Feeling Flawed

gluten free, a diet?

I have heard of “the gluten-free” diet a good bit recently. It is a completely hilarious concept to me. However, I am not going to deny that I have lost weight since going gluten free. Because I have. Not anything drastic of course, but still. The reason I lost weight, however had nothing to do with the mere fact that gluten was no longer in my food. 

I lost weight going gluten free because I had to make a permanent lifestyle, or in this case eating style, change. Gluten was not miraculously making me fatter. It was the foods as a whole that I was eating. The foods that I no longer could eat because they contained gluten, I replaced with healthier gluten free options. Now that is not to say that I couldn’t have replaced them with unhealthy options because I could. That was a choice I made. Gluten does happen to be in a lot of higher calorie foods that are not essential but are delicious. That is why I weighed more; not because of gluten. 

It is just like the no carb diets. People don’t lose weight because they have eliminated carbs. They lose weight because the majority of the foods they eliminated because of carbs, were also unnecessary and full of empty calories. 

Going gluten free works when you make a lifestyle change that is permanent. If it was temporary as the term diet suggests then you must also understand that the results too are temporary.

People if you don’t want to be fat, then think about what you are eating. That is all that a good diet really does. It makes you think about the foods you are eating and guides you to make better food choices. 

Choosing a staple food item

Avoiding cross-contamination

Gluten Free July 4

Gluten Free 4th of July

Gluten Free Rice Krispies

Reading Labels

PF Changs

Frozen Yogurt

"Not that Bad"

Traveling

Transitioning

Eating Out

Video posts!

Waffles!

I have been sick lately, and that is never fun. No need to mention the glorious details, but for the fist time since being gluten free I was faced with a dilemma. I mean, what is a more quintessential feel better food than chicken noodle soup? Because it has gluten I was forced to come up with another comfort food.

Easier said than done. But I finally found it, waffles! Waffles are one of life's wonder foods. Crispy, soft, fluffy, delicious. And a little warm maple syrup on top: fabulous.

Of course traditional waffles have gluten, but I have found the perfect gluten free waffle mix. It is from the company Pamela's. I have confirmed it with a couple of  gluten eaters, and they are just as good as regular glutenous waffles.

I use a Cuisinart waffle iron. They always turn out beautifully. But they do take a bit longer to cook than traditional waffles. I make them by the directions on the package. I usually half it and it is perfect for one person.

I highly recommend you give them a try.

Peanut Butter Delights

Peanut butter delights, chocolate oatmeal cookies, no bakes, whatever you want to call them, they are nothing short of amazing.

And the best part is, they can be made gluten free! So many desserts either aren't gluten free or lose a lot in gluten free translation, but these are just absolutely the same. The only thing that makes having them be gluten free difficult is finding gluten free rolled oats.

Oats do not have gluten in them. The reason they are usually lumped into the NEVER eat category is because typically where they are processed other grains containing gluten slip in and no one minds. I use certified gluten free oatmeal packs. It is tedious ripping open all those packs, but well worth it in the end. Just make sure they are not flavored.

This is the recipe I use:

2 1/2 c. quick oatmeal
1/2 c. peanut butter
2 tsp. vanilla
1 stick butter
2 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
4 tbsp. cocoa

Measure oatmeal and peanut butter in bowl and set aside. Put butter in pot and melt. Add sugar, milk and cocoa and boil 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat and quickly add oatmeal, peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until mixed. Then drop onto wax paper in the shape of cookies. 

I will not post a picture of the cookies, because they are not what I would call attractive. To be quite honest they look a bit like a cow pie. But that is not the point, they taste fantasmic. This is one case where your mom was right, don't judge a book by its cover. 

Quinoa for dinner

I am always trying to branch out in the foods I eat. I tend to just get frustrated with food in general and that makes it hard to get motivated to track down a meal.


My mom sent me a box of Quinoa a while back. I just shoved it in the cabinet, because frankly I had no idea what it was or even how to pronounce its name (I have since learned it is pronounced KEEN-wah). I was browsing around and found a recipe that sounded good. By the sounds of the recipe I expected the quinoa to be something like rice.


Here is the recipe:

1 cup quinoa (rinsed)

2 cups water or chicken broth

1 medium carrot shredded

1 stalk celery diced

½ medium white or yellow onion diced

1 clove garlic finely chopped

¼ cup frozen peas

¼ cup frozen corn kernels

1Tbs Olive oil

Bring water or chicken broth to a boil, add rinsed quinoa, set temperature to low, let simmer about 15 minutes or until all the liquid is absorbed

In a Large skillet on medium heat sauté the carrot, celery, onion and garlic in olive or other oil, until onion is translucent about 5-7 minutes

Add the cooked quinoa to the skillet, add the peas and corn, gently toss together till well mixed, cook 2-3 minutes to heat through

Simple enough.

