Healthy Obsessions The Adventures of a Mild Obsessive Compulsive

Category Archives: Food And Diet

Crazy Tired and Don’t Know Why

April 8, 2011 1:30 pm ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

There are so many potential causes:

  1. Mom’s radiation is over. Tremendous relief coupled with some amount of emotional collapse.
  2. Went back on sugar over last weekend when we went wine tasting.
  3. Went off SCD (see previous line).
  4. Ran out of Welbutrin (sort of). Did have a few pills left that were not extended release. Problem was, I forgot to take the second dose in the afternoon. Back on full dose as of yesterday.
  5. CPAP has sprung a whistle. The intake is whistling like mad whenever I use the CPAP. It’s bad enough that neither J nor I can sleep through it. I futzed around with my CPAP settings the last two nights (yeah, yeah, I know patients aren’t supposed to hack into the Clinician’s Menu, but I’m nosey). Which helped a little. Lower air pressure, lower whistle. Sadly, I’ve come to the conclusion that the setting my doc had me on was probably correct. My AHI was not so good on the lower pressures. And the pressure average, come the morning, was always very close to the max pressure.
  6. Crazy hormone nonsense. Have I mentioned I have crazy hormone nonsense going on all the time? Yeah. I’m increasingly tempted to go back on the pill just to have it all STOP. But that has its own repercussions.

Today, off to the DME to see if they can fix the whistling issue. And then back to work in rush hour. Things are okay. I’m just tired.

Posted in: Food and Diet, Medical, Sleep, Uncategorized

SCD: I’m Doing it Wrong

March 18, 2011 2:53 pm ⋅ 3 Comments ⋅

I know I’m doing SCD wrong. Doing it backwards, really.

You’re supposed to start out with a more limited diet, much like the elimination diet I did back in 08-09. Except more limited than that. This phase lasts 2-5 days. And then you start adding foods in, going in slow stages.

The basic idea (and feel free to correct me if I’m wrong on this) is that your intestine is damaged and having trouble processing foods. Any food that your body has trouble processing gets to sit around too long in your gut, where it becomes a breeding ground for all sorts of fun internal flora. Step one is to get rid of that excess food sitting around, which in turn should cut down on the various harmful bacteria and yeasts making a home in your intestines.

It makes sense. And the initial stage of the diet would do that. Instead, I’ve jumped on essentially at the last phase of the diet, eating all of the advanced (but allowed) foods. In part, I’m theorizing that my intestines are probably already partially recovered thanks to my gluten free lifestyle (it may even be true). In larger part, I’m reluctant to limit my foods even more than the final stage of SCD. I barely have the time to make enough food to get me through the week even as is.

These are excuses. But, like cliches, there is a truth to them.

And, I am finding, even though I’m only doing the most lax version of the diet, I’m seeing benefits. It became obvious last weekend when I broke diet at a convention and immediately got a bloated, unhappy feeling in my stomach. And the next several days I felt bloated and backed up, in a way I hadn’t since shortly after starting SCD.

This week, I’ve been dealing with congestion, earache, muscle pain and a few other things I’m strangely reluctant to talk about. And I realized today, reading through SCD blogs and sites, that what I’m seeing sounds like die-off. That point when the first round of intestinal beasties die for lack of sustenance. It becomes an issue of toxins suddenly rushing your system as the bacteria die. It makes you feel sick. Either that, or I have a bad cold. I will be very disappointed if it’s just a cold.

I’ve only been doing SCD for two weeks, and that with a break on the weekend. So, even done wrong, the Specific Carbohydrate Diet makes a significant improvement.

Posted in: Food and Diet ⋅ Tagged: , ,

Going SCD

March 6, 2011 9:59 pm ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅

I’m sure my father will be thrilled with this one. I’ve decided to go SCD.

The Specific Carbohydrate Diet was initially designed to treat celiac disease, lo these many years ago. It’s very restrictive, and therefore hard to convince patients to stick to. Unless they have extremely good reason to do so – like, say, Crohn’s Disease, or Ulcerative Colitis, or Celiac Disease that is non-responsive to a gluten free diet. Luckily, I have none of these particular conditions (oh, isn’t that just asking for the god of digestive disorders to come down and smite me).

I’ve had friends who benefited from it. In many ways it’s pretty similar to the elimination diet I was on back in 2008. And I remember feeling good then. Having fewer skin irritations, fewer breakouts, a more settled stomach. This is not to say those are currently big problems, they aren’t. But the idea that I could feel *even* better if I just restricted my diet a *little* more… Well. I’ve never been great at moderation. And… I guess eating gluten free has just gotten… easy. And I get bored with easy.

I’ve figured out how to cook the way I want to while being gluten free. I’m curious to see how I handle this particular challenge; it’s a lot harder. Tonight, I made what I’m going to call Halva Cookies, since they remind me just faintly of the Halva I grew up with. They’re not quite what I’d like them to be, but I expect I’ll get them there. The flavor is just too mild at the moment. I’ve also got my first batch of soon-to-be-yogurt cooling on the stove. I need to add the yogurt starter, put it in mason jars, and get the dehydrator going.

If you’re interested in SCD, here’s a link to the book:

Posted in: Food and Diet ⋅ Tagged: , , , ,

Jelly Belly Gluten Contamination

January 20, 2011 12:30 pm ⋅ 1 Comment ⋅

You know how, when you pick up a packaged food and you read the ingredients, they list potential allergens? Like “processed in a facility with peanuts” or something similar? I’ve always made the same assumption that the author of Gluten Free and Tasty made: if they’re labeling food allergens, that means they are conscientious, which means that they would have listed gluten were contamination a possibility. I assumed it meant that I was safe. Not so…

Apparently Jelly Belly lists several products as gluten free that aren’t. They’re made on machinery that also processes gluten containing products. Which means contamination.

