Yay for the Wildflower! We're really getting out there and becoming a very Celiac friendly hotel/inn and restaurant! Today someone made a reservation to stay at the Inn, and when asked how they heard of us they said they read a review on us in the Boston Children's Hospital Celiac Support Group Newsletter! Now, I have yet to find the newsletter, or how to recieve one, but as soon as I do, I'm signing up! Hey, I'm still a kid right? And it would be a great way to learn more about the nutrition field in the hospital and what steps are being taken to figure out the cause and treatment of this disease, which my grandfather quized me on constantly this weekend.

Well I have to tell you, I'm pretty much failing at everything these days. Not only have I not been writing, I haven't been eating! Sad to say though, I haven't been losing weight either. The first few days of reintroducing started off pretty well. And by well I mean I remembered to introduce things. But not so well in the fact that the first thing I introduced, dairy, came back positive on the sensitivity test. Oh the joy.
So now I am a gluten free, dairy free, crazy person. I am pretty sure my friends hate me. Not ten minutes after I introduced dairy (I had a delicious smoothie) my head started to fuzz up. That's the only way to explain it, I felt fuzzy. I could not concentrate. I was in a daze. Basically, I was high, high off milk. And it's not just the lactose I am sensitive to, I can't have yogurt either, believe me I've tried it all.
So that was a good start. But then I tried brewer's yeast. And I think that's ok? I wasn't so intune with my reactions after that. And I'm the crazy college student who can never drink just a little, so who knows. I'm just pretending it's ok, because I really love wine.
Potatoes seemed to be ok at first, but I tried them again and got that fuzzy feeling in my head. And I was exhausted. So I'm holding off a little and trying them again later.
I decided to introduce tomatoes when I "accidentally" ate hot wings one night. The accidental part was I'm an idiot and didn't think about what the sauce was made of. So the next day, while babysitting, the little girl offered me a handful of freshly picked cherry tomatoes and I just had to pop them in my mouth. They were delicious and I was perfectly fine.
The introduction of tomatoes allowed me to try eggs. I had attempted to try them a couple of times earlier in the week, and burnt them TWICE! It's like I have a complete mind block when it comes to eggs. It must be because I hate them so much. So when I knew I could smother them in ketchup, they cooked just fine, and everything turned out ok! And now I can bake again (I will not be having them on their own any time soon...)!
And then I kind of hit a road block. I ran out of money, and couldn't return to the store to buy new food. I stopped eating at home, and started scavenging for food on campus (hence, why I haven't been eating much). But I get paid tomorrow, so I'll be off to the store to pick up mushrooms and peppers and zucchini and such, and the adventure will continue.
Until then, I'm a little bit hungry...

Betty Crocker goes Gluten Free!

OH I almost forgot! I'm sure you already heard about Betty Crocker's new line of gluten free yummies, but I just had to say something about it since about 3 years ago Betty made me very sick from her frosting that I decided to dig into late one night... I was so upset that they had added wheat to something that CLEARLY didn't need wheat. But here she is making it up to me and giving me all sorts of gluten free goodness!

I've only tried her cookies, they were good, but I'm going to have to stick with Pamela's baking mix on this one. I feel like I would be turning my back on a best friend if I switched over to Betty Crocker. But three cheers to big businesses going gluten free! With this and General Mills, things are looking way up for the gluten free community!

Yesterday I finished my "hell week." Normally I wouldn't be so dramatic (ok, that's a lie, I'm always dramatic, just I try not to be on public websites...), but this week warrants it's title. First, Monday was day one of my elimination diet. I had to eliminate at least 32 foods, but really it was more than that, because I was only allowed to eat 122 foods off of a list my doctor so graciously supplied me with. At first it didn't seem too bad, I could eat a lot of meat, some vegetables, some fruits, I was set. But then I delved deeper. Every time we pulled out a recipe there was something on it I couldn't eat. And then, all of a sudden, I realized I couldn't eat potatoes. And potatoes were in EVERY gluten free flour product out there. The more I started to plan, the more I wanted cry. And on top of that, Monday and Tuesday I worked fifteen hours each. That's seven in the morning to ten at night. Straight. I had to plan all of my meals ahead of time, and make sure that anything I tried to snack on was "allowed."

