Today was just one of those days, where I felt that nothing would go right. However, there were bright spots – my twitter friends were able to find me a post about Delta’s gluten-free foods in under 10 minutes, and J over at iamjtheblog.wordpress.com featured me today in her “Life in Pictures Series” about what it means to live with Celiac Disease. That picture is below:
Figured I would help explain this picture a little.
I live a dual-life. It’s not the Bruce Wayne/Batman, Peter Parker/Spider-Man, or Clark Kent/Superman kind of dual-life. (By the way, can you tell what I read growing up as a kid?) My dual-life is gluten-free for me, and gluten-friendly for my fiancée. Those plates were of a dinner we had a few weeks ago. My plate is on the right, her plate is on the left. They are almost identical – zucchini, gluten-free spaghetti sauce, and gluten-free bread are the same. However, her meatballs and spaghetti are gluten-friendly. Honestly, as the cook in the family, I’m fine with this. Providing a totally gluten-free meal is not something I want to subject my fiancée too, at least until I find enough foods that taste as similar to gluten-friendly as possible. Or until we have kids that have Celiac Disease as well. Whichever comes first. That said, my fiancée is very supportive, understanding, and willing to try whatever new gluten-free product I think she’ll like. And like Gluten Dude says – if you don’t have spousal support on your gluten-free journey, get a new spouse.
I’ll write in a future post how I ensure that living gluten-free in a dual gluten-free/gluten-friendly kitchen doesn’t affect me. However, it’s late, and I need to get up early. Here’s my day.
7:20 Up and brushing teeth. Tom’s of Maine Toothpaste tube low – check to see if I have more. (Tom’s of Maine has made a stance, and all of their products are gluten-free. Can’t say the same for “mainstream” toothpastes.) Grab lunch out of fridge and head out the door.
7:50 Traffic. Bad traffic. Checked schedule, do have time before first meeting to have breakfast, which is good, since I’m hungry.
8:30 Forgot work laptop at home. Great. It’s going to be one of those days.
8:32 Grabbed Pamela’s Whenever Bar for breakfast.
9:30 Coworkers want to go out to eat tomorrow, a “Brian Friendly Team Lunch in a designated ‘No Wheat’ Zone.” That makes me smile. Suggested two locations near by.
9:45 Group consensus reached. Going to The Counter.
11:15 Grab an Udi’s gluten-free cookie as lunch “appetizer”. Yes, not the best, but was easily within reach. One cookie every so often isn’t bad, right?
11:22 Found out ShopWell says my breakfast bar has a personal score of 41. Might have to rethink breakfast option.
11:40 Can’t wait any longer. Need lunch, and like most days it’s a salad. Today’s salad has avocados, spinach, onions, dried cranberries, chicken, mushrooms, cheese, Brianna’s Home Style Dijon Honey Mustard dressing (FYI – label on dressing does not call out “gluten-free,” but their website that’s that it is. And, I talked to the owner at the Winter Fancy Food show in SF in January. And, I don’t have any problems/reactions from it.)
12:30 small handful of (controlled at my desk) gluten-free plain M&M’s as dessert. Small = <; serving size. Small = about 5. You can have sweets every once in a while.
1:20 I’m dragging right now. Go to deli at get bag of Deep River‘s Lightly Salted Chips.
1:30 Another normal BM. Starting to not remember when last irregular BM was, but still can.
1:42 Received word from a work conference vendor that their hosted meal I will be attending will be safe for me to eat. Reminds me to call hotel about meals served during conference.
1:50 Talked to Tiffany at conference hotel. She tried to transfer me to catering but was redirected back. She took a message – hopefully won’t have to bring too much food to replace conference catered meals.
2:26 answered email question from Tiffany about which conference I’m attending. Restated type of food allergy and cross contamination concerns with buffet-style conference food offerings. Starting to wonder if I can eat at convention and should pack my own bread/meals.
2:58 Go off phone with delta about meals on flights to and from work conference. Nothing with my ticket, but there are gluten-free options available on board. Based on other comments online, 1.) I hope that they are in fact truly gluten-free (cuz, you know, there’s this) and 2.) something other than peanuts, if I decide I’m desperate and decide to purchase meal on plane.
3:08 Eat orange (ShopWell personalized score of 100). For the record, still haven’t opened bag of Deep River chips yet. But they are calling me. Also, skipped on strawberries in kitchen area at work because don’t know who left them or their potential for cross contamination. Too bad – they look delicious.
3:20 Eating strawberries after confirming who brought them in (trusted source) and how long they have been on the counter (<;10 mins). Very low cross contamination risk, but still starting my personal reaction timer t-20 mins (ShopWell personalized score of 100). I think it's great that my favorite fruits have such a high personal score.
4:30 All clear from strawberries. No reaction.
5:05 Eat KIND bar for pre-Ultimate Frisbee game fuel.
6:30 Catching second wind during game. Feels like KIND bar is kicking in.
8:30 Dead tired from game. Stir-fry some chicken using this recipe and Little Soya, reheat rice, and have a smoothie of spinach, orange juice, frozen berries, peaches, banana, and pineapple.
9:27 Finalized breakfast details with Maddy from Love Grown Foods for tomorrow morning in Berkeley. Breakfast restaurants on gluten-free restaurant location websites didn’t open as early as we needed, so suggest another place where I’ve eaten before without problems.
10:30 Started post. Left for tonight – fall into bed. Gotta get up early for the BART ride into Berkeley.
