Episode 6 - Celiac Journey - Meandering Millennials

Episode Transcript
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(00:17):
It is 716 on April 20th here in central Appalachia.
I am Raleigh. And I'm Ray.
And we are the meandering millennials.
We are two mid 30s millennials here to talk about our lives.
Traveling, homesteading skills, dogs, cats, chickens, cooking,
creating, and any other topics might spike our interest.

(00:38):
And today on this holy of holy four 20s, we are talking about
my journey with discovering I have celiac disease and going
gluten free and what that look like for me and what that looks
like for you as my partner. So for episode 6, it is the
Celiac journey. Before we dig into all that fun

(01:01):
stuff, what are you drinking today, Raleigh?
I'm drinking a lime Margarita from Cutwater and it's not bad.
Margarita's not my favorite, Nota big tequila fan, but no,
they're good. It's just tart enough.
It's pretty good. They're not bad.
I am just now realizing that margaritas are made with tequila
and not rum, so that's a fun journey for me.

(01:23):
I am also drinking a cut water and lime Margarita in a can
because we're classy Margaritina.
Margaritina. And it is a gluten free
beverage, says it right on the cans.
So 10 out of 10 recommend if youare, you know, above 21 and into
that kind of thing. Yeah, I think that's a good, a
good kind of segue to have with gluten free stuff because it's

(01:45):
difficult to find alcohol beverages that are that are
safe. But why don't we start off by
explaining what celiac disease is, just so people know, because
I think it's a lot more popular now than when you first thought
you like when we first thought there might be an issue, which
was a long time ago. We'll get to that.
But what is? Popular would be the word, but
they were like widely known. That's fair.

(02:07):
That's fair. Yeah.
I didn't mean it as far as like,popularity.
I just meant a lot more people know about it.
Yeah. So what?
What is celiac disease? Celiac disease is an autoimmune
disorder. They're not 100% sure where it
really triggers that in some people.
There's definitely a genetic component to it.

(02:27):
And some people can have this kind of genetic piece and go
their entire life and never haveany issues with eating gluten.
And then for other people, it's kind of theorized that maybe
there's a viral infection or maybe a period of really intense
stress in your life that createsan imbalance in your system, and
this autoimmune aspect kicks in.So your immune system kind of

(02:49):
kicks in OverDrive and for whatever reason decides that
gluten, which is a protein in a lot of grains, is poisonous to
you. So not only does it get super
unhappy that you have consumed the gluten that it now thinks is
something that's should be feared, it will kind of go above

(03:09):
and beyond to get that little Gold Star and will start
attacking the lining of your small intestine in an effort to
kind of get rid of the gluten that it perceives as a threat.
So for folks who have celiac disease there, I think there's
like 280 symptoms that are attributed to at this point.
The most common ones you think of are going to be GI related.

(03:32):
So upset stomach, bloating, diarrhea, Constipation.
The typical, I'm saying this in quotes, celiac patient is
usually kind of may have anemia,they might be very thin, they
might have a hard time putting on weight, have a lot of
peculiarities around food 'causethey just feel unwell after

(03:54):
they've eaten a lot. And yeah, so it's autoimmune.
It's not a food allergy, which we'll go into a little bit later
about how to be safe with celiac.
Disease, I think that's an important distinction that is
like, it's autoimmune, so it triggers a response for your
body's immune system to attack itself.
Yeah. And so I think it, it took a

(04:15):
while for me to wrap my head around that idea for you.
Is that it like, I think from like a say, like a biological or
a physiological standpoint, likeyour body kills those little
like cilia. Yeah, the little villa.
The villa, Yes, the villi in your intestines because it's
like, oh, this is poison. We don't want to absorb this.

(04:36):
So it just like, so it just nixes the villi 'cause it's like
we don't want the poison. So stay away.
But like it's your body's immunesystem is causing that symptom.
Not necessarily like like you said, it's not an allergic
reaction to the gluten. It is in a response from your
immune system to the presence ofthe gluten.
So it is not like you said, it'snot an allergy.

(04:59):
It's not an, it's not a reactive.
It's reactive in the sense that you're reacting to the presence
of that, but you're not reactingdelectively like chemically to
that. Correct.
Yes, yeah. So around 2011, 2012, I was in
my undergrad program and just started feeling unwell.

(05:19):
I had a lot of stomach trouble. It seemed like anything I ate
kind of disagreed with me. I'm also a person who suffers
with anxiety, so not really knowing what was going on was
very stressful. So that I'm, you know, kind of
attributing maybe to some of thesymptoms I'm having to the
anxiety. Not, not at this point, really
thinking that it's food related.And unfortunately during this

(05:41):
time, as I'm not feeling well and not really interested in
food, I'm eating a lot of like toast and pop tarts and things
that I thought would be easy on my digestive tract 'cause I was
getting sick so often. So quite the opposite.
Yeah, turns out quite the opposite.
I remember going to several doctors during this time period,

(06:01):
not only for my GI issues, but Iwas having a lot of pain in the
joints, in my hands, just super fatigued.
Like I said, I suffer from anxiety and depression.
So it, it was hard for me to kind of decipher where 1 ended
and the other one began. But I, I went to multiple
doctors and just kept saying like, I don't feel good.
Something's not right. And yeah, some some people may

(06:26):
have experienced in the Americanhealthcare system.
You don't always get answers. No one had ever suggested to me
that it could be celiac disease.So I did what every good
hypochondriac does and turned toWebMD.
And I got a result that it couldbe related to a gluten
intolerance. So gluten intolerance is

(06:47):
different from celiac disease, as we discussed celiac disease
and autoimmune disease. Gluten intolerance is some
people just might have, for whatever reason, a difficult
time digesting gluten and it cancreate a similar host of
symptoms, but the reason that gluten is affecting that person
is a little bit different. So like a like a lactose

(07:08):
intolerance type deal? Yeah, that's what I would, I
would classify like a gluten intolerance as in you may have
some symptoms. It is not life threatening in
which like a wheat allergy mightbe, and it's not an autoimmune
response like a celiac would be.Yeah.
So it's more, it sounds like that's more just like digestive
specific issues. And it fit kind of what I was

(07:31):
going through. And at that time, which was, you
know, over 10 years ago, really the only definitive test for
celiac disease was to get a biopsy of the small intestine,
which was something I wasn't, wasn't super accessible to me.
I was a college student. And I'm also, I'm going to be
really honest, like just didn't want to deal with that aspect of

(07:54):
it. And I thought because I wasn't
like underweight or anemic, my labs were coming back to normal,
that it's probably just an intolerance.
Isn't it a prominent issue with people who have celiacs that
like because their body like because the reli are just dead?
Like their body just can't absorb nutrients, so they'll

(08:16):
tend to be anemic or like you said, underweight just because
like their body physically can'tlike get calories and like it
can't absorb what it needs. Well, you can absorb calories,
but a lot of the nutrients. So a lot of times they're
finding somebody who has celiac disease, might be deficient in
iron, B12. There's just certain nutrients,
yes, like you said, when those fill I are flat and your

(08:37):
intestines aren't absorbing the nutrients that you are eating.
And so folks will start to feel pretty sick from that also.
And I'm also curious, did you ever get like an IBS like an
irritable bowel syndrome or any?I wonder if there was a lot of
like misdiagnosed GI issues thatcould have been celiac, but it's
not like it was something that was super well known.

(08:59):
And so I don't know that a lot of doctors would.
And I'm just wondering if you had gotten any, what you would
now consider a misdiagnosis knowing that you do have celiac?
Disease no. I was given 0 diagnosis however.
Foreshadowing. My mother was told for decades
she had IBS and that was stress related.
So foreshadowing for the. Future she does have like a

(09:23):
quicker response than you ratherthan her response is almost like
immediate. We'll get into that.
OK. OK.
Yeah. You're jumping, jumping the gun.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
Yep. So yeah, at this point, I'm not
underweight. My labs are coming back to
normal. So I'm thinking gluten
intolerance, cut out gluten and I do feel better.
I don't have like a brain fog. I don't have the big bloated

(09:47):
stomach like I was experiencing before.
But I was still under the impression that this was an
intolerance, that the biggest risk to me eating gluten at this
point was simply just my discomfort.
So if we were planning like a meal or something that was a
special occasion, then I would plan to go ahead and eat gluten

(10:09):
knowing that I'm just going to feel kind of crappy for the day,
next day or so, not thinking I was causing a long term damage.
Which like I said that I think that's seems to be what a lot of
like lactose intolerant people that enjoy lactose, yeah, tend
to do is just like suck it up type deal.
Yeah. Well, they also have like like a
Lactaid option. So you can kind of take a

(10:31):
digestive enzyme A that allows them to breakdown that lactose.
Pre emptive. Yeah, and for a while when I
thought it was just gluten intolerant, I, they make one of
those to Glutease maybe I'm not sure what it was called, but
used to take that if I knew I was going to eat something with
gluten in it, thinking I'm just missing a bacteria or something
in my gut that's not allowing meto digest.

(10:53):
So, yeah, this went on for, gosh, about 10 years or so of me
thinking that I just had an issue with gluten at a certain
point, just basically ate whatever I wanted and just
accepted that that's how my bodywas reacting to it.
And yeah, just kind of went on. Life is normal.

