I went back to the doctor this week. My blood work is normal, but as I told him about the changed I have had since I altered my diet, he declared that I do, indeed have a gluten intolerance. I cannot begin to tell you how happy it makes me to finally know what is wrong with me. Finally, I have a solution to my physical problems.
It has been easier than I thought it would be to cut gluten out of my diet...at least, it has been easy to do so at home. There have been a couple of incidences...The first was Saturday. My family and I went down to St George. We went to a restaurant that we knew would be friendly as far as food selection went. Well, the meal went fine. After the meal, the trouble started. Our waitress brought us fortune cookies...and without even thinking, I ate one.
It has been an interesting experience. I suddenly have to think about what I eat. I have to look at packaging in the store. I have to bring my own treat to a lot of things...I have had people feel like they need to cater to my new needs. I simply tell them that I am fine and do not want to be an inconvenience.
I think of all my experiences in the last 2 weeks, one in particular smarted the most. My sister was hosting a Pampered Chef party tonight. I received a voicemail telling me what was on the menu: sourdough pizza and brownies. I deleted the message and hung up. In telling my friends what the message was about, I burst into tears. I think this experience has brought my new diet changes into focus more than any other event.
Okay ENOUGH of the doom and gloom. As a chef, the diet change has opened up a whole new line of creativity when it comes to food. I have experimented quite a bit over the last few days, but haven't had time to record anything. After all, finals are a week away for me!
My most recent experiment involved chicken. Here is the recipe:
4 chicken thighs
2 cups chopped cabbage
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped onions
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
2 TBSP Olive Oil
2 small limes
2 tsp basil
pepper salt
Appx 1 tsp Lemon pepper
Appx 1 tsp season salt
Pour the oil in a non stick frying pan. Sprinkle the basil, lemon pepper, season salt and three dashes of pepper onto the oil. Cut one of the lime's in half and squeeze both halves into the pan.
Cut the chicken into cubes and put into the pan. When the chicken is browned, add the peppers, onions and tomatoes. Cook until the chicken is done, and the veggies are soft. Season with salt and pepper if you wish.
My take on this experiment:
This meal was delicious! I absolutely LOVED it! The great part of this was that you can eat this mixture plain, or put it over rice. I will definitely be cooking this again in the near future.
Changes:
Above is my original recipe. When I make this again, I will probably saute the onions and peppers before adding the chicken. THEN when the chicken is browned, I will add the tomatoes and cucumbers.
Happy Eating!
PS
To any out there who are thinking of cutting gluten from your diet, I would strongly recommend reading The Paleo Solution, by Robb Wolf. It was pretty informative and has made my transition a lot easier.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Gluten Intolerance??
I have, for about a year, suffered from strange symptoms that my regular doctor could not explain. He tested me for diabetes (type 2) thyroid, and other things that weren't what was wrong with me. This last week I took a friend's advice and went in for a consultation with her doctor. We will call him Dr. Joe.
Dr. Joe's nurse questioned me extensively on what I had been dealing with.
Symptoms like:
--needing to eat every 2 hours
--sugar and breads making me dizzy and nauseous
--waking up bloated and sick EVERY morning, occasionally throwing up
--after eating sugar, having a raw throat
--being tired all the time
--etc
Dr. Joe came in and asked a few more questions. He then said "Sounds like you have a gluten intolerance." WHOA...over a year of misery and he has it figured out in ONE visit!!! YEAH! ...Well, we don't know for sure.
The rest of the visit, he told me he wanted me to do some blood work. He also said that the test for ciliac's was usually no conclusive. The only way to really tell if this is my issue is to go off gluten for a month. Dr. Joe gave me the name of a book called The Paleo Solution. I have since read most of it and today, I started my gluten free diet.
I feel amazing. ONE day without gluten and I have way more energy and my head aches are almost nonexistent. So, I guess this blog for the next week will be focused on recipes I create using gluten free foods.
