My name is Matt. I'm 31 years old, work in a city (DC), and have a family with two kids, one of which being an infant. I also have Celiac Disease. I'll get into how I was diagnosed in a future post, but it was about a year and a half ago and I've been strictly gluten-free since. There are a lot of great online resources for people who suffer from either gluten-sensitivity or outright Celiac. They're easy to find. None of them really seem to fit my case though.
I was diagnosed very early in the process and completely by accident. Due to that, I'm not very sensitive at all. There are a lot of other people like me out there, those with Celiac of a mostly asymptomatic sort. It has its pros and cons. The pro is, of course, that you have more options and less immediate consequences when you eat something mistakenly or through an act of blatant and shameful weakness. Contamination is not nearly the issue that it might be for others. The con is that sometimes you eat something, even for weeks or months, and have no idea that it's affecting you. Also, over time, as you don't have gluten, your body gets less and less used to it. That's where I am now. Sometimes I do get triggered, but it's a minor thing, an annoyance.
Moreover, I'm a busy person and I'm also one who appreciates comfort food. There are people out there who think food tastes better when you put hard work into it. That's not me. I'm on a budget given my family situation, both when it comes to time and money. I'm also a fairly picky eater. Let me just put it this way: salads are pretty much out.
Basically, I named the blog as accurately as I could. I wanted to go with something like "Gluten-Free for the rest of us" or "Gluten Free Survival Guide" or "Gluten Free Emergency Rations" but they were all taken in some way or another. You get the idea. Thus, the name. The idea is this: I've tried to come up with workarounds, with ways to survive my day without adding massive costs in time, money or effort to my life. I've tried a lot of different products and found both new restaurants and solutions at old ones. I've tried to impact my family as little as possible. I've tried to impact myself as little as possible. That said, I still get that feeling in my stomach sometimes when I realize a lunch plan has fallen through and that I suddenly don't know what I'm going to eat. I think we all feel it now and again. It's that combination of frustration and mild despair. It's not the end of the world but it does affect us. Frankly, it makes me sad. I'm sure it makes some of you sad too.
I want to share what I've learned over the last year and the how and why of my everyday survival. Maybe I'll be able to help people. Maybe I'll just end up less frustrated.
All of that said, here's what this blog will not be:
- A Dieting Blog: Sorry, but I'm pretty sure people who go gluten-free to lose weight should actually be shooting for a carb free diet instead. I'm going to give a lot of replacement carbs and comfort foods and I'm pretty certain that a lot of them are actually worse for you than the originals. I've put on some weight over the last year but a lot of that was because my body was starving itself due to the Celiac. I try not to feel too bad about it, knowing I'm healthier over all. Also, hey, less fast food, right?
- For the Super-Sensitive: I can't stress this enough and please don't hate me for it. I feel like you guys sort of run the conversation online, be it the celiac.com forums or a lot of the other blogs. I understand. I sympathize. I'm sorry that it's so bad for you. This is for everyone else though. I'm not super worried about contamination, because I don't really have to be. My levels are really good with me doing what I'm doing. I use tin-foil in the toaster oven, sure, because my family uses it too, but I don't have a separate, dedicated toaster or silverware, or plates for me. If I ate at a restaurant and got triggered, I'll mention it, and if you are curious about a product that I think is good, that's great, but please, if you're super-sensitive to gluten, take most of what I say with a grain of salt. I'm not.
- A recipe blog. If you want to have a gf pineapple upside-down cake, just like your mom used to make, there are blogs for that. I'm the opposite. I shoot for convenient and quick. I didn't cook before. My wife does certainly and she finds substitutes for me. I have a birthday coming up and she'll probably work out a cake, etc. She's great. I'm not and really, nor do I want to be. Like I said, a lot of the enjoyment of food for me (and I do enjoy food quite a bit) is in the convenience of it. I admire people who have taken the time and effort to make their life as much like it used to be as possible when it comes to their choices. That's not me and that's not this. I'm here to try to help everyone else, or at least gripe to them.
- A fine dining blog. There's a pretty good one for DC actually, but I haven't been to one of those places. This is going to be a practical guide and that means as many chain options as possible.
- Pretty. I have no idea what I'm doing. Did I mention that at the top? No idea. I'll try to grab pictures from the web or take them myself if it's of a box or restaurant or what not, but I make no promises.
This is also a blog and I am sort of, kind of slothlike, so we'll see how the posting goes. Off the top of my head I can think of dozens of products and restaurants and solutions that I use every month and I'm always finding more so hopefully I can keep this going for a while. So long as I do I hope it helps at least one of us, be it you or me.
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