Superhero Sandy has been so kind to share more of her journey with us!!! My kudos go out to her for sticking to this journey!! It certainly isn’t easy!  Of note–she is already feeling better!!!  She has more energy and that is amazing!

Sandy shares:

“I think it’s time for a gluten-free update now. Lots has been happening around here lately, but through it all I’ve managed to stick to my new eating style. Sometimes when I’m lazy that means a piece of watermelon and a cheese stick for dinner, but most of the time I’m inspired enough to cook something decent. Those King Arthur muffins I made last night, and added blueberries to, were fabulous, and I’ve put most of them in the freezer for a quick breakfast bread or a snack of some kind. Given my experiences of the past week or so, I think I’ll be very happy to have them. I hope to figure out some more stuff I can have on hand to grab and go. A piece of fruit is great for that sort of thing, but sometimes you gotta have something “stick to your ribs” to go with it.

The hardest thing is being out running errands or keeping appointments and thinking “what do I do for lunch?” Last week, there were two full days when I drove an hour to attend awards day with my grandkids, hung out with them, took them to lunch, and then drove another hour to get home again. Under those circumstances it’s easy to stay on the gluten-free part of eating, but it’s harder to eat several small meals a day and keep your metabolism perking along at full speed. I didn’t manage that part so well. I took each kid to O’Charley’s for lunch, and I somehow managed to resist their dinner rolls while eating a salad with grilled chicken one day and some cedar-planked salmon the next. And broccoli. Not bad. But getting up early and rushing out to a 9 a.m. school program meant I had a gluten-free toaster pastry for breakfast one day and a banana the next and then nothing until the big lunch. And then nothing until I got home. Not good. But still gluten-free.

I don’t crave fast food so much as I crave the fast food experience. “Give me one of those, two of these,” and you pay and go sit down or drive off and eat it. Eating in a white tablecloth restaurant is simple. They serve salads and vegetables and meat, so all you have to avoid is the bread mostly and anything breaded and fried. And dessert.

Usually in the middle of the day, I’m not looking for a restaurant meal though. I’m looking for something fast, easy, and filling. I’ve found that I can stop at Panda Express and order steamed brown rice, some mixed vegetables and whatever I see that isn’t coated in breading and sweet sour sauce. They do have some teriyaki pork or chicken that is just meat with sauce that you apply yourself, so I think that’s pretty safe with the brown rice. You have to look for it though, and you have to ask for the steamed brown rice. In the one I go to most often, I find the teriyaki near the end of the line, where they keep the egg rolls and crab rangoon.

I’m also told that you can find good things at Mexican restaurants, particularly Chipotle Grill and Qdoba. I haven’t tried either of those yet though. I’ll study the menu online and see what they have. Speaking of Mexican, one of my lunch favorites around the house is one of those little individual packets of Wholly Guacamole, some pico de gallo from the produce department, and a little sour cream all piled together in a bowl with some Mission corn chips, which are gluten-free.