Wednesday I only worked 10 hours, but by Wednesday night I was exhausted and starving. Also, I was PMSing, so I was crying about everything. It wasn't fun. I just kept thinking about how I was leaving for school in a week and I could barely manage to get out of bed let alone make myself food. I was going to starve. So I sat down and cried in self pity. Then I went to bed at 8:30 (after a huge blow out with my parents, who I'm sorry to say, get the brunt of all of my moods) and woke up a tad bit more chipper, and went back to work. I was still hungry, but had managed to get into a routine of getting the right amount of food in me that would energize and satisfy, at least for a few hours. I got though Friday and Saturday ok, snacking on almonds and finally finding a chocolate that didn't have any milk fat in it and still tasted good. I also cut back on the amount of intense hours I worked.

Then Sunday rolled in. We had a family dinner and I became more and more depressed when I couldn't join in on the cheese and crackers (I ate tortilla chips and guacamole without lime and tomato... yup, just the avocado mashed up) or have a glass of champagne to toast my parent's thirtieth wedding anniversary. And as much as I ate the chicken, sweet potato, summer squash, and asparagus, I still didn't feel satisfied. I felt nauseous and tired and extremely cranky.

Monday morning (yesterday) I woke up with a fever and the cough that I had been fighting off for a month now and grown more... disgusting. I was achy and miserable, and headed straight to the doctor.

The doctor, like most, found nothing specifically the matter, except for my fever and cough. My lungs were clear, there were no sores on my throat, my nose and ears were clear. Yep, nothing wrong with me. Except I had a fever and cough. I was sent home.

I have to stop right now because I hate the way I'm writing. I'm not writing this to make anyone feel bad, because lately all I've been hearing is "oh, poor Anna." I'm writing this because it's an experience to completely revamp your daily diet, so I'm just sharing mine with you. But I may still sound a little cranky because, well I am cranky, but that's what not having my regular meals does to me. Also I can be a huge pill when it's that time of month, but I'm working on that too.

So anyway, today I am feeling a bit better. My mother, the saint that she is, made me a huge vat of oatmeal to have every morning this week, and I have loads of almond butter and jam for snacks, and I just toasted up some almonds - which thank God I can eat, because I would just about give up on this whole quest thing without them.

Also, I have a lot of meat. We have our ground beef of course, and all natural organic turkey and chicken at my disposal. Mom says its a good thing I gave up on that whole vegetarian thing, because if I had become die hard there really wouldn't have been anything left for me to eat. Just rice and almonds. And then think how miserable I would be! Always thinking of the silver lining...

Technically I have five more days of this, but my doctor wants me to feel 100% before I start reintroducing foods so I can be sure if I have a reaction or not. That's a little tricky with this little germ that has infected me and caused this fever. Hopefully with the way I'm eating it's starving it out! But then I'll be able to start adding the eliminated 32 foods into my diet. I must admit I'll probably start with wine (brewer's yeast is on my list). Priorities. And then dairy, then eggs, then potatoes. Those are my real priorities. I have to do this day by day, and if I have a reaction to something I have to skip a day before I introduce something else. So it will be a fun filled fall semester! I'm investing in a large cooler for my car and I'm looking for a fun lunch box that doesn't make me look like a first grader, so I can bring my meals to school since I am on campus or at work from 9 to 8 every day.

Seriously, this is going to be an adventure!

So here's a fun fact, the last time I went to a doctor, I went to my pediatrician. But sadly, I'm not saying I haven't been to the doctor in awhile. Last year, my pediatrician gave me a check up. I realized this probably wasn't a good thing when I went to a new chiropractor and he laughed at me when I told him who my primary caregiver was. So this summer I decided it was time to find a new doctor.
My mother looked for someone worth while who was in-tune with Celiac Disease and is ok with my preference to not pump myself with antibiotics every time I get sick (you know, this is probably why I was still seeing a pediatrician, I still have my mom do everything for me... Thanks Mom!). So we (ha, I mean my mom) found a wonderful holistic physician in Montpelier. He's great, he works with food allergies a lot, and wants to heal the whole body, not just treat the symptoms. I loved him from the start.
We talked about how lethargic I've been feeling for the past, oh, four years. And the bouts of nausea I continue to get even though I've been very good about not eating anything with wheat. He told me I am probably having a difficult time absorbing nutrients because of damage gluten does to my small intestines when I do eat it. So he gave me lots of vitamins because I'm so probably deficient in every single one.
But the nausea? Oh that's really fun, he thought I might have another allergy! So he took some blood to test it against about 150+ food stuffs, and Friday I found out that I may be allergic to 35 things on the list. THIRTY-FIVE! So in the next few weeks (but not this week because I finally get to take a vacation and I do not want it to be hindered at all - aside from the gluten limitations) I will eliminate all of these foods from my diet, and then one by one reintroduce them. So basically, this will take at least a month and a half. Oh joy. I'll keep everyone updated on my progress. But let's hope I don't have a reaction to too many foods!
Wish me luck!

