Bloomington) about 2 weeks ago...the genetic test for the 2 genes that predispose one to Celiac Disease (basically if you DON'T have those genes, there is no way you have Celiac...but if you DO have the genes, it doesn't necessarily mean you have Celiac for certain...it just means you have a higher likelihood of developing it at some point in your lifetime) and the one looking for antibodies in the blood stream. He decided to do both even though I have been GF for nearly 7 months now and the antibody one might be negative since I haven't had gluten for a long time. He said that recent studies have shown that some celiacs still have antibodies in their blood for 6-12 months after going GF. So, I said to heck with it and just had both tests done ;)....which may or may not have been the right decision on my part, but he really made it sound as if that was the way to go. It will probably cost a butt load, but oh well I guess....that is what my flex spending account is for, right?! ;) Honestly, though, I am kind of irritated....ok, very irritated, with the somewhat shoddy service I've gotten from that office. I called on Tuesday (one week after I got the blood tests...I fully recognize that this was a bit early to be calling, only one week after having the tests...but the girl in the lab actually told me that I could start calling on Monday. So, I did wait a whole day after she told me to start calling ;). With my OC personality, that was definitely practicing restraint! ;)) to see if they had the results yet, and the nurse called me back on Wednesday saying they had the results. She told me "the results do not confirm the diagnosis of celiac disease"....not you don't have it (I was/am pretty certain I won't be hearing that), just that the tests didn't confirm the diagnosis. Ok, so I tried to get the nurse to explain this to me better...for example, what did each test specifically say (in my mind I was thinking, based on the way she worded the results, that the genetic test showed I had the genes that predispose you to Celiac, but the antibody test didn't show the high level of antibodies that would indicate Celiac...since I've been GF for so long)...but she just repeated "the results do not confirm the diagnosis of celiac disease" and told me I could talk to the dr. more about that on the 19th when I go back for my follow-up appointment. Naturally, I wasn't satisfied with that...I called my primary care physician's office (who always gets me in right away, which is great) and got an appt. for last friday, then called DeWeert's office back after hanging up with her and tried to get a hold of someone in the medical records department to get those results sent to my primary care physician....but was just forwarded to a voice mail box that told me to allow 5-7 business days. WHAT?! So, I called the front desk hoping to figure out a way to get expedited service (i.e., going in myself to get the records and simply bringing them with me to my dr. appoint at my primary care physician...)....but they were of zero help. I am not trying to be unnecessarily mean here ;)...I KNOW a receptionist doesn't necessarily know what goes on in the medical records office or whatnot, but I thought she might at least be able to transfer me to an actual person instead of just the voicemail again. Ha, I probably sound like one of those psycho-patients that dr. offices really hate ;). I promise, I am really not that way at all...I am just trying to be proactive. Oh, and I haven't heard back yet from the records office even though I left a voice mail in the early afternoon Wednesday. ARGH! Ok, ok....I know it hasn't been 5-7 business days like the voicemail box said ;)...it's only been 2 (since it's the weekend)...but still! I thought I'd at least hear back so they could tell me what to expect...and I think I need to probably go in and sign something giving them permission to share medical records, etc. Who knows. I'll wait til I hear I guess...I shouldn't be this dramatic about everything. In the grand scheme of things, what does it change?! In all actuality, I guess I am over it ;)...I mean, clearly "celiac disease"explained ALL of my crazy symptoms...and they subsided within a month of going GF...so even if I don't actually have celiac, I am probably "gluten intolerant" or whathaveyou....but this merry-go-round this past week kind of drove me crazy! HA! Sorry for that long rant!
So, there you have it...where my mind has been this past week!

In other news, Biaggi's in Bloomington has GF pizza now...and it's fantastic! We had Jeremy's family over here for mother's day tonight...and ordered Biaggi's take out. I made a fruit salad and a dessert and we got pasta, bread, and salad (my fav. messina salad!) and GF pizza for me. YUM!

Have a great week, all!

~Rachel

Celiac

so I might not have Celiac disease? What? Some test results just came back (a nurse called; I had more blood drawn on last Tuesday) and they "do not support the Celiac diagnosis"

Ok.


Then.....


WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?! And why did a gluten free diet fix symptoms that tortured me for 6 1/2 ish years!??!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!??!!

random food...

Ok, so here is the other "recipe"...if you can call it that ;)...I mentioned in the previous blog. I say it that way because I have kind of gotten in a habit of just throwing random crap together lately ;).

Tomato-y Chicken and (Rice) Pasta ;)

1 box gluten-free tomato soup (I used Imagine brand; I really like this. It is available at Meijer, for you Bloomington-ites ;))
1 can tomatoes and green chilis
Chicken breasts (I used 3 large breasts)
Rice pasta (any shape will do!)

Basically all I did was put the still-frozen chicken breasts in the bottom of my crock pot, pour the soup and tomatoes/chilis on top and let the whole thing cook on high for 3 hours and then low for 3 more hours. At dinner time I boiled up some yummy rice pasta (I used spaghetti-shape; obviously you can use anything that suits your fancy!). When the pasta was drained, I returned it to the pan and put a little butter and garlic on it (you can omit this or use olive oil or whatever). Next, I put some noodles on each plate and covered each plate of noodles with one chicken breast and some of the tomato sauce from the crock pot. You could serve this with cheese on top or with parmesan to shake on top...but we didn't add any cheese. We are actually cheese-a-holics ;) so if we think a dish is fine without cheese, it probably really is! HA!

