Dairy Hope!

For anyone reading this who is Celiac AND dairy-free, know that there is hope out there.  I know that just after my diagnosis I was told by many people and read on many blogs that often lactose intolerance and celiac disease go hand in hand.  That made sense, because when I stopped eating any form of dairy I confirmed that I too was lactose intolerant.  One friend told me that her Celiac brother went off dairy completely, and within 3 months was able to reintroduce various dairy items into his diet.  Unfortunately, unlike with gluten, I've not been able to completely give up dairy, especially butter on popcorn and a daily "hit" of chocolate.  It was not until I went to Canada that I was able to give up dairy completely, probably because there are so many alternatives to butter, milk and cheeses there.  As for chocolate, I haven't been able to give that up completely, but I eat it in small doses.

Now that I have returned to Indonesia, I've realized how much healthier I feel.  It hasn't been all that difficult to eat gluten-free, and I think it's because I've brought fun ingredients back with me, things like GF liquid smoke and GF worchestershire sauce.  My recipe repertoire has increased incredibly, thank goodness!  I'm not sure what I'll do when things run out, but I'll worry about that later.  Until then, I'm just enjoying grilling, baking and experimenting with new recipes.  I've been able to exercise regularly and afterwards not feel as though my day cannot go on without a rest.  I've also been able to reintroduce dairy slowly back into my diet.

As I mentioned, I've never completely given up chocolate, and I've eaten the odd batch of buttered popcorn.  Lately I've been baking with butter and have had no side effects.  Knowing that, I've also tried Greek yogourt which was a success.  That lead to regular, non-gelatin yogourt, which also hasn't given me any ill-effects.  Mozzarella has agreed with me, and so has various types of cheddar.  Today I ate some vanilla ice cream and I do have a little bit of nausea, so I'll probably stay away from too much of that.  I did have a successful ice cream cup at Burger King, but I'm not really sure I can call it ice cream! There are things I will stay away from, like too much sour cream, cream cheese, definitely milk and whipped cream, and large amounts of ice cream. However, knowing that I can bake with butter and cook with cheese again really opens up my culinary world, and although I will need to use all of the above in moderation, I'm feeling like life is really good in the kitchen right now.

What foods to choose?

We've returned home to Indonesia from our home country, Canada, and have been settling in our new home for the last 2 1/2 weeks.  Just before we left we had packed up our old house, crammed our boxes and few pieces of furniture into one of the rooms of our new place (which was still being occupied by a friend of ours), and hoped that 6 weeks of storage in a hot, locked room wouldn't cause any damage.  Thankfully, everything was just fine when my husband removed and unpacked all the boxes, while waiting for us to return a week later.  While he was doing that, I was busy shopping and packing up our suitcases and totes with as many purchases and gluten-free foods as I could find in Canada.  The big decision now that we're back is which box or bag of cookies or snacks to open, because once it's opened it needs to be eaten in the next while before it goes stale from humidity.  What a delicious dilemma!

In all actuality, I didn't bring nearly as many gluten-free foods back with me as I'd thought.  It was quite overwhelming to think ahead for a full year and try to decide what was important (note to self:  Potato starch...buy lots!  It's in almost all of the baking recipes I've tried since returning) and what was going to just be a suitcase-hog.  I ended up bringing mostly just bags of flour, a few boxes of cookies (oh, yum, I love my Glutino lemon wafer cookies...next year, it's 3 boxes for sure!), a few GF starches and some cooking utensils that I've reserved just for my own cooking.  Since I've returned I've had the great idea of writing down all the things I'd like to bring back next year, and include how many bags of each I think I'd use in a year.  For example, a bag of xanthan gum will last me a year, I think, if I use it in conjunction with the guar gum that people have found for me.  This way, I won't almost start crying next time I walk into a food store that carries rows upon rows of GF foods, like I did the first time.

One thing I've noticed since I've returned is that I have much more stamina than before.  Maybe my body has healed itself (finally!), maybe it has something to do with the weight I've gained, or maybe I've just returned rested.  I don't know the main reason, but I do know that I enjoy it!  Today I played tennis and before I realized it, we'd played past our hour mark.  That's HUGE for me, especially since I kept on going and haven't even thought of a nap yet today.  I think this is going to be a great year...