Going gluten free update + Misc.
Jun. 7th, 2016 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunabee341. I realized that I didn't leave enough outside the spoiler cut when I reviewed Hard by Wayne Hoffman. It's a novel about the gay community in NYC in the late 90s that would be right up a lot of y'all's alley.
2. I am overhauling my tags; I've been through almost all my existing tags and cleaned them up. Now I'm going to start at the beginning of my journal and make sure it's all tagged appropriately. I am giving myself permission to only do this on DW and not worry about LJ.
3. I read another book, Ragnarok: The End of the Gods by A. S. Byatt. This is a short novel but one rich in language. In it, Byatt juxtaposes the life of a thin child who has moved to the English countryside to escape the Blitz with Norse myths. Her writing is lush, descriptive, evocative. My love of her writing has clearly influenced my own; I recognized while reading her this week an unconscious imitation of her sentence structure, a similar love of lists that turns up in my work. This is a quick and easy read. I finished it in an afternoon, but I will be thinking about the shining scales of Jormungandr and the stones that wept for Baldur for far longer.
4. I just finished my first week as gluten free, and it's been a bit of a mixed bag. When I got home from NYC, I went through the pantry, fridge, and freezer and piled on the kitchen table all the gluten containing food. Some items were not clearly marked. If a quick google search could not tell me the gluten status of the product, I put it in the pile. I did not want to spend hours on the phone with the companies who manufacture all the random jars of spices in our cupboard. Next I added the plastic dishes and implements, tupperware, melamine bowls, all the cast iron and non stick, the colanders.
This process was both cathartic (I do so love to purge, and I cleaned all the cabinets and the fridge and freezer, rearranging what was left) and way more depressing than I imagined. Seeing all the stuff I had to get rid of mounded up on the table was harder than I thought it would be. Fortunately we only had to throw out several bags of flour that had been open for years, a couple items that had expired, and a bottle of teriyaki with about two tablespoons remaining. All the food and most of the dishes found new homes. We've replaced the melamine bowls, the cutting boards, and the colander.
Going grocery shopping was somewhat tedious. Sometimes telling whether something is gluten free is difficult, and again, not calling the company in the middle of the grocery aisle if google is not forthcoming. I also couldn't eat any of the samples on offer. *cries*
We've eaten well this week, but I have been so desperately hungry since going gluten free, a symptom I've read is not uncommon in the early stages. I think my hunger is magnified because I'm asymptomatic. I don't feel ill, so this is not a period of being grateful for lessening celiac symptoms. For example, my mom didn't feel hungry when she went gluten free because she was too busy loving that she no longer felt like she was dying of cancer.
I've been moodier and a bit nauseated--also symptoms associated with the initial stages of going gluten free--but I have not yet experienced that most common side effect of losing weight. In fact, none of the miracles which are supposed to occur with going gluten free have happened to me. Instead my hair is falling out in clumps again, I'm soaking the sheets with night sweats, and during the day I'm freezing cold even though it's 93 outside. My thyroid is clearly acting up again. *sigh* We'll see. I ate a bunch of gluten in NYC, and it takes 14 days or so to flush out of the system, so maybe I'll start to see some improvement soon.
I worry that since I'm asymptomatic, I have no idea if I am accidentally exposing myself to gluten.
I haven't tried to eat out yet. I know it's possible, but the only real gluten free options around here are chains. Which is fine, but our favorite places are ethnic restaurants with language barriers to asking about gluten. I could order something off the menu that should be gluten free like roasted chicken, but the chicken might have gluten in it or the seasoning blend they used on it. Also, so many people aren't educated about what gluten shows up in, so I wouldn't feel comfortable eating much of anything outside of a salad that wasn't specifically labeled gluten free on the menu; a server might think they were telling me right but be wrong about what's in the food if their restaurant hasn't vetted the dish as gluten free and labeled it on the menu. I feel comfortable that when chains say something is gluten free that they are accurate. I feel less comfortable about privately owned restaurants. IDK
I wish I'd had good fried chicken and pizza before going gluten free.
I'm trying not to replace items with gluten with their gluten free counterparts if I can help it: no crackers, no bread, no pasta, no cookies.
I'm struggling with this a little more than I thought I would, but it's still early days.
2. I am overhauling my tags; I've been through almost all my existing tags and cleaned them up. Now I'm going to start at the beginning of my journal and make sure it's all tagged appropriately. I am giving myself permission to only do this on DW and not worry about LJ.
