About Freshly Completed

March 19, 2013

Why I'm no longer cooking dinners with Gluten + Dairy + other Random Things...

You'll notice I said, "dinner", not "ever".

I wanted to share with you all my sudden journey into gluten free + dairy free + a host of other, super random foods that we no longer buy...for my husband.

Where to start?  I guess the beginning. In the effort to make this succinct and direct I'll just state it simply as my husband has been uncomfortable after eating meals for nearly our entire marriage.  He had progressively gotten worse over the years and it became very apparent that something was wrong.  Finally, I was able to convince my husband to see another doctor.  That visit led him to a Gastroenterologist. That visit lead to a food intolerance test given through ALCAT.  This is not an allergy test, but strictly a food intolerance test.

I really appreciate that doctors are beginning to move away from the umbrella of IBS and drugs, and are beginning to solve food intolerance's through diet and rotation. 
 I say that now.  But the reality of his test results were extremely stressful when I first heard them.

 He got his test results when I was one week away from giving birth to our fourth child.  Not only that, but Christmas was two weeks away.  Learning an entire new way to cook and how to buy foods, cutting out all the favorite and easy things is HARD-- any time of the year, but the impending birth and holiday season made it seem impossible!

We were given lots of information with his test results of what foods he was intolerant to and which he showed no reaction to.  Here's a part of his list which shows his tolerance levels to food.  Right now we're trying to reset his tolerance levels and basically he shouldn't be eating any food unless it is on his green list.

That alone would be hard enough.  No more gluten or dairy or spinach or strawberries or parsley or eggs...or swordfish (we can live without that one-- he's never even eaten that.)  Plus none of his favorite foods like cheese, mustard, olives, and bread. Trying to cook without all these common food is hard, I wish that was all his treatment entailed,  but we also had to introduce the 4 day rotation diet.  Ideally he shouldn't be eating any of the same foods without a 4 day break.  Anything eaten on Monday cannot be consumed until Friday.  Let me tell you-- this is a whole new set of hard.  Of the new limited foods he's eating, they shouldn't be repeated too often.

 If he were home each day and we had all the time in the world we would probably be doing better than we are.  But he is always gone for lunch and some times for dinner. Finding foods I can easily send to school with him is incredibly tricky, especially when I can't repeat things.

So this is why I'm no longer cooking dinners with Gluten, Dairy, plus lots of other random things.  We love eating dinners together as a family-- and if Dad can't eat it, nor shall we. 
 (However for breakfast and lunch the rest of the family still eats like we used to).

 I'm looking forward to sharing with you things that have made my meal planning easier.
Some of the favorite Gluten + Dairy Free Cookbooks
Favorite GF + DF Blogs

And I'm excited to share with you What's for Dinner Wednesdays?  
Where I'll be sharing with you one of our favorite dinners from the week, both gluten + dairy free.

Look for that coming up.
If any of you have similar diets or dietary restrictions let me know. 
 I'd love to hear about it.


Tricia and Michael said...

From what I hear, finding out is half the battle. Gosh that's hard - I could hardly believe the list when we saw him last month. Hopefully with time you'll be able to add some favorites back in. A good friend of mine's baby was tested and is showing reactions to gluten, dairy, soy, and nuts. At least there's much more available now than there used to be. I'll let her know about your new series too :)

Clare said...

Since my Celiac diagnosis just over a year ago, I've been gluten free by necessity. The rest of my family isn't, but I almost always make something gluten free for dinner. I love glutenfreeonashoestring.com though I'm not sure on how dairy-free friendly it is. I have started following a new website funnytummycafe.com that has gluten free recipes that are often dairy free as well.

Molly Badger said...

Wait- I didn't catch what his diagnosis was...?

And good job- I've helped a lot of friends who had family members struggling with all sorts of allergies and intollerances and it is WAY hard and really frustrating! I'm glad you are finding a way to make it all work for you!

Amy {The Idea Room} said...

Thanks for sharing this with me. So very similar to my story. Sounds like you are trying to get things worked out. And good for you for supporting him. That makes a big difference. Good luck with the new baby and new diet!

KT said...

Yay, I am excited to see your new recipes and am glad you are getting this all sorted out. Our teeny little food allergy in this house has caused us some stress and it is NOTHING compared to what you're going through. Good work!

Danielle Wells said...

Thanks for all of this info! I am just beginning the journey down gluten-free...this helps alot! found you through a link party today. Would love for you visit me!
Danielle @ snipetsofinspiration.com


Wow, that's a lot! I had that ALCAT test too and I had so many things they told me not to eat, that I said forget it! LOL. I'm not that uncomfortable. However, I did give up gluten and I think that has helped tremendously. Best of luck to you! I look forward to seeing your meals, b/c as you know, we are doing dairy and gluten free for my daughter.