Weird Cravings

I'm used to having cravings sometimes for salt, chocolate, sweets, cokes, or other random stuff like that, but I knew that something was wrong with me when I started craving:

Vicks Vapor Rub.

That's right. I couldn't breathe well one night and was rubbing it on my nose and then I stopped and looked at it and thought about how much I wanted to eat it. Then I started having like an orgy when I brushed my teeth. I was like NOM NOM TOOTHPASTE.

Ok, something is just wrong with that.

Then I started chewing ice constantly. I want ice all the time, it's so tasty and crunchy and good. I would literally find excuses to do errands so I could get the "best" ice at Chick fil A and Sonic. McDonald's and Jack in the Box have harder ice that isn't as good.

After I starting finding excuses to brush my teeth more so I could lick the toothpaste (I know, I'm sick in so many more ways than one), I decided to google my issue.

According to what I found, craving non-food items like mint and such could mean a deficiency in iron and zinc.

I googled the ice chewing thing, and it said that is a symptom of Anemia, which could be caused by blood loss and low iron.

Hey that all sounds like me!!

Also, I hate eggs again. For a little while, I was so happy eating eggs all the time, every day, yay eggs I love you. I was expecting that not to change, so I bought two dozen eggs when school started. I made eggs the other day and gagged. Just like I used to be. EGGS ARE DISGUSTING. Sigh, and I remember how good they tasted at one time. That whole month of my life this summer where I loved them. The only time in my life that I loved them.

So, i don't know what's wrong with me.

Sincerely,
The Life of A Really Messed Up Girl

Genghis Grill

So, today I ate at Genghis Grill. I figured I would celebrate surviving one week of school. Now in the past, even before my diet, Genghis Grill could make my stomach very sick, so I was cautious, but I read some about lots of gluten free people eating there and liking it so I decided to try it out. 

They have 3 gluten free sauces: 

Sweet and Sour
Roasted Tomato 
Dragon Sauce

I tasted them all. Sweet and Sour was typical, but i've never been much of a fan. 
Roasted tomato was like a spicy pizza sauce. Asian = no pizza, so that's gross.
The dragon sauce was different, a little mild and a little spicy, but pretty good considering I didn't have many choices. I picked that one. 

It's pretty easy to get good ingredients, since all the vegetables are by themselves. I didn't research the meats, I just got plain chicken. 

At the counter, I told them I had allergies and they whipped out a different colored card for me, and I asked them to clean the grill and the guy was very nice about it and he told me I could have brown rice so I got double brown rice. 

Word to the wise, if you get double starches, get double sauce!!! My meal was delicious, but much much too dry. 

It's been about an hour or so since I've eaten and I haven't gotten sick. I think I'll definitely be going back...for the record, i got: 

chicken
salt
water chesnuts
lots of potatoes
green beans
a couple slices of squash (meh)
a couple carrot slices
8 eggs
1 cup dragon sauce (should be 2 next time)
double brown rice

I think they charge a little extra for double starches, but i don't think they did that time. Who knows, but it's worth it to get the extra. My meal was $10.81 and I went through a "I can't believe how much food costs me" breakdown. and then I left the lowest tip of my life. I normally tip pretty high, but I was sitting at the bar, and it's not like you even have a waiter or anything, and it was expensive, and I normally don't leave a tip if I just pick up food, so I was like, well...i'm basically picking up food. just sitting here for a few minutes, not bothering anyone. Sooooo....I'll be OCD and round the number. I left a 19 cent tip lol. For the record, it feels worse than not leaving a tip lol. but I've over-tipped plenty in my lifetime, so maybe it all evens out.

Hopefully, right?

OR MAYBE I'M JUST A TERRIBLE PERSON. 

ok, seriously. not that big of a deal.

But overall, I was very pleased with the new Genghis Grill experience, since they have changed it up a bit. They have different sized bowls now, Small, Regular, and Large, (They had them lined up on the counter and I swear I teleported to the Three Little Bears book I used to read as a child.) and their to go boxes have greatly improved. They used to have these boxes that leaked and they would basically give you the same amount of food no matter if you got double starches or one starch, but this time they had new to-go boxes and I got two because of the double starches. 

I ended up eating 1/2 of one box, so I still have 1.5 boxes to go! Yum Yum!

