\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI can pretty much eat whatever I want.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many years of my diabetes career, this was the phrase that kept me going. (Well, this and \u201cJust five more years until a cure.\u201d)<\/p>\n
Well-meaning folks would ask, \u201cshould you be eating that?\u201d and I\u2019d throw back my head, mouth full of cake or ice cream \u2013 or both \u2013 to laugh in their misinformed faces. Diabetes is a never-ending chore, but the reward for all of that calculating and bolusing, the measuring and the machines taped to my body, had always been a small measure of culinary freedom. \u201cI can pretty much eat whatever I want,\u201d I\u2019d say, and go back to shoving a croissant sandwich into my face.<\/p>\n
It was nice while it lasted. But then diabetes\u2019 snot-nosed little brother showed up to blow that notion to bits. Celiac disease entered my life \u2013 officially \u2013 on December 16, 2015. I\u2019m not a fan.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m learning what it\u2019s like to meet a lifestyle-altering condition in mid-life, and have a new appreciation for my fellow PWDs who\u2019ve had to dive into the weird routines of diabetes care at 20, 30, 40 or older. After living with Type 1 for 25 years, I\u2019m used to all the diabetes stuff, even if I don\u2019t like it. Diabetes is something I\u2019ve learned to work with \u2013 or around \u2013 in a slew of different circumstances. But now I have a new set of constraints to work within, and I don\u2019t know the shortcuts \u2013 and I\u2019m afraid that might be because there are none.<\/p>\n
In my blissful ignorance, I\u2019d always thought that living with Celiac disease meant staying away from pasta, bread, and some fried\/breaded stuff. Now I know that gluten is an insidious evil that is nearly impossible to escape. You can find it in soy sauce. Oats. Malt vinegar. Bloody Mary mix. Tater tots fried in the same oil as breaded chicken fingers. Lunchmeats. Advil Liqui-Gels. Some sauces and condiments, but not all. Communion wafers. Gluten-free pasta that was boiled in a pot that was just used to boil regular pasta. My favorite lip gloss. Things I\u2019ve never had interest in eating but now crave, because danger is so delicious.<\/p>\n
And while my options for eating out at restaurants are more limited, my tendency for self-pity is not. All it takes is a stroll past a person enjoying a sandwich or a normal beer, and I spiral into an irrational mixture of despair, rage and hunger. I find myself flipping through the channels on a weeknight, landing on a new episode of Chopped<\/em>, and thinking, \u201cNow I\u2019ll never<\/em> be able to judge a sadistic cooking show on national television! Thanks a lot, immune system!\u201d (So sad, because that was such a strong possibility.)<\/p>\n To make this journey a little more uncertain, I\u2019m one of the weird celiac people who don\u2019t have much going on in the way of symptoms. I didn\u2019t have aches, or rashes, or nightmarish digestive symptoms. Looking back, I see that I was dealing with some brain fog and fatigue, but I figured that was normal for a PWD with a full-time job and a three-year-old at home. My extra-sneaky celiac disease was diagnosed after a series of blood tests showed that I was lacking the kinds of nutrients that should be in your body if you\u2019re actually absorbing the food you eat. Two blood tests and a biopsy later, it was all confirmed, and all I really had was a list of foods and ingredients to avoid.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is going to be hard, and I\u2019m sorry I don\u2019t have more to help you,\u201d my doctor said. \u201cBut the good news is, there are treatments in the works, and we could see something on the market in as soon as a few years.\u201d (I\u2019m not even kidding.)<\/p>\n So I\u2019m doing my best. Except for a few things my daughter eats, we\u2019re mostly gluten-free at our house. I\u2019m mustering up the courage to ask the folks at Chipotle to change their gloves before they make my salad, and I\u2019m learning to beat back the dramatic spikes in my blood sugar that some GF-foods cause. I\u2019m trying to focus on things that are naturally gluten-free \u2013 say, avocados \u2013 and rehearsing a new script in my head when it comes to the emotions of eating and illness and control. The problem is that celiac disease doesn\u2019t come with test strips or meters. I can\u2019t see how my body is reacting to the restaurant meal I had four hours ago, and I can\u2019t inject an anti-gluten substance into myself to counteract a slip-up or a miscalculation.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve found that Type 1 diabetes and celiac disease do have more in common than their auto-immune roots, though. The management of both is made much less painful by people who chime in with \u201cme too,\u201d or \u201chow can I help?\u201d I\u2019ve been surprised at parties by spreads of gluten-free crackers and fancy cheese, or a friend who recreates my favorite gluten-y restaurant meal without the flour. My husband took a break from brewing beer to whip up some batches of low-carb cider. And just last night, a new friend and fellow celiac lady joined me for dinner at a neighborhood joint that I didn\u2019t even know had gluten-free food.<\/p>\n I know I\u2019ll get through this, and I know my little village will help me. I\u2019m discovering more gluten-free foods to enjoy, and would love to get one of those little testing doo-hickeys that you can put your food into for gluten detection purposes. And I\u2019m pitching a new show to the Food Network \u2013 Chopped: The Celiac Challenge. I plan on being the head judge.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" And while my options for eating out at restaurants are more limited, my tendency for self-pity is not. All it takes is a stroll past a person enjoying a sandwich or a normal beer, and I spiral into an irrational mixture of despair, rage and hunger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":43984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1458],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n