Sunday, March 23, 2014

What to eat...Oh what to eat

Trauma Tuesday
Tuesday before I could decide what to eat I decided to go through my kitchen to remove all I couldn't eat before heading to the store. Or should I say Kayce went into action. Well actually I would have to say she kicked butt because occasionally I had to sit while she went through everything. 

We went through all my food and medicine cabinets, refrigerator, and freezers. Seriously I can't believe how much was expired and how reading the labels opened my eyes. By the time we were done there wasn't much left. We did make a shelf for Phil when he is home. Let's just say the food up there takes a footstool for me to access. In the refrigerator we put rubber bands around bottlenecks and pink duct tape on lids so I could quickly see what I could use. All I have to say is thank goodness for large trash and recycling containers.

 

Now it was time to shop. I really love road trips to Madison usually I stop at Barnes and Noble to see Kat, Panera to see Josh, then head to Whole Foods Market and last but the yummy best Starbucks for the drive home. Surely, one more day wouldn't hurt so I decided to eat foods I couldn't have anymore. Yummy gluten free chocolate muffin with chocolate frosting, mexican food, I got so full that I couldn't get Starbucks.

Whole Foods Market has a great selection of organic foods I use for my anti-inflammatory and gluten free diet when I choose to follow it.  First isle we hit was the salad dressing and as you all know there are a lot of selections. Fifteen minutes later between the two of us we found two bottles that I could use, a type of vinegar and oil based. Really my least favorite salad dressing and now something I have to get use to. 

We spent almost two hours in the store reading labels and putting it back. It hit me hard that this was going to be the hardest thing I have ever done. Serious depression set in with all the things I couldn't do. Which having spent my whole life fostering the belief that I could do anything made me want to lay down and cry. Thank goodness I don't like scenes in public. It was time to go home I was done for this day.

Wednesday I discovered eating at home by yourself isn't hard when you have the correct food available but it is hard to make it taste good. Looks like I’ll be researching the internet and Pinterest for menu ideas and reading blogs to shorten my learning curve.

Later that night was girls bowling league and I wasn’t looking forward to finding something to eat as that was part of our ritual. My BFF, Kathy talked to the kitchen to see what oils they use for frying. No French fries, wrong oil. So after much thought, I got a grilled hamburger patty, lettuce, tomatoes and topped it with ketchup, after I checked out the label. Seriously you can't imagine the people that asked me what I was eating and asked how could I eat it because it was boring. Oh well to be honest it actually tasted good.

Thursday was quit a challenge Kathy and I went shopping to Janesville and out to lunch. Yes I said out to lunch. I decided that Famous Dave's BBQ might work as they had chicken, salad, vegetables. Wow imagine our shocked when I asked to see the BBQ ingredients and she mentioned they had an allergy menu. That was great so I pulled out my paper with the 27 reactive food restrictions and started comparing it with the menu. Who would of imagined it would take 20 minutes to find something I could eat.

This greatly upset me because there was a time I dated a man who was such a picky eater, no one I knew wanted to go out to eat with him. I swore I would never eat with someone like that again. Wow shock of all shocks I am now that person.

So I played it safe and ordered broasted chicken but would pull the skin off with the seasoning that I couldn't have, steamed broccoli and corn. I made sure they didn't put any butter on those. When the food was delivered I noticed the corn on the cob was shiny. I asked if there was butter on it and she said they hadn't put butter on it. I asked her to check because when I touch it, my fingers were slippery. She came back with an apology saying they soak the corn in water and butter. Kathy's husband was happy that day and Kathy was also because she got my corn bread. But seriously, kudos to our waitress Paige, for all her patience and understanding. She earned her 25% tip.

Starbucks was not an option so I drank too much soda before and during lunch. Wow not a good idea. All that sugar made me sick and bloated. I am banning myself from soda even though it wasn’t on my list.

So eating out is a challenge and I will need to look at menus online and see what ingredients are listed. After looking at the allergy menu and believe me they were very thorough, they even had the spices on it, I realized there are so many hidden allergens that we are not aware of in general.


Good things have been going on, I lost over 3 pounds already but Greg increased my calorie intake so I wasn't losing too fast and getting light headed. And dare I mention this out loud. Yes I must. Those who know me know that I don't like displays of body functions, passing gas, burping or discussing bowel movements. So I am breaking my unspoken rule to say, all my life I rarely had one bowel movement in two weeks and was always constipated.  Now I am having regular ones daily. So I am celebrating these two good things that come out of this week.

Smiles sprinkled with love,
Teri


Quote for the day

"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts." Arnold Bennett


2 comments:

  1. Thanks for sharing this. Takes me back to the beginning days of new diets and menus here at our house; your descriptions express so much of what I went through and felt as well through that adjustment period. It was NOT an easy time. From my experience, I will encourage you by saying it will, with time and practice, get easier and feel more natural and it won't take as long to figure out what to eat, but again, it will take time. You are facing this with a lot of courage and determination! And congrats on the improvement in your "regularity".....a great sign you are on the right track =) (from your facebook friend jennifer l.)

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    1. Thanks Jennifer. It helps to journal and even more it helps when my FB friends encourage me through recipes and things to try.

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