Cheerio, 
Brittany

Liz Lovely GLUTEN FREE COOKIES

Howdy,

I decided to make one more quick post. After finding gluten free cookies by Liz Lovely at a local coffee shop in my town, my sister decided to buy me some as a "Yay starting school year" present.

 www.lizlovely.com

She got me a ton of flavors of their gluten free cookies:

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip

Gluten Free Snickerdoodle

Gluten Free Peanut Butter

Gluten Free Chocolate Fudge

Unfortunately, because of the heat, the cooler and ice pack they were packed in were basically destroyed. It's Texas, man. Some of the cookies fell apart or melted together because of it, but they still taste amazing, crumbly and all. I know the picture doesn't look like your typical cookie and you're all like "that's disgusting" but trust me, these are the best gluten free cookies I've ever had. And I try my luck with cookies. I'm a cookie connoisseur. Some might even say cookie "monster." 

The snickerdoodle ones might be my favorite. They taste like sugar cookie dough with cinnamon when they are cold. Then the chocolate chip are classically amazing and my other favorite. 

The peanut butter I wasn't a huge fan of, and the chocolate fudge is good, but really strong. I think it's dark chocolate, but you can only eat so much of that at a time because it's like BAM I'M CHOCOLATE. 

And there is my review....

Enjoy. 

Cheers, 

Brittany

My Last First Week of School

Technically, I'll be here (at Texas A&M) for three more semesters, but this is my last YEAR here so that explains the title.

So what have I been eating, you ask? How have I been feeling? I shall tell you everything, as I know you would like to know!!

Eating:

I have been eating a lot of the same things, honestly, trying to keep from getting too sick to go to school. Trying to eat good things and still play it safe.

So, here is what I have been eating this week:

Cinnamon Apple Chex Cereal:

With my favorite Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk brand:

Fruit Roll-ups

Fruity Pebbles Treats -
 Recently became gluten free I think. I had never eaten them before but got a coupon in my gladware ($2 off Fruity Pebbles at $2.04. Seriously? Who wouldn't buy rainbow colored gluten free snacks for 4 cents????) Overall, I don't think I expected them to be so...fruity. Or to have the consistency that they did. They are quite soft. I was thinking rice crispy though. It's not a rice crispy. It's not bad though. I'm not sure I'd buy them again, at least not unless I needed a snack filler.

Dove Dark Chocolate Almond things - 

These are strong because they are dark chocolate, but I think that's perfect because then I can't overeat them. 

Reese's Cups - 

Weakness. I only ate these this week because it is one of the few items in the vending machines on campus that I can eat without getting sick and I was sulking about life. I had almost blacked out while riding my bus, from the heat (hello, Texas) and lack of water. So afterwards I sat in a corner, drank lots of water, and ate a family size one of these from the vending machine.

 Kar's Trail Mix -
This is also a vending machine habit. But they are the perfect little semi healthy treat and trail mix is amazing. I need to buy a pack somewhere, but I don't know where they sell them. I'll  have to check online I guess.

Yes, I'm still eating Doritos. 

 What the snack foods, what has she been eating for dinner???
See above for the chex, and also I have been eating these Asian monstrosities (hehe)


Thai Kitchen Lemongrass and Chili Instant Rice Noodle Soup -
These are cheap, edible, and very reliable. You can't go wrong with a meal that cooks in 3 minutes and costs 68 cents. It's not the best, I've been trying to hunt down the other flavor that was at my walmart once and never again, but until then, this will do. It's good, but not great.

Simply Asia Singapore Street Noodles Garlic Basil - 

In all honesty, I don't remember eating this. I just know I did. Guess I'll have to try it again.

A Taste of Thai Peanut Noodles -

Ok, this meal was weird. You mix up noodles, a coconut milk mix, a peanut sauce mix, and peanuts. It's ready in about 3 minutes, so that's amazing. I am not a big fan of peanuts, so the smell was a big turn off, and I decided to not add the extra peanuts. The peanut sauce has peanut chunks in it anyway. So I heat it up, and it smells all weird and peanut-ty and then I start eating it and I'm like "woah! This is sweet!" and then I'm like "woah! this is spicy!!"

It was like the rice and sugar my mom used to make me for breakfast, and then like chili powder. At first I was like ew, and then I was like yum! Overall, I'd say it was delicious, but in a very non-conventional way. I would definitely buy it again, and probably in larger numbers. But word to the wise: This is a calorie monster!!! It's also definitely enough food for two meals, so split it up into two meals before you start eating to avoid temptation. I ate the whole thing because by the time I realized I was stuffed, it was "too little an amount to save in the fridge" <- evil, evil concept. 

Surprisingly, the soy in these products didn't make me sick. Not to my knowledge anyway. I've been kind of sick all week, but not bad, and it's always when I wake up, so I can't pinpoint it to anything. Perhaps just relapse?

As for the rest of life. I order my $860 LRA by ELISA ACT test through my nutrionalist. I got the "kit" in the mail and was going to take the test Monday, but thanks to STUPID LABOR DAY THAT MY SCHOOL DOESN'T EVEN BELIEVE IN, I can't get it done. I'll  have to wait until the next Monday.