Today my father said that he wasn't sure if I could successfully represent the celiac community when it comes to setting up our restaurant to be more gluten-free friendly. He said "there are republicans, then there are crazy republicans." I believe I would be the crazy republican in the metaphor. I have to tell you I was not amused.

I guess he thinks I'm a crazy celiac because I research the disease like a mad woman, but that is because I am constantly feeling nauseous and rarely know why. Also, I want to know what the heck it is anyway, and know all the signs so when my sister starts showing them (as she is now) she can fix it quick without messing up her body too much.

And also because I am passionate about making the world know that our restaurant loves Celiacs! (or as my father refers to us in an oh-so-sensitive way, glutards...)

But, I don't think I'm crazy, I just think I care.

Thoughts?

Good Food, Good Friends

The other day we threw a very successful summer "unbirthday" party. It has been a dream of mine to have a summer birthday since I was born in the dead of winter and all my parties have consisted of sledding and skating, or when it was very, very cold, watching movies cuddle up under blankets. So, to make all things fair, my friend Shauneen and I decided to throw ourselves a half birthday party. But soon, everyone wanted to celebrate their half birthdays (turns out, most of my family was born in the winter... tricky). That turned the party into an "unbirthday" party, so we could celebrate everyone's unbirthday. The guest list was small, my parents, sisters, my twin brother, and a handful of our closest friends. We all contributed to the planning and cooking, and in the end it was the most satisfying party I've ever thrown.
The menu was the hit of the party. Because it was summer, we focused on fresh, light dishes, preferably with ingredients that were (at least in appearance) straight from the garden. And because I was one of the hosts, most of the dishes were gluten free!
We started off with a "cocktail hour" with wine spritzers and finger foods.
Kevin made stuffed mushrooms, the recipe found: http://recipes.kaboose.com/feta-spinach-stuffed-mushrooms.html

Christine made spinach and artichoke dip, the recipe found: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Hot-Artichoke-and-Spinach-Dip-II/

We all helped to make...

Tuna on bagel chips; I couldn't eat the bagel chips of course, but didn't mind because there was so much food to be had!
Deviled eggs, the eggs were fresh from the farm down the road! So fun!

And brochette; we made two types of brochette, one (small) platter for me, and a larger one for all of the other guests. I used Kinnik Kinnik baguettes.

The wine spritzer was made with a rose wine and black raspberry spritzer. It was rather delicious.

After the cocktail hour we played croquet. I haven't played croquet in a long time, but we felt it was the right thing to do for a summer party. Turns out, in my family at least, croquet is a pretty intense sport. Thankfully we had a second course to take our minds arguing about house rules and the fact that I won, apparently we "cheated." I do not agree.

The second course was delicious. We had some deviled eggs left over, so we put them out on the table.
Kristina made a very large salad with greens, cucumbers, craisens, and candied pecans.
Jessica made a caprese salad: tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, and balsamic vinegar.
And everyone helped to make beautiful fruit kabobs: sweet apple sausage, strawberries, and pineapple cut into cubes and layered on the kabob sticks. Lightly grilled. They were delicious.

For desert we had berries and cream, and of course cupcakes! Sarah made a batch of regular yellow cupcakes, and Jess and Kristina helped me with chocolate avocado cupcakes, which sound kind of gross, and while we were making them looked kind of gross, but tasted delicious!
I found the recipe on glutenfreesoyfreevegan.blogspot.com while I was still not eating meat (oh by the way, I'm back to eating meat...). The girl who writes the blog was hesitant to make the cupcakes at first but ended up loving them, so I took her word for it and went at it. We even accidentally made a double batch, and good thing we did, because they were snatched up quick!
Here's the recipe, I strongly recommend them!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose gf flour (I used Pamela's pancake mix, of course)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 avocado, pitted and peeled
1 cup pure maple syrup
3/4 cup rice/almond milk
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 tsp gf vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. Oil muffin tins (aka cupcake makers) with coconut oil. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in bowl. Purée avocado in a food processor until smooth. Add maple syrup, rice milk, oil, and vanilla, and blend until creamy. Whisk avocado mixture into flour mixture.

