Celiac is all about the wheat, and the rye and the barley..

Basically, it is all about food. These days my life revolves around food. It evolves around it too!
A few weeks before Thanksgiving, I received some very disturbing news. It seems that my severe joint pain and over all exhaustion and nutrition deficiencies were related to my diet. But not like I thought it was. I imagined them saying, you have been ingesting chemicals, toxins and now your nerves are destroyed. You can imagine my surprise when I heard, the gluten in your diet is destroying you. When my dr wanted to test me for the gene, I thought he was crazy. But I said, sure, what harm can it do?
Hearing the words celiac was a shock, an utter and complete shock. I barely heard the rest of our conversation and I really don’t remember much even now. I was handed a pile of papers on things like , where it is hiding, what foods have it and what foods are safe. I didn’t know that soy sauce had wheat in it. I was told to call back and make an appt with their nurse to go over all the foods and get some basic information. I have yet to call. In the meanwhile, we had Thanksgiving and then after that was insane work. I am pretty well booked solid for the next two and a half weeks.
I have to go out of town with work next week. I am really nervous about how to manage this. At home it is simple. I have rice crackers, rice pasta, making my own bread, (I will have to talk about that one later, adventures in baking) and have safe cereals. My desk holds some nice Japanese meals, all gluten free. But I don’t know what I am going to do on this trip.
This experience has brought lots of stress, trying to do a holiday without ruining it for everyone. Trying to find out if any of my medications have gluten in them, looking at the ingredients of everything in my pantry. It really is just crazy.
But there has been great joy as well. I have waxed poetic over coconut flour. I have read books that were so much fun and so interesting. There is some really interesting people out there! Oh and when I left a message with a flour company, as I couldn’t get my flour delivered, I met the nicest person. She and I talked on the phone for nearly an hour about baking success or failures. She had some suggestions and tips for how to get the best out of their products. What was really nice was the fact that the person I was talking to, actually knew the author and talks to her almost daily. Real people, with real lives, making real food!
So, yes, it has been insanely stressful, but on the other hand, it has been kind of fun and kind of rewarding.