(11:15):
Well, I think it was also not too long after we moved to where
we are now. You hadn't been eating gluten
for a long time and you were like, oh, we'll just try it.
And I think because, like, your guts had been healed from not
doing it for so long. You didn't seem to have like, it
seemed like you were OK, like you weren't having the typical
responses you used to have. And so there was like a, a

(11:37):
period where you had healed to apoint where you thought like you
were good. And like you said, it's not like
we eat a ton of it anyway. Because I think, like I said,
for pretty much all the time I've known you, like it's always
been on my radar at least about like being gluten free.
And for a while when we were in Mason Town, we did, you know,
like low carb keto stuff, which just is generally kind of

(12:00):
regarded as mostly gluten free just because that's the, you
know, wheat's the primary culprit, the protein.
Gluten is in wheat predominantly.
And so a lot of stuff is like keto doesn't have that in it
naturally. And so we went that direction
and it wasn't bad. I mean, there's a lot more

(12:21):
options now than there were ten years ago, but it's still, I
think for the most part, you canget good substitutes.
Yeah. And you made a good point.
We haven't talked like glutens in wheat, barley, rye, malt,
Pharaoh, just a ton of grains. And in the US, wheat is usually

(12:43):
kind of labeled in bold and it'll say contains wheat as part
of an allergen statement. But rye, barley malt, any, any
other gluten containing grains will be listed in the
ingredients, but they're not going to be bolded and they're
not going to be listed in an allergy statement.
So you have to be more diligent when you're kind of identifying

(13:03):
gluten versus just if someone who is avoiding wheat because of
an allergy or an intolerance. Yeah, which I think it's also
too important to note that like the protein is fairly large like
on the micro scale. And so cross contamination is a
huge issue. And so we found that there's you
know, a half a dozen different like gluten free certifications.

(13:25):
I know there's the one is beyondceliac, which is specifically
celiac safe, but the other are like certified gluten free or
like you said, people just labeling gluten free on
something doesn't necessarily mean it's not cross
contaminated. So if there's a a processing on
the same equipment, like a lot of these companies that do

(13:45):
grains or nuts and stuff like that, they use a lot of the same
equipment because they can like the equipment carries over.
So they'll do a bunch of different grains and nuts on the
same conveyor line or whatever. And so if you, you can pick
gluten up that way at the process.
And so that factors in when theylabel stuff and also when we'll

(14:05):
get into later about like eatingout that cross contamination is
very much a lot more prominent. So just to wrap on our timeline
really quick, so about 10 years out, spring 2023, my mom is
having some health issues and kind of how Raleigh had
mentioned about IBS, she had haddigestive issues for decades.

(14:27):
It was always contributed to being an IBS symptom.
She was never really able to determine.
You know, a lot of the triggers for IBS tend to be like nuts or
popcorn, like things that are really small that can really
agitate the intestines. But none of those things really
seem to bother her. So just part of routine testing

(14:49):
for other things that were autoimmune related like lupus.
They tested her for celiac, comes back positive on a blood
test. She has several family members
who are celiac positive on her side of the family and went and
got the biopsy done. It also comes back positive for
celiac. Her doctor said your kids should

(15:11):
get tested. I immediately like send a
message to my doctor in the patient portal because at that,
as soon as I knew she was positive, I just had that
thinking feeling that like all of my shoes were gluten, were
actually celiac the whole time. And I was right.
So confirmed through blood test and through the genetic
component of having a first degree relative who tested

(15:33):
positive for celiac. So April 2023, two years ago,
confirmed, confirmed celiac. So yeah, just to go back to your
peanut analogy, if you can talk a little bit about your
experience of not dealing with me with celiac, but you're

(15:53):
obviously a part of what that looks like.
We have a shared household, a shared kitchen.
We travel a lot together. And it was definitely a learning
process, I think more so for youand your family than it was for
mine. Yeah, which none of us really
have allergy issues. I know my brother and I had a
reaction to what we assume was amaretto in a cheesecake when we

(16:18):
were, I don't know, like 7 and 10 or something.
But other than that, we don't really have any allergies that
we know of food related or otherwise, like bee stings or
nothing like that. But I think it's important for
people to note that like there'speople that have like effects to
allergies that they like need tocarry an epiopen around, which I
know tree nuts I think are one of the more popular, mainly

(16:42):
peanuts, but also any tree nuts in general.
Like there are people that couldlike go into anaphylactic shock
because you're eating a peanut butter sandwich like 10 feet
from them. Like there's people that are
that severely allergic. There's also people that could
just eat it and have a bad day tomorrow.
But it's not like that is a specific allergy.

(17:05):
And I think a lot of people and I think the reason celiac kind
of went without getting noticed for a long time is because it's
not like an immediate like you're not going to get
anaphylaxis. There's not like an immediate
lethal danger to you eating gluten.
But there's a long term thing oflike the more you keep your

(17:26):
intestines inflamed, like the more damage you caused.
Like the shorter the life is on that, the the higher the chances
you're going to get Like GI related cancer.
Other issue, like there's a lot of other issues that kind of
stem from a continued autoimmuneresponse.
And so if you don't take care ofyourself in that way, it's not
as though if you eat gluten in arestaurant, you're going to have
an EpiPen shot. But it's as important as if you

(17:50):
would have in my mind. And I think like I've even tried
to get that across. You know, I try to advocate for
you a lot when we go out to eat because it's it's hard to go
places. Like I said, cross contamination
is a huge issue and a lot of places are good about having,
you know, a specific gluten freemenu, but that doesn't
necessarily mean that they don'thave cross contamination

(18:12):
protocol, which that's why I know like five guys is really
good. We've we've witnessed it.
Everyone we've gone to, they have a specific protocol where
they switch to new gloves. Everything is clean utensils.
They're super good about it. We've never had issues.
I remember we went to Green Turtle the one time and you were
supposed to get like carrot sticks, I think, instead of

(18:33):
tortilla chips with a dip. And the dip itself was actually
gluten free. And he brought it out and it had
the chips and you were kind of like, well, I thought this was.
And so you double check with himabout like, oh, like the dip is
gluten free, right? He said.
Is is this the gluten free version?
Yes, he said. I.
Checked with the. Chef So again, the dip was

(18:54):
gluten free, but since the chipsshared a fryer, that's why you
should have gotten carrot sticks.
And that's why, like you did endup having a reaction and that
wasn't, you know, the the waitstaff wasn't malicious.
They just don't know. And I think that's the thing.
That's why I always equate it toa peanut allergy because like
people know that like if you sayI have a peanut allergy, almost

(19:14):
anybody, especially somebody working in a restaurant is going
to assume like you have an EpiPen.
So they're going to assume like there's a sense of urgency
there, if that makes sense. Whereas with celiac disease, I
just think people don't know about it.
And gluten, since gluten free was a big like fad diet, I think
there's a lot of people that kind of turn their nose up if

(19:34):
you say like, oh, I'm gluten free.
They're like, oh, like that's just a snobby, you know, like a
Hollywood diet and like, no, it's not.
It's like an actual medical autoimmune issue that we need to
be aware of. And we really haven't had,
especially the last I'd say probably five years, that green
turtle incident. Other than that, I think we've
been pretty good about not getting glutened out and about.

(19:58):
There was, we went up to Altoona.
There was that one breakfast place that I think you got some
cross contamination from. But it hasn't been bad, but it's
advocate for yourself or in thiscase for your partner.
I try and make sure any time we go there that you know, if if
you don't say it, I make sure and say like, oh, like she has
celiacs. It's a, you know, there's a

(20:19):
whole protocol and usually the weight snap is at least aware of
what I'm talking about. And just to circle back a little
bit with what you said about reactions.
So you mentioned a little bit about, you know, how my mom
reacts differently than I do. So I think that's another piece
of celiac disease that makes it difficult to diagnose and
difficult to manage because even, you know, with my mom and

(20:43):
myself, the way that we react toingesting gluten is entirely
different. So for her, if she were to eat
something that maybe somebody cross contaminated a restaurant
or she mistakenly read a food label within half an hour, like
she's fully aware that she needsto find a restroom, like now,

(21:03):
she reacts pretty quickly. And that makes it easier for her
to kind of determine exactly what caused that reaction.
Where with me, it could be 24 hours later that I'm having a
lot of GI symptoms and now I have to play detective as to
what I we've. Literally made like a list of
like everything you've eaten thepast two days to try and deduce

(21:26):
like where. Yeah, where it could have been
from and I think that day we determined that it was a it was
early on in me finding out I hadceliac.
So we were still had some thingsin the house that were
contaminated that we just weren't thinking of.
So it was a jar of relish, pickle relish that I must have

(21:48):
dipped into with a cracker or spread some on a piece of bread
or a bun and not realized it anddipped the utensil back into it.
And that's what we ended up determining what had caused that
reaction. But it's frustrating to have to
kind of replay the last 24 hoursand then sometimes we don't ever
figure out exactly what it was. No, there's been sometimes we

(22:09):
kind of just our hands up like, well, we're not sure.
Like we tried to be safe and youjust don't know.
But I think it's important to note on that, that there are
people and there's plenty of other creators out there in the
different spaces that are like, it's so severe, like they can't,
like you can't share an oven, which we don't share a toaster.
I mean, I really don't use a toaster oven, but we don't like

(22:31):
if I were to use our toaster oven, I would never put gluten
in it because realistically you would never be able to use it
again even though it gets hot. Like it doesn't matter.
Like the air fryer's the same way I'll never use gluten stuff
in the air fryer because you have air moving around.
The chance of getting cross contamination in there and then
getting it to you later is goingto be bad.

