I thought for a couple of days there, maybe I could keep eating some of the challenge foods, but now I have my doubts. For example, a side effect I didn’t anticipate is that I have put on around 15 pounds since the challenge started, and I’m not eating any more than I usually do. I’m finally hitting a wall, too, with my reactions. Nausea, migraines, weird dreams, sweating, gastrointestinal distress, and brain fog. And now weight gain (bloating, too). I’m trying to figure out how I can convince myself to stick with this for the rest of the month – I have 28 days until my test.

Looking for incentives. And mumus. Because my clothes are being outgrown Please let me return to semi-normal after this is over.

So far, I’ve had Chinese food, Round Table Pizza, an almond croissant, a baguette, Togo’s sub sandwich, sour cream and onion potato chips, and brown sugar streusel coffee cake. Some of the things that have been most surprising to me about it:

1. Psychologically, it’s weird to eat things that I know I can’t
2. Gluten-based bread is a lot springier/chewier
3. Sour cream and onion chips are delicious and flavorful
4. Chow mein noodles are much more delicious than I ever remembered
5. The buttery flaky pastry of croissants are unequalled by gluten-free counterparts.

I’m hoping I can take some of these notes and figure out how to incorporate them into my baking/cooking when this is done.

Bad things:

1. Heartburn
2. Food cravings – burning food cravings that drive me insane and make me want to eat everything
3. Feeling somewhat queasy during/after eating some things
4. Bloating

While I’m glad I’m not super sick at this point, I’m kind of looking forward to when I can go back to the way I have been eating, because there’s too much freedom. I don’t know how I feel being able to eat any old thing I want.

I can’t believe I’m doing this…. :/

I have started with eating gluten-free oats and drinking orange juice, both of which have been found to trigger reactions in me, as unusual as they may seem. However, they tend to be lesser reactions for me so I decided to start with them to see if they still caused problems and to ease myself into the rest of the foods I know make me feel crummy.

I made it until noon before I noticed feeling anything off about my day. No ninja battle in my stomach like yesterday, but I did feel aches in my abdomen. Also, eating other things triggered reactions, especially foods with more fiber in them, like nuts and grains. Salami and cheese didn’t feel weird at all. I have been snacking on candied ginger as well as minty water to see if they would help, and they do.

I’m feeling more emotional now, feeling testy and frustrated, even depressed and a little weepy (but without actually crying). Also, just plain distanced from people and out of the loop with my school schedule, which is almost over for the semester (and the reason I’m not back into the challenge diet hardcore yet!) I have to get past finals week before I can dedicate myself to making myself feel horrible.

Anyway, one more week and I’m on to the “hard stuff” – but I think it would be safe to say that oats, gluten-free or not, are not my friend. I haven’t reacted to the orange juice yet, so that remains to be seen.

More to come!

Boy was that fun.

As soon as I finished my non-threatening salad and brown rice salmon/tuna/avocado cut roll, I immediately started feeling like two ninjas were having a battle in my stomach. Seriously painful, no joke. When that died down, I had a couple of squares of chocolate and the ninjas were back. Not fun at all.

Anyway, I guess I’ve confirmed that I’m one of those celiacs or gluten-intolerants who can’t tolerate oats. Unfortunately, for the sake of my food challenge, I still have a few weeks of this to go. And I still have some more aggressive foods to add to my diet. The upper endoscopy to see if I have eosinophilic esophagitis is scheduled for the end of June. Let’s hope I make it. :/

It’s really difficult, though, psychologically, going back and eating things I have avoided for the last 5 to 15 years. I keep looking at the boxes on the shelves in the store and wanting to read all the ingredients, and then thinking that I should just try anything I want. I also don’t want to “waste” this opportunity to eat the things I used to love by eating the stale bread that comes with meals at lesser restaurants, or fast food take-out that I didn’t even like when I did eat it.

I have actually been asking my friends “what’s your favorite Chinese restaurant?” or “where can I get the absolute best croissant in town?” and making a point of not going out of my way to get too many special gluten-free foods for the time being.

Even though I haven’t gone back to a full food challenge, I have been eating so-called gluten-free oatmeal every morning, as I react to oats, as well as having orange juice each day. I’m not planning on going for the hardcore gluten-containing products until May 17, the day I finish this semester’s finals, as I don’t want any negative reactions to cause problems with my studying.

So far, I haven’t been having very major reactions, but I am queasy pretty often and have confused signals about whether or not I’m hungry. I have also had some heartburn which I knocked out with some Pepcid. Today, though, I woke up feeling achy all over, something like the beginning of a flu or bad cold. I also have a headache that feels different from the ones I usually have. I’m feeling less-coordinated than usual, and having a little brain fog.

