My Gluten Free Journey Begins

My first gluten free story blog post from my other blog...

I'm working on eating gluten free and I've never been diagnosed...by a medical doctor that is.  I am on a journey to know if gluten is for me or against me.  The gluten free diet is something that I am familiar with.  See I have a child, lets call him Sugarbear, who is allergic to wheat (among other things).  So since he was born seven years ago I have been learning to incorporate more and more wonderful foods and meals into our family that are gluten free.  He has several other food allergies that I will definitely share more about all I have learned about those in the blogs to come in the future.

So why am I working on eating gluten free?  Well when Sugarbear was born he had a lot of eczema and itching and rashes.  I knew a little about allergies because our oldest, Knucklehead, has a peanut allergy.  I knew all the itching, rashes and eczema were not normal and probably related to allergies.  At this time, when Sugarbear was a baby, I had released all of my excess weight by eating when hungry and stopping when satisfied (not full or overstuffed, but satisfied and had enough).  After changing the kinds of food I was eating to not eat things he was allergic to since I was nursing him...I started gaining weight.  Now there were many other things going on in my heart and life at that time, which I think I attributed to the weight gain, but I still held onto the fact I knew to release all of my weight and be healthy I needed to eat only when I was hungry and stop when satisfied, the way my body was created to be fed.  For some reason I would talk about that to people and share a lot about eating when hungry and stopping when satisfied, and it not necessarily being about what you eat, when releasing weight.  But I knew I was not doing that.  I kept eating and disregarding my hunger signals for several years.  I was not living out what I was saying or what I believed.  

Fast forward a few years Princess came into the picture.  I was pregnant again and starting that pregnancy was at my highest weight ever other than when I had been pregnant in the past.  After having her I released all of my weight once again eating only when I was hungry (when my stomach growled, which is what my body does when I am truly hungry) and stopping when I was satisfied.  It was Truth that had set me free, helped me release all of this weight.  I was healthy, God had shown me how to eat when I was hungry the way He created me.  So then guess what?  I started gaining weight again.  In two years I got to the next highest weight I had ever been while not being pregnant.  Highest weight ever!  Not only though had I started eating outside of my boundaries, but I also started questioning what foods my body needed to be healthiest and started praying about it.  What is going on here, I thought, questioning so very many things?!

To be continued...

More later...Love to you!

Kim :)

Simple Breakfast

So this morning is a simple breakfast. Ore-Ida frozen potatoes are all mostly gluten free except the crispy crowns and maybe a couple others. I first learned this by calling the company. Then reading the labels. The only allergen that they have are soy.

So this morning I popped in some tator tots into the oven and cooked them to golden crispy brown. Served with some ketchup and it's done. Also it is good to find ketchup that is for sure gluten free.  Here I used Hunt's (no high fructose corn syrup) ketchup.  Now this isn't one of those meals that will hold you over very long.

A few things that could be added with it would be say some fruit and cottage cheese. I like pineapple, grapes and strawberries. Also you could make a fruit smoothie with some frozen berries. 1 cup berries, 1 cup milk (I use rice milk), 1 cup ice and a few tablespoons of sugar depending how sweet you want it. You could add a boiled egg or some ham or some type of protein to make it a bit more sustaining.

That was breakfast today! Have a good morning!

Love to you!
Kim :)

Tator Tots!

Plan a Meal

For 7 years I have grown in learning how to incorporate food allergies into our meal plans each day.  This has taken time and testing and I feel like I have just scratched the surface.  There is so much more to learn.  I am a learner so this is okay with me.  I am willing to continue learning more every day.

Plan a gluten free meal?  Plan a meal without the allergens that someone has?  This seems like a daunting task you say!  Well, not for me :)  It would be a passion of mine to help others in this area to learn more and more how to cook for your loved ones and not have any food allergy or sensitivity be an issue.  They don't have to stand out!  

 

So I will share.  I will help as time allows.  I want to share what I have learned and help others.  I also have a vision or a dream that one day I can help people personally develop for their own families meals and ideas to help them specifically.  There is a lot of help out there where you can search and find things that work for you.  But wouldn't it be so nice to have someone help you in this where it is more tailored to foods YOU and your loved ones like.  So I will share away and one day hope to help more and more!

So tonight I made a simple dinner.  No pictures captured tonight.  I made baked pork chops.  Simple I said.  

Good night!  Love to you!

Kim :) 

So Far

I am by God's grace alone eating gluten free for 2 weeks and 1 day now.  I am thankful for that.  I have eaten out a few times, probably 3, and think I ate gluten free, but cannot guarantee.  Today the tostada type things I had at a buffet were corn tortillas with cheese and a bean dip type sauce over top.  The cheese sauce could have had gluten.  I am not sure.  I have not gotten to the point where i am asking restaurants what is gluten free.  I am sort of guessing.  This is probably not the best thing for me to do.

 

I am learning lots of recipes and things that are really pleasing to my body and do not leave me hungering for more food.  I want to share some recipes and foods and things as I learn them.  Some of my favorites this week are:

• Chicken salad (made fresh myself)
• Egg salad (or just boiled eggs plain)
• Chili (from Wendy's) and add a little shredded cheese
• Tostada's-the shell with refried beans, sour cream, cheese, salsa, tomatoes and lettuce
• Several types of chocolate candy bars-rolo's being one of them
• Lays Stax-I like the cheddar flavor
• scrambled eggs with turkey sausage and a drizzle of syrup over it
• Apples dipped in caramel

That is some for now.  There are so many more.  I am so looking forward to seeing my body become healtheir and more energized as I continue eating to nourish my body.

More later!

Kim :)