Does anyone else know how weird it is to get lots of little vials in the mail that you know will soon be filled with your blood? Um, freaky much.

College: It's my senior year. That kind of stresses me out a lot. DON'T MESS UP, BRITTANY. NO ROOM FOR ERROR. And I am extremely error prone. Just today, I tripped down some stairs, couldn't get up our fake mountain in skiing so decided to just fall over, couldn't even get my ski shoes into the skis without the prof pointing me out to the class as an example of failure, and then in my Microcomputer Systems lab, our prof needed us to help organize stuff and told us to grab one thing and distribute it, so I grab some things while he is talking and he sees me and motions me in front of the class, 

prof: see, like her, you will distribute these, right? 

me: yes!

prof: do you know what they are? 

me: no!

Prof: at least you are honest. *pats me on the shoulder while class bursts into laughter*

Yeah, that's me, just give me a sad pat on the arm and move on. Oh, and did I forget to mention I almost blacked out on the bus? After skiing, I have to wait like 20 minutes for my bus to main campus, and the bus routes are all messed up and crowded, and it's like 100 degrees of death, and I'd already been skiing on a fake mountain in 100 degree heat for over an hour, so by the time I got on the bus, my hearing went out and my vision started wavering. And I was nauseous. 

Overall, I think my week has been a great start to the semester. 

Tonight my friend wanted me to go swing dancing with him, but thanks to the thousands of things I already have to do, I had to decline. I might even go back to campus tonight. Geez, so much to do.

Must run now. (but not really, cuz i'd probably black out)

Cheers, 

Brittany

BLACK OUT

My Diet Redefined

First off, I have re-introduced some foods to my diet. 

BACK IN DIET 

• sugar (I don't eat sugar packets like I used to though)
• salt (though when i get sea salt I do)
• corn derivatives
• chocolate
• peanuts (but I still sub almond butter instead of peanut butter)
• dairy / butter (I have always been lactose intolerant, but I just take lactose pills now. It's not good for me and I avoid it when I can, but for convenience sake...and taste...man i missed real cheese)
• small amounts of caffeine (tea, cokes. NO energy drinks, mountain dews, large amounts of coffee, etc)
• ketchup
• small amounts of mayo, mustard

STILL OUT OF DIET

• gluten
• soy
• popcorn / kernel corn
• black pepper
• oranges
• peppermint
• honey
• most salad dressings

Trying new bought foods

So, I did buy some food and cooked a few times. I found that I have grown a love for eggs that I have never had and didn't think I'd ever have. Now that I say that, I remember the nutritionalist saying it was weird that I didn't like eggs and that meant something, but I can't remember. So maybe craving eggs means I have gotten healthier? I've never wanted them before! Let's pray that is why. 

Anyway, I like eggs fried the most with canadian bacon, but when I don't fry it, I scramble it up with chopped red/orange/yellow bell pepper and squash. Cheese would probably be delicious but I try to stay dairy free for the most part. 

So products: 

Cherrybrook Kitchen  http://www.cherrybrookkitchen.com/

I have had their pancake mix (which makes AMAZING PANCAKES, seriously so good and fluffy). but I think the soy in them made me sick. I also made one of their cake mixes, and it's probably the best gluten free cake mix I've had. Granted, I made it with Ghee, because I had no idea what that was, and that was a mistake....

The ghee itself is a good idea, but I probably should read about its uses first before chunking it in a cake and frosting recipe (I also used the cherrybrook frosting box mix. It was a little too sweet). Lesson: Cherrybrook good; Ghee good in something else. 

Glutino Brand

AMAZING COOKIES (I eat tons of them). Good pizza.  Horrible crackers. The end.

nasty

really good

necessity to life

I also ate:

peach and pear fruit cups

Doritos Nacho Cheese Chips (recently doritos went gluten free!! Yeah!)

Lays Baked Original Chips

and I ate a ton of bananas and fruit cups.

But what was most amazing, were all of the gluten free freezer foods I found at Whole Foods. So expensive, but here are a few I ate regularly: 

Evol Bowls

They have 4 gluten free products, but these two are the only good ones: 

Amy's Burritos

These are alright. In all honesty, they are small and don't take up a lot of space, but very filling to eat and fast, so they are basically my emergency food. 

Annie's Mac and Cheese
Ok, Annie's has the best gluten free noodles I have tasted. Forget Tinkyada, Tinkyada is disgusting and gummy and then just weird and gross. Annie's is so good and so is the mac and cheese:

That's all for now...