This is why we need the FDA to make rules about what can and cannot be considered gluten free. Thankfully, they’re in the process of defining the term and passing regulations.

Posted in: Food and Diet ⋅ Tagged: , ,

Dining Out, That is the Question…

January 7, 2011 5:45 pm ⋅ 2 Comments ⋅

Heading off to the Cheesecake Factory for a friend’s birthday dinner, and all I can think is… do they have a gluten free menu? do they even know what gluten is? what are the odds of cross contamination (high). Do I dare risk it?

Honestly, I don’t know. I’m tempted to eat a muffin now (I love you, Udi’s!) and not eat when I get there. Or maybe order a float. A float should be safe, right? Soda and ice cream. But wait, ice cream sometimes has gluten in it. Or is contaminated. Or maybe they didn’t clean the ice cream scoop well enough after scooping out some cookies ‘n cream (man, I miss that).

Such is the daily life of a celiac. I’d say it made me OCD and neurotic, except I was already OCD long before my diagnosis.

Posted in: Asides, Food and Diet ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Gluten Free is Such a Fad

November 30, 2010 6:30 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

I’m standing at the checkout at WholePaycheck with my usual basket of gluten free items, and the checker looks at my basket and then smirks and says, “That’s such a fad right now.”

Anyone else ever get this kind of reaction?

On a very personal level, I find it frustrating. Not the fad itself, not precisely. But… Celiac disease is a pain in the butt. Particularly when I was first adapting to the lifestyle, I resented it. No cookies, no kitkats, no pasta, no flour tortillas, no easy shopping anymore. And getting that kind of smirk and snark just made it worse. Like ladling a cup full of condescension sauce over schadenfreude pie. No one likes being the on the receiving end of schadenfreude.

Read more →

Posted in: Food and Diet, Idiocy, Medical ⋅ Tagged: , , ,

Gluten Free Thanksgiving

November 26, 2010 10:41 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

gluten free thanksgivingSim and I took over making the Thanksgiving meal this year, since my mom is still sick after the chemo. It was an herculean task, but we managed to pull it off.

It was also nearly gluten free. My mother did make some gluten-full stuffing, which she very carefully kept segregated away from everything Sim and I were making so as to avoid contamination.

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Posted in: Recipes ⋅ Tagged: , , , , ,

Black Friday Deals For Those of Us Who Have to Bake at Home

November 26, 2010 12:26 am ⋅ 2 Comments ⋅

Good Amazon deals going on for those of us who need to bake at home. Most of these should be going on Fri-Monday (you know, the whole Black Friday – Cyber Monday thing).

  • KitchenAid Professional 600 Series 6-Quart Stand Mixer – $499 down to $299 plus a $50 rebate = $249. If you’re thinking of getting one, this is a good deal. Just remember to mail in the rebate forms.
  • Breadman TR875 2-Pound Breadmaker – $129 down to $99. I’m seriously tempted. I’ve seen a bunch of gluten free bread machine bread recipes lately…
  • KitchenAid Artisan Series 5-Quart Mixer, White or Black – $349 down to $233 plus a $30 rebate = $203. This is the same model I have in my kitchen, just a different color. Except I got mine at $249 a year ago. This is a very good deal. All of the colors are on sale, but only Black and White are this low. Again, you need to mail in rebate forms. Always mail in your rebate forms.
  • Pamela’s Amazing Bread Mix, 25-Pound Bag – $48 on Amazon Warehouse. Down from $55 earlier in the week. Going for $69 on the regular Amazon site. If you’re a Pamela fan, this is a great deal. That’s less than $2 a pound. Rare in gluten free mixes.
Posted in: Food and Diet ⋅ Tagged: , , , , ,

Six Gifts for the Recently Diagnosed Celiac in Your Life

November 23, 2010 6:30 am ⋅ Leave a Comment ⋅

Friends and coworkers seem to be coming out of the woodwork lately asking me what they can feed/give a recently diagnosed celiac relative (amazing how many of us there seem to be wandering around). And seeing as the holidays are fast approaching, I decided to write up a  list of several things that can be incredibly helpful gifts for a celiac just starting out on a gluten free diet.

  1. Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic – Did you know that Sweden had an epidemic of celiac disease among children born in the 1980s and 90s? This book tells you how and why it happened. Did you know that celiac patients are at higher risk for Lupus and Diabetes? This book goes over the research. This book was first on the list of resources my celiac doc gave me (and first in this list I’m making) because it gives a superb big picture overview of Celiac Disease.
  2. Gluten Free Living Subscription – I recommend this one because I know how much I want it 🙂 It’s a quarterly magazine covering the gluten free lifestyle, the latest medical developments, recipes, events…
  3. Read more →
Posted in: Food and Diet, Medical, Recipes ⋅ Tagged: , , , , , ,

Wooo! Shiny New Toy!

November 21, 2010 6:56 pm ⋅ 7 Comments ⋅

My friends, Megan and Cormac, got me a shiny new awesome food dehydrator! That’s the Excalibur 5-tray! With which one can dry fruit, herbs, beef jerky, seasoned nuts… and make yogurt! Forgive me the pun, but I see way more whey in my future.

Posted in: OCD Dream Gear, Recipes ⋅ Tagged: , ,