It has been a while

I haven't posted since the holidays, because they are times to enjoy family and friends and food.

I did find out how great most of the products from GLUTINO are. They have prezels that taste real. with those my wife was able to make her "nuts and bolts" Chex mix with rice chex that are now GF.

I have found that it is not too hard to cater all your meals to be GF. It is still a limited dinning options out of the house.

But Bards Beer is the best thing.

Its been a while

I had not posted about the implications of this diet and my career. Those who know me know why this is an issue, but all i can say right now is that every thing is going well.

I have not had any anaphalaxis since I was diagnosed, although I have become obsessive about exposure. I know that if I am near flour i may sneeze. And I think my face gets a bit flush if i am in the bread aisle. apart from that i have been wheat free since July. I feel great. I lost 10 pounds initially and gained back 3. My diet is not as healthy as i was at first and i have been running 2 miles a day. Work, travel and weather make easy excuses to not go for a jog , I dispise tread mills.

I havent really fond any great new wheat less items.

But i do like the
Chocolate Thunder From Down Under at OUTBACK. It is a wheatfree brownie and Ice Cream. always a good combo.

Travel Tips

Road Trips- are not easy if you avoid Wheat and MSG, so i plan ahead. I stocked up on

Cliff Bar- Good flavors and are better then Fast food.
Beef Jerkey- Be cautious most has msg or wheat from soy sauce. Jack Daniels is safe.
Potato Chips- Look for all natural brands like Mrs Vickers and Cape Cod and stick to the basic Flavors most other have MSG.
Fritos- Salty and Good
Cashews- Salty and Good
Taco Bell- Hard Taco is safe for wheat but not MSG.
Fruits
Rice Cakes


Also look for healthy places to eat instead of gas stations and fast food places a half hour out of the car feels better when your in a calm place.

I have not fund anything that is as simple as a sandwich for a meal replacement. A salad is a salad but most dressings contain msg and that really leaves ceaser as a only option. Vinegar is also out, so dry salad if fine every now and then but not always filling.

Turkey Dinner

So how horrible would it be to not have the great sleepy meal. Well I found a way to keep the healthy benefits of butter soaked bread and salt. yes Stuffing!!! It was pretty simple actually i just looked at my Mother-In-Laws Recipe and took out the bread crumbs. and replaced them rice bread cubed. added some of my own seasonings and a packet of Crock Pot Chicken seasonings. And guess what it is stuffing, and it tastes good. for the rest of the meal well that's pretty easy too just avoid flour, I used corn meal in the bag for the turkey instead of flour.

But my secret to a plump moist turkey that is never dry is " Hard Apple Cider" I add a ounce for every pound of turkey. I also use a flavor injector to put the cider right in the breast meat. I stumbled upon this technique about 4 years ago, and it has been great every time. The other part is to use the oven bag, cheating my Mom would say, but it keeps the turkey moist and traps in the apple flavor.

Restaurants

More and more restaurants have Allergy Menus, but very few do it well.

Sushi- Not any specific place but bring your own soy sauce and your fine.

Outback- Best menu for Gluten free is full and their waiters are aware of the issues, their ribs and steaks are great, but no more Bloomin' Onions. Their prices are normal to high.

Legal Sea Foods- Has a commitment to gluten free eating and again a full menu, Their staff is extremely knowledgeably and helpful. Each plate is washed separately to prevent cross contamination. Their manager stops by each time to see how the dinner is. Worth every penny. and you'll drop a couple.

Chilli's- Their allergy menu is paper and servers are not well informed. Not only that but their ribs were not nearly as good as Outback. Be careful of MSG.

Chipotle- Get the burrito bowl and everything else is safe. I cant find out about their chips.
Quboda- same as above, wait they are two separate restaurants?? hmm i couldn't tell.

Boston Market- Their chicken, turkey and sirloin are safe, most of their sides are safe, but you should check their website.

Taco Bell- Hard Taco, is the only thing you can get, but again high levels of MSG.