Well, I must say, it was an utter disappointment. I am admittedly a picky eater so I suppose to some the dish may be more appealing. I was dedicated and followed the recipe but wah wah, still terrible. The quinoa I cooked in chicken broth, but even after it was in with the veggies it was basically like eating curdled broth. The quinoa has an odd texture and no desirable flavor of its own. I think that this dish would be better if I made it with rice. 

Perhaps there are other ways to prepare this odd grain, but I don't think I'll be attempting it any time soon. I think I will stick with rice which has a superior texture and taste. 

It all started with a coincidence

Let me start by saying that I absolutely love PF Chang’s. Long before being gluten free I loved their food. Now that I am gluten free I adore them. PF Chang’s is a very gluten free friendly restaurant, and that is something hard to come by. Consequently I eat there ALL the time. Just another perk of being gluten free. . .

My experience the other night definitely does not reflect a typical adventure there. But here it is, enjoy: 

The other night my boyfriend, Lawson, took me out to PF Chang’s. We made a reservation---which is highly necessary at such a delicious place---and were in the car driving over when my dad called. I decided to answer. As it turned out, my dad was in town picking up a friend from the airport, and coincidentally they decided to eat at PF Chang’s too. My dad couldn’t remember exactly where it was and the next thing I knew they were crashing our date night.

Because I’m away at school I don’t see my dad all that much so I didn’t really mind, and  Frank, was visiting from Cairo and is always hysterical. Besides, my dad is always generous and I knew he would pick up the tab.

We were seated by the hostess and the moderately awkward small talk began. Luckily everyone got along well. But eventually it became apparent that not only had we not yet had a server come by, but one wasn’t coming. Finally we managed to flag down a server and ask where our’s was. He was polite and took our drink order. After we got our drinks the manager came by and apologized, apparently our waiter had gone home unexpectedly. To make it up to us he gave us several appetizers. It was very nice---PF Chang’s always so classy. 

None of the appetizers were gluten free, but one, the lettuce wraps, had a gluten free option and we had it switched. Someone brought out the appetizers, one of which were these delicious looking fried snap peas (but of course I cannot attest to their actual taste). They, as always, clarified that the lettuce wraps were gluten free. We were all chatting and enjoying ourselves, and I was just finishing my second wrap (oink!) when yet another server came by, declaring, “here are your gluten free lettuce wraps.” Suddenly my stomach hit the floor and I instantly knew I had been GLUTENED! I looked at the plate the wraps I had been eating were on, and the one critical thing was missing. 

At PF Chang’s because they are so good about gluten and avoiding contamination they even put gluten free items on a separately styled plate. Their regular plates are white and the gluten free feature their logo. There was no logo on my plate. I had forgotten to check and just assumed the server had brought the correct dish. 

Everyone, including the server, were mortified. And of course being the baby I am, and knowing the inevitable agony lying ahead of me, just went into panic mode. I had to excuse myself. I planned to purge, but I just wasn’t man enough to do it, and besides the damage was done. 

The manager came by yet again and apologized. He said he could sort-of relate because he had a friend with Celiacs. I appreciated the sentiment, but how bright spirited could I really be knowing I had just eaten poison? Who knows what kind of face I was making while attempting to seem cool about it. 

My dinner finally came, and on its designated plate. 

PF Chang’s took care of the ticket. They did not have to do that, but yet again they are a classy place. 

As it turned out the evening was not a total bust, and the unfortunate parts were not the fault of my dad or Frank; so a success there. And, I did still made it out without having to pay. . . 

OH, and a side note: it you can ever go to PF Chang’s I highly recommend it. Do not let this discourage you as I have been there countless times and this was the first time something like this happened. But most importantly, when you do go, get the chicken fried rice, it is the BEST! (I always get it, literally) 

The Beginning

I don’t exactly know where to begin. I don’t know how to start this blog just like I didn’t know how to start being gluten free. The beginning is always the hardest part. It is never going to be easy to find out that 99% of the food you have been eating you no longer can. When I found out it was like learning how to eat again, only this time my mom wasn't there to figure it out for me. 

I have been gluten free for about 4 months now. I wish I could say that I have it all figured out now, but that would be nothing but a lie. I still make stupid mistakes that get me sick. Not to mention all the times I am soo tempted to cheat, and then later my stomach reminds me why I went gluten free in the first place. But it can be so difficult sometimes to look at all this delicious food that I no longer can eat. I am waiting for the day when I have forgotten what all those tasty glutenous things taste like, so maybe I won't still want them. 

Ok, enough of being a Debbie-Downer. There are the up sides too. They may be a little less obvious, but they are there. Like the fact that most all processed food is out. It may be terribly inconvenient, but certainly better for the body. I think I will get my comeuppance on my friends, and gluten eaters, when we all reach out 40s and I haven't gained weight! I am counting on that one. 

I am going to do my best to document my further gluten free experiences as both an attempt to help others, and perhaps provide some entertainment in the process. I will share restaurants, recipes, meal ideas, brands, everything. I will share all the insights that I come by.

Christine