It's Gluten Free For Me!

I've been eating gluten free for two days now...yesterday was rough because I didn't know what to eat, but today was great (and easy)!  I was diagnosed with an awful but very rare chronic skin condition about a month ago, that is believed to be an autoimmune disorder (like Celiac Disease).  Although there is very little research on it, there is some evidence that it may be linked to CD, and the *only* thing that seems to "cure" it (there really is no cure, it's chronic) from accounts I've read online is a GF diet.

I couldn't stop eating gluten prior to getting the CD panel of bloodwork done (it will produce a false negative if you do), which I finally did on Tuesday, so I started eating GF yesterday.  For those of you that know me well, you know I was fondly called, "the carbo kid" when I was young because of the way I inhale obscene amounts of bread and potatoes.  GF seemed quite impossible for me.

I went to Whole Foods, which unlike most people, I hate.  It's overwhelming to me and far too healthy for this fast food loving girl.  Honestly, nothing in there looks good to me.  Not to mention that it's so expensive- I spent $50 on half a bag of groceries!  Half a bag was pretty much all I could stomach.

However, I spent time doing tons of research online and then discovered the extremely large GF list on Trader Joe's website.  Oh how I heart you Trader Joe's.  They have oodles and oodles of GF items, and what I've tasted so far has been delicious!  I think the only thing I'll be going to Whole Foods for now is rice flour and GF baking mix.

The hardest part of eating GF for me will be eating out.  Especially since we eat out A LOT.  The only places I know that have extensive GF menus are PF Change and Pei Wei.  The problem with non-GF menus is (1) even things that sound or appear to be GF, often aren't at restaurants because they add random fillers and wheat based sauces, etc. to most of their foods, and (2) even things that are GF are often cross-contaminated by being cooked on the same equipment that non-GF foods are cooked on.  People with serious allergy reactions can't even put something to their lips that has touched a piece of bread or wear make-up that is not GF.

But nonetheless, I'm on a GF path.  I *must* get this skin condition under control because it affects my life, but hey, on a positive side note, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to lose the infertility and baby weight that just won't go away!  I'll let you know how it works. ;)

We've definitely been eating much healthier.  Last night, I made salmon and quinoa with vegetables.  Tonight, I made dover sole with a cornmeal and rice flour 'breading' cooked in a bit of olive oil and real butter and a French vegetable dish I found at Trader Joe's.  I'm going to post some of the GF items I've found that I really like soon in case anyone wants to get on the GF train with me!!