(22:52):
But there are people out there that have like literally no
gluten ever goes in their house.Like I don't I'll eat Oreos or
like occasionally I'll have a sweet prepackaged snack, but I
rarely make anything using like utensils or baking or stuff like
that that is gluten free. Yeah, you'll have like if we

(23:12):
have burgers, you might have burger buns in the house, but
everything's like you said, contained.
It's packaged. You're never bringing anything
like a loose flour or any kind of ingredient that could be
small and run the risk of us notrealizing something.
Was Yeah, which that's one thingI will say if you or your
partner is celiac, like squeezable condiments, top

(23:34):
notch. Because I remember we had that
issue with mom one time. I think she made fajitas and
like the sour cream somebody hidlike dip their spoon in the sour
cream and use that spoon to kindof smear the sour cream on a
flour tortilla, put it back in the sour cream.
But like that peanut butter. Exactly.
But yes, so like that, I know peanut butter is a big one.

(23:56):
You got to watch out for any kind of sauces like dips for a
chip. Yeah, because I think you and I
had that issue before with like hell of a good like French onion
chip dip. I think we I had accidentally
cross contaminated some of your dip before.
And so it's just being, you know, aware of anything that's
shared like that. Make sure you use, you know,

(24:18):
like when we make, you know, tacos or something, I'll make
sure because I'll still use a flour tortilla, but I'll make
sure like we have a specific spoon that is just for getting
the sour cream out of the tub. I have my own spoon to smear
stuff on my contaminated gluten wrap, but it's just being
careful about stuff like that I think is the big.
Thing getting the squeezeable where you're never like touching

(24:42):
the container to the product that might contain glue.
Yeah, 'cause I know Mom now always gets squeezable sour
cream before coming over for that specific reason.
Which I will just shout out to, like obviously my mom
understands, 'cause she's livingthat also, But your family's
kind of had to adapt in a way that is a little different.

(25:03):
And I know there's certain timeswhere like your dad will
accidentally double dip something and then the whole
table's like, no. Yeah, we all shoot him aside.
Look like, what the fuck are youdoing, dude?
Like that's all yours now. Enjoy.
But no, it's, it's honest. It's I mean, it took me a while
to do that to to realize like that.
Oh, we have to have which that's, you know, if you can be

(25:26):
responsible enough to do that. Like I said, there's, there's
people out there. And if you did have a more
severe reaction, like I just wouldn't have it in the house,
like I wouldn't get it like. I've never asked you to not have
in the house. And you're always super like, if
we're in the car together and you're going to eat, let's say
like we go to McDonald's, drive through and you're going to eat
a breakfast sandwich. Like you're super aware of not

(25:47):
getting crumbs all over the car and taking your trash with you
and wiping down surfaces just soit's less of a risk for me if I
were to like, touch something inthe car and then touch my mouth
for whatever reason. Yeah.
So I think because you are are kind of on the other side of it,
you're a much better advocate for like those practical

(26:10):
functional pieces because obviously I just have to like
not eat the gluten where you have to go, OK, I'm going to eat
the gluten. So how do I not contaminate this
surface or contaminate this condiment and make sure that
everything's safe? So I think that's a whole other
side of it that I really appreciate that you've taken on

(26:31):
and don't no, because I. Think there are supportive
partners, you know, and you've seen you hear about people like
that where you know their partners doesn't give a shit and
is like to the point even where it's like, well, I'm going to
make a gluten filled dinner and if you don't want it, like
that's your problem. You can figure out your own
dinner, which I don't really understand, like why are you

(26:53):
partners? But I think there's people out
there and I think that part of that's also just because it
isn't understood, like it's because I know even dad was kind
of incredulous in the beginning as far as like, well, well, what
does that mean? Like, how come, how come you
can't eat gluten and you could eat it before and you can't eat
it now? And I think now he's realized
that it's, you know, it like it's like you said, it's an
autoimmune issue. It's legit.

(27:15):
It's not, you're not making it up.
You're not being picky just to be picky.
And that, yeah, you just need toadvocate for yourself and say
like, yeah, no, this is an issueand it's it's going to cause
greater issues further down the road.
So I'd rather take care of it now and deal with it properly.
And yeah, and I think they've been great.
Like I said, you know, Mom will still make stuff for me or dad

(27:40):
specifically, but we they try. And if they know you're coming
over and we're doing something specifically for you, then we'll
definitely make sure we accommodate.
Yeah, absolutely. And just to touch again about
the varied symptoms, like you said, for me, I don't have a lot
of my symptoms aren't severe, but there's a delayed reaction

(28:02):
and like there's over 280 symptoms and there are people
who are also asymptomatic celiac.
So some people might get a horrible skin rash or have a
panic attack. Like there's so many ways in
which your specific immune system would react and how that
kind of would be expressed. And then some people won't have

(28:22):
any reaction at all. And that doesn't mean that they
aren't having damage to their intestines the same as somebody
who does have a reaction. But I would imagine if I ate
gluten and never had a reaction,it would be more difficult to
kind of have that self-discipline around making
sure that you're extra careful about cross contamination.

(28:43):
Because if I don't have a reaction then it's hard to know
when that happened. No, for sure.
And that's, I think, I think that's the trouble with a lot of
just medicine in general is likewe're always playing catch up.
So it's like your body is makingthese responses and so you have
to kind of figure out, oh, why is, you know, what caused that
to happen? So it's always reactionary.

(29:03):
It's, you're really hard to be proactive, especially when it
comes to like allergies and stuff like that.
It's hard to get out of head if you don't have the symptoms
because that's what tells you something's wrong.
And so, you know, if you can't, if you don't have telltale signs
to look for, you know, you don'tknow that there's an issue if
you're not having a problem. And I imagine it would be more

(29:24):
difficult to stick to it. Since I found out I had celiac
disease, I haven't knowingly consumed anything with gluten.
And I would say half a dozen times I've been cross
contaminated or like you said, the issue with the restaurant
that gave me the wrong thing. So if I wasn't having any

(29:45):
reaction at all, I imagine it would be even more difficult to
kind of stick to what is a very restrictive diet, especially in
a rural area where we live. You know, we've got a Walmart,
we've got shop and Save and theyboth have some options, but
really pretty limited. Whereas if we lived in a more

(30:05):
urban area, like if I had accessto a Whole Foods or a Wegmans
grocery like I, I would feel like I had a lot more options.
No, that and ALDI, which we'll get to a little bit later in
brands like Aldi's. Great about that.
Like all the Trader Joe's Wegmans, like a lot of the like
you said, the larger chain, not Walmart but the larger actual
grocery. Chain.
I think even Walmart's in other areas have carry more than what

(30:28):
ours does. Yes, which ours does have the
the one tiny little specific section and all the other stuff.
You just have to look for it to make sure it's labeled properly.
Yeah. So moving on about traveling
with celiac disease, you talked a little bit earlier about
advocating for me or helping me advocate for myself when we're
at a restaurant because sometimes, you know, say, oh, I

(30:50):
need the gluten free menu or do you have anything that's gluten
free? And the restaurant response from
a lot of places is, is it an allergy or a preference?
And for me, the answer, I mean, I think very literally, I'm like
a very black and white literal thinker.
So for me, like the answer is like neither.
I'm not allergic to gluten and Iwould prefer to eat the gluten

(31:12):
actually. So that is kind of like my knee
jerk reaction. But what I've come to understand
is you to be taken seriously from a food safety point of
view. I say that it is an allergy.
No, that gets back to what I wassaying earlier, that there's
like an urgency to that. Yeah.

(31:33):
And so I think that's why, yeah.Because I think I'm trying to
think of the last place that we went to that where the food's
really good and they had a Little Mix up in the kitchen and
he wasn't sure. And so he came back out and he's
like, he double checked like this is the gluten free one,
right? And you're like, so we were
worried and then you ended up not having an issue.
But you ended up having a glutenfree version.
Yeah, that was it, Yes. They made both of our gluten

(31:55):
free, which I was fine with. I didn't have any complaints.
But yeah. And so I think it's important,
which I mean, kudos to restaurants that at least ask
that question. I mean, I get what you're saying
as far as but they're just trying to cover their ass.
And I'm sure they have, you know, like they've got Snooty
people that are out there that are, you know, I want, I want
all the options that aren't thatare complicated for a restaurant

(32:18):
to make just because I want themto do it that way, not because I
have an actual issue with something.
And so I think that I think that's where kind of gluten got
a bad rap was that it was for a while, like I said, it was a fad
diet. And so I think people got kind
of fed up of kind of dealing with people just being Snooty
about it. Yeah, definitely could be a

(32:41):
contributing factor for sure. I was trying to find the name of
that restaurant, but I don't remember what it was.
Yeah, so always say it's an allergy.
I always try to say that I am sensitive to cross
contamination. Which is usually means like, do
you have a dedicated fryer for that stuff?

