She was wonderful about my dietary restrictions, too, running every item on the menu past me for safety. Since I’m still learning what I can and can’t have myself, this meant I had to look almost everything up with both of us becoming increasingly frustrated.

Finally I told her, “Look, if a food is more than one step away from requiring water or sunlight I probably can’t eat it.” That certainly seemed to simplify things. She came up with a fantastic menu, too: corn on the cob with butter, salad, baked potatoes and grilled ribeye steaks. No gluten worries on that menu, right?

I knew I was in for problems when we walked in to find she’d made a gorgeous spread of appetizers. The first thing I saw: a platter of crackers and toast rounds sitting next to a bowl of dip and plates of sliced cheese and celery sticks. Well, cool, I’d have the latter two and steer as far clear of the others as possible.

And I did steer clear, too, or at least as much as possible. Still, I felt like a jerk when I’d back away from her toddler who kept running around with a cracker in his hand and when I had to ask my husband to wipe the crumbs off my chair before we sat down for dinner. I skipped the butter on my corn, too, because I know people who don’t have to live GF don’t realize that crumbs in the stuff from that morning’s toast can mean a night of misery for someone with CD.

Oh, it was heart-breaking to skip the two beautiful desserts she’d made: an Oreo pie and some strawberry fluffy thing in a graham cracker crust. But having felt so much better over these past couple of weeks without eating gluten I wasn’t going to risk it. (Not to mention that I’ve enjoyed having lost 6 pounds in two weeks, a faster and easier loss than any weight loss pill has ever delivered.)

Still, despite her best efforts and mine, I got glutenated.

Within moments after finishing dinner I felt the bloat coming on. A gluten reaction-style bloat isn’t like a PMS bloat or even one triggered by eating too much salt. It’s painful, it’s sudden, and it signals the need to have a bathroom well away from polite society soon. I looked to my husband and told him we needed to go – now! – and he simply nodded then went back to his conversation. He, too, is still learning what it’s like for me to get glutenated now otherwise he would’ve understood the urgency.

Moments later my son began acting grumpy. He’d had very little sleep the night before and, despite my best efforts to get him to nap he hadn’t, so I somewhat expected he’d begin acting out later in the evening. Ordinarily I would’ve responded with a quiet one-on-one talk and dire threats of losing his PlayStation privileges if he didn’t snap out of it. But because I needed to get home and he’d provided me with the perfect excuse — one which wouldn’t offend my hostess — I could’ve kissed him (except he’d eaten the crackers).

Halfway home I began itching. Then the stomach cramps grew excruciating. By the time we pulled into the driveway my head was throbbing and I couldn’t think straight. Just getting out of the van and walking toward the bathroom was exhausting. Then the sneezing and hacking started and I felt like I couldn’t possibly hock up all the mucous in my throat, but that was okay since I was soon throwing up into the trash can (the toilet being occupied by my other end already).

It was miserable, to say the least. The saddest part is that I now realize my days of dining out are over. Oh, maybe someday my body will have healed enough that I won’t be so sensitive, but for now any risk of even the smallest gluten contamination isn’t worth it.

On a positive note, though, having witnessed the severity of my reaction last night, my husband said this morning, “Man, I don’t know how we’re going to be able to visit my family if you react like this to accidental exposure. I guess we’ll have to stay at a hotel whenever we go up there, huh?”

Mixed blessing, this Celiac stuff.

Earn free gift cards from Amazon and other stores by searching, playing games and clipping coupons here!

Ugh, I Got Glutenated

It starts with destruction of the villi in the small intestine – those little “hairs” which help ferry nutrients to the bloodstream. Due to this destruction, folks with CD are usually either quite thin from malnutrition or, as in my case, rather large due to an enormous appetite that can’t be satiated since the body’s not correctly processing the foods it consumes. The condition also brings with it a whole host of other unpleasant symptoms, including abdominal discomfort and distension, anemia, GI problems, mental confusion, fatigue and joint pain.

