Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are....

Gluten can be found in some places that you may not think to look. Make sure you are aware of all hidden sources of gluten when you are living a gluten free lifestyle.

Here are some I have come across...

·                     Envelope Seals

·                     Medication

·                     Vitamins

·                     Supplement Drinks

·                     Sunscreen

·                     Deli Meats

·                     Gravy Mixes

·                     Broth

·                     Spices

·                     Turkey Basting

·                     Pet Food

·                     Baking Powder

·                     Beer

·                     Licorice

·                     Marinades

·                     Carmel Coloring

·                     Communion Wafers

·                     Boxed Rice Dishes

·                     Shampoo/Conditioner

·                     Lipstick

·                     Chapstick

·                     Instant Coffee/Tea

**Remember, not every brand is the same so check some labels if you are concerned with anything that I have listed.  Share with me if you find brands that work!

Dining out at gluten free friendly resturants

Here is a list of places that offer gluten free options- hopefully you will recognize some of these in your area!

PF Chang's

Aurelio's Pizza

Beggar's Pizza

Noodles & Co (rice noodles)

Buffalo Wild Wings (traditional wings)

Olive Garden

Copper's Hawk

Jimmy John's (unwich)

Biaggi's Restorante Italiano

OMG It's Gluten Free!

Chili's Bar & Grill

Chipolte Mexican Grill

Old Spaghetti Factory

Weber Grill

Wildfire

Outback Steakhouse

It is always important to talk to your server about safe meals for you to order.  Some restaurants will send out the cook to discuss options that are available to you.  Restaurants may or may not have an allergy friendly menu but they should still be able to tell you what menu items contain gluten.

This link is also a great tool for everyone on the GF diet!  I am sure you will find a new helpful resource!
http://celiac.org/images/stories/PDF/gfresources.pdf

Feel free to add some of your favorite GF friendly places to eat!

Is your campus GF friendly?!

Yes, you say? Consider yourself very lucky!

For everyone else, its not too late to start!

Here is a simple to-do list to start off with:

1.) Find other students that are GF- faculty members count too!

2.) Host a meeting with everyone to discuss what you want to come out of this new journey.

3.) Go to the dining halls and cafeteria and record everything that is GF friendly (some schools may have their menus online).

4.) With everything you just recorded, see if you can create a full, complete menu for 5 days.

5.) Look for the areas where you are missing important components to a normal diet (protein, whole grains, etc) …all categories are essential- breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and dessert.

6.) Make an appointment for a few of your group members to meet with the director of the dining halls to discuss the possibility of adding GF products.

7.) It will benefit you if you have a list of names of students who are GF to better represent you.

8.) Remind them that these students are paying the same price for their meal plan and it is not fair if they can’t eat as much of a variety as everyone else.

9.) If everything works out, consider starting a new club on campus to promote Celiac awareness and recruit more students....free samples is always a great way to start!

10.) Udi’s Gluten Free Foods is very college-style friendly and easy to work with! Contact them for some helpful tools or provide their link to your school to order their products!
https://foodservice.udisglutenfree.com/cart/add

Snack for your backpack!

When I leave for class everyday, I make sure I always have a snack or two in my backpack.  I never know if I am going to be gone all day or if I will have a chance to eat something GF. 

Here are some things that are easy to grab:

Dried fruit

Carrot sticks

Bananas

Grapes

Trail mix-  I prefer to make it myself.  Buy sweet and salty things you can mix together and divide it into       snack size zip lock bags, one batch lasts a month or so!

Pistachios

Almonds

Popcorn

Nature Valley granola bars

Chex cereal- the cereal boxes also have a lot of great recipes for gluten free snack mixes

Rice cakes

String cheese

Fruit snacks

Rice crackers

Almond crackers

After I go shopping, I try to portion out a variety of snacks and store them in the pantry.  It makes mornings much easier!

Feel free to add comments of your favorite snack to have on hand!

Life Changing Experience

Where do I even begin?!

The amount of pain and struggle I suffered as a child has definitely created me into the person I am today.  I can remember complaining of pain when I was younger and never getting answers from doctors.  I learned two things at a young age; how to swallow a big pill and how to adapt to living with pain- something that my peers did not quite understand.  I have an amazing family and parents who are miracle workers so they did the best they could for me.  I knew life could always be worse and that there are sicker children and adults who were worse off in the world.  I accepted the fact that I would have a headache everyday and my body would ache from the moment I woke up until the time I laid restlessly in bed at night.

Days of "normal" pain went on and off for years.  Until I went away to college, then everything seemed to hit hard.  Not only did I have the usual changes every freshman adjusts to, but I also had a constant migraine.  Migraines where I couldn't walk outside without the sun hurting; where I had to take breaks from homework to throw up; where the only food I could keep down was Pepsi and saltine crackers.  I never thought I would get better until one day I finally met the rheumatologist that I had always been looking for.  After being disappointed by several doctors, I finally found one who helped.  I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia (long-term, body-wide pain and tenderness in the joints, muscles, tendons and other soft tissues) and was treated right away.  I started feeling great!  But of course, not good enough... when the migraines came back my junior year.

The same symptoms and problems showed up again.  This time, the migraine was not going anywhere. After 2 months straight of having a migraine, I was desperate.  I gave up everything but school.  Everyone just blamed it on my Fibromyalgia but my parents were determined to figure out another cause.  The amount of research and reading the two of them did was incredible- I was too sick to help.  Then one day my dad came across THE GLUTEN FREE DIET.  Everything he was reading was like reading a personal life story about me.  He called me right away and told me to look in my kitchen and read what ingredients I was eating- and sure enough, only two things were gluten free.


That was the start of my new life.  I came home to get help from my parents and we realized the yogurt in the fridge said gluten free and we knew of Chex cereal, so that is exactly what I ate for two days while we did some more research.  I did not know anyone to ask for help but I had the best teammates I could ask for.  Between my parents and I we spent hours in the grocery store reading labels- celebrating when we found things to buy and crying when we realized I could not eat most of everything I was used to.


But it was all worth it- every struggle and tear.  My migraines went away within 48 hours and my body started feeling more normal than ever.  I was so excited about new diet and adapted to it right away.  I even changed my major mid way through my junior year to Dietetics!  I felt like I finally found my calling and wanted to follow it through.  Of course there have been struggles ever since but I know the consequences of eating gluten and know there is no reason to pay for the crime.


Now enough about the past- I am really looking forward to blog about my ways of eating gluten free and hoping to really help someone else out there.  Even if it is a simple recipe or a new place to eat- I hope this brings you something new!


Thanks for reading! :)