Spoon batter into prepared tins. Bake 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out with some crumbs attached. Cool.

Everything turned out wonderfully. And I felt so proud of everything we had accomplished. Sitting at dinner enjoying the conversations and the delicious array of food, I was completely content with life, if only for that moment. It's funny what good food can do.

Eat to live, not live to eat.

I love food. I do. And I love meat, as anyone at the Hibachi grill could tell a few weeks ago as I slowly ate and (embarrassingly enough) moaned through my plate of steak and fried rice. But lately I've been thinking back on all those late night Mexican dips I inhaled - gobs of layered cream cheese, salsa, and cheddar cheese, shoveled into my mouth. And the mounds and mounds of red meat I consumed on a daily basis, bordering the acceptable level of pleasure as I ate it. I have been drooling, ooing, and ahhing over pieces of meat and gobs of fat. And then of course I would wonder where all this extra chub came from.
Then, one day, I picked up a book. First of all, please believe me when I say that I am not a read a book and jump on the bandwagon kind of girl. If an idea is beyond silly before I read a persuasive essay about it, I'm going to think it is loads of silliness after I read it. But for some reason this book made sense. It spoke to me. Actually, it basically yelled at me to get my act together. So, I started reevaluating my relationship with food. This is what I knew: I had no interest in eating vegetables, and although I love all kinds of fruit, I rarely ate any. Yep, I was your all American meat and potatoes kind of girl. This didn't add up to my dream of being a highly acclaimed nutritionist - and a skinny, fit nutritionist to boot. I'd been doing all of the studying, but none of the living.
So I made a change in my life. I figured why not? It was summer and I was in need of a new adventure. My first task was to take meat out of my diet. This didn't go over well with my family, who ironically enough own a beef cattle farm. And our beef is all organic grass fed Belted Galloway beef. Supposedly (at least according to my grandfather) the healthiest in the country. So I had to explain to them that I do not hate beef, I am not against using cattle for food, I just need a change in my life for the moment. I am pretty sure they are still not convinced, but thankfully I'm known to be a little loony, so they just brush my silliness aside.
Cutting out beef is very beneficial for my diet because it forces me to eat fruits and vegetable and really think a bout what I am eating, to make sure I get all the nutrients I need for the day. I have also found ways to make vegetables more exciting so when or if I go back to eating meat I will happily continue to get my daily vegetables in. I also realized how easy it was to get my whole grains through brown rice, brown rice pasta, and gluten free oats. And of course I eat a lot of nuts and beans to ensure I get all of my amino acids and iron (along with the vegetables).
I am also in the process of cutting out sugar. Interestingly enough it has not been as hard as I thought it would. Maybe because I have been dissatisfied with each morning as I step on the scale and my weight continues to increase. Or maybe since my mind is so set on changing my lifestyle and proving my family and friends that I can stick to it, I have had zero cravings. Which is amazing, because I love chocolate, even more than meat.
So meat was week one and sugar is week two. Week three will be dairy. But do not be confused, I am not becoming vegan. I still eat eggs, and honey, and I am not going to scour every ingredients list to make sure there is no whey powder or dairy of any sort, I'm already busy enough scouring them for gluten. No, I will just be giving up dairy, mostly milk and cheese. I hesitate to give up yogurt because one: I love it so much, and come on, I can't give up everything I love, and two: it is chock full of acidophiles and live bacterias that are good for you. But I will cut back.
Mainly this is an experiment. I do not intend to make this a permanent lifestyle change, unless of course it makes me feel a hundred times better and I continue to be healthy. But for now, I just want to see how it will affect me. And hopefully it will lead to some long term changes that will benefit my mood, energy, and intestinal health.

Things are going great here in Copenhagen! We've been making some very delicious meals and I've been eating to my hearts content! Last week we decided to make something easy for dinner and settled on macaroni and cheese. Now, since we're all grownups (save for a 10 month old baby) we felt we needed to be a little more grown up about our mac'n cheese. I chopped up some gluten free bread that was starting to get stale and cooked it up with a little butter to make the bread crumb topping. We used the pasta I had brought with me (I always make it a point to travel with pasta, I know, a little weird...) cooked up a cheese sauce with cheddar cheese, milk, a little flour (I used my Pamela's Pancake mix) and some onions, cayenne pepper, and paprika. It was all a very delicious combination. 