The only cure available is to completely eliminate gluten from one’s diet, which is exactly what I’ve been dealing with all week.

Yes, I still have fibromyalgia, but as I’ve learned recently is often concurrent with CD. With fibro, exercise is almost indispensable. With CD, my health depends on eliminating all sources of gluten in my diet. (As a side note, Sarah K. was the first to recognize my symptoms. Hopefully she won’t charge me for the diagnosis!)

To be honest, I felt a flood of relief when I learned of my diagnosis. After three years of feeling increasingly worse with each passing day, and one doctor after another attributing that to everything from depression (um, no) to rheumatoid arthritis (despite negative test results), it was a relief to finally know what the problem was because now I can begin to address it.

In the 9 days since my doctor broke the news — which, frankly, was pretty grim for a foodie like me — I’ve eliminated all forms of gluten from my diet. My husband has been surprisingly supportive, to the point where he actually spent Saturday shopping for gluten-free foods with me at Whole Foods. Thanks to him, most of my pantry and kitchen are now gluten-free, too. The only remaining sources of the stuff are my son’s snacks, and as I learn to cook gluten-free foods I hope to change that, too.

Now, as Atkins- and South Beach-type folks might have guessed, eliminating bread, most chips, tortillas, crackers and cookies from my daily foods has worked mini-wonders on my waistline: I’ve lost 5 pounds! Granted, some of the loss might be due to stopping the CD autoimmune reaction that was causing my entire body to inflame and consume itself in response to gluten intake. But some of it’s due to simple calorie reduction.

And, as we all know:

Weight Loss = Calories In - Calories Burned

I’m not getting nearly as many calories these days, mostly because my freakish appetite (caused by the CD-body’s inability to absorb nutrients in the face of an autoimmune reaction) has diminished. As to the food I am eating, I’m focusing on what I can have, rather than what I can’t because the latter list is long and depressing. I’m eating lean proteins, plenty of salads, brown rice and lots of fruit.

It’s standard dieting fare, really, but I’m finding it surprisingly satisfying. A side salad holds me over throughout lunch. A grilled chicken breast and steamed broccoli leave me stuffed. So, this is what a normal appetite is like, one that’s satiated without popping Orovo. Who knew?

As far as the calories burned, I’ve renewed my commitment to blogging from my treadmill at least part of each day. Hence why the graphic for the site’s new design was so perfect. I’ve added in some weight-bearing exercise, too: push-ups, squats, side lunges and crunches. Not a lot — I plan to increase slowly, rather than burn myself out — but enough to feel proud of myself at the end of each workout.

As far as my fibro symptoms, I’m surprised — and not a little pleased — to tell you that they’ve been non-existent for most of the past week. I’ve had energy. I’ve had seven pain-free days out of nine (the two exceptions being days I got “glutenated” by inadvertent consumption of the nasty stuff). I’ve woken up without an alarm clock in the morning, and I’ve been the one among my family to suggest we go places to do fun things, much to everyone else’s surprise. (Mine, too.)

Left untreated — which means, if I were continuing to consume gluten — CD increases my risk for just about every form of cancer, along with a lot of other serious health complications. In other words, going gluten-free is not an option: it’s a necessity, but so is repairing the damage done to the rest of my body.

On that note, I’ve decided to hold myself a bit more accountable: tracking the foods that I eat religiously, logging the amount of time I spend exercising (and admitting when I blow it off) and posting my weight loss as I progress toward my goal. As a result, you’re going to start to see some new kinds of entries here: food and exercise logs with progress notes. They’re for my benefit, really: I suspect that publicly posting this stuff much the way Jae’s been posting her Wednesday Weigh-Ins will keep me from straying from my weight loss commitment.

And, hey, if the food logs help provide recipe ideas for others with CD or weight to lose, so much the better.

Earn free gift cards from Amazon and other stores by searching, playing games and clipping coupons here!

Going Gluten-Free