None of this is as bad as it gets by far, but the few things I am having are definitely having an effect. I think the oats are the culprit for most of the body/brain stuff, and the orange juice for the heartburn. I have also been eating more corn lately, which is another food that kicks up acid reflux.

Hoping I can keep it up and get through the challenge period, and that I don’t become too difficult to be around. And I also hope I learn something useful from the whole experience.

BTW – if you have celiac disease and can eat oats, I highly recommend the Bakery on Main brand instant oats. I have been enjoying the maple flavor ones for the last 5 days now and wishing I could keep them as part of my diet from this point on.

Some of my wishlist products (not all “healthy” or gourmet):

• croissant – both plain and almond-filled
• crusty baguette
• Round Table pizza – maybe pepperoni and double cheese?
• garlic bagel with lox and cream cheese
• clam-stuffed breaded and fried calamari
• Chinese food – almost anything
• Mexican food – especially chilies relleno
• old fashioned-style doughnut/maple glazed
• baked manicotti
• Grape Nuts/Wheat Chex
• Oreos

And that’s just for starters… it’s not going to be pretty, but I have to provoke a reaction. Might as well enjoy it while I can.

• flaky/buttery croissant
• Chinese food
• fresh squeezed orange juice
• Togo’s pastrami sandwich
• Taco Bell taco supreme and burrito supreme
• manicotti 
• angel food cake
• tiramisu
• almond-filled croissant
• crusty baguette
• oatmeal
• baklava
• chili relleno
• a real gourmet bacon cheeseburger
• and then a Carl’s Jr. Western Bacon Cheeseburger (don’t bother me, I’ll be eating)

…and so much more. If I survive….

What would you eat?

Better than a colonoscopy because I don’t have to do the prep (if you’ve had one, you know, and if you haven’t, you’ve probably heard).

My doctor recommended I start a food challenge the month before, eating all the things that I don’t tolerate normally. This should kick things into high gear. I have been opposed to this methodology in the past, but think I’m going to give it a shot. I am trying to decide if I want to challenge gluten, as well, since he’s not going to be doing a biopsy on my small intestine. I am getting the blood tests done though. I don’t think a month is long enough, but since I will be feeling crummy anyway, might as well go for it, right?

Anyway, waiting until my finals end, and that’ll give me a solid month of time to eat it up. I’m already planning things I’m going to try, like the best croissant I can find in town, or a pizza at a former favorite place – maybe some Mexican food and definitely some Chinese. I’m almost as excited as I am scared!

I do plan on keeping you posted so keep on the lookout for updates, here and on Facebook. Wish me luck!

I remember watching a flurry of Food Network stuffing/dressing recipes for Thanksgiving, including Paula’s recipe, which largely seemed to be a batter mixed with about a dozen eggs poured over some bread cubes and liberally laced with twists of butter. And when she was done, she added another layer of butter. There was so much butter I actually stopped salivating and looked on in shock that any industry would promote such extreme butter usage. I wondered if Paula’s show was underwritten by the dairy industry.

(Just in case you were wondering, I think this is the stuffing recipe, though I think she embellished it even more on tv)

Now the news has broken that Paula has type 2 diabetes. Formerly considered “adult onset diabetes” because it doesn’t occur unless at-risk people who eat a consistent diet of highly processed foods such as white starches and sugars tend to develop it as they age, this disease is becoming more and more prevalent in younger people. In fact, current estimations are that one out of three people will develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime.

It’s easy to point fingers at our modern diet, but we know better at this point: we know that diet is important and can contribute to the risk of developing diabetes, but diet and lifestyle alone does not create type 2 diabetes. People who have a genetic predisposition for diabetes are more likely to develop it over time, and it’s even possible for those people to do so while following a healthful diet.

Paula didn’t “give” herself diabetes, however the lifestyle she promotes through her decadent recipes didn’t improve her chances for not developing it, either. And they also promote an unhealthful diet for people with any health condition risk.

Diabetes is only one of many conditions contingent on a healthy lifestyle. Additionally, we don’t know who is more likely to be susceptible to this disease. The best thing any of us can do is make sure we have a healthy diet of whole grains, high fiber, fruit and vegetables, and lean meats. And don’t forget exercise!

That doesn’t mean it’s bad to have a little butter or sugar here and there because that’s not what’s going to give you diabetes. Keep in mind that your chances of getting type 2 diabetes may be out of our control, but your lifestyle is, and type 2 is fully treatable and even reversible if you eat healthfully and exercise.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,700 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

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