To the loudmouthed and ignorant

Every so often, I see a post online about someone complaining about people being picky about gluten-free eating. In most cases, it is some big-name chef, someone who ought to be better informed about food in general anyway. And that makes me MAD!
The most recent one I've seen was tweeted about by one of my favorite authors, Laurel K. Hamilton. Bryan Morcom, chef at Restaurant Alma, Minneapolis, stated that the one culinary trend he wishes would die is "gluten-free" because "we get five or six people coming in each night asking for gluten free." Ok, so while I live far, far away from Minneapolis, I can guarentee I would never go near any place this guy cooked at. My diet is not a "trend", and I'm not just doing it because Zoey Deschanel does. I eat gluten free because if I don't, I will have crippling symptoms now and potential for deadly complications later. Another idiot chef I read about a while back, Damian Cardone of Colorado, admitted to PURPOSELY contaminating his customers' food with gluten. I don't know if any legal measures were ever taken, but you better believe there would have been if he had, say, slipped a shrimp into the food of someone with a shellfish allergy. Let me allow this genius to speak for himself:
“Gluten free is bull****!! Flour and bread have been a staple of life for thousands, THOUSANDS of years. People who claim to be gluten intolorent dont realize that its all in there disturbed liitle heads. People ask me for gluten free pasta in my restaurant all the time, I tell em sure, Then I serve serve em our pasta, Which I make from scratch with high gluten flour. And you know what? nothing, NOTHING! ever happens! People leave talking about how good they feel gluten free and guess what, They just had a full dose! Idiots! may God help the Liberal hippie idiot who’s going to ask for gluten free pasta this weekend.”

No, Mr. Cardone, may God help you and Mr. Morcom and other ignorants like you when you face the consequences of alienating one of the most commonly diagnosed food sensitivities in the United States. Heaven forbid you or someone you care about develop celiac and have to go on my "trendy" diet.

Outside info from: http://www.twincities.com/ci_20223007?fb_comment_id=fbc_10150676694556702_21771078_10150678810326702#f25ddb32fd265a
http://www.glutenfreebulletin.com/colorado-chef-purposely-contaminating-people-with-gluten-34672.html

Taxes

This year, I've decided to itemize my medical expenses, after discovering halfway through last year that the difference in the cost of my gluten-free food from normal food could be written off. At my last doctor's appointment, I took in a simple form letter stating that I had been diagnosed with Celiac and that the only course of treatment available was to remain on a gluten-free diet for life. My doctor had it typed up on letterhead a
nd signed a copy for my records, in case I am ever audited. (If you're looking for what medical expenses are claimable, may I refer you to http://www.irs.gov/publications/p502/ar02.html#en_US_publink1000178852. It is sort of hidden, under "Weight Loss Programs")

I made my first gluten-free shopping trip of the new year just last week, and once I crunched the numbers, the difference was amazing: nearly $50 on one trip, and that not even a big stock-up. Here's my receipt and my calculations:

I understand that may not be readable, but to give you the gist, after purchasing my gluten-free items, I took a notebok around the store and wrote down the price of a comparable item, as well as the weight of the product. The weight was important, as my gluten-free bread comes in a loaf that is about half the size of your normal one. I calculated the price per ounce, and then used the weight on the gluten-free product to calculate a comparable price. From there, it was easy to determine the difference (however, if I ever get a tablet, this whole process would be much easier with spreadsheet software). The most pricey items, as was to be expected, were the bread and the Bisquik. I can't wait to see the difference when I buy pasta, that's sure to be a stunner as well.

Now, for me, this is worth my time. You can only deduct medical expenses above 7.5% of your gross income. For me, with as low an income as I receive, this would pretty much equal my monthly trip to the grocery store, plus the copays for my required doctor's visits. For you, it may or may not be worth it. If there are multiple people in your family who have to go gluten free, this may be a real life saver when it comes to those expensive grocery trips!

Happy Valentines Day!

Yes, I realize its technically no longer Valentines Day, but I just finished editing this vlog about cooking gluten free for a romantic meal. Enjoy:

http://youtu.be/iziuWFvSCZU

Mexican Chicken Chili!

So I needed to make soup for a church dinner we had today, and none of the recipes I found seemed appealing to me. So, I started throwing things in a Crock Pot, and, whaddya know, it turned out delicious! Here's the recipe:

2 16 oz jars of salsa
1 1/2 blocks of velveeta-type cheese, cut in little cubes
1 can of black beans, drained
1/2 medium green bell pepper, diced
1/2 medium red bell pepper, diced
6 large chicken breasts, cooked and diced.
1 qt of tomato juice

Throw everything together in a large crock pot (leave the tomato juice til last and only add what fits. I had about a quarter of my bottle left) and cook for at least two hours on high. The longer it cooks, the yummier it will be. Make sure you stir every half hour or so, so the cheese doesn't burn.