(33:03):
Because I know like that's the nice part about five guys is
like they have a fryer specifically dedicated to their
French fries, right. So there's.
No chicken tenders, nothing thatcould cross.
Contaminate the breading on almost every other thing in a
restaurant goes into the fryer too.
And so that's where cross contamination, especially in
restaurants primarily comes fromis.
If it's a shared fryer you're for sure going to pick up cross

(33:25):
contamination. And I will also sometimes just
open up by saying like I have celiac disease, that means that
I have to follow a strict glutenfree diet and I am sensitive to
cross contamination. Some waitstaff might not
understand what that means. Sometimes people ask questions.
Usually though, like you said, nowadays people know enough to

(33:47):
hear gluten free that they pretty much understand where I'm
coming. From no, And I'd say a good bit.
I mean, I'd say probably 25% of the time we'll have like the
actual chef will come out and say like just to verify with
you. Yeah, like, oh, like, I just
want to make sure. That tends to happen more like
privately. No, that's what I'm saying.
I'm not talking about like chains or anything, but I'm

(34:09):
saying at at private restaurantsbecause I feel like, so when we
travel, we try and specifically find places that we can't find
elsewhere, like national chains,which if we, if it's something
we want quick and easy, we know Five Guys, Chipotle have really
good protocols. Chick-fil-A have really good
protocols in place. We've never had issues at any of
those establishments, but we tryand find, I mean, that's part of

(34:30):
traveling is going and finding food that's local and
experiencing something that you're not going to always
experience to help make you thatmemory.
And I think it's, it's importantto look because I know, like
when we plan a trip, that's one of the first things we do is
like where the gluten free restaurants that we can go to
eat at because we want to try something different and you
know, just to get something that's really good that we can't

(34:52):
find normally. And I think it's important that
you have to notice that. And also you have to look at,
you know, how, where your symptoms are.
Like, if it's like you said, we're, you know, we're going on
a trip for two weeks. If you get gluten, that's
realistically going to ruin a day at least, if not 2.
And so I think we're going to bea little tighter as far as not

(35:15):
experimenting with stuff we're not sure of.
Whereas if your symptoms weren'tas bad and it was just like a
some mild intolerance, like, youknow, if you had to go to the
bathroom 30 minutes afterwards and then you were fine, then
that would be a little bit easier to deal with.
And so I think it's going to be personal to, you know, you and
what your symptoms are for otherpeople.

(35:36):
If you're out there looking to travel and do that, I will say
it's probably super important. Make sure you have snacks, like
always make sure you have something packed just in case,
yes, just in case, you know, worst case you can't get
anything. You always at least have
something that you know is safe because it's you know, there's

(35:57):
nothing worse than being hungry.Yeah.
Especially if you're traveling, trying to, you know, have fun
and experience something that's just going to make you
miserable. And so always, always be
prepared. Yeah, absolutely.
Like I said, we plan ahead. We'll plan, you know, where
we're stopping to make sure thatthere's somewhere safe,
somewhere that is reliable. Like I said, Five Guys,

(36:17):
Chick-fil-A, that we trust theirallergy protocol.
Yeah, I don't want to be halfwayup to see Glacier in Glacier
National Park and be pooping like a bear in the.
Woods Yeah, bad news. Would not be a good time for any
of us. And then you talk about how like

(36:38):
in our kitchen, you do have items that have gluten in them.
They're usually, you know, packaged single or they're
packaged and stored in a way that they're not going to be a
risk to me. And then we've talked about, you
know, for our camping trips and when we have such limited space
and limited cooking options, just having everything be gluten
free just to streamline things and.

(36:59):
Make well that then primarily for what I just said was that
like, I don't want to run the risk of like us not being able
to do a hike or else I'm gonna cut our hike short just to us
not enjoying that hike to the fullest for a, a, an avoidable
reason. And so it's not like there's
options that I can have that aregluten free.
It's just going to be easier to go fully gluten free.

(37:21):
There's no sense in me. There's nothing that I'm missing
that I'm not that I can't get. Right.
And which I again, I absolutely appreciate that you're willing
to do that. People who have to eat gluten
free know that sometimes there'snot a good gluten free like
alternative for some food items.Yeah, I think breads are the

(37:41):
toughest. It's hard to really get a good.
Yeah, it's pretty much dog shit.Bottle Eat gluten free bread.
Which is just an aspect of life that I've come to accept that
there's a lot of experiences I'mnot going to have or food that
I'm not going to be able to try or food that I love that I'm not
going to be able to eat again simply because of this.

(38:04):
I try to look at the more positive side of it.
And you know, things could always be worse.
I could have, you know, a life threatening allergy to something
or I could have the silent celiac and not know and maybe
have health outcomes later in life that could have been
mitigated had I known and been able to make appropriate

(38:27):
changes. So at the end of the day, it is
inconvenient, it's not fun, but it is absolutely doable.
You can still travel with celiacdisease.
You can still go have really awesome experiences.
Before we talk about like our favorite brands and kind of food
alternatives, I did just want tosay it catching back to like you

(38:50):
helping to advocate for me in a public space.
It is difficult for me to advocate for myself a lot of the
time in kind of what you touchedon like, oh, gluten free is like
thing that white women do to lose weight and it's like a fad
diet. And I, as a woman in a bigger

(39:11):
body, have that like in the backof my head that like, they're
not going to take me seriously because they think I'm just
trying to lose weight and that'swhy I'm asking for gluten free.
And so for me, it feels embarrassing to have to say that
out loud to like the waiter. Oh, no, I get that.
I think also just with your personal like journey from stuff

(39:33):
when you, when you were a kid, like you don't like rocking the
boat. And so you don't want to make a
big because I know even with momyou've been before, like I'm not
upset, but like mom recognizes that it's like you don't want to
be a bother. You don't want to make extra
work for other people. And that's understandable.
But that's why I like in a restaurant, like I should that
shit down immediately. That's why I said, like you

(39:53):
have, she has celiac disease. It's not like I said, it's not
some Foo Foo diet that you're on.
It's not something that, like I said, I treat it with the
urgency of a of a deadly peanut allergy because in my mind, you
know, there's a, there's a correlation there because, you
know, if you get colorectal cancer.
In your, in your late 40s, like to me, that's a big issue, as

(40:16):
big an issue as if we had to carry around an EpiPen because
you can't be around peanuts. And so I think it's important
just to recognize and, and advocate for that urgency
because it's a health issue. It's not like I said, it's not
something made-up. And it sucks that it got a bad
rap and that there's people thatlook at it as just like, oh,
you're being complicated. But it's like like I don't Nah,

(40:37):
that's not how it works for me. Which you said it sucks that I
got a bad rap, but the flip sideof that is I think based on like
10 years ago, what gluten free options are available to now.
Like there's a lot more and I'm sure of the fact that it was
marketable because people were taking on a gluten free diet
because. It was for sure.

(40:57):
No, definitely. Was an aspect of that.
I don't think you would have nearly the options that you have
today if it wasn't a fad diet because it it paid money
immediately said people were willing to pay a premium because
something said gluten free on it.
And so a lot of these companies being the gritty little piggies
that they are decided I'm going to make a gluten free version
and charge double for it becausethese people will pay it and

(41:20):
because I can. And so I think that sucks.
But it, like you said, it's there's a catch 22 there where
is you wouldn't have the awareness that we have today if
people weren't annoying about it810 years ago.
And so I think you kind of have to play that line.
But I nowadays it's, there's enough information about it and

(41:41):
I think it's common enough that I just don't like, if you don't
know, I'll educate you. Like I'll be nice about it.
But if you want to get shitty, like I don't have a problem like
doing that, Like I just, I don't, but which again, we've
never really had any issues. We've never had people be shitty
about it. And I think you also have to, if
you have celiac, like go in withexpectation.

(42:03):
Like if you go into a bakery in a popular metropolitan area,
it's not specifically gluten free.
Like yeah, you might run into some resistance like just
because or. You just might run into some
ignorance around it. You know, sometimes bakeries
will try to be inclusive and have a gluten free option or
two, but maybe they're kept in the case right next to a gluten

(42:26):
version and they can touch. Or maybe they're kept on the
bottom shelf and so all the little crumbs from all
everything on the shelf above them couldn't turn on them.
So it's just a matter of, like Isaid, advocating for yourself if
you're new to this, if if you'renot new to this, it can be super
uncomfortable. But at the end of the day, you
have to be willing to go to battle to make sure that you're

(42:50):
having the safest experience that you can.
What I think I think that's whatit comes to with your, you know,
the severity of your symptoms and everything else that we
talked about is like you're going to find your personal
intersection where your discomfort from your autoimmune
issue is going to be greater than your discomfort for social
situations. And so you have to kind of find

(43:12):
where that intersection is and just live there.
And that's important for like I said, if, if you can deal with
the symptoms and you're not worried about something long
term and you want to be loosey goosey with it, by all means,
feel free. It's your journey.
But I, I think you also have to disrespect that they're going to
people that are going to want tobe, you know, on top of it, or

(43:32):
for lack of a better term, like militant about it.
And that's understandable too. Like cuz it's I think you have
to give people grace both directions.
For sure, cuz there's some people who never eat out, only
eat food you know, that they've prepared in their home that they
know is 100% safe. And then there's some people who
are like shared fryer, that's fine.

