Adjustment and Disappointment

Just a warning, this post contains a little bit of whining on my part J

If you have read my last few posts you will note that I have been moving into the gluten-free world, not because I think it’s some great new diet that will help me lose weight, but because I have Celiac’s disease and it’s required.  I understand that some people out there think this is a way to lose weight, it isn’t, and actually, many of the replacements that are used to make baked goods are higher in calories than plain ‘ol whole wheat.

This is where I pause for a bit of a rant.  Eating out is a pain in the you know what.  I used to enjoy going out for dinner, even on WW, there were always a bunch of options for me.  Now that I have to eat GF the options are severely limited.  Even restaurants that offer a so-called GF menu offer very little on that menu.  Most of the time you will find salads and plain chicken or fish (no sauce, those always have wheat), a burger with no bun of course, I always have to ask because a good portion of restaurants put breadcrumbs in their patties.  It’s frustrating, discouraging and all of those negative things.  I have been shocked about what isn’t GF, no wonder I felt so awful all of the time, wheat is everywhere.

I had a particularly bad experience yesterday at the local Olive Garden.  My husband wanted spaghetti and meatballs that weren’t GF.  Ok, this I can do, I checked Olive Garden’s website, where they say they have a GF menu and even GF pasta (penne only).  When I get there I ask for the GF menu, it has 5 items on it, not including salad and the kids menu, two of the items are basically the same thing (pasta with marinara sauce, one is a little different because they put fresh tomatoes and garlic in the marinara sauce).  To say I was disappointed was an understatement.  Why in the world would a meat sauce contain wheat???  I make meat sauce at home all the time; there isn’t any need for wheat unless you are using it as an inexpensive filler.  When I relented and ordered one of the two pasta dishes on the menu I thought, this is ok, at least I can still eat here.  Then it arrived, it looked good at first, but it only looked good.  When I dug into my big bowl of GF pasta it wasn’t even close to fully cooked.  I couldn’t get a fork through the pasta, it wouldn’t even bend!  I was upset, my husband was mad because I was upset and I just wanted to cry.  To say that the manager was dismissive about it would be an understatement.  I’m not sure I will go out again for a long time; I’m really tired of being disappointed.

Anyway….after that I went to B&N and found some good cookbooks.  Everything I eat from now until I can convince myself that it will be ok to go out again will come from my kitchen.  I’m a better cook anyway.

On the positive side, getting back to tracking in WW is making a difference, I lost 2 pounds last week, yay!

Gluten-Free Transition and Health

My goal is to write in my blog at least every other day.  I have been bad about keeping up with it lately with good reason.  Managing stress and getting as much rest as possible have been my primary focus for the last couple of weeks.  I ended up with a sinus infection and bronchitis, and was told by my doctor that it is likely that my immune system is just plain tired right now.  So, I need to watch the stress, get lots of rest and try to stay away from germs!

The last couple of weeks have been good otherwise, I’m settling into the gluten-free thing pretty well.  I am getting good at noticing what does and doesn’t work when feeding my body.  For instance, I think I may be allergic to soy.  I’m not positive it’s an allergy, but there may be a sensitivity there.  I often have headaches after eating it, and I no longer have gluten to blame for that.  So, I’m watching the things I consume, note when I am having soy and make sure to note how I’m feeling a little later.  I had a headache after eating my chicken/veggie “fried” rice.  I’m having it for lunch today, right now I don’t have a headache, we’ll see what happens.

One good piece of news is that my body finally seems to be settling out when it comes to weight.  I have been tracking what I’m eating, entering it into my WW journal, but haven’t seen any losses, there were a couple of weeks where there were slight gains.  This past week I broke even.  I’m hoping that’s a signal that I’m finally leveling out.  Now I can get the exercise worked back in, keep on tracking, and (hopefully) see the results.

I have been doing some research on gluten-free recipes, there are a ton of resources out there, including some recipes on the WW site that look really good.  I have even discovered that there are a lot of things in the store that are GF as well.  It’s a whole new world.  I miss bread though, I’m not going to lie, whenever I smell it I am tempted.  I try to remember the pain I was in before, that usually keeps me from having anything.  I haven’t given in, and I’m getting used to the bread made with rice flour (it isn’t too bad when it’s toasted).  It’s a good thing I’m not a sandwich for lunch type of person, I usually only had toast with my eggs in the morning.

Dinners (and leftover lunches) for this week have been….Sirloin Black Bean Chili (~6 points/serving, my own recipe), Chicken and Veggie Stir Fried Rice (~7 points/serving because I opted to add in some sesame oil), Baked Pork Chops (~7 points/serving, they are covered in a great salty/sweet/sour sauce that is amazing).  When I need a side I will usually add a cooked veggie of some sort and a salad.  Sometimes I will have some potato, but not often because my husband is diabetic and they aren’t great for him.

In the next post I will share some things I have found on GF eating….happy day everyone!