Future (Gluten Free) Betty Crocker

Variety. I seem to be lacking this in my diet but I am too poor/too lazy/too busy to do anything about it today, or tomorrow, or the day after that.

I look forward to the random weekends spent at my parent's house mostly because the promise of actual homecooked (gluten-free) meals that I lack in my current diet living on my own. Before I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, I never craved a homecooked meal like this because there are so many options for (for a lack of a better word) 'normal' people. Former Me used to live off of frozen meals, fast food, and junk food.

First of all, gluten-free frozen food is soooo expensive and frankly tastes like moth balls most of the time. Secondly, the only fast food available for me now is a baked potato from Wendy's. I'm too much of a pansy to attempt any other fast food at the moment. 4 hour symptoms of the stomach flu is not worth it only for a variation of a Big Mac without the bun. Sorry McDonalds. And lastly, I can still eat a lot of junkfood (for example, most chips and ice cream) but do I really want to live off of it? I'm not pooping my guts out after every meal anymore, which means my built-in extremely fast metabolism no longer exists. If you're squeamish, maybe you should have skipped over that sentence.

The moral of the story is that, nearly a year of my new diet later, I truly am starting to realize that I need to start cooking some real meals around here. My current goal to start being Betty Crocker is when I graduate college at the end of May. I think this is a legit goal because right now I'm only a poor college student. I lack the time and the money for the commitment needed for real cooking.

(If you read through my blog and want to know more, follow me on twitter @HoldTheWheat)

Celiac Diseaser's Version of YOLO

I have 2 words for you. 2 glorious words that any person in thier school years will appreciate as much as a snow day....SPRING BREAK! Bring on the kegs, suburns, day drinking, oceans, wet t-shirt contests. Just kidding! This is may be some people's spring breaks but I have yet to have one that consisted any of these things, except for sunburns and oceans. And this upcoming spring break is the last one I will ever experience.

The other day my dad asked if I wanted to come visit him in South Carolina for my spring break. I was totally for it! And now he's talking about us potentially visiting my uncle in St. Thomas for a couple days on top of that. Sounds like a dream come true, right?

I reveled in this dream vacation to come until I realized that this would be my first vacation since being diagnosed with Celiac Disease. My dad has only seen me once since my diagnosis and he was saying things like "You'll grow out of this within 7 years I bet." and "Good thing there's not a pill to fix it because it sucks having to be reliant on something." Moral of the story is: He simply doesn't get it. So I am willingly putting my tummy on a Russian Roulette in a foreign place for 5 days where we will be eating at restaurants for basically every meal (my dad doesn't cook). If that's not YOLO then I don't know what is.

I am excited yet very nervous about my spring break. Being the planner I am, I have already started looking up resaurants that have gluten free menus in Columbia, South Carolina and now I have to attempt to do that for St. Thomas. I'll make sure to pack a lot of pepto bismol, tums, and immodium. And you better know that I'll be blogging about it when I get back!

(Follow me on twitter @HoldTheWheat)

To Explain Your Disease or Not??

We all have that moment. The moment when you have to make a decision whether to tell them the real reason why you're turning down the candy that they just offered you. If it's not candy, it's a cupcake. And if it's not a cupcake, it's those new crackers advertised on those new commercials. Regardless of whatever awesomely gluten filled treat it is, most of the time it's a forbidden fruit that Celiac Diseasers (is that a word?) are used to denying everyday of thier lives.

However, to tell them the truth turns into a 5 minute conversation where they look at you with a mixture of confusion and like you just told them your puppy recently died. They put you on the spot and ask "Then what do you actually eat?" You don't know how to answer that question. Do they expect you to list off the last 10 meals you ate when you can barely recall what you ate yesterday? In you end, it's best to respond with: "I don't know...Gluten free things."

You wish you had the nerve to tell them it's not as hard or as sad as they think. People would be surprised how easily thier body and mind can adapt to change. I mean, America consumes the most bread than any other country. In fact, there are many countries where they don't even eat wheat and never have.

Most of the time I avoid the whole conversation by simply saying "I'm not hungry". Aint nobody got time for that!

(Follow me on Twitter @HoldTheWheat)

City Living Has its Perks

People with Celiac Disease, or any serious food allergy for that matter, have to plan their meals in advance. This is an easy task for me because I'm naturally a big planner. I mean, I make to-do lists for fun. But it gets a little bit trickier when you want to go out of town for a couple days and you have to plan your meals according to every one else with you. Sadly, ever since I've been diagnosed, I've become more of a homebody, in fear that I'll gluten myself if I eat at new places.

Being in college, my friends occasionally invite me to thier hometown for a random weekend. My best friend and I used to do this often. However, I don't want to inconvience her family now-a-days with my gluten free lifestyle. It also doesn't help that going out to eat is not an option because her town is so small that the 2 restaurants they have don't offer anything gluten free.

Then I came to an epiphany!


I've never been a fan of small towns, especially the ones in my state. But it dawned on me a little while ago how much it would suck living in a small town when you have celiac disease. I'm trying to remain unbiased in my reasonings but big cities, and cities in general, are full of options and this caters to people that have habits that are different from most people's. Also, small towns might not even have a health foods store or place to specifically buy gluten free food.

Though I know it's possible to be gluten free in a small town and thrive, its just a hell of a lot more convenient in a city. I always knew I was a city gal at heart!

(don't forget to follow on Twitter @HoldTheWheat )

The Naivetés That Come With Being Ignorant

When I was younger, I worked at the local Hy-Vee (grocery store). In fact, it was my first job. My basic duties included bagging, carts, and facing. Needless to say, it wasn't the most glamorous of jobs. I remember that every night, a little after the dinner rush, the assistant manager would send someone to go face the entire health market, and it usually was me. I used to growl (not literally) and glare at them because in my mind it took forever to complete the task.

While facing, occasionally I would stop daydreaming and actually pay attention to my surroundings. Everything was so expensive in this section and I always wondered why anyone would pay that much for imitation bread that's rock hard and has dust on the packaging, literally showing how long it has been sitting on the shelf. People would sometimes come up to me and ask questions about the products in health market too. Most of the time I would make up an answer or simply say "I don't know" (I wasn't the model employee). I specifically remember a lady coming up to me one time and asking if I could tell my manager that Hy-Vee should think about carrying gluten-free ketchup. I agreed and told her I would tell them.

But I never did.

I kind of feel like a hypocrite now because, before I got diagnosed, I had no concept of what it was like to go through life with a serious food allergy. I don't necessarily feel guilty about my ignorance now because it makes me more patient with other people who don't understand Celiac Disease and have no intention to. However, now I am the lady asking for gluten-free ketchup and I sure hope the people I'm preaching to are actually listening.


(for more about my day-to-day life, follow me on twitter: @HoldTheWheat )