Tonight's dish:
Bone-In Pork with Potatoes and Carrots
Ingredients:
1-2 small limes
1-2 tsp basil
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp diced onions
Season salt
Lemon pepper
1 Pork steak, cut in half (pretty sure they were steaks)
2 potatoes
2 carrots
1/2 TBSP softened butter
Okay, to start with, I used my slow cooker for the potatoes and carrots. When we got home from church all we had to do is cook the meat. So we will move onto that.
In a non stick skillet, pour the olive oil. Mix it and move it so it covers the whole pan. Add the onions. They should be cut into pretty small pieces, about the size of what is in salsa. Add 1 tsp of basil to the pan, then squeeze half a lime into the bottom also. Saute the onions until they are almost clear.
In a bowl, squeeze the other half of the lime until you have a good amount of juice in the bottom. Add another tsp of basil to this. Place the pork into this and stir around so that the pieces are covered. Add a little bit of season salt and lemon pepper.
Once the onions are almost see through, put the pork into the pan. Cook thoroughly, checking the center for pinkness.
Squeeze another lime into another bowl. Add a sprinkle of basil. Let it sit to reconstitute. Add the 1/2 TBSP butter. Mix it so it is a kind of paste. This will go on your potatoes. (I have been asked to try and exclude dairy from my diet for the first month. Since I hardly ever eat or drink dairy, I felt okay with this bit of butter)
Enjoy!
I hope this recipe is enjoyable to you. I would try it, then see if you should add less of something. I for one will probably add less lime...probably the half that you soak the pork in! Thanks for reading!!
Dr. Joe's nurse questioned me extensively on what I had been dealing with.
Symptoms like:
--needing to eat every 2 hours
--sugar and breads making me dizzy and nauseous
--waking up bloated and sick EVERY morning, occasionally throwing up
--after eating sugar, having a raw throat
--being tired all the time
--etc
Dr. Joe came in and asked a few more questions. He then said "Sounds like you have a gluten intolerance." WHOA...over a year of misery and he has it figured out in ONE visit!!! YEAH! ...Well, we don't know for sure.
The rest of the visit, he told me he wanted me to do some blood work. He also said that the test for ciliac's was usually no conclusive. The only way to really tell if this is my issue is to go off gluten for a month. Dr. Joe gave me the name of a book called The Paleo Solution. I have since read most of it and today, I started my gluten free diet.
I feel amazing. ONE day without gluten and I have way more energy and my head aches are almost nonexistent. So, I guess this blog for the next week will be focused on recipes I create using gluten free foods.
Tonight's dish:
Bone-In Pork with Potatoes and Carrots
Ingredients:
1-2 small limes
1-2 tsp basil
1 tsp olive oil
2 tsp diced onions
Season salt
Lemon pepper
1 Pork steak, cut in half (pretty sure they were steaks)
2 potatoes
2 carrots
1/2 TBSP softened butter
Okay, to start with, I used my slow cooker for the potatoes and carrots. When we got home from church all we had to do is cook the meat. So we will move onto that.
In a non stick skillet, pour the olive oil. Mix it and move it so it covers the whole pan. Add the onions. They should be cut into pretty small pieces, about the size of what is in salsa. Add 1 tsp of basil to the pan, then squeeze half a lime into the bottom also. Saute the onions until they are almost clear.
In a bowl, squeeze the other half of the lime until you have a good amount of juice in the bottom. Add another tsp of basil to this. Place the pork into this and stir around so that the pieces are covered. Add a little bit of season salt and lemon pepper.
Once the onions are almost see through, put the pork into the pan. Cook thoroughly, checking the center for pinkness.
Squeeze another lime into another bowl. Add a sprinkle of basil. Let it sit to reconstitute. Add the 1/2 TBSP butter. Mix it so it is a kind of paste. This will go on your potatoes. (I have been asked to try and exclude dairy from my diet for the first month. Since I hardly ever eat or drink dairy, I felt okay with this bit of butter)
Enjoy!
I hope this recipe is enjoyable to you. I would try it, then see if you should add less of something. I for one will probably add less lime...probably the half that you soak the pork in! Thanks for reading!!
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