Of course you can always still go out to eat at other places, stick to simple items like steaks, vegetables, salads, fish and rice. Look for natural type foods.

Replacement Foods

As the wheat unions would call them Scabs, but they are food that are almost like the original. Some things are so close unless you had the original next to the replacement you would not know, others are so far from close that you wonder how they can call it the same.

The best way to look at this, is try to find out what you can eat, and look to those foods as a primary diet, OK well that's is a perfect world. But there are times when you want some "normal" food. Here are a few ideas that can help you.

Spaghetti-Everyone loves pasta with a thick sauce, a bit of garlic and fresh herbs, good news you can still have it. Yes as it turns outs pasta is just a vehicle for the sauce. We have tried a few different blends of noodles. Quinoa, Corn, Rice, and blends of each all taste about the same, their cost availability varies, but most local super markets stock them in their organic or regular aisle.
cost $2-$3 a standard box

Bread- Nothing compares to the Wonder Bread, what we do have is a dry dense never spoiling bread thing. It is not good, but can be eaten. It is best when toasted lightly with butter. But I do not recommend a sandwich, garlic bread with cheese is as good as it can get. Brown Rice Bread is from Trader Joe's, and Gluten Free Bread is from Whole Foods both are about same price $3 a loaf.

Mac & Cheese- Annie's Rice Pasta and Cheese is 80% of Kraft flavor and is good for a afternoon snack. about $2.50 a box so 4 times the price of Kraft. Is it worth it??? yes and no.

Pizza- Gluten Free Dough from Whole Foods about $5 a pizza, a decent replacement for pizza but it is a stronger flavor than normal pizza dough. A easier option is Rice tortillas done with a double layer taste very similar to Domino's double layer pizza without a crust. Not the same as a nice deep dish but close.

Soy Sauce- The primary ingredients is Soy, wheat and water. So a wheat free soy sauce is actually called TAMARI it has a bit stronger flavor. La Choy makes a soy sauce that is wheat free i think, but it has salt water flavor. Why do I care so much about Soy Sauce, well the answer is simple. Sushi. one of the few places you can go out to eat and be free of wheat.

Wheat Dependant Exercise Induced Anaphalxis

WDEIA- What does that even mean? Well if you search around it is vague, but a food allergy that is only activated during exercise. And then sometimes it will depend on the amount of allergen in your system.

So by definition i should be able to eat wheat and not be "active" I'm not sure what that means my only guess is if i was planning to go into a coma i could have a loaf of bread and olive oil. Luckily for me I'm not planning any comas, but that also means no wheat.

Exercise- I would have always argued that bowling is not an exercise. Any thing that is usually enjoyed with cigarettes and beer does not make me think of exercise. I could argue that some of my attacks came from fairly moderate activities like grocery shopping and furniture shopping, nothing that you could find in your local gym.

So when I initially started having attacks I thought like a guy "if i do it again it wont happen or could not be that bad all the histamine must be gone" So i kept running. And started to modify my diet.

I thought I had Exercise Induced Anaphalxis so I just adapted my exercise routine to a drink a small V-8 in the morning and limit any food. I did not even think it was food related but i avoided eating prior to exercise.

So after the Hanes incident I went to my new Dr. in Boston,and then went to an allergist. This time my blood work came back with a positive allergy for shrimp and gluten. Skin test revealed that it was wheat, so Rye and Oats were fine.

I did not get my full diagnosis until July 2008. so just over 5 years of perpetual caution and unnerving anxiety is over, solved by avoiding the most common food in the world.

So during all this time I started running more and more. As of now i run 10-15 miles a week, and don't eat any wheat. After I run my face is still blotchy and red but I can Breath, and well that's better than looking funny.

Its funny after large meals before I would have a slight wheeze or cough, or just a hard time breathing. Now I don't have an issue breathing after 5 miles of jogging. I needed to the change my fuel source, I only use Premium Fuel made of rice, corn, and potatoes.

So just because your allergic to exercise does not mean you are unable to exercise, you just need to find your trigger. Unless of course it is all exercise that you are allergic to, and i can't help you.