I Got Lazy & I Got Gluttened!

By Susan Guzman

Since my diagnosis of Celiac Disease back in February of this year, I have been so very careful to stay clear of gluten at all cost.  There have been times when I have gone to restaurants for social occasions and were not able to eat a thing on the menu because as they say "When in Doubt, Do Without"

This has been my mantra and what I have found is that its the best approach when unsure what some of the hidden ingredients may be in a recipe.  The easiest way for me to remain Gluten Free is to cook all my own food.  There are no doubts when you know exactly the ingredients going into a recipe.  But let's face it, we live in the real world and there are times where you must eat out.  Usually when I do eat out I am very careful to discuss with the wait staff what my diet restrictions are because besides being gluten free, I am also diary and sugar free.

Last week I was out with my Mom for the day taking care of some personal business and I didn't have anything to eat all day.  By the time we were ready to have some lunch, it was already after 3PM.  At that point I was famished and I could have eaten just about anything.  We decided on a seafood restaurants and I felt confident that I would find something on the menu that would be fine for me to eat.  The meal I chose was scallops, shrimps and fillet Mignon in a wine sauce.  It seemed fine for me and because I was so hungry I didn't even want to waste anytime discussing the ingredients with the waiter.  I just ordered and hoped for the best.

When the meal arrived I noticed that the scallops have some type of coating on them.  It wasn't bread crumb, or flower, but I wasn't sure what it was.  I decided to just eat it anyway.  One hour after having my meal I began feeling very sleepy.  So sleepy in fact that I felt like I couldn't even keep my eyes open.  As I was driving home from my Mom's which is about a one hour drive I began getting a massive headache.  I won't say it was a migraine, but it came pretty close.  Once I got home I took 2 Advil and went straight to bed. 

The next morning I woke up with the same headache I went to bed with and it last the entire next day.  I won't say that the affects of Gluten was devastating, but I certainly felt the affects of it.  Now that I have not had gluten in almost 8 months, I realized just how sensitive I now am to it.  The affects were almost immediate and it lasted about 48 hours before I began feeling like myself again.

So the lesson I learned from this experience is first, never go a very long time without anything to eat because you then become desperate and get lazy.  The second lesson is to weigh the options.  Am I up to having gluten make me ill for the next 2 days?  Or should I just forgo the the food and go for something I am sure will be a safe option for me.  Next time, I will pass on the food and grab a healthy option.

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