Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Tuesday

And all is more than well. It has been exactly one week since I started the gluten free diet. I can not begin to tell you how much better life is! Yesterday, we had corn on the cob and steak for supper. Sesame Snaps for dessert. Could life get better than that?

We had a very busy day yesterday. Up at the crack of dawn, doctors appointment, car breakdown, Costco shopping, visiting...then finally? Home to supper at nine! After a good night's sleep, I am ready to do it over again. The difference in my energy level is astounding, and I am determined to stand my ground to never touch a crumb of gluten again...although my sister assures me that in about three months I will think I can have "just a little" and make myself sicker than a dog! She is likely right, so I will just shut up now!

The menu for today:

Breakfast: two eggs, two slices of gluten free (GF) bread, milk

Lunch: Spinach salad with mushrooms and creamy cucumber dressing, sliced turkey

Snack: Cherries

Supper: baked cod loin for me (battered for Rick)potatoes mashed with whipping cream (fewer calories than butter and soooo silky)steamed broccoli, cauliflower and carrot medley

Snack: I like to surprise myself! I will let you know tomorrow what tasty morsel I indulged in!

Saturday, June 27, 2009

It is a real pain to have to get rid of gluten. The funniest things have wheat in them...but you know? After we cleaned out the cupboards, I really wasn't too sorry to see the stuff go. Pasta? I don't really like it...I bought some rice pasta to put in my soups, and some cellophane oriental noodles. The boxed Annie's white cheddar and macaroni kinda broke my heart when we said goodbye, but what can you do....time changes relationships.

Now my kitchen has just a few things in it that I can not eat. Rick has some crackers and some cookies, and a few canned soups for dining on his own. And he gets all of that lovely battered cod, and the breaded chicken strips, too. Until they are all gone, I will just cook myself some fish or chicken seperately from his.

On the way home yesterday, we ordered a big salad for lunch and instead of garlic toast or rolls, we split some french fries. I am working on the gluten, not the calories. But it was filling and good, and I am sure not that much more calorie dense than butter soaked garlic toast. Tonight our supper was a big smokie sausage each ( which turned out to be half of one for me, and one and a half for Rick) and "store bought" potato salad and coleslaw. I made two slices of the multiseed bread we bought this afternoon. It was wonderful. Really. Quick and good, too. Then peanut butter squares for dessert. Oh my - how I am suffering. It felt so good to be hungry for supper for a change. For the last few months, by the time supper came around I just wasn't in the mood. And no wonder. I poisoned myself first thing every morning. As the day went on? I got sicker and sicker. Constantly queasy. Well, now that I have literaly tossed the cookies, maybe I won't feel so sick. It really is true that people won't change until they have to, isn't it? I knew all this time that I shouldn't be eating gluten, but thought all that I was doing was trading having a bloated belly for bread. I didn't realize that Celiacs was serious - but it is, and now I do! The internet is a great educational tool. The only way of managing Celiac disease, is through diet. Eliminating all flour, and grains containing gluten.

So now I have to find time to bake gluten free goodies. I have my order coming with a stash of breads, bagels and muffins, so I have time to figure out how to bake stuff myself. And of course, the all gluten free store is just down the street. They only bake on Saturdays though, and you pretty much have to take what they have to give you. But it is soooooo good! I imagine it is all a matter of getting there and trying it all out - a hard job, but I am willing to do it, if that peanut butter square and loaf of bread is any indication of things to come! I also bought a few mixes to start me off....a little addition here, a little addition there....who knows what will turn up from my oven!

GLUTEN

So, we are back from visiting my sister in Saskatoon.

While there? I followed her gluten-free diet...believe me, she doesn't suffer. We had potato salad...now if there is a definition of contraband, there it is....I was a total salad hog! Anyway, the result of "suffering" by her side? Well this may be too much information for the more delicate readers, but man! I pooped like a race horse! The constant nausea went away. I have energy again. Years ago, in the seventies, I was told that I had a gluten intolerance by my doctor, and made the effort to convert. Well, several hundred dollars later (ill spent on gluten free flours that I didn't know how to use) I threw in the towel. I thought I was trading bloat for bread. There is so much more to it, but it is all ancient history now, so not worth going into. The bottom line is that 'we have come a long way, Baby' and gluten free is good. You can even buy bread! I don't care what it is if it is crunchy and I can eat it with my eggs! This winter, I was basically just poisoning myself, and my body had reached the point where it just couldn't take it anymore. So, now? After a few days? I am feeling so much better. Not lethargic at all. I am chomping at the bit to start cleaning house and making noise...Rick is snoozing still, so you get the benefit of my energies this morning!

