Lemon and Ginger for what 'ales' you

Last night I was up in the middle of the night because of an accidental gluten ingestion.  Was it the chips marked GF or the Tamari marked GF?  Not sure but neither consideration makes me happy.  Nor does it make me feel safe about labeling and supposedly safe food production.  I will approach each with caution, or most likely avoidance!

Not feeling too terrible this morning, though tired from the loss of sleep due to late night bathroom visits. But, whenever this is the unfortunate circumstance I have a few go to foods the next day:
First and foremost - a lot of water.

After a few glasses of plain water I add fresh squeezed lemon and fresh grated ginger to the water... that I drink all day long.  It's delicious and refreshing and the ginger especially works wonders.  And makes a lovely drink to sip on any day.



My formula is pretty simple on these kind of days peeled apples, bananas, cooked rice and plain yogurt.
And time... plenty of time.

The Agony and the Ecstasy

"After Michelangelo" watercolor on paper, 8x10, Erin Rogers Pickering

I love The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone and have read it more than once. I may not be Michelangelo but I know the torture of being driven to draw and paint by an internal fire - the feelings, processes and outcomes can bring great highs and difficult lows.

And very much like motherhood.  I love my daughter more than life itself, and she is an enormous challenge. Bringing me tremendous and overwhelming joy and frustration beyond imagining. From one minute to the next we can be on different ends of the spectrum, and back again in a flash.

It is also very much like my gluten-free path. It has brought me healing, energy and vitality that I never could have dreamed of; connected me with an amazing community of people, and inspired me to paint again.  But it requires planning, vigilance, and never letting my guard down. I struggle with reactions to food that are "considered gluten-free" and occasional cross-contamination and sometimes have very tough days.

But as with my daughter that I adore, and my art that continuously calls, my food intolerance is part of my every waking, and sleeping, moment. 

And I wonder without the agony would I fully appreciate the ecstasy? 

Deceptive food labeling - finding the gluten

"Rapunzel", watercolor & ink, 8x10, copyright Erin Rogers Pickering

I tried a snack today that boldly proclaims its gluten-free status on the front and back of the package. It also listed 100% vegan, wheat free, dairy free and peanut free. Great! Something new to try that should be safe.

On further inspection, below the ingredients was the following statement: "may contain trace amounts of allergens not listed in the ingredients." Ah, the infamous 'should.'

Now what does that really mean? Which allergens? It may be safe, but it may not be safe, but they are absolved from any mis-labeling?

So they get to go with the labeling 'trends' but make no guarantee. A trace of peanuts or dairy won't bother me but could put someone else in the hospital. On the other hand a trace of gluten will cause me a great deal of problems. Tremendous problems.

To me this is food labeling at its worst. Just to sell their damn snacks they don't care who they make ill? Who's their market anyway? Certainly not anyone who can not eat those allergens. And why can't they say which allergens it may contain? Don't they know? Or do they know any given batch may contain traces of any or all and they just don't care?

Don't play games with me. I have worked damn hard to get all the gluten out of my world - and to get healthy again. Food labeling should be straight forward. People's health and lives are at stake. Whether or not I get a gluten reaction today I won't be buying this product line again on principal.

Cross-contamination

                 "Fresh Brewed", ink & watercolor on paper, copyright Erin Rogers Pickering
I haven't written in a few weeks because I have been battling with cross-contamination and accidental gluten, on more than one occasion. It has been a struggle but am now almost a week without problems so my head is clearer, I've learned a few things and we are making some changes at home.

We have been keeping separate toasters, cooking utensils, cutting boards, etc but still seemed to be running into problems. Last night we made the decision to keep the house totally gluten free. So the kitchen will really be a safe zone for me.

I also learned the difference between getting glutened and eating something that I may have an allergy or sensitivity to... Both make me feel awful, and set off similar digestive problems but unless I consume gluten there is no migraine. This is big. It will help me to fine tune my diet. Unfortunately, my beloved strawberries (and possibly bluberries) sit on the sensitivity/possible allergy list. Who knows, maybe in another 6 - 12 months, as the healing continues I will be able to eat them again. In the meantime I see this as a positive.

I had a difficult time focusing on the positive over the last few weeks and made a real effort to keep repeating my personal statement "I am gluten free, therefore I can..." And revisitng my list of improvements in the last year, a list that does continue to grow. I know that even with setbacks I am much much better off then I was only a year ago.