Another time, while everyone else ordered pizza we found ready made pizza crust by Schar, and got all the fixings to make pizza. It was delicious! When people ask me how I can stand this diet, I always tell them I really don't mind it, it's very easy to deal with. Except pizza, I really miss pizza. But this pizza satisfied all my cravings! I just used pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, oregano, and pepper. And it was so quick! took about 15 minutes, and it was ready to eat! I am definitely going to find a store with Schar products near me, there is a store locator in the US portion of the website. 

I just found a completely gluten free store while going for a walk the other day. I haven't visited it yet, they are only open 2 days a week and only for a couple hours a day, so it has been tricky catching them. As soon as I do visit, I will fill you all in!

Also it isn't too difficult to eat out here. Most of the waiters and chefs speak English, and if not thankfully my sister-in-law knows exactly how to explain my allergy. And going out on the town? Of course there are the mixed drinks where we can't go wrong - bring on the rum and tequila shots! But if you are just going out for a "beer" almost all the bars carry Somersby cider - apple or pear, and they are delicious!

Speaking of eating out... I heard that back in the US my "home city" of Boston has a newly gluten-free friendly restaurant in the North End - so Italian lovers rejoice! I hear they have gluten-free fried calamari - I cannot wait to try it out! Check out Nebo, www.nebopizzaria.com it doesn't say anything about it on their website (tisk, tisk) but it's the truth, just get their address and head on down!

Gluten Free Denmark

At the moment I am in Copenhagen, Denmark. Every time I travel I get nervous about what I am going to eat and the possibility of getting sick in front of strangers. This happened once on the streets of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and I will never forget the humiliation. But as I write this drinking my Somersby Pear Cider, I am very content and have no fears about my month stay in Copenhagen. 

My first reassuring moment was the plane ride over. I flew Scandinavian Air and they were wonderful with accommodating for my diet. When we made the plane reservation we requested a gluten free meal. I didn't have high hopes. The last time I flew to Denmark we flew Icelandic Air, for the flight there we had forgotten to request a gluten free meal, so I brought some extra snacks and went without the meal. For the flight back to the states I did have a gluten free meal, but the dinner consisted of a plain piece of chicken and a small salad. The breakfast was a rice cake with my coffee and juice. But on Scandinavian Air the chicken had a delicious sauce to accompany it with asparagus and a salad, pudding for dessert, and they even gave me a gluten free roll! For breakfast I received a rice cake again but this time with butter and jam and a yogurt. I was very impressed.

Living in Copenhagen is pretty easy too. The grocery store right down the street carries a lot of gluten free options. The main gluten free brands in Denmark are Schar and Barkat. Schar makes delicious breads and they have a lot of mixes for baking. Right now we have a loaf of bread and baking flour from Schar and muffin mix and pretzels from Barkat. 

While brainstorming about meal options for me my sister in law found the website for Schar products which also has a lot of extra information, it gives a few ideas about how to use their products - making croissants with the bread mix or cake using their "lady fingers". It also has a link to an "adult summer camp" for celiacs in Europe. What I have gathered is it is a little like a summer vacation, but with gluten free food galore, and you are surrounded by other celiacs! I wish I was going to be in Europe for a little longer because I would definitely take a side trip to check it out. Hopefully next year! 

I just gave the Schar website another look and I absolutely love it, it is chock full of information! So please check it out! http://www.schaer.com/en/ 

It is really reassuring how aware most people have become of celiac disease, traveling a couple years ago it was much more difficult to find gluten free options, so much so that I hated to go anywhere. Now, my options are almost limitless!

Gluten-free for me!

A few years ago, just a year after I was diagnosed with Celiac disease, one of my friends decided "to become Anna" for a week. It was part of an English assignment, he had to go on a "quest" and write about his experiences, his quest was to eat gluten-free for an entire week. 

I wish I could get ahold of that paper now, but I have lost touch with him over the years. I remember that it was very difficult for him to find something to eat day to day, and he came to me a lot for help. By the end of the week he had lost a few pounds and was so thankful to be able to go back to delicious gluten-full food!

I told this story to two of my friends at school. They immediately jumped on the idea, it was a Sunday night so for the school week, Monday through Friday, they were going to eat gluten-free. I explained to them what they could eat at each meal in the dining halls, as well as what food was available to them at our house. It didn't take them long to second guess their decision, but they were determined.