Today I stopped home for a quick lunch again and am currently chowing down on leftovers from last night. I made a box of Trader Joes' Gluten Free rice mac n' cheese and added a flaked pre-cooked salmon fillet. I found the salmon at Cub Food's here in Bloomington in the refridgerator section by the other seafood....it said "gluten free" on the label, so of course that piqued my interest ;). I am a marketer's dream ;). HA! Anyway, it was simple and oh-so-yummy!

Jeremy and I are going to a wedding this weekend; it will be my second gluten-free wedding reception experience ;).

Have a good day, all!

Rachel

Good eats

I stopped home for a quick lunch and thought I'd jot down a quick blog entry as well. I sure haven't been blogging much lately (explanation in the previous entry!). Anyway, hopefully I'll get back into it. We'll see. Also, in the last entry I wrote that I would be posting another entry right after posting that one with new food ideas/recipes. Well, I must have gotten sidetracked by something else because I sure didn't post anything! ;) Well, here are a few tidbits...

My favorite easy lunch lately has been somewhat random but totally delicious :).
Ingredients:
2 slices of Whole Foods Gluten-Free Sandwich bread (any bread will do, of course, but this is my all-time favorite!)
Butter
Cheese of your choosing (I typically prefer cheddar ;))
1 egg
honey

1) Cook the egg however you like (I "fry" it, but just in a few spritz' of cooking spray), set aside.
2) Lightly butter 1 side of each slice of bread. Fry each of these in the same pan you cooked the egg in (butter-side down, just like you would a grilled cheese sandwich)
3) Put cheese on the un-buttered part of one slice of bread, and cover with the egg. Cook until the cheese is melted.
4) Turn the other slice of bread over (so now the buttered/toasted side is facing up) and spread some honey on it. Keep it on the pan until the honey is warmed a bit.

There you have it, an "open face" egg/cheese "sandwich" and a slice of toast with honey. YUM! I love it...in fact, it is just what I ate for lunch today! Somewhat random, but totally delicious :).
~~~

Also, this past week I made 2 really easy dinners:
First one: Baked Turkey Breasts with Black Beans and Hominy (ha, really creative title ;))

Ingredients:
2 lbs Turkey breasts (boneless, skinless, fat removed)
3/4 cup chicken broth (Progresso brand is gluten free, and it is my preferred brand. I like their low-sodium version)
1 can organic black beans
1 can hominy
sour cream
cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Place turkey breasts on the bottom of an 8x8 baking pan that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Pour the 3/4 cup chicken broth over top. Cover with 1 can each of black beans and hominy. Cover pan with foil. Bake until nearly done (approx 40 minutes or so, depending on thickness of breasts). Uncover, sprinkle cheese on top (whichever variety you prefer, and whatever quantity you want). Return to oven, uncovered, and bake until cheese is bubbly. Ensure turkey breasts are done, and then serve with sour cream and additional cheese if you wish. So simple and really delicious. It worked great to put together ahead of time (minus the cheese) when I came home on my lunch break and hold in the fridge for a few hours before popping into the oven at dinner time!

I need to hurry back to work now, but I will post the second recipe later...yummy tomato-ey chicken over garlic rice pasta! YUM!

Have a great day, all!

Rachel

Excuses...

I haven't felt much like blogging lately. On April 10th I started getting harassed by some crazy guy on one of my blogs. It started out not-s0-harassing (or so I thought) and ended really badly. I guess it was my fault, I kind of perpetuated it. Without saying too much about specifics, because it has to do with a good friend of mine....here is an explanation on why now all of my blogs aside from this one are "private" (again, if you happen to be someone who was reading my silly meanderings, let me know and I will enter your e-mail address as one of the approved people to read the blogs!)....
I have a blog on which I was trying to post a different picture every day of something I was thankful for. Ok, I recognize that this may sound entirely lame...but that's what I did ;). A "new year's resolution" of mine was to be a more grateful, thankful individual. I have so much to be thankful for and I don't want to ever take anything for granted. Anyway, I thought a little blog chronicling a year of my thankfulness would be cute (for my own use) and, of course, I could use it to share with friends/family, etc., the ways in which I was thankful for them. Well some random (or maybe not random) guy started leaving me messages after a post about one of my good friends...it started out by asking if I wanted to hear some information he had about her. I had turned on comment moderation, so I received an e-mail telling me that I had this message. He kept sending me messages through my blog and I never accepted them, for obvious reasons. I just kept reading them...and he gave me his e-mail address so I could contact him that way. For some reason, now that I think of it, he never responded to my e-mail; he only sent me messages on the blog. Anyway, it started to get totally creepy and weird and it was beyond anything I can really describe in this kind of forum. So, my blogs are private now. There you have it. Whew! I have kept this one public because, if I ever have anything that is useful in the realm of gluten-free-living tips/etc., I want to be able to share that information with whomever wants to access it. I know I always google random gluten free crap and end up at random peoples' blogs and have, on more than one occasion, gotten some really great information via blogs. So, on the off chance that anyone is in my boat, googles something gluten-free, and comes up with my blog and gets some helpful advice...well, then, my work is done! :) HA! And, speaking of which...if you are reading this blog and ever get any helpful advice, by all means, let me know! :) At some point I want to start having little contests and things, too, like I've seen some other bloggers (what a silly term..."bloggers"!) do. So, there's an incentive to read my blog! HA! Contests to win some yummy gluten free items! Speaking of which...seeing as this is a gluten free blog, I should be posting about THAT and not about some lame blog-stalker guy trying to complicate my and my friends' lives! :)
I'll start again in a new, fresh post.
Ta ta for now!
~Rachel