Eating out specific to the Fort Worth / Dallas area

Here are some places that I discovered in the Fort Worth / Dallas area that are local: 

I Heart Muffins Bakery 

• They make cupcakes and muffins and tell you what they made almost every day on their facebook page (it's how I knew if I wanted to go when I got off work). Unfortunately, they sell the good ones throughout the day, so if you go after work, you'll have slim pickings. They also have half priced ones from the day before, which really helps the wallet out when you are eating gluten free. The cupcakes are very good, better than I can make (but don't eat their vegan ones, eww). The muffins are good, but with the cupcakes next to them and that delicious icing they have....go for the cupcakes. They also sell other items sometimes, but I never got them because they were pretty expensive.

Hot Chocolates Bakery

• Nice little bakery that makes gluten free goodies and wedding cakes. But if you want anything from here, order it. They are ok. But "I Heart Muffins" is sooo much better. I think you would go here if you needed a nice looking larger cake. They had decent truffles and cupcakes.

Charity's Gluten Free (Located inside of "Cookie Machine" - so random and hard to find. )

• Lots of dinky little sandwiches not worth paying for, but they make their own gluten free bread which is amazing. Their fries were decent but small servings. and also, THEIR VANILLA BEAN CUPCAKES WERE THE BEST CUPCAKES/CAKE I'VE EVER EATEN. Their icing is lacking, but ohhhhhmyyyyygoshhhh their vanilla cupcake was heaven, so soft, and cake like. They make plenty of cake / cupcake / other stuff if you call and order. But for heavens sake don't email them. They aren't very technologically advanced.

The Salad Bowl

• Absolutely amazing salads and baked potatoes. Kind of expensive, but you get a lot of food. My favorite salad was: mixed greens and spinach : 2 cauliflower, carrots, bacon, cheese, boiled egg, broccoli, and then a side of strawberries. For the potato: chives, bacon, and cheese.

Company Cafe

• Their entire breakfast / lunch menu is gluten free and allergen friendly, and they make tons of cakes and desserts that are all gluten free. It's an upscale more expensive place, but excellent food. Their Loaded Sweet Potato Fries (topped with cheddar, bacon, and green onion) are AMAZING. Soo good. I also had the Company Migas and one of the Omelets, but honestly, I wanted almost everything on that menu. As for the cakes: The mystery cake and the cookie cake were the best - but make sure the cookie cake is fresh lol. The peanut butter was meh and the italian creme was alright but I hate coconut.

Eating Out

This summer I ate out quite a bit. Below, I will share my experiences. 


EATING OUT

The Olive Garden

• They have a gluten free menu. but BEWARE THE GLUTEN FREE PASTA. It tastes like glass / carpet pasta. It's absolutely terrible. I'm not a big fan of their menu. Supposedly you can get the apricot chicken unseasoned and it's gluten free but it isn't on the menu. I went back several times and just got unlimited salad without croutons. I love their salad and salad dressing. 

Jason's Deli

• OMGOMGOMGOMG THEY CARRY GLUTEN FREE BREAD. So you can have like....any sandwich on the gluten free bread. Plus they have all the fruit options and that is naturally gluten free. and the fruit dip is safe. The ability to have a sandwich again was wondrous. If you eat in, you can even get ice cream :)
• Supposedly, the fruit dip isn't safe? I read somewhere it makes someone sick, but I've never had problems. Also, there is a big cross contamination problem here....so beware.

Chili's 

• They have quite a nice menu for gluten free. The soup is fantastic. and their unseasoned classic sirloin is delicious

Jack in the Box

• Jack in the Box is definitely not allergen friendly based on the ingredient info menu thing they give. But I actually talked with a girl who had celiac disease and she said that she could eat the tacos from here. They are not labeled gluten free as far as I can tell, but I ate them quite a bit this summer and I never had problems!

Chick Fil A

• The only place I can eat the fries at that is convenient! You can also get grilled nuggets. They are kind of pathetic looking, but filling ish. They do have some fat on them you need to pick off. and OMG the lemonade...I have never paid so much for a gallon of lemonade in my life, but it was SO WORTH IT.
• Also, I got eggs, cheese, and bacon here (just ask for the items together as a side. The person was confused but made it in a little bowl for me) and hash browns. All very delicious. Best fast food eggs I've eaten.

Dominos

• The only pizza chain with gluten free pizza so far. There is a lot of dispute about this. It is not safe for Celiacs because of cross contamination and sketchy for gluten intolerants. It probably varies per store location. I have a gluten intolerant friend and he has never had trouble with them. I had it once, but I couldn't tell if I got sick from that or something else since I ate several new things that day. This needs more experimenting.
• UPDATE: I had it again. The first piece, second piece tastes pretty dang good, and then the rest just makes you feel disgusted. I ate it all and didn't get sick, but you feel nasty and disgusted. Or at least I did. I won't be getting it again. It's expensive anyway.

