Food Glorious Food

I have not been having anything really happen on the MS front, just the typical tiredness, intermittent numbing and lost vision.  ; D

BUT,  I am fully into my new food regimen (dairy and gluten free) and wanted to talk a little about what I have learned and my experience so far, at least all two weeks worth.

1. Make sure that you have support for the diet changes.  I am so thankful that P loves me enough to make the changes in his life as well.  He has been extra careful not to contaminate anything I eat by washing his hands and making sure not to stick his gluten covered knife in the PB or margarine.  He has also managed to eat every dinner as gluten & dairy-free, making sure that I get the leftovers (over him) for lunch, since I cannot "run out" to get a gluten/dairy free meal easily.  Some family has already complained about my changes, so it is good that at home I feel supported.
2. Plan your meals ahead. I learned very quickly that if you do not plan, then you go without.  Nothing like coming home after a full day of work and whatever else comes your way to find you have no plans for the meal.  Paul and I sit down together, plan out the week's meals and then go for a grandiose shopping spree.  I also purchased two allergy cookbooks, one gluten free woman who used her slow cooker every day for a year and made a gluten-free slow cooker cookbook from it (which allows me to have dinner ready by the time I come home) and another family friendly recipe book (which has easy to make gluten & dairy free recipes, easy being the key word).  This helps with the transition of it all.
3. Make sure to take your supplements. Well, this is not for everyone, but after all of my blood tests I found out I was anemic, B12 deficient, and D3 deficient.  I am also no longer eating yogurt (and I could not stomach the soy yogurts) so I needed to get my "probiotic" acidophilus as well.  I am currently taking a Omega-3,6,9 supplement (for the health of my nerves), D3 supplement, Multi-vitamin, and an acidophilus complex.
4. Don't concentrate on what you are missing.  It would be easy to get sad about the things that I cannot eat anymore, but instead I am trying to focus on what I can eat.  I am forcing myself to make made from scratch meals every day and guess what, my belly has actually appreciated it.  I won't be surprised if I lose some weight with the strict diet that I am following.
5. Get a food that you can treat yourself with.   Right now I am obsessed with the Gluten, Dairy, Nut, Soy free Enjoy Life Snickerdoodle cookies that P found me at Giant Eagle.  They are delicious and have great ingredients.  Even P stole a few and could not believe how good they were.
6. Lastly, know that you are taking care of yourself.  I was never a strict diet watcher, not super concerned what was in food (I liked healthy foods but I loved buffallo wing night as well).  I was surprised to find that gluten is put in things like salt and dressings to thicken them up cheaply.  I was also surprised that gluten is used in a lot of preservatives (almost all of your packaged foods), so if anything, I am even more happy to have made this decision.  Even pre-packaged gluten-free foods are for the most part fairly healthy, simple ingredients, so I know it has to be better for me. 

BTW, I am eating leftovers for lunch right now and it is delicious.  If you need a good hearty slow cooker soup, try out this Pizza Soup I am eating (from my gluten-free slow cooker cookbook).  YUMMY!  I added olives and nixed the cheese to make mine perfect for me.

 

BTW, those are gluten-free rice noodles. 

Tinkyada is the only brand to try (otherwise you will have a mushy mess).

Later!