I checked in with them the next day. They said it went well, listed the things they ate, and were so excited for the next day. But after we had been sitting there for awhile confessions started to leak out, they hadn't done as well as they said. I just laughed, without the incentive of keeping yourself from getting sick, it was very difficult to stick to it. The next day they forgot all about their plan for the week and went back to eating as normal. 

So I just have to say "good for you!" to everyone who has no choice but to stick to this diet day after day, year after year, with no hope that we might "grow out of it." It's tough, we have to forgo the birthday cake at a friend's party, the donuts someone picked up on the way to class, the bagels when the study group meets up at a coffee shop, the cookies a roommate received in a care package, the pizza and beer when everyone's just hanging out. We have no choice, but it's not easy. So good for you! You are stronger than most people realize!

Oh college...

The tricky part about writing a blog about food and attending college is sometimes I just forget to eat. Or I just eat chips and hummus, maybe throw a few veggies in my mouth or grab an apple as I'm running out the door. And I cannot tell you (actually, I'm rather embarrassed, so I choose not to tell you) how many times I got chinese and mexican takeout. So with that exciting diet, I found it hard to find something to write about, or the time...

But a couple of weekends ago I went to visit a friend at the University of New Hampshire. At first UNH appeared Celiac-friendly. They had a "gluten free" area where there was a toaster and some condiments and a refrigerator to store gluten free breads, waffles, and bagels. However, it had been awhile since I last ate in a dining hall, and I guess because it has been so long since I've had what I call an "episode," I let my guard down. Big mistake. I had a burger (without the bun) a salad and cooked zucchini for lunch on Saturday and ended up getting extremely ill. My poor friend had to deal with me running to the bathroom the entire day and we had to cancel our evening plans. Of course I felt horrible for ruining her weekend, and so stupid for letting something like this happen, I'm usually so careful! I hounded my school's dietician for weeks for goodness sake, why would I eat at a dining hall without asking the manager a million questions? But who wants to be that difficult? Well, we do if we want to stay healthy! I need to constantly remind myself of that!

After I did a little research on the UNH dining halls, I found that the burger contained wheat. It was one of those times someone just decided to throw in flour "for good measure" (I find this a lot, and get quite annoyed). But the good thing about UNH, and I would have seen this if I had been paying more attention to what I eat instead of the endless chitchat, is they list all the ingredients on a little card next to the food, making the dining hall very allergy-friendly for all.

So leave it to me to get sick at one of the easiest dining halls to eat at...

My new favorite website is www.wholegrainscouncil.org. My nutrition professor had us browse through it as an assignment to aid us in finding more whole grains to add to our diets. The dietary guidelines require us to make at least half our grains whole. For us celiacs that seems a little difficult. When we think whole grains we think whole wheat. Which is what I was thinking when I was told to go to the website. I was doubtful it was going to help me. But then I started poking around, clicking on different links, and then there it was "Gluten Free Whole Grains" I clicked and the page was full of information on celiac disease! please check it out, it is fabulous!

A Peek Into My Pantry

A friend of mine has a gluten allergy but rarely buys gluten free substitutes. She lives off vegetables, fruit, meat, and rice. Now that is good, it is very important to keep variety in your diet, but sometimes I just crave a brownie.

So I have substitutes. My staple is Pamela's Pancake Mix. I first found it in small bags at the health food store in town. Now, I buy it in bulk from the co-op. Not only does it make pancakes, but I use it to make delicious chocolate chip cookies, scones, banana and zucchini bread, and a light fluffy cake perfect with berries and whip cream for a summer party (I love to make this for my mother's birthday in August). There are so many great things about this mix --> it comes iwth easy to follow recipes that are all very quick to whip up and they taste amazing. 

Most of the time I think something gluten free tastes good because I'm so used to it but those who are not on gluten free diets can taste the difference and don't like it. But everything Pamela makes tastes as good, if not better, as the original recipe. 

When I crave something chocolate I like to whip up some Gluten-Free Pantry brownies or Namaste chocolate cake. Again, both better than the originals. 

And then of course, pasta. I always have at least two boxes of Annie's rice macaroni and cheese. I'm a college student, I need mac n' cheese! And after a long stressful day wen I have absolutely no time to cook dinner, this hits the spot!

On special occasions (mainly when I'm at my parent's house) I have Gluti-no French bread and bagels. These I don't get very often because they are a little expensive and I haven't been able to find them in my local grocery store. 

