Milk Was A Bad Choice

No, I didn't have any milk, I just enjoy that quote from Ron Burgundy; that one and the one about the origin of 'San Diego'. Anyway, it's time for an update on the gfcf diet.

Last Thursday I went to the local Amish Market to get some ribs for dinner. I'd had ribs the week before from Famous Dave's so I wasn't worried about it. Well, about fifteen minutes into dinner, I felt really sick. I was quite bewildered at the time. I wondered if there was some how butter on the ribs or in the sauce. Later that night Jeff pointed out that the ribs had been really fatty, which got me to thinking. The pizza we'd had the week before was very greasy. Pizza is typically greasy, but then you throw ham and pepperoni on it and it's insane. I don't have a gallbladder anymore; which if you don't know, stores bile from the liver to break down food, particularly fatty and greasy foods. The liver can do it on its own, but there's a period of adjustment after the gallbladder is removed. Afterward most people don't have any problems, but some people just don't readjust. I have a feeling that's the problem. I think dairy was causing issues because of the fat content.

So Saturday I felt daring about my new theory. My grandma had invited us over for dinner and had Ledo's pizza. It's spectacular pizza, especially if you get it form the original Ledo's, which she did. It can also be pretty greasy. So I took care to only eat a few slices of just the cheese pizza and get rid of as much of the grease as I could. And I didn't die! I wasn't in agony minutes or hours later. The next night we went out to dinner for Father's Day. The restaurant had a special menu for the occasion. I wasn't planning on that and I felt quite ambushed by it. I'd wanted to get a nice piece of grilled fish, nice and lean and no grease. Instead of their normal variety of grilled fish, they only had salmon. I like salmon, but its not my favorite. My brother ordered the same thing, and we were both surprised by how greasy it was when it came. But it ended up being ok, as long as I avoided the mushrooms(one of my fav foods!). I still felt daring so I ate a roll with real butter! Again, I didn't feel sick during or hours after the meal.

Although I didn't feel sick to my stomach, I did feel ill this weekend. Last week when I was entirely gfcf, I felt great. I had great energy, I slept well and my muscles and joints didn't ache. After Saturday night, I felt sore and achy and just generally unwell. I think it's still too early to point the finger at wheat and dairy, but I have heard of people feeling much better without it. So, I think I shall say good-bye to wheat and dairy. I felt so well last week, and really, I can live without them if it means I will feel that great.

Back on the GFCF Wagon

Saturday, after nearly a week on a GFCF (gluten free and casein free) diet, I decided it wasn't working. It had been working some, but not enough (I am impatient!). I decided that something else must be wrong and that pizza was an excellent idea for dinner. To say that pizza was a mistake would be understating things somewhat. I felt like I was going through a gastrointestinal Pearl Harbor. The most annoying thing about all my suffering, was that pizza has both gluten AND casein, so I couldn't even narrow it down to one or the other. Needless to say, Saturday night I recommitted myself to the diet.

Sunday we went shopping for some GFCF goodies. We went to MOM'S (My Organic Market) and were able to get some GFCF butter substitute, snack pretzels, pasta and sandwich bread. The only thing that wasn't so great was the bread; it was hard and very crumbly. Making GFCF meals can be easy, it just takes a little more planning. I did find that Chipotle is an excellent place for a GFCF meal, you just have to avoid their tortillas, cheese and sour cream. I had their very yummy crispy tacos for the first time Sunday night.

Going GFCF would be much harder if I didn't have the support that I do. Friends and family have been sending me tips, advice and food. A close friend of mine went shopping at Trader Joe's (I totally am going to hit them up tomorrow!) and brought over GFCF pasta, bread, brownie mix, chips, salsa and lots of other yummy food. We had a very nice spaghetti dinner last night that actually tasted like spaghetti. It was also the first meal I'd had in a while that didn't make me feel ill. The brownies were absolutely fantastic! So yummy! I need to get some more of that mix to share at my family's 4th of July party.

So for now, I'm going to keep at it. I'm definitely going to wait a while before I re-challenge myself, and definitely do it one food group at a time!