(43:54):
Yeah, like I'll roll those dice.It's not that big a deal for me.
Everybody's on their own journeyin this life and how they choose
to show up for themselves in theway that they choose to advocate
for themselves is very personal to them.
I will say sometimes it can be frustrating with someone who's
like, oh, I'm gluten free, but Istill eat pizza once a month.

(44:19):
And then somebody might hear that and go, we'll all gluten
free people do that. Yeah, but I mean, that was like
there was like the the pseudo vegans that are like, well, I'm
a vegan, but I eat chicken. Like then you're not a vegan.
Like by definition you're not a vegan.
Like you're an idiot. But that could be somebody who
has a gluten intolerance and they're choosing that for free

(44:40):
discomfort. So everyone who is gluten free
does not fit into the same box. They do not have the same
symptoms, expectations, restrictions, safety guidelines.
It's a very unique thing for each person.
And so if you or someone in yourlife is dealing with an issue
with gluten or really any food allergy, please take the time to

(45:03):
educate yourselves and help be an advocate for them.
It's not a fun process to go through and having somebody that
you feel takes your safety seriously is a huge support
system for somebody who's tryingto navigate the intricacies of
this. I was, let me think two years
ago, I was 34 when I was officially diagnosed.

(45:25):
I couldn't imagine what that would look like if I, you know,
having a child and trying to navigate those social
situations. It's difficult enough to be a 30
something year old and having tonot eat lunch at work at the
lunch meeting and sitting there by myself with no food in front
of me and everybody looking at me like why isn't she eating?

(45:47):
I was she on a diet that it didn't?
And well, it says that it's gluten free, you can have it,
it's safe. It's also right next to the
rolls, so I won't. Be no, but I think like you
said, you're gonna find people that are ignorant to it and I
don't. Even know that it's ignorant.
Some people really mean well. No, but that's what I mean.
I don't mean ignorance and I think, I think ignorance has a
negative connotation to it, but ignorance is just a lack of

(46:09):
knowledge. Now there's willful ignorance,
which is like, I don't know and I don't care to find out.
I have very little time for that.
But there's ignorance as far as,like you said, it's just people
that have never dealt with it don't have a family member or a
friend who has dealt with it. And so they just generally just
don't know. That's just not information that
they possess. And we'll teach them that

(46:29):
information. And if they want to take that
information and be compassionatewith it, awesome.
Like welcome to the team. We can advocate for other
people. You're knowledgeable now, you
know the questions you can ask. And if they want to be wilfully
ignorant, then fuck those people.
And that's the same as the people that, like you said, the
people that are going to sit there and judge you at a work

(46:50):
conference or a convention and are going to be like, well, why
is she not? She's just being kinky and she's
not like, fuck those people. I don't like you're no matter
what, you're always going to have somebody out there who
wants to be a pain in the ass and the just the nature of what
it is. You have to just deal with those
people and like I said, fuck them.

(47:12):
Thank you. You're very.
Welcome A. Little hot there because I don't
like I said, I don't have time for like I said, if you don't
know something and don't care toeducate yourself about it, like
you were a part of the problem, regardless of what that issue is
like you're a part of the problem because you're not even
acknowledging that you are or that there is one.
And I don't, I don't have time for that.

(47:34):
We don't. We can all work together.
We can all solve all the problems that we face, but we
have to work as a team and so I don't have time for people that
just actively don't want to havecompassion for other people.
You know, we do have time for talk about our favorite gluten
free brands. That's true.
Let's talk about some people that are very compassionate.

(47:54):
Yes, to people that have celiac disease.
Yes, or at least they're making a lot of money off of us, you
know, whichever. No, I think a lot of it also is
which will start a preface goinginto this.
What there's a lot of stuff thatnaturally just doesn't have
gluten. Like I said, there's tree nuts
do not have gluten in them naturally.
The the gluten issue you're going to have is a cross

(48:15):
contamination issue. They're a litany of different
standards required to pass SO. An FDA standard.
No, no, no. But I'm saying there's also
separate branding. Per million.
Yes, gluten. Yes, that they have to mark it
as an allergy. That has to be to Mark, it has

(48:35):
to pass that testing standard tobe labeled as gluten free, Yes.
And then like you said, there's certain other certifications
that companies can seek out beyond Celiac GF certified that
is kind of a step above that to prove that it is in fact, across
the word, a safer option. Yes.
And that's, and that's what I'm saying is depending on your

(48:57):
sensitivity that you those are going to be questions you're
going to have to ask. Whereas you are kind of in the
middle ground where you're not like super LAX where like you do
have issues, you don't want to get gluten, but it's not to the
point where like you've had major issues that if you do get
gluten, it's not like a huge trying to kind of say this like

(49:21):
it's not the urgency isn't necessarily there for us as far
as it's not a a deadly allergy like we were talking about
earlier. So there's.
For anyone who's not aware, glutened is a verb.
For is it a verb? Is that the right?
Yes, you inadvertently ingest gluten.
Yeah, gluten means you didn't mean to, and somehow gluten got
in you. So you have been in fact

(49:43):
glutened, Yes. But there's when you're looking
at products, know that there's alot of products that are
naturally gluten free and so companies don't think to label
them or get them tested or certified.
Why would they? But they have.
I know like bird's eye vegetables was a big one for us.
Pretty much any of the stuff that is seasoned like preseason

(50:05):
has a sauce or something with it.
We can't trust because all that stuff is with shared line
issues. Whereas if if we just get plain
baby carrots in the steamable bag, they're not labeled gluten
free, but there's no, there's noingredients in you that could be
gluten. And so we've never had issues
with any. Hanover is I think the main

(50:27):
brand we get. There's their broccoli florets,
they're mixed vegetables and like I said Green Giant and
bird's eye are also pretty good about labeling.
Like I said just you can't get anything that is pre seasoned or
sauced. And not to say that it contains
gluten, but it's not labeled as gluten free.
And sometimes seasoning can be asource of gluten that's not

(50:48):
declared. If it had wheat in it, it would
be labeled as such. But if it maybe had like a malt
extract, that's something that could cause an issue for someone
who's avoiding gluten, but it wouldn't necessarily be like as
part of an allergy statement on something.
Yes. So yeah, there's a lot of foods
that are naturally gluten free, really.

(51:10):
Fruits, vegetables, if you're thinking of a grocery store,
most, not all, but most things on your outermost aisles.
So your dairy, your eggs, meats,veggies, produce, a lot of those
items are going to naturally occurring, be gluten free.
And then when you work more towards the center of a grocery

(51:32):
store where you're finding more processed items, you're going to
find less and less options mixedthroughout.
Some grocery stores have a dedicated gluten free section.
Both of our grocery stores do. They're very small, but at least
you know if you're looking for gluten free bread, you can
probably. And it's also goes back to like
there's also gluten free stuff mixed in.
It's not like you can only shop at the gluten free section.

(51:54):
No, you just. Have a lot of those products are
yes exactly you need. To be reading labels, educating.
Yourself because unfortunately wheat is a filler and additive
in everything. And so they're like, I know
potato chips are a really popular one where I know Utz is
really good and most of their stuff is gluten free.
They're great at labeling, but there's other stuff where it's

(52:15):
just like if it's seasoned, likeI like salt and vinegar chips, a
malt vinegar chip is not going to be safe for you.
Anything that uses a distilled vinegar or an apple cider
vinegar will be probably becauseit's not malt vinegar, but it's
really just looking at products that are labeled gluten free
that you trust and and sticking with that stuff.

(52:36):
And just as another disclaimer, just because the last time you
enter a grocery store and you picked up an item and you looked
at the ingredients, it was gluten free, doesn't mean that
that won't change. And so unfortunately, it's
something that you really have to continue to be diligent
about. Companies aren't always great
about advertising if they've changed a formula or an
ingredient list. So if you're buying something

(52:58):
like you said, that's not just like broccoli, you want to
double check those labels. There's an app called, I think
Fig that does a really good job of you being able to enter in
what your specific allergies are.
And it's not just gluten. It can be nuts, dairy, anything
that you're avoiding low FODMAP options, and it'll kind of

(53:19):
filter through and flag ingredients that may or may not
be a risk for you so that you can kind of use your own due
diligence and don't educate yourself.
And I think it is user based too.
So like users can input their experience and so you are
getting some real world. I don't.
I don't remember that. I thought you could put in like
feedback on it where 'cause theyhad like the question.

(53:40):
Find Me gluten free app is one that I use when we travel to
find like restaurants and stuff and there's a lot of reviews on
there from other users as to what their experience was.
I thought I don't remember all this asking you.
If like I thought there was a way you could do that, but
that's neither neither. Here, yeah so when we're

(54:01):
thinking of gluten free alternatives for common foods
we've got some brands that we have found are more tolerable
than others and again we. I did want to say we'll throw
this back in. So what you were talking about
earlier, one we just dealt with is Classico pasta sauces used to

(54:22):
be labeled gluten free. They change management over none
of their new stuff is labeled gluten free.
And so we don't know if they changed a formula, if just
because they changed hands, Thiscompany wasn't going to pay to
have the minimum certification to slap gluten free on their
products. We don't know.
But we we haven't taken the chance.

