Biznaz Meeting

I’m going to the first meeting of the “Junior Board” of a non-profit I am involved with tonight. They said a light dinner would be served. I bet you $10 it’s sandwiches. Damn you, favorite food of the business meeting!

I vow to never serve sandwiches at a board meeting, once I get to be a big enough deal that I am in charge on a board. Oh, wait. I am in charge of a board. And we sure didn’t eat sandwiches at our meeting.

A Wedding and Four Funerals

It’s funny, I didn’t think going gluten free would be terribly difficult after I stood in the entire aisle dedicated to GF at Whole Foods, saw the list of restaurants that will do GF meals and saw that Trader Joe’s (my personal piece of heaven) has a list of EVERY. SINGLE. THING. in the store that’s gluten free.

Then I went to a wedding of two friends. Sidebar – it was a beautiful wedding and the couple in question are actually quite amazing and have great taste, so I knew it would be a classy affair with a twist of alternativeness.

Anyway, this is where the four funerals part comes in. It’s time to mourn my four favorite gluten-laden items at a wedding/classy party. Things I didn’t know I’d miss (or didn’t know quite how acutely I’d miss) until this weekend. They are in the order in which I encountered them during the weekend.

1.Crab cakes, but more specifically, mini crab cakes. How did I not think of this food immediately? I love crab cakes and have since my family first went to the Outer Banks of NC for a beach vacation when I was 11 or 12. On that first trip, I made it my mission to eat at least one crab cake per day. And I succeeded, of course. It’s not tough and I’m extremely goal oriented. I knew hors d’ oeuvres weren’t going to be easy, but then the woman offered me a tiny, perfect crab cake. I said, “oh, no thanks,” like some kind of martyr and then silently cursed gluten for the remainder of the cocktail hour.

2. Hot rolls. You know the kind. They’re dusted with flour and steam when cracked open. Yeah, those. Well, I thought I was going to cry when I saw my table mates digging into those at the rehearsal dinner. The way the butter melted inside them. Christ, it was tough. My boyfriend said they weren’t that good and then ate 6 of them. I know better.

3. Being treated normally by servers/Cake. This one is a tie, and you’ll soon read why. When the rehearsal dinner toasts were over and they cut the adorable cake, I knew it was going to be difficult to say no to cake. I LOVE cake, and I thought that was going to be my biggest hurdle of the weekend. It may be – but it’s tied with being treated normally by servers. The waitress came around delivering slices of cake and said, “None for you!” I know she smirked and I just smiled. Yup, none for me. That’s why I ordered the special meal, and thanks for rubbing it in.

4. Getting slightly tipsy from beer. I really enjoy tipping back a few beers. I’m a self-professed beer girl. I actually used it many times as a technique to flirt with cute boys (current boyfriend included). So to know that I had to drink wine instead hurt. A lot. But I didn’t realize that my Celiac disease probably prevented me from being a serious drunk at parties. When I drink beer, like when I eat/drink anything with gluten, I immediately bloat up like a balloon. This made me stop or slow down! With wine, it doesn’t DO THAT! Then how do I know when to stop? I usually don’t (ask friends who attended the Dawn-Neal wedding when I drank white wine and blacked out before the sun went down). This time I realized it was time to stop when I was posing for a photo with Who’s Bad, the Ultimate Michael Jackson tribute band, and heard myself tell them I’d be their lead singer if they wanted to go on stage and perform. I guess that’s how I’ll know in the future.

Great Links to Get You Started

Thank God for the Internet. Seriously! I took a poll online and it said that most people receive the information about the gluten free diet and Celiac disease from the internet and blogs and not from nutritionists/dietitians or books.

I’m going to go all three routes. But, of course, I love a good internet research project, so I started with good ol’ google. Here’s what I found.

• American Celiac Disease Alliance – http://americanceliac.org/ – To me, this wasn’t a great website. There’s some information about Celiac disease but when I clicked on “Gluten Free Diet” it said the page was coming soon. BUT – this was one of the only pages I’ve seen that was en espanol tambien. So, if you’re a Spanish speaker, that might be a good one to try out.
• Celiac Disease Foundation – http://americanceliac.org/ – This is truly one of the best Web sites I’ve found so far to learn about the disease. Again, the information on the GF diet was less than comprehensive and it also seemed to be focused mostly on California. It looks to me like the page needs a refresh and an update. Otherwise, some good information.
• Celiac Sprue Association – http://www.csaceliacs.org/ – I like their tagline “Celiacs helping celiacs.” Nice community feel, but slightly outdated looking webpage. I don’t know why I am knocking the design, but it is true that it looks a bit stale. The information was really good – and there was a lot of good information about the GF diet for free – even recipes and a full breakdown on grains. HOWEVER, they want you to buy a membership and therefore buy their Gluten Free Product Listing. It seems pricey and unnecessary. I think you can pretty much find everything out without buying the product listing. This would be good for people who don’t have the internet, maybe.
• National Foundation for Celiac Awareness – www.celiaccentral.org – I’m going to save this for an entire blog post. There’s A LOT going on with this site – and most of it is great!

That’s about it for now – some of the major players. I will continue to review sites and coming soon – BOOK reviews! I’m going to tackle Elisabeth Hasselback’s G Free Diet first. I never thought I’d have anything in common with Elisabeth, but I’m open to hearing what she has to say. There are so few celebrities with the disease, as far as I’ve found out so far.

Diagnosis: Celiac Disease

On Tuesday, April 13 I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. This is an autoimmune disease (think Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis) where gluten attacks the small bowel. If left untreated, celiac sufferers can expect a higher risk for other autoimmune disorders and malignancies, among other things. The cure is a gluten free diet. Gluten is found in wheat, rye and barley. A gluten free lifestyle means adhering to really strict standards and shopping mostly from the perimeter of the grocery store. Gluten free means no pizza. No croissants. No birthday cake. No pancakes or waffles. No bread. No pasta. Many sauces are out, as are most processed foods. It seems wheat is pretty freaking popular.

Yikes.

You might wonder why I was so relieved to get this diagnosis and the answer is simple. I have not felt “well” – whatever that means – for at least 10 years. I have a disease and the cure is eating healthy. No, it won’t be convenient, but it’s all I have and to be honest, I’m jumping in head first.

Join me?