3. I read another book, Ragnarok: The End of the Gods by A. S. Byatt. This is a short novel but one rich in language. In it, Byatt juxtaposes the life of a thin child who has moved to the English countryside to escape the Blitz with Norse myths. Her writing is lush, descriptive, evocative. My love of her writing has clearly influenced my own; I recognized while reading her this week an unconscious imitation of her sentence structure, a similar love of lists that turns up in my work. This is a quick and easy read. I finished it in an afternoon, but I will be thinking about the shining scales of Jormungandr and the stones that wept for Baldur for far longer.
4. I just finished my first week as gluten free, and it's been a bit of a mixed bag. When I got home from NYC, I went through the pantry, fridge, and freezer and piled on the kitchen table all the gluten containing food. Some items were not clearly marked. If a quick google search could not tell me the gluten status of the product, I put it in the pile. I did not want to spend hours on the phone with the companies who manufacture all the random jars of spices in our cupboard. Next I added the plastic dishes and implements, tupperware, melamine bowls, all the cast iron and non stick, the colanders.
This process was both cathartic (I do so love to purge, and I cleaned all the cabinets and the fridge and freezer, rearranging what was left) and way more depressing than I imagined. Seeing all the stuff I had to get rid of mounded up on the table was harder than I thought it would be. Fortunately we only had to throw out several bags of flour that had been open for years, a couple items that had expired, and a bottle of teriyaki with about two tablespoons remaining. All the food and most of the dishes found new homes. We've replaced the melamine bowls, the cutting boards, and the colander.
Going grocery shopping was somewhat tedious. Sometimes telling whether something is gluten free is difficult, and again, not calling the company in the middle of the grocery aisle if google is not forthcoming. I also couldn't eat any of the samples on offer. *cries*
We've eaten well this week, but I have been so desperately hungry since going gluten free, a symptom I've read is not uncommon in the early stages. I think my hunger is magnified because I'm asymptomatic. I don't feel ill, so this is not a period of being grateful for lessening celiac symptoms. For example, my mom didn't feel hungry when she went gluten free because she was too busy loving that she no longer felt like she was dying of cancer.
I've been moodier and a bit nauseated--also symptoms associated with the initial stages of going gluten free--but I have not yet experienced that most common side effect of losing weight. In fact, none of the miracles which are supposed to occur with going gluten free have happened to me. Instead my hair is falling out in clumps again, I'm soaking the sheets with night sweats, and during the day I'm freezing cold even though it's 93 outside. My thyroid is clearly acting up again. *sigh* We'll see. I ate a bunch of gluten in NYC, and it takes 14 days or so to flush out of the system, so maybe I'll start to see some improvement soon.
I worry that since I'm asymptomatic, I have no idea if I am accidentally exposing myself to gluten.
I haven't tried to eat out yet. I know it's possible, but the only real gluten free options around here are chains. Which is fine, but our favorite places are ethnic restaurants with language barriers to asking about gluten. I could order something off the menu that should be gluten free like roasted chicken, but the chicken might have gluten in it or the seasoning blend they used on it. Also, so many people aren't educated about what gluten shows up in, so I wouldn't feel comfortable eating much of anything outside of a salad that wasn't specifically labeled gluten free on the menu; a server might think they were telling me right but be wrong about what's in the food if their restaurant hasn't vetted the dish as gluten free and labeled it on the menu. I feel comfortable that when chains say something is gluten free that they are accurate. I feel less comfortable about privately owned restaurants. IDK
I wish I'd had good fried chicken and pizza before going gluten free.
I'm trying not to replace items with gluten with their gluten free counterparts if I can help it: no crackers, no bread, no pasta, no cookies.
I'm struggling with this a little more than I thought I would, but it's still early days.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-07 03:51 pm (UTC)I'm trying not to replace items with gluten with their gluten free counterparts if I can help it: no crackers, no bread, no pasta, no cookies.
That sounds a lot like my chronic pancreatitis diet, which I super need to get back to. SIGH. I remember the always-hungry thing too.
no subject
Date: 2016-06-08 12:13 am (UTC)I'm hoping that the hunger will calm down soon; everything I'm reading seems to suggest it should be a temporary problem.
*crosses fingers*
no subject
Date: 2016-06-07 09:14 pm (UTC){hugs}
no subject
Date: 2016-06-08 12:14 am (UTC)*hugs*
I'm pretty okay on guidance and help; I had to extensively research last semester so I could accommodate my mom's diagnosis. I'm more struggling emotionally. I truly thought I gotten through all the anger and sadness and moved on to acceptance, but apparently not.