Today marks the 9-month anniversary of the blood-draw that led to my diagnosis of celiac "disease".
It has been a wild ride, but has seemed to settle down during the last couple of weeks. I have learned alot, healed alot more, and also came to more insights.
Here's a few tidbits and insights:
1. I am (was?) not very much low carb. I didn't worry all that much about what I ate during this transition. I felt I had enough to worry about with potlucks, finding out what I could eat, and trying to not get contaminated, than to worry about other things. The result was that I gained back all the weight I lost. I hate the idea that I seem to be one of those people who cannot lose weight without constant starvation. Oh well, guess I'll have to own it.
2. I finally trained my family. This was hard, and required constant monitoring during holidays. I discovered that it is almost not worth it to even try to eat during the holidays, just fire-bomb the kitchen afterwards. Despite dozens of planning discussions, I still had to swoop down and rescue the butter knife, keep the cookies out of the kitchen, say no, no, a thousand times no to family members who insisted on bringing on all sorts of crap despite hearing constantly, "Just bring plain sour cream,", "Lets just have plain food," "Just bring plain sour cream," and seemingly-endless phone conversations where they read off the list of ingredients for the fake sour cream-like dips they bought "because they were cheap", instead of buying plain sour cream.
3. I chugged a carton of milk. I was milk-intolerant. How did this happen? I haven't been able to drink milk since I was a little kid.
4. Potlucks suck, but things are good if there is hot coffee and real cream. Coffee is my go-to food at potlucks, since I tend to get something contaminated at potlucks and restaurants, even when I am very careful. I quit being careful at restaurants, not worth the hassle dealing with the questions, the rolling eyes, and the contamination. I can usually drink the coffee, and I drink lots of it. I have found that if you are drinking coffee, especially with cream, people don't notice that you are not eating.
5. I need to find a new religion. I first knew I was in trouble when I was chatting (with coffee) with a new attender at a potluck. She was an up-and-coming healthywholegrains dietician wanna-be who insisted I try her quinoa salad. (I also got a lesson about the healthyquinoa, which I thought hilarious, especially after I told her I had been a vegetarian.) I caved and tried the salad. I got sick. Since then, I have not eaten any grain salads at the potlucks, but I have had to endure the animal-rights wing of my religion shame people for eating animal products. Since I can no longer eat wheat, corn, oats, soy, MSG, most wines and spirits, most beans, and most rice, I really suck as a vegan. That vegan ship has sailed, and then it sunk. I am no longer apologetic, despite the public spiritual shaming by my soon-to-be-former religious affiliates.
6. People hate gluten-free eaters more than they hate low-carbers. Sad, isn't it?
I'll have more to say later. Right now, I need to just go back to straight low-carb and hang out with supportive people.