As a nutrition student I also like to keep an assortment of fruits and vegetables in the house but it gets hard because of the cost. But, I always have a sweet potato because they are the most nutritional vegetable out there chocked full of vitamins and minerals. And, they are delicious. I also have green and red peppers and celery. I'm not a huge fan of vegetables, so I kind of stop there but occasionally I'll have broccoli and carrots as well. I always try to keep in mind that I need to eat as many "colors" as possible because they all contain different vitamins.

For fruit I mainly have bananas. I love bananas, and they are so great and easy to eat with peanut butter and call it a small meal. And I always have green grapes, they are a quick and yummy snack. With the cost of fruit though, I'm not able to buy a variety of fruits, and hardly buy berries, which is a shame because I love every type of berry. I just wait until summer and eat the berries that grow around me, those are better anyway. 

The Freshman 15

The hidden blessing in being diagnosed with celiac disease was I didn't gain the freshman 15, I lost it. When my roommates and friends were ordering calzones at three in the morning, I was munching on chips and salsa (my ultimate savior). And when they were devouring pastries and donuts at brunch in the dining halls, I was slowly eating my fruit and yogurt. 

When I was preparing for my move to college I was very nervous about what I would be able to eat. I would be living in a dorm without a kitchen and eating in a dining hall every day. It would be very difficult to automatically know what ingredients were in each meal, and even more difficult to make sure it wasn't contaminated. 

A few weeks before I moved into my dorm I looked through my school's website to see how they dealt with food allergies. I emailed the dietician asking questions about the dining halls and how I should go about making sure my  meals were healthy and completely gluten free. I set up a meeting with her for the day I arrived.

There was another girl at the meeting which relieved me. It's always nice knowing there is someone else going through this new transition as well. The dietician gave us a full list of "safe" foods for all dining halls, then we went on a tour of the dining halls and met with the managers. After the meeting I felt a lot more at ease about my new living situation. Then, the week started.

Although the school tries to accommodate students with food allergies, with about a thousand people eating at every meal it is hard to keep things uncontaminated. The peanut butter and jelly station and the condiment stations were typically the hot zones for contamination. The sandwich station was off limits, even if you just wanted the meat, because there was bread flying around everywhere. And then the food that was safe was always changing. Half way through the year Cocoa Puffs was no longer gluten-free, which left only Fruity Pebbles as a safe cereal (ick). And I will never forget the email from the dietician informing the celiacs that there was now flour in the scrambled eggs. Why there would ever be flour in scrambled eggs was beyond me. So there went another breakfast item. 

It was also so hard to keep track of what was safe and what wasn't. The chicken was safe at one dining hall, but not the other. And this server would go out of her way to find a piece of turkey without gravy on it, but if you ask that one it was like you were asking her to go out and kill you a whole new turkey. 

For awhile I was in a constant state of sickness, somehow eating something that had been contaminated at every meal. There were weeks when I only ate cottage cheese and rice because my intestines couldn't handle anything else, they had been damaged too much. I wrote to my dietician and she went about setting things up with the dining halls so that I would get my food straight from the kitchen to cut down on the chances of getting it contaminated and things improved.

After awhile I figured out the world of food delivery. For months I jealously watched my roommate have food delivered to her at any time of night while I sat and chomped on my baby carrots, finally I was tired of being left out. After a lot of research, studying the delivery menus and asking managers far too many questions I was able to order hot wings at two in the morning as well as, like a gift from heaven, pints of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. But thanks to my very low budget, this was only in dire situations.

My menu on a typical day would look like this:

Breakfast: cottage cheese and canned peaches, occasionally a hard boiled egg

Lunch: taco salad during the second half of the year (when they switched to a gluten-free taco mix!) the first half of the year I usually had cottage cheese again and a piece of grilled chicken.

Dinner: a cheeseburger without the bun and ketchup (all other condiments had a chance to get contaminated, ketchup was squeezable) and mashed potatoes or a sweet potato. 

Sometimes I would have a salad, but it tasted like plastic so I'd only eat some on rare occasions. 

Now, when I say this is a typical menu, I really mean I ate this exact thing almost every day. I might have a piece of turkey instead of a cheeseburger, and there may have some more fruits thrown in during the day, but that was basically it. As you can imagine, that gets pretty boring, and pretty soon I had no motivation to eat. Of course I did eat, but not as much as I normally would, just enough to sustain me. 

