Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Crap

Crap crap crapity CRAP!!!

I have cut out all commercially available baked goods, I read labels, my grocery bills have skyrocketed. All for what? To be gluten free, to be healthy, because I have Celiac. It takes thought and attention to detail. You can't slack, you can't cheat. I thought I had been doing pretty good. Sure the last month and a half have been less than healthy. I'm an emotional eater. When life gets stressful I eat whatever I crave. Ice cream. Cheese and crackers (GF, of course). Candy. See! I keep telling people that you can eat super unhealthy on a GF diet. I am proof. My diet has been wretched. Balanced nutrition? Heck no. BUT, I thought I was being careful about gluten. Apparently not. My doctor's office called me yesterday. I had my 6 (ok, really 7 or 8) month blood work done. My Dr. just got back from vacation and discovered that my blood levels HAVE NOT CHANGED. What the..??!!?!!??! But I have been eating GF! I swear!!! Crap! I knew I had been having tummy issues again, but they felt different. I thought it was strictly IBS problems. Damn. So now I have to keep a food diary again (for real this time). 6-8 weeks. Yikes. Then I go back to the doctor. The thing is, I was not happy with my doctor. He is very old school. Does not communicate well. What are my blood levels? "Abnormal" What number is it and what is the range it should fall into? "It is abnormal." uh-huh. So I called the office where my dietitian is located and made an appointment with the GI she works with for Celiac.

It just figures that I need to start this food diary just as I am about to leave for vacation. Grrr! So now I am brainstorming a list of items to bring along for the drive (11 hours!) and for lunches during the week. I am planning to make some Chebe flatbread for sandwiches. Cheese, cold cuts, fruit, veggies, hummus, lots of Larabars and ThinkThin and ThinkOrganic bars. (Those things are CRACK!) What else should I bring along? What do you have to bring with whenever you travel?

6 comments:

Lynn Barry said...

I hope you get it all figured out. IT AIN'T FAIR~!HUGS

Anonymous said...

oh, sorry girl - that sucks. i agree that it's past due for a new doc. he should be able to tell you precise results, and talk with you about why they may not be changing. so yes, definitely meet with the nutritionist again, and a new GI person, whatever it takes. and don't sweat the dairy - just jot it down and let it go. they'll figure it out! meanwhile, i'm not the best person to suggest foods for a roadtrip, but i'm thinking snap peas, carrot sticks, strawberries, cherries etc. in a small cooler with an ice pack. and i second the larabars - they rock hard. the new jocalat flavor, chocolate with mint, is my new addiction.

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear you are having problems! I got sick a lot my first year going GF. It takes a lot of practice to get it right. Don't give up, it will click and you will be much better. My saving grace on roadtrips is Wendy's. I have a baked potato and Frosty (or salad). They are really good about saying what things are GF. The only issue would be cross-contamination, but I have not had any problems. Might be a good idea to print out a listing of locations along your route. It is always nice to have a hot (and cheap) meal on the road.

Sheri said...

I just discovered the ThinkThin bars myself and Oh. My. God. When I travel (not often because I HATE IT), I will freeze a bowl of grapes the night before and then nosh on them when I get hungry during the trip. It takes quite a while for them to defrost, so they can do double duty by helping keep other things cold. You could also do the peanut butter or almond butter no-flour cookies - I bet those would travel well.

Jasmine said...

Crap and crack in the same post ... what more can your audience hope for? :)

Anonymous said...

You seriously need a new doctor, hon. It's not kosher that he won't give you specifics. Have you tried just flat-out telling him "I need specifics from you so that I can take this information to my dietian." And if he still gives you shit, then tell him that you are NOT satisfied with the level of service he's giving you, and that you don't appreciate him talking to you as if you are too dumb to understand his doctor jargon.

Seriously, ridiculous. What if this were cancer? Would he just say "You have bad cancer," and when you ask how bad, he'd just repeat "Bad cancer?" No. He'd give you specifics for that. So why should your Celiac be any different? It's something that's happening to your body and affects your daily life, so why shouldn't you know as much as possible? How can you expect to improve your life if you don't know how much you need to change?

He's a tool. Get a new doctor. (And yeah, I really don't like when my friends get the shaft, can you tell?)