(54:42):
We've just decided because that.Was all still ones since they
removed the label, we're not going to purchase it.
No because that was the best alternative we found for pot for
Alfredo sauce. So now I just make Alfredo sauce
which is one more time sensitivebut it's better sauce anyway in
my opinion. But no, I wanted to just say
that was a real world example wewere just talking about.

(55:06):
All right, so we talked a littleabout about general food groups
that are naturally gluten free and a little bit easier to find.
And now we're going to talk a little specifically about gluten
free alternatives to traditionaldelicious gluten filled.
Foods. Yeah, substitutes.
Substitutes for bread I think chars probably the best that we

(55:28):
found. They're tribata buns.
They have a good multigrain chibata bun that pretty decent
on like fiber and protein. Yeah, it holds up because I
think that's the biggest issue we have breads is they just
don't hold up. They.
Will just disintegrate. Especially if you get like a
burger bun is terrible because the juice from the burger.
Just yeah, just like melt. Solst also I think with Canyon

(55:49):
House Bakery. I think is wrong with bagels.
You don't like how they cut their bagels so if you guys are
listening I thought your bagels better.
Have personally, if you're listening and you've been
personally victimized by the improper slicing of the opinion,
yes, the ratio you get like a little top hat and then the rest
of the bagel. A muffin top for your bagel.

(56:10):
It's like a whole thing. But as far as the quality of the
bread, like their actual breads is decent is my understanding
right? Yep.
And if you are gluten free, you're trying to be gluten free,
you're no somebody's gluten free.
You know that. You got toasted bread.
You got toasted bread. I have I have not found a gluten
free bread that I could eat on asandwich without it being

(56:30):
toasted. I have found Lib G free at ALDI
had a white bread. I don't think it had one little
speck of nutrients in it, but itwas soft enough, right?
It was soft enough to put just like butter on it.
If you are somebody who likes butter bread without toasting
it, that's the only time I foundit.
Yeah. I think it's just important to

(56:51):
note that the gluten is the kindof elastic protein that allows
most baked goods to really hold a dense structural shape and
have some stretch to it. And so when you don't have that,
gluten free baking is a big challenge, which I guess we'll
just segue real quick into that just as far as a couple, because
for me, I like it. It's a challenge for me to try

(57:12):
and create something gluten freethat is not dog shit compared to
the normal version of it. King Arthur has some really good
mixes, Bob's Red Mill. As far as getting just raw
ingredient flours, there's a tonof options.
Tapioca flour, something you should have in your pantry.

(57:32):
It's good for like thickening stuff.
It's got has that elasticity to it.
In that vein there's a brand called Chetty CHEBEI.
Guess it's based on a Brazilian style, like a cheese dough, but
it's 100% tapioca flour. I mean, not just tapioca, that's
the only type of flour that's init, but there's.
Yeah, but that's the main that'slike 90% of the ingredients in

(57:53):
it is just it's tapioca flour and cheese.
And if you are a person who has the sensitivities to textures,
let me tell you, touching that that mix to mix it up with my
bare hands is like makes my bones hurt.
Yeah, I don't. It turns into just a quick
stint. I mean, it will, it will stick
to your pores as if it is like an alien slime.

(58:15):
It is. I mean, that stuff is.
Sticky, thick, yeah. So wear gloves and oil up your
hands. But they have like a cheesy roll
biscuit thing mix that. We've gotten the focaccia bread.
I think we've done like pizza crust.
Yeah, they're pizza crust is probably, I would say probably
the best pizza crusts. That's one of the other one

(58:36):
that's really hard, like a real doughy pizza crust for like a
croissant, like a pastry dough. Yeah, you.
Tend to just for hard to do gluten free.
Yeah you have to do like a alchemists imagination type deal
to get decent stuff but. I really enjoy Bisquick does a
gluten free mix and on their website they have a recipe for
pizza crust to make with it. I enjoy it, but I don't think

(58:58):
you do it. It's just a little gritty for
me, but some people don't mind that in there because it's more
of like a pancake. It almost reminds you like a
buckwheat. Almost.
Yeah, no, for sure. It definitely reminds me of
buckwheat cakes from one of our buckwheat cakes when I was a
kid. Yeah, but no.
Yeah. So King Arthur makes great
blended flowers. Bob's Red Mill has blended stuff
or just if you want to blend your own, they have a ton of all

(59:19):
the certified flowers. So you can make your own mixes.
There's a lot of creators out there that do that with good.
Success. I think we just bought a Bob's
Red Mill mix for a yellow cake. We're going to try.
This Friday. Yeah, they've got it.
Birthdays. This.
Friday birthdays this Friday. Happy 36th birthday this Friday
and we are going to attempt to make an Earl Grey cake with a

(59:43):
honey buttercream icing. Yes, I love Earl Grey tea.
And then I was thinking about doing it.
We were watching Great British Bake Off and then somebody
actually made an Earl Grey cake and I was like, it's a sign
we're going to, we're going to try it.
We're going to try and make a gluten free Earl Grey cake.
So yeah, I'm looking forward to it.
Which again, appreciate that you're going to accept a gluten
free cake for your birthday cakeeven though you don't have any

(01:00:04):
gluten free. It's I think that's one of those
things where like a regular, like a cake, a somewhat dense,
cakey dessert cake, you can get pretty good.
The alternatives really aren't terrible.
You're not going to get like themost dense, moist cake ever, but
you're going to get a certainly a very acceptable alternative in
in my in my opinion. And in terms of dessert, we've

(01:00:26):
also really liked the crusties, brownies.
Yeah, crusties is a crusties with AK and AZ at the end has a
lot of good dedicated gluten free baking type products and
then stuff that's pre made too. That's that's pretty good.

(01:00:48):
Yeah, absolutely. In terms of other desserts, is
there anything you can think of?You get a lot of jello pudding.
Yeah, no, I think pudding's a good one because pretty much all
those are, they're really good about labeling it and you can
get some varieties flavor like I, you know, I like a good
banana pudding. Their pistachio pudding's really
good. You know, Oreo makes dedicated

(01:01:08):
gluten free Oreos now. I think Chips Ahoy, which have
never been, they've always been my least favorite chocolate
chip. Regardless, they're gluten free
ones are just that much worse. But I think the gluten free or
you. Like like.
A drop, yeah, if that's what you're looking for that.
Is not a chewy cookie. That's like A to me, that's like
a very British biscuit type dealthat to me, I want like a

(01:01:29):
doughy, chewy, fresh out of the oven toll house cookie is what I
when I think of chocolate chip cookie, that's what I'm I'm not
going for a brick with chocolatechips in it.
But you have a personal. Preference using like King
Arthur cookie mix. You've made some pretty bomb
gluten free cookie. Yes, their King Arthur's pre
made cookie mix is super good. You can really load it up with
fixins and get like I said, a nice what you would think of

(01:01:52):
like a toll house, like grandma's chocolate chip cookie
consistency. So that's that's talk.
To you I recommend. It yes it does.
Delicious mouthfeel, Yes, delicious mouthfeel for pasta
Berea. Yeah, I think Bree is probably
the the cheapest best that we found accessible.
Yes, because that they have it at Walmart.

(01:02:13):
You can get penne, elbows, Angelhair sometimes Facili are the
four primary ones that they makespecific gluten free that.
If we can find in our small town, you can probably find them
where you. Are yeah, like I said, our
Walmart has them. So if if Walmart has it, chances
are you're in good shape. But then did Chico makes a
really good one that we usually get if we go up to the strip.

(01:02:35):
What's the R? There's one that start with.
An R Rumo Oh yeah. They.
Have you? And then that's where we get the
Rigatoni because you you have a soft spot for Rigatoni from your
childhood. I do my Nana used to make
Rigatoni noodles and meat sauce all the time.
So that is a staple for us as well.
Yeah. And so, yeah, we get the Rumo,
the big, the Rigatoni, the big, the big noodles.
Yeah, and what kind of pasta sauce are we on right now?

(01:02:57):
I know you mentioned you're making your own Alfredo.
With yeah, Prego, all Prego sauces are properly labeled.
So yeah, we get the spicy marinara because that's what we
used to get with from Classico, but then they fucking let us
down. Rude Classico not losing
custody. A good partner.
But yeah, so all the Prego red sauces are specifically labeled.

