Hangover vs. Glutenization

I knew that as soon as I told someone that I was sick yesterday because of an accidental glutenization, they'd say, "So you have a hangover." No, it was not a hangover. It was a glutenization. I can tell the difference in how my body reacts to an injestion of gluten versus an over-indulgence in alcohol. So just to set the record straight, I was not hungover yesterday. I was accidentally glutenized. I kind of had to call in sick for the day until the nausea, sleepiness, and drugged feeling passed and I felt like a human being again.

Friends of ours were having people out to their house for a party Saturday evening. Eddie and I had dinner at home first, then we went to their house later in the evening and stayed for just a couple of hours. When we got there, our host offered us a small glass of brandy. I don't remember what kind he said it was, but it was a really tasty brandy. I knew that brandy, like wine, did not contain gluten so I thought I would be safe. It hit later like a ton of bricks. When I woke up Sunday, I felt like I had been drugged. I was nauseous, sick, and just felt awful.

After I could focus, I went online and researched brandy barrels. I read that some wine and brandy barrels are sealed with a flour and water paste. Also, some of the barrels may have previously held something that contained a glutenous substance. My guess is that the latter was the case, that this brandy was cross-contaminated due to storage. It could have also come from the case he poured the brandy from. He had it in one of those leather pouches, and perhaps he had something glutenous in there previously.

So what do I do in the future? Do I need to take gluten testing kits with me everywhere I go and test everything I'm going to eat or drink for the presence of gluten? Only if I want to drive myself crazy! I'm just going to need to use common sense and caution. I wanted to share this experience with you because it's all part of the gluten free journey. Use your best judgement, and when in doubt, leave it out!

Give Us This DayOur Daiy Bread

Whenever I talk to someone newly diagnosed as being gluten intolerant and just beginning the gluten free journey, the first thing they tend to want is gluten free replacements for breads and pasta. Let's face it, bread products have long made our lives convenient. Running late for work in the morning and no time to make breakfast? No problem. A quick trip through a McDonalds can bring us an Egg McMuffin, or a run through Burger King can provide a steamy hot croissant. Pizza restaurants are practically at every corner. Look at all the places you can get delicious pasta offerings. It's just so convenient! But now, you've just learned you need to live gluten free.

My first piece of advice is not to panic. You're going to be okay. In fact, eventually you'll be better than you have been for a very long time. But it's going to take some time, and you'll most likely make mistakes along the way. Keep in mind this new lifestyle takes about a year to fully adjust and adapt to.

My second piece of advice is just forget about bread and pasta for awhile. I know that sounds harsh, but your taste buds need to adjust. Gluten free breads and pastas have a very different taste and texture, and not all of the brands are good. And they are much more expensive than their wheaty counterparts. This is the time where the best thing you can do is concentrate on the foods that are naturally gluten free. Foods like meats, veggies, fruit, nuts, rice, dairy, eggs are just a few examples of what is safe to eat. (Remember too, you're going to need to read the food labels closely to avoid gluten in things like certain brands of soy sauce, broths, boullion, even corn meal. But that's good material for the next post.)

There are some decent gluten free bread, pasta and pizza products out there. I would love to learn to make my own gluten free bread, because it's so very expensive and there's only one brand I really like. I've gotten used to brown rice pasta in place of whole wheat pasta. But I do try to concentrate on naturally gluten free foods first.

One dish that I make about once a month is beef and chicken fajitas. I found the recipe for the marinade online, and it's absolutely delicious! I keep teff flour tortillas on hand, but often I just use lettuce instead of the tortillas when building my fajitas. Here is the recipe and instructions. I hope you make them and enjoy them as much as Eddie and I do!

Beef and Chicken Fajitas
Marinade:
1 pound skirt steak, sliced
2 boneless chicken breasts, sliced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Mix ingredients for beef, and same amounts of ingredients for chicken. Store separately in refrigerator for about an hour before cooking. To cook, put saute pan over medium-high heat. Add chicken strips using caution not to overcrowd pan, and saute on one side, then turn to other side. I store the pieces in a warm oven while I continue with the rest of the chicken strips, then do the same with the beef. It does not take long to cook, especially the beef.

Veggies:
2 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced into thin strips
2 yellow bell peppers, seeded and sliced into thin strips
1 large onion, sliced into thin strips (I like a sweet onion)
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 tablespoons butter

Melt butter with olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Add veggies and turn heat up a little, and saute veggies until desired doneness. I like them so they're nicely carmelized.

Guacamole:
Two avocados
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon sea salt
Juice of 2 limes

Cut avocados in half, discard pit, and scoop out insides. Mix all ingredients together, smashing the avocado with a fork. Cover tightly with plastic wrap to help keep the guacamole from turning brown from oxygen.

Serve fajitas with the guacamole, diced tomatos, cheddar cheese, sour cream and Romaine lettuce. If desired, teff flour tortillas are gluten free and bend easily for wrapping.

Enjoy your fajitas!

Getting Your Just Desserts

I read an online article from a well-known magazine a couple of weeks ago about gluten intolerance and desserts. I'm not going to name the magazine because when I tried to find that particular article again today, I couldn't find it. But it's not the magazine itself I want to talk about today, but rather the subject matter of the article.

Before I start, let me point out that I'm going to use the term "gluten intolerance" to cover any intolerance with gluten, including Celiac disease, non-Celiac gluten intolerance, or a wheat allergy. The article discussed a situation in which you are a guest at someone's home for dinner. It stated that a person could use their gluten intolerance diagnosis to get out of eating most any dessert. This of course implies that the dessert will be something glutenous. The purpose of using your diagnosis of a gluten intolerance was not to keep from getting a full-on glutenization, but rather to maintain any weight loss you've had with the gluten free lifestyle.

Say WHAT? The gluten free lifestyle is not this great weight loss program, that we'll one day reach our goal weight, get over the intolerance, and go back to eating gluten-filled food. Some people do lose weight once they adapt the gluten free lifestyle, but that's not the primary reason we live this way. We live this way because we're sick and tired of being sick and tired!

You know how quickly people will jump on bandwagons, especially when it comes to diets. There have been too many to count -- Adkins, Adkins revised, South Beach, Mayo Clinic, the blood type diet -- the list goes on and on. Please don't tell me that the gluten free "diet" is going to get thrown in the mix as a really terrific way to lose weight. I'm not trying to begrudge anyone from losing weight at all. But I don't want food manufacturers and restaurant chefs to get careless with proper gluten free food preparation. Cross-contamination is a very big issue, and they need to be very aware and knowledgable about it.

Whenever I'm invited to someone's home for dinner, I make sure I go over the menu and ingredients with the host. I answer a lot of questions about whether this ingredient is safe or not. I'm very fortunate that all of my friends are open to listening and do everything they can to provide a safe meal for me.

Yes, this makes me very high maintenance to cook for. But I'd rather discuss the menu long before we reach that final dessert course. I don't want to have to refuse chocolate cake, but would rather enjoy chocolate-covered strawberries.

I don't treat the gluten free lifestyle as a diet. It is how I live everyday. And my lifestyle includes desserts!