Enjoy, folks! Add some tortila chips if you like, and you have a spicy gluten-free lunch!

Two Diets at Once

Since it's the new year, I'm currently joining the millions of people who have resolved to lose weight. According to my WiiFit (with which I have a love/hate relationship), I need to drop about 40 pounds to be at a healthy weight. I've been at this point once before in my life, and I did it. The difference now? I'm already on a diet.
An article I read recently said that a full third of celiac patients were overweight or obese within the first two years of going gluten free. The article pointed to added sweeteners and salt in gluten free food, used to make it taste more like the real thing, but I would point to another culprit. Despite having been on a gluten free diet for three years, I still feel deprived on a regular basis. Throw in a further attempt to watch what I eat, and I start equating myself with those little starving children in Ethiopia. My "diets" tend to not work out so well.
So, while I am watching my food intake this go-around, I'm going to focus on physical activity instead. That way, I won't end up cracking over gluten-free crackers this time.

It isn't all in your guts

So, after a conversation with a gastroenterological intern in which I'm pretty sure I taught him more than my doctor does, I decided to dedicate today's post to discussing the possible symptoms of celiac. It is estimated that one in every hundred people in the US has celiac, but that nearly 97% of those are undiagnosed. A big reason for this is that most US doctors are trained to see it as a purely digestive disease, when it is an autoimmune disease that affects the whole body.

When my celiac was discovered, I was displaying the classic symptoms: nausea, diarrhea, constipation, gas, stomach pain, and pronounced weight loss. However, as I look back, I can spot other symptoms that I can recognize going back ten years or more. These are symptoms I see return when I slip up, and now I have a reason for them. Some of them, for your edification:

• stunted growth. Ok, so I'm done growing now and can't grow anymore, but when I was a toddler, my pediatrician estimated that I would grow to nearly 6' tall. I'm 5'3" on a good day.



• migraine headaches. I mean the kind that make you wish you were dead. After one week of bad choices, I had one that literally made me pass out on my cousin's couch.



• anemia. I take enough iron supplement to make me magnetic, but I still get anemic "that time of the month". When I was a teen, I passed out on stage from it.



• joint pain and easily broken bones. I've broken toes, fingers, my nose, and most impressively, my ocular orbit, from rather minor accidents. I now get microfractures in my feet, shins, and wrists that are the result of my poor absorbtion of calcium.



• ADHD. There is a reason why they now suggest a gluten free diet for children and adults with ADHD. When I fall off the wagon, I struggle to focus and to gain impulse control, which affects my work, my studies, and my relations with others.



• A whole host of other mental issues. When I've been cheating, I'm more prone to depression, to anxiety attacks, and, according to my little brother, being a total jerk.



• Skin problems. The textbook celiac-related skin disease is herpetitis dermaformis, but I've also noticed that gluten aggravates my usually mild exzema.



• Reproductive issues. While I'm not here yet, it's one of my big fears. Many women are not diagnosed with celiac until they try and try to conceive and can't. Have you seen the episode of House about the woman with celiac and her baby? Scary stuff.

So hopefully you've stuck with me, and maybe learned a little more about how celiac can present itself. What kind of symptoms do you have, or do your family or friends have?

Why Cracked Over Crackers?

About this time four years ago, I started getting sick almost every time I ate. I felt nauseous and my stomach would feel like someone was stabbing me. Obviously, this served as the most effective crash diet of my life; I dropped 20 pounds in around a month. With my mother's Crohn's Disease in mind, I was rushed off to the doctor, where I was poked, prodded, stuck and tubed within an inch of my sanity. Finally, around September, I was diagnosed with Celiac Sprue, an autoimmune disease that causes me to have highly unpleasant side effects any time I eat anything containing gluten, a compound found in wheat, barley, rye, and all sorts of other sneaky things. If I wanted to be able to eat without excruciating pain again, I was going to have to change my entire diet.
At that point, had it not been for a good friend, whose daughter had been living gluten-free for several years, I would have starved. I viewed every bite of food that went into my mouth with fear, and hadn't a clue what foods at the supermarket were safe and at the same time didn't taste like dirt. My friend was my providing angel. She gave me a big bag full of gluten-free food, complete with homemade goodies, and a book that detailed what I needed to know about going gluten-free.
I've now been gluten-free (conditionally) for three years and some change. I decided that I'd like to share what I've learned over the past couple years with others. So if you're interested, stick around!

A little side note: the reason why this blog is called "Cracked Over Crackers" is because of a breakdown I had early on in my gluten-free experience:
Me (out of nowhere, breaking into hysterical tears)
My mom: What's wrong sweetie?
Me (still crying hysterically): I'm so hungry! And all I want is a cracker that doesn't taste like a friggin ricecake!
My boyfriend (when hearing about this later): So you're telling me you cracked over crackers?