I lost twenty pounds that year and went down three pant sizes. By the end I knew that when I returned for my sophomore year there was no way I would survive eating in the dining halls again, I had to have my own kitchen. I'm off campus now, shopping and cooking for myself. I gained ten pounds back and I have not gotten sick from gluten!

Gluten-Free Overhaul

After I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease I knew a lot of changes had to be made, and not just to my personal diet. My family owns an inn and restaurant and, I swear, irony follows me everywhere. I was working at the restaurant one night and realized there was something terribly wrong with the menu. Under the pasta options there it was, "Anna's Pasta" and I couldn't even eat it. My brother had named the pasta dish after me about a year before when he was managing the restaurant. Of course then I ate it to my hearts content, but now one bite of it and I would be miserable for hours, not to mention the damage that it had already done to my small intestines. 

Yes, changes had to be made. I brought the menu to my father and asked if he found anything wrong with it. We were quickly doing everything we could to find gluten free pasta in bulk to offer in replace of regular pasta.

At first I was the only one who ordered it, and I'm sure it drove the cooks crazy, but as soon as word got out that we served gluten-free alternatives for pasta we were surprised to find that a few of our regulars were on gluten-free diets. They were thrilled.

It didn't stop there. The inn is known for our pancakes at breakfast so I went right to work to find an equally delicious gluten-free substitute. The chefs started to catch on and began ordering gf alternatives for other items on the menu, I was the official taste tester, if it didn't taste good we weren't serving it. Thankfully, however, there are many gf products that do taste good!

Since the first pasta substitute we have added many more alternatives to our menu. We now offer pasta, pancakes, croutons, cookies for our 3:00 snack time, brownies, and wheat-free granola (it still has oats in it). I'm still trying to work with the staff to make sure they are completely knowledgeable in gluten-free allergies and finding more alternatives for our summer lunch bar. 

Going out to eat is one of my least favorite things to do because of the hassle of finding gf items on the menu and dealing with waiters and chefs who have no idea what I'm talking about. I can't tell you how many times I have stressed to a waiter/waitress I am allergic to wheat, I cannot have anything with flour in it, all the while they are nodding their heads, writing it down, and then come and plunk a basket of bread right in front of me. Thanks. Or they ask me, "Would you like something to replace the potato?" 

"Does your potato have flour in it?"

"No." looking at me like I'm crazy for thinking potatoes have flour in them. 

And, I am not kidding, a cook has laughed right in my face for asking for a burger without the bun. 

Thankfully I am in the position to make it easier on other people with celiac disease, giving them a place to stay and a restaurant to eat at, worry free.

Visit www.wildflowerinn.com to learn more!

It all started on St Patrick's Day

The irony of celiac disease is that it is very common in people of Irish descent. Yes a nation that prides themselves with their beer drinking ability and savory Irish Whisky is also well known for the disease that prevents the consumption of either of these. 

I guess it's the irony that that makes my diagnoses so perfect. My "last meal" was Irish Soda Bread consumed in great quantities on St. Patrick's Day in 2005. Thinking back if I had known it would be the last thing I ate with gluten in it (on purpose anyway) I'm not sure it is what I would have chosen, but now I am glad I did, it is not something I can easily forget. 

Two weeks of nausea, especially after I ate, brought me to the doctors office. My doctor was all too used to seeing me since my bout with mono two years before, I never seemed to fully recover. This time I had had it, a person should not be sick that often, there had to be a real problem and a solution to the problem. The doctor performed many tests, years later I cannot remember what they were testing me for, but none of them were for celiac disease. My mother was the one who suggested they look in that direction. A family friend was living with celiac disease and my mother recognized some of the symptoms. She requested a blood test be done.

A part of me didn't want the test done at all. I didn't want to know I was allergic to gluten, what was I going to eat?? But I had no choice. The doctor handed me printed out sheets of how to live with Celiac and sent me home. I lived off corn chips and salsa for weeks. 

Slowly my mother and I did more research, poked through every grocery store and health food store around looking for gluten-free food, browsed the internet for any kind of information to keep me from starving to death. Thankfully we knew a whole family full of celiacs who were more than happy to help out with my introduction to the gluten free world. 

Four years later I feel like an expert navigating my way through new grocery stores, dealing with waiters, traveling abroad, and attending college. It has been a little difficult getting used to new things, living with new people, and trying to keep my food uncontaminated. But now, it is just a way of life. And when people say, "Oh, it must be so hard on you, gluten is in everything, how do you do it?" I just wave it off, "Eh, piece of cake." Gluten-free cake, of course.