(01:03:19):
We like the spicy marinara I. Don't know all of them are
specifically labeled again like you got to just check the labels
every. Time.
No, that's all I'm saying. I think they do specifically put
a gluten. Free label?
I thought you meant like every single one of them was no.
I'm saying they're labeled. I'm not saying they are gluten
free. I'm saying if they are gluten
free, they are properly labeled.And then yeah, Alfredo, I just
started making my own because Alfredo's literally just cream

(01:03:42):
butter, parmesan. And so you can add Classico used
to make a red pepper or red pepper Alfredo that we really
liked. So I can kind of make my own.
I know I've made it for like we do shrimp pasta with like a nice
lemon Alfredo. It's not too labor intensive and
better than what you're going toget sore quality and easy to

(01:04:04):
make. So I think probably the last
four or five times I've just made to Alfredo, if that's what
we're having. And it's been wonderful.
And then I know you. So these are kind of all the
items that we can generally if we're like making a menu for the
week find at one of our two local grocery stores.
And then if we're looking for something that's a little bit

(01:04:26):
different, we might reach out. Yeah, Vitacost is one I've been
using for a decade. I mean, I get all our cleaning
supplies there. They're owned by Kroger,
Albertson's, which is a mega corporation, but you can't
really escape that. We're in a rural area and don't
have a ton of accessibility to stuff.

(01:04:47):
Vitacost is great. They have a drop down so you can
specifically set gluten free andyou can do reorders.
So there's a ton of stuff that we get on there as far as
Lundberg is a big rice company, so almost all their stuff is
labeled, yeah, gluten free certified.

(01:05:08):
But there's a ton of stuff there.
Wild rice mix we use if we're going to like take the time to
actually make like boil rice for45 minutes, The wild rice blends
super good. They have the instant 92nd
microwavial packs that are all really good.
Their coconut rice is amazing. But Lundberg Bobo's is a big one
you can find as far as like snacks, I think sheet almost all

(01:05:31):
sheets, which is our kind of regional convenient gas station
has them. We they're they're pretty
accessible. They do like the PB and Jays
like little premade oatmeal, peanut butter and Jelly.
They make like little muffins asfar as like snacks go, stuff
that you can find and have access to, but they're on Vita
cost as well. Bakery on main.

(01:05:53):
Bakery on main does really good oatmeal and granolas because
granola is one of those that, you know, granola in theory
should be there's no gluten in it.
But again, they use wheat as a filler and an additive.
And so you just have to watch what the seasoning is and watch
what they're labeling protocol is.
Nature Valley is another super popular brand you'll find in

(01:06:15):
Walmart. They do label their stuff like
so again you just have to check the label and make sure, but it
will specifically be labeled if it has gluten in it.
Yeah. So gluten free oats are a thing.
I don't ever assume that oats are gluten free unless they're
labeled specifically as gluten free.
And I know that there's still some people whose sensitivity

(01:06:38):
goes even beyond that and they just have to avoid oats entirely
because like we talked before about like how we were
processing grains, the risk for cross contamination is so high
when it comes to wheat and oats.So I personally can if it's
labeled as being prepared with gluten free oats.
I've always been able to consumeit, but some other people may

(01:07:01):
not be comfortable with that option.
Yeah, which nowadays most popular.
Like I know Quaker does make gluten free options.
Do they? They have one or two but not a
ton. They'll make and.
I'll say they don't have placate.
To people, but they don't they don't have like a whole line
like bakery on Maine's all dedicated.
And that's like I said, I'll I'll eat that as regular

(01:07:21):
oatmeal. I I think it's delicious.
You're not a huge fan of the Bob's Red Mill oatmeal.
They just don't put enough sweetener in it for you.
Yeah, it just wasn't for me. I felt like to make it.
So when I eat like the bakery onMain, I do one packet of
oatmeal. I'll do maybe half a cup of
mixed berries, milk, cinnamon, and I'll either add like

(01:07:42):
flaxseed or chia seeds into it. Yeah.
Something that just boosts the fiber a little bit.
And usually that is almost too sweet for me because I'm not a
huge sweets person. But the Bob's Red Mill, I put
all of my goodies in there, and it still was just not quite
enough. Yeah.
Just it wasn't as appealing to me.
Gotcha. Yeah, anything else you can

(01:08:06):
think on top of your head of ourfavorite gluten free or
alternative options? No, I think that's like I said,
just get to know your where you get your groceries from.
If you if you have the lux you'll be able to get stuff on a
place like Vitacost. Awesome.
If you have access to groceries,like I said, Krogers is really
good. I do want to mention real quick

(01:08:27):
ALDI, because we get there, theyhave like a Chinese takeout
chicken clown like. A tempura breaded.
Yes, and they have a general sauce.
Yeah, they have a general sauce,but you and I don't particularly
care for the general sauce. But then they sell it without
the sauce, which is weird because I'm pretty sure it's the
same price, the same price and the only difference is the

(01:08:48):
sauce. So if you, if you, if they only
have the general sauce and you don't like the sauce, like us,
just buy the general sauce and throw the sauce away.
But no, that is as close as you're going to get to like
actual Chinese takeout tempura, like tempura chicken, like a
sweet and sour honey chicken, that classic that you think of?
The American Chinese style. Yeah, exactly.

(01:09:10):
Because at least where we live, Chinese takeout is no longer an
option for me. Soy sauce.
Regular soy sauce often containswheat.
And so if you're doing a fried rice, really any, any option
that has sauce and it's probablygoing to not be cool.
Which since you brought that up,I do want to say that there if
you're, if you are dealing gluten free, look for Tamari.

(01:09:32):
Not all tamari is gluten free. I literally just saw it.
I know I'm just saying though, if you look, because I know like
the sushi place that we like to go to, like they bring out
tamari just as the gluten free option instead of because you
can get gluten free soy sauce. It all has to do with you the
process they used to make it. But typically soy sauce is cut
with some wheat paste and so that's why most typical just

(01:09:56):
processed soy sauce is not gluten free, whereas tamari is a
specifically brewed soy product.It shouldn't in the natural
process if to technically be labeled as tamari, it should not
have it, but it seems like thereare.
Yes, but double check. I know Sanjay is like, that's

(01:10:18):
even the sushi place we go to. That is what they bring you in,
Sanjay. Tamari.
I personally just prefer tamari.It's got a little bit more of a
like an umami. It's not as salty.
It has more of the taste to it and it's a little bit thicker.
So I I prefer like, I know when my brother and I went to get
sushi there, I just asked for the tamari and just like, oh, or
do you need the gluten free menu?

(01:10:38):
And I was like, no, I just prefer tamari, but, but be on
the lookout for that because that, that's a big like Asian
foods in general are a little bit tougher.
If you're looking for a takeout or a more a more natural, if you
will version of those foods, it's it's tough to find.
Yeah, so if you're craving that,look online, there's tons of

(01:11:00):
gluten free recipes that you candig out.
We like if I'm really craving like Chinese takeout, we'll get
the Lib G free chicken from ALDIand make maybe like a veggie
fried rice and add it to it and it's delicious.
Yeah, that's where I really likethe I get the coconut rice from
lumber, the instant rice and that that with the the chicken

(01:11:25):
just regular like Lachoy. That's another brand I want to
mention was Lachoy, because theyyou can get sweet and sour
teriyaki orange sauce, like all your typical like the American
Asian sauces or the Chinese American sauces.
You can get gluten free versionsthat are all top notch, like as
good as quote on quote real thing.

(01:11:46):
But yeah, that's that's my favorite.
That was a go to for us. If we have it, it's a nice,
quick, easy Friday meal if we want to just not take, you know,
more than 20 minutes making food.
Yeah. All right.
So if you have any questions about being gluten free, you
need any tips or if we've mis said something.
Yeah, I'd say leave, you know, in the comments when you're
engaging with people, leave things that you like, the brains

(01:12:08):
that you like, the stuff that you found that doesn't have,
leave all that stuff. So other people, like I said,
share that knowledge. Put some compassion out there
like we were talking about earlier, because that only that
only helps people that are in your same situation.
Never going to hurt anybody. Nope.
You want to take us out? So thanks for listening
everybody for Celiac journey. Hopefully you learned something.

(01:12:30):
You took some information with you and yeah, hopefully you're
less ignorant today than you were tomorrow.
Preferably is how we is how we end with this.
But yeah, go do all the things on all the socials like comment,
subscribe, you know, bells and whistles and just all the
things. I don't know what all of them
are, but just if you know, do them.

(01:12:51):
We appreciate it. If you want to support us and
keep sending good vibes and stuff our way, that's a good way
to do it. So we really appreciate it and
hopefully we'll see you again. Keep doing it.
Yeah. And if you hung around till the
end here, we've got two additional little Nuggets,
information we like to share. So to wrap up, what is your

(01:13:11):
favorite piece of media that we experienced this week?
I already know the answer. We already.
Use that. One now I don't but we finished
it so I think it's okay to mention it again.
Also I'm not sure we watched anything else on TV this week
because we only watched TV like 2 days.
We didn't know. So we finished season 1 of 1883.

(01:13:33):
Last night I stayed up past my bedtime so that we could watch I
think much. Last three episodes, last night,
8-9 and ten and holy oh child, I'm a crier.
And I was like, like sobbing thelast two episodes.
It was so beautiful, so well shot, the storyline.

(01:13:56):
No, it's gut wrenching, but I think they do it.
It's inspirational. It's just, it's great.
Yeah. So if you get a chance to watch
it, it's super good. There's definitely.
Something in your eye across. Oh, no, yeah, I was crying.
I knew I was going to cry. Like I said, when I read about
the show, I was like just the arc of Sam Elliott's character.
You kind of know it's coming. And then, yeah, I didn't.