So, today's quest is to hit the local stores to see what they have to offer. I put in an order for breads, bagels, etc. from Kinnikinnick.com so I can take my time finding local things. In an odd way? It is exciting. I don't know how this will affect the weight I am packing, but who cares. I am old, loved and gorgeous... and by the way? Not full of it anymore! I do hope the elimination benefits continue. Nothing better in this world than good elimination!

When I was reading all about what happens to your body when you are gluten intolerant, it made so much sense why I was holding onto the poundage but not consuming a lot of calories. Hopefully this will break the barrier and I can loose a little lard, but the main thing is, I am not ready to go back to bed, and it is already ten in the morning. AND time for breakfast!

This will be very interesting.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Gone but not forgotten....

The ever present battle of the blood sugars rages within me. I have been trying to cut back, and when I do, the numbers rise to an alarming height. So, this weeks mission was to try to eat at the right times, and the right things. Not necessarily what works for one will work for another. Nor does what sounds "right" always be right. Case in point, yesterday's menu:

2 eggs, 1 slice of toast, 2 slices of "quick" bacon (don't freak..it is only 80 calories for the two, and quick as wink, too) Milk

2 or those little packages of cheese, cheddar. Okay, here is the story on that one. I was cleaning my purse, and there they were...evidence of a great breakfast offered by our hotel in Regina....and it was almost noon....

After shopping, I had one fresh, fresh peach, a personal sized bag of Cheesies.

Suppertime rolled around and knowing that I would be going out with Rick when he got home, I had leftover salmon on a piece of bread with a diet grapefruit pop.

At nine? We found ourselves in Applebee's sharing a plain burger and fries, and yep...get ready...a GMD...icy cold and so wicked!

And the moral of the story is that my sugars this morning were lower than they have been all week. Still too high, but it just goes to show, cutting back to very little is never a good plan. Sigh. Sure makes it hard to lose though.

So onward and upward.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Okay, who took last month?

Here it is June already. But I do have a new taste treat for you. First of all find a pineapple. A nice golden pineapple. Then, in the center of its little topknot? Pluck a leaf. If it comes away easily, you have a ripe fruit. It makes all the difference in the world to the flavour.

Then, peel the fruit and tuck it away in a covered refrigerator dish. Then, when the mood strikes, you will have a good sweet snack that won't kill you! Today's lunch was a cooked chicken breast (leftover from yesterday) sliced, and arranged on a plate with 1/8 of a pineapple, cut into chunks. I sprinkled a little Kosher salt on the chicken and that was it. The combination of the two items was perfect. Simple and perfect. Now, for tomorrow? I am planning on having some vanilla yogurt mixed with a bit of honey and cinnamon, then drizzled over pineapple slices. We had this for breakfast every day in Hawaii, and it was delish. This pineapple rivals the taste of the ones we had there, so I am really looking forward to it. Now, I wish I would have taken a picture of lunch because it was so simple, but quite pretty when arranged on the plate.

By the way? With all the sickness etc. that has been going on? I gained ten pounds. SO I now am losing the same ten pounds...AGAIN. Oh Joy. But hopefully it will go down as quick as it went up. This is such a bummer! Not moving does have a tendency to pack on the pounds, and all the restaurant meals while we were away last week didn't help a thing, either. I tried my best not to get into anything I shouldn't but there are some times in life, you just have to eat what is in front of you.Especially when you are in the restaurant that was voted best in Regina by the Western Living magazine. As if they know what they were talking about...But I do have this to say. The food was amazing at the Bistro, and we came away with the recipe for the best Sangria I have ever had in my life! Now I just have to go buy some brandy and try it at home. Who knew there was only one glass of white wine in a pitcher of Sangria. And so much other booze! Deadly, but I am sure could be made more calorie wise with a sugar free pop instead!

So, there you have it. Today, I had:

Breakfast: 2 eggs, 2 pieces of french bread toast, butter and 120 calories worth of bacon...that is three slices of that precooked stuff from Costco. Hey. It was Sunday.

Lunch: small chicken breast, 1/8 pineapple

Supper: crudites - yellow pepper, green pepper, little tiny tomatoes, cauliflower with Philly low cal dip

Snack, which was really a continuation of supper: bagel chips with Philly dip

Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

I have a frig full of fresh veggies so the focus will be on consuming as many of them as possible. I was thinking of a bit of salmon for lunch with fresh pineapple salsa ole...of course, I have to hold the onions, but I do have a jalapeno pepper in the frig that I have been dying to try out.