So you know I like to feature talented artists and entrepreneurs on my blog as well as tracking my own artistic progress. Well, after a the last couple weeks that involved back to back traveling I decided to vent a bit of frustration with my gluten free diet. Traveling and eating out can be soooo tricky. Being stuck on an airplane is the ultimate worse case scenario, since I have an extensive travel background as flight attendant I know this and travel with a small gluten free pantry in my carry on bag! On my last two trips-these were fun trips-mini vacations and as careful as I was I still managed to tangle with some wheat/gluten somehow and feel sick. And by the last day I was just OVER IT. I started down the pity party path of wishing I could just eat out like everyone else and started sniffing fresh warm bread as I passed bakeries. For the most part Iwhen I figured out I had celiac I just so happy to not be sick anymore ( I suffered from splitting migraines, fatigue, weight loss and malabsorption). I figured Hey! wine and chocolate are gluten free! I am going to be okay. But this last week got to me! I began reading cook books at the bookstore and started watching the Food Network which just made me feel worse for myself.

I got in the dumps because there turns out to be more foods than just gluten filled that aren't agreeing with me, heavy coffee drinking is not working out (I have blogged about that withheartbreak). I have found that Maxwell House makes a low acid brand, Simply Smooth. I recently learned that espresso has less acid because of the way it is brewed. But can you feel my frustration? Less coffee, low acidity foods-yuk!!!!

I had eggs, bacon and potatoes that I WATCHED the chef at the San Francisco Farmers market prepare and still got sick after eating it. I knew it was just potatoes, fired in oil, fresh eggs, was it the smoked bacon the reason I felt sick within a couple hours? See why I am just over it!?

Since I try very hard NOT to be a poor me person and honestly, I have no good reason to feel pitty partyish I decided to get a bit more educated about Celiac Disease-I know the big stuff-I have read the food lists but I ran across 2 blogs that are upbeat and provide good recipes. One is Gluten Free by the Bay, I tried to Google a gluten free restaurant guide for the Bay Area and found nothing which is odd since San Fran is such a tourist destination. My sister found a great list in Phoenix. But I really liked this blog and she had put out the nicest "shout out" to find recipes for Karina who needed some encouragement when she found out she had celiac. Here is her blog, Karina's Kitchen-Recipes of a gluten-free goddess. I clicked over to her "Morning After the Diagnoses" because sometimes I think I get to the point where I need a little bonding over that issue. I went on a gluten free diet and then my malabsorption hit me like a train within the next several months. My B12 dropped and I was told I had unresolved food poisoning that triggered a bacterial infection in my intestines that I deducted triggered Celiac Sprue. The trouble with all this was that there was never an AH-HA! moment by any doctor. I put it together through some serious prayer that led my to the right doctors and knowledgeable people. See, I never actually tested positive in the blood tests and I had a enoscopy 4 years prior that came back negative. I have found out that this does happen to a lot of people. I was genetically tested and yes, that came back positive but my unbelieving Gastro doc said there was a 30% error margin on that test. Great! He only took me seriously when I arrived in his office very ill after I had gotten comfortable and careless and ate a bunch of croutons. Let it go , Monica!!!

So I will share my story on a day of eating frustration for me just in case you know someone who might be going through the same thing. Someone who has been told they just have IBS. Are they depressed, uncomfortable after eating? Headaches, bloating...there are a lot of odd symptom that go along with this and some is not just the Celiac but the malabsorption that can accompany it. Have I vented enough? I may go pour a glass of wine that I can drink and give myself talking to about my attitude. Puff pastry, croissants and pie are fattening anyway, right?