(01:14:18):
I didn't see the other big plot.I did because I can't wait till
the end of the day. I had already Wikipedia.
Stuff. Yeah, you have to look, and you
can't let stuff end naturally. Yeah, I already knew what was
going to happen. So it's tough.
Still tough to watch. I just it was the acting was so
good, the scenery so good. I just thought the story was
great. Yeah, I Can't Sing enough.

(01:14:41):
Go check it out. Go.
Now mind you this show came out like 3 years ago.
We're like we're we are late to the game on this, but that's
kind of how we roll. We don't really watch stuff when
it's like. That's because it was on
Paramount, that's why. Because we don't.
Yeah, we don't, we don't have paramount, we just Yeah,
borrowed my brothers login. No, we didn't.

(01:15:01):
We found a legitimate way to do it so that.
Paramount was sold up on Paramount and gave them our
hard. Earned.
We got a free trial for Paramount and decided to use it
for that so. But yeah, so that is our second
time as having I think last weekwe also said 1883 because we
were on the first half of the show.
Yeah, because we had just started watching it and so we
were like, holy cow. This is because like, we got to

(01:15:23):
like four or five episodes. Yeah, it was really good.
Liked it. We're going to start.
We were actually going camping this coming weekend and shooting
into a National Park. So we will not be starting 1922,
the next prequel. Yeah, I don't think I'm going to
watch any of actual Yellowstone.You will.
I I don't, I mean you will but Iwon't pay attention.
Like I was enthralled in 18 like.

(01:15:45):
We weren't even looking at our phones.
Like, no, we were fully engaged,ready to roll.
The show captivated me. It took my soul, ripped my heart
out and I'm I'm, I'm happier forit so.
Well, you're going to watch. Yellowstone.
You'll watch Yellowstone. I will be in the background.
I will every time. Occasionally.
And then 3 minutes and you're like, wait a minute, who's

(01:16:06):
there? Why did she say that?
Who's she talking to? Yeah, that's how you roll.
What else? All right.
Last question. You don't know me.
Boy, I do. What was the best thing you ate
this week? Best thing I ate this week.
Why don't we? We're going to keep having the
same answers because you're going to say what I'm going to.
Say I already decided that even though what you're going to say

(01:16:27):
no. No, you say.
I know what yours is. You go ahead and say it and I
got another one. I also have another one I was
going to let you have beef broccoli.
Take it you take it. OK, so Raleigh made an obscene
amount of quinoa earlier this week and we had planned on
having like quinoa fried rice with I guess I have a 2 Fer with

(01:16:49):
some pork and pineapple look kind of like a fried rice
situation. But the amount of quinoa he made
lasted us four nights instead ofthe yeah.
You got to look at your ratios when you're doing rice and
quinoa about how much like a cupof dry quinoa and two cups of
water maths to make 3 cups of quinoa.

(01:17:10):
And so I haven't made, it's beena while since we've made quinoa.
That's why we're making it, to get it out of the cupboard.
And I just, yeah, I made, I madean error in judging how much I
need to make and made a shit pile.
Yeah, yeah. We had a lot so so we kind of
had a. Great idea to make beef and
broccoli, yeah? This is my story, this is my
time. I'll go fuck myself.

(01:17:30):
OK, so to use up that quinoa forthe next two nights, we went
ahead and did a beef broccoli. So you got the like pre stripped
little pieces? Of yeah, the stir fry cut like
meat. Stir fry them with some Peppers
and broccoli and sauce you made and it was delicious so.

(01:17:50):
We yeah, I'd made The Tonight. I'd made the beef and broccoli
before once and it was really good.
And I was like, well, I'll just add Peppers.
And so it's like beef, broccoli,beef and pepper.
Cuz I know like dad always gets beef and pepper when he gets
Chinese steak out it's. Delicious.
We got like the little sweet Peppers from Walmart and cut
them up. Yeah.
Yummy. Very good.
All right then, what's yours? I'm gonna go.
I think the whole week was a good week cuz I, I honestly even

(01:18:13):
forgot about the, the Hawaiian quinoa that we made the pork
fries. But I'm I'm gonna say you're,
you're white chili. Oh, I didn't expect that.
Cuz it had a nice like it remindlike the broth was like a like a
chicken and dumpling broth, likea very savory kind of creamy
chicken stocky broth. But then it was like a chili.
So you had like the beans and the texture.

(01:18:35):
It was very good. It said it's very savory and it
was for sure. We'll throw it in the rotation.
I was pleasantly surprised by it.
So good. I'll go.
Yeah, I wanted something different.
It was kind of rainy earlier in the week, so we thought chili
would be nice. Well, we saw Bushes has that
which. Another shout out to gluten free
stuff. It's delicious.
Yeah, Bushes, beans are all labeled really well, but they we
have this stuff called chili magic, which is like a pre, like

(01:18:57):
a seasoned pre made chili in a can.
I think without the meat, it's just like the beans and the
spices and you add meat to make the chili.
But they have chili magic and they just came out with a new
white chili magic and we were like, oh, we got to try that.
And then you took it and ran with it and it was delicious.
Yeah, we had that. We added a couple cans of white
Great Northern Beans, Can Rotel.We didn't add any corn, but we

(01:19:22):
will next time and a can of diced jalapenos because we do
like a little spice. Kick.
Kick, kick, kick, kick. And the creaminess came from the
block of cream cheese the recipecalled for.
No, but like I said, it remindedme of like a thicker, like I
said, not like a noodle broth, but like a thicker broth, which

(01:19:44):
is what you want in a chili. But normally it's a red base,
which sometimes gives me a little heartburn, little tum tum
troubles. So I appreciated the white
chicken chili. Yep, I was actually kind of
bummed because I gave you we didn't have enough for the third
night. We did not.
And so I had I had pierogies that I could eat frozen pre made
pierogies. And so I let you have the last

(01:20:04):
of it and I was kind of bummed because I was looking forward to
it. I.
Didn't know that you were bummed.
So I you're good. I gave it to you.
So no, you're fine. I wanted you to have it.
I just was kind of bummed on theinside.
Sad. And we sliced up some avocado
and crumpled up some blue tortilla chips on top.
They were delicious. Yeah, I got there's that new
brand at Walmart, so Chill that has like Cholula flavored

(01:20:29):
tortilla chips that are not labeled gluten free because
while Cholula is delicious and Idon't think you've ever had any
issues, Cholula is not labeled gluten free.
So they cannot label chips that have Cholula on them is gluten
free, but they are delicious. I had them with my soup.
You did not have them. You were going to chance it, but
I had it in mind and they were good.
That was another another little level.

(01:20:50):
Yeah, yeah. We've been trying to incorporate
beans into one recipe a week. You know, as we get older, we
both tried to be more mindful about varying our diet and
having a larger variation and and different amounts of trying
new vegetables or adding new sources of plant fiber.

(01:21:13):
And yes, we've been on a bean kick.
We tried to do at least once a week, add that into a recipe
somehow. Sometimes it's something not
super healthy, like baked beans and hot dogs, but sometimes it's
a white. Beans, yeah.
But I think it's also important to note that just with like
prices and everything going up, beans, which I mean, obviously
vegans know this, but beans are a great source of protein.

(01:21:37):
And so it's a cheaper a cheaper way to add more protein to your
diet. And fiber, I think really
there's. Digestively, beans are super
good for you. Yeah.
And I think right now, like in ahealth sphere, there's this big
push for like adding additional protein to your diet.
You need to be having a gram of protein for every pound that you
weigh. Like there's all this talk
around that and then I keep seeing people who are like

(01:21:59):
dietitians or work in the medical field being like, people
aren't dying of like protein deficiency, they're dying of
colon cancer. Like people our age are being
diagnosed with colon cancer. So we've been more mindful of
how do we add foods that are going to support like our gut
Biome? And then also, how are we adding
just insoluble, insoluble fiber to help keep things moving and

(01:22:21):
keep our guts as healthy as possible?
But I think that's like beans and bean proteins are a good way
to get like nutrition value added filler.
Whereas before we would just ultra process the shit out of,
you know, you know, high fructose corn syrup and stuff
like that and just add it. But it has no nutritional value.
And like, again, wheat is obviously a very popular filler.

(01:22:42):
I think they're realizing more and more like bean and bean
protein is a good way to add like minerals and other
nutrition. And so people are doing a lot
more adding that to things. And next week, our episode is
actually going to be about May is Mental Health Awareness
Month. And this episode, next episode
for May will air at the end of May.

(01:23:03):
And so we've also been more mindful as we get older about
how food is medicine and how ourfood impacts our mental health
and helps to support that or not.
So we can talk a little bit moreabout that next week when we
dive into May's Mental Health Awareness Month.
We rambled a little bit here at the end, but it was it tied in

(01:23:24):
with the episode, so we. Warned you people, though.
For the record, you you were warned about side quests and
sidebars, Yeah. It happens.
We're talking about it's all relevant.
Yeah, I'm fine. It's not like we just went on,
we didn't do like a Family Guy random cutaway.
No, it's all relevant to the episode so.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks everybody.
Yeah.

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Episode 6 - Celiac Journey

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 6 - Celiac Journey