More Change on the wind

Ah, Change.

I always wonder why things can't just be stable with my health, but as many of us with auto-immune disorders know, that's not always the case.

In a frustrating turn of events, I've started to feel pretty lousy again, and my doctor put me on a new fast to rule out another food-driven issue. I am now restricted to eating only

• fruits
• vegetables
• meat
• fish

No dairy, no grains, no potatoes or corn (because I eat them both almost daily).

Good news: I've already lost 5 pounds.
Bad news: I have no idea how to cook...

So....  THE POINT of this little story is to reach out to those of you who may be vegetarians or who eat a wide variety of vegetable dishes. I like vegetables, I really do. But...

• I need carbs. I can't really function well or keep my blood sugar as stable as I like without them.
• I need variety. There's only so many salads I can handle.
• I need to stay away from soy and dairy. 
• I need to do this for at least 2 weeks.
• I need ideas. How do you keep variety and interest in what you eat? How do you keep your nutrition balanced?

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.  If you have a favorite reference, cookbook, website, or recipe you can share, that would be awesome.

Happy!

Things that make me happy:
Yes.

Happiness is a choice, you see. Well, maybe not happiness, but joy is. Even when I'm sad, I can be glad. I can be joyful. That's a lesson that my mom taught me a long time ago. Even when life's awful, be glad you can find joy in your life somewhere, even if the only place you can find joy is in the comfort you always will receive from God. His joy always will bring you that promised strength.

So choose joy. Be happy. And remember what a very dear, very smart, very wonderful friend of mine once said to me:

We couldn't have sunbeams if we didn't have clouds.

- Nate Buzdor

Christmas with Celiac #7 - The Christmas Party

I love my friends. I have really really great friends. I am now going to talk about my friends. Remember, I love my friends.



I went to my first Christmas party last weekend. We had food, there was music, we did the white elephant exchange game, we had food, we made fun of each other, there was this great punch, and did I mention the food? I love food. I shamelessly ate most of the shrimp. Twice.

What's great: I had plenty to eat. What's not great: There were three tables of food, and only five things I could eat:

A cream cheese and cranberry cookie topping, sans cookie (foreground)
A bowl of kisses and Snickers (background)

A chicken salad for sandwiches, sans sandwich (foreground)
Some tasty shrimp (not pictured)

and the stuff I brought: yogurt and granola

I didn't take a picture of the third table: it was just baked goods. It was pretty easy to pick out what I could eat; I only had to ask for ingredients on a few things. I ended up with a nice plateful of food, and was very happy with it. Sure I wanted to eat everything else, too, but like I said, I shamelessly loaded up on the shrimp! (Twice!)

Note to self: yogurt on a plate does not photograph well! (Sorry 'bout that!)

The hardest part of the night was listening to the comments people made when (a) they saw what I brought or (b) I asked for ingredients. Here are some of the things I overheard:

• Yogurt? Yeah, it's Christmas! Let's eat healthy! (sarcastic laugh)
• Man, I would hate to have to figure out what I couldn't eat.
• Who brings yogurt to a party?
• What a pain. I'm glad I don't have any food restrictions!

None of these comments were directed at me. When I asked for ingredients, the lists were happily given, but you know how you always chatter when you're at a buffet? No one talked to me this time. So, I felt uncomfortable, and conspicuous. So I waited until everyone was done, just stayed out of the way, and then got my food and went and sat down.

It was weird. (Don't forget - I love my friends!)

Once I was seated with my plate, it was totally normal, sorta. It helped that I sat with close friends, ones who know that I can't eat the yummy gluten-filled holiday goodies, but we still ended up talking about it.

I felt defined by the food missing from my plate.

It was weird.

The party was fun. I got brass candlesticks. I ate a pile of shrimp and yogurt. (Not at the same time! Ew) I hung out with my buddies. I took home my yogurt and granola and ate it every day for lunch this week. And thought about Christmas. I love Christmas. And I love my friends.

Time for A Complaint Free World!

There's a real nifty movement in our country right now. Among other things, they're working on naming the day before Thanksgiving "Complaint Free Wednesday".

Here is how CFW describe themselves: A Complaint Free World, inc. is a non-profit, non-religious entity which provides purple bracelets and other materials to help people affect positive change in their lives. We are in the process of creating additional programs for adults and children which support our mission and vision of creating a world of positive cooperation.

About a month ago, we passed these purple bracelets out at our church. Every time I wore one, someone would ask me about it, and then I would explain and usually ended up giving it to them. Now we're out, and it makes me sad, but the idea is still there in the back of my head, and I pretend I'm wearing one and try not to complain about anything.

If you know me, you'll know that this is hard. If there's anything I'm good at, it's complaining. Trouble is, I don't usually think I'm complaining - I say that I'm just analyzing or critiquing - but I'm complaining.

I hereby officially quit!

Join me, and check out the Complaint Free World website while you're at it, too!