Johnny Carinos

• The gluten free menu has some great options on it. I would definitely suggest it. Unfortunately for me, since I still cannot have black pepper, I was limited to just two items: the Jalapeno Garlic Tilapia (no flour on fish and sub veggies instead of pasta) and the wedge salad with balsamic vinegar. I must say, I hate balsamic vinegar, but whatever they use is really good!! 

Carrabba's

• Absolutely delicious food. On the more expensive side, but I went there with my boyfriend for our one year anniversary :) I got the grilled chicken with no grill paste and the chicken soup without pasta. That soup was soooo good!

BWW

• Ok, FYI, their queso is disgusting and their salsa is ok, but their tortilla chips suck. Last time I went I got pulled pork, unseasoned, and it was pretty good. It had a little fat on it though. I also got buffalo chips with salt and vinegar, and I love those. 

Froyoyo

One of the few frozen yogurt places I can go to. All of the "Only 8" flavors are safe. as for toppings, I normally get marshmallows and sprinkles, I can't speak for whatever else is there. 

Yogurtland

• I emailed them about gluten and soy free and got this response: 
• Blood Orange Tart
• Dutch Chocolate
• Fresh Strawberry
• Juicy Peach Tart
• Mango Pina Colada
• NY Cheesecake
• Pecan & Pralines (No Sugar Added)
• Pistachio
• Plain Tart
• Raspberry Tart
• Red Velvet
• Salted Caramel Pecan
• S'mores
• Strawberry Lemonade Sorbet 
• Taro
• Toasted Coconut
• ALL of which are both gluten & soy free
• ------OK, I had the Salted Caramel Pecan and S'mores at my local Yogurtland - SO GOOD. NOM NOM NOM. And it didn't make me sick :)

Wendy's

• Great baked potatoes

McDonald's 

• You can read up about their "gluten free," and you'll see the dispute on whether the fries are gluten free or not, but I'll tell you I just had them two days in a row and I didn't get sick. It might be a per location thing though, or a per time. Who knows. Eat at your own risk. I've also had the berry smoothie and scrambled eggs without a problem. 

Jimmy Johns

• Tell them you are gluten free and get something in a lettuce wrap. I found that I loved these on my super restricted diet, but when I started re-introducing stuff, they kind of just grossed me out.

Subway

• SOME of their chain locations have gluten free buns. and only SOME of those know what to do with them. I had one at one location and it was a disgusting brick. I had another at another location and it was a softer, edible, pretty darn good bun. (it's like a hamburger bun)

Texas Land and Cattle

• Pretty good menu and good food. On the more expensive side

Texas Roadhouse

• Withdrew their Gluten free menu. I wouldn't go. I've gotten sick there multiple times. 

Outback Steakhouse

• I have gotten the GF Alice Springs Chicken without seasoning with the loaded baked potato instead of fries everytime I've gone. It's very good, but make sure you say no seasoning! Each time I forgot I got sick.  They have a very large gluten free menu.

Abuelo's 

• They have a decent menu. Their chips and salsa are the best.  I've gotten the pork tenderloin fajitas with no seasoning in a lettuce wrap, but it doesn't seem like they are very good about leaving off the seasoning or they don't care. It has made me sick before. It's tasty, but I don't like it anymore. I have gotten the Salmon Santa Cruz a lot. I'm not a big fish fan, but you learn to appreciate it and I've always been safe eating it. Also, they don't have the mexican rice on the GF menu, but I've gotten it each time and it has never made me sick. The flan is also very tasty :)

Sonic

• I've gotten one of their hamburgers without the bun before and been fine. Don't know if it's considered GF. 

Whataburger

• I got one of their chicken things without the bun and it made me sick.

Gone for 3 months, now I might be back

Howdy Howdy Howdy,

So i've been absent from the blog for a long time. I apologize! I had an internship in another city, so I moved out of my home of 3 years to a temporary apartment.

The internship went great. I was basically a Systems Developer. Simply, I programmed on a web application. It was very exciting.

While I was there, I made several new discoveries which I think I will share in the next post. I kind of forgot about the blog because I was adjusting to working full time and being exhausted when I got home. It's amazing. College - exhausted all the time, work - exhausted all the time. When does anyone get a break? Seems like the world should have a better way to remain organized and well without people being so dang tired all the time.

Not to mention that I think i'm just more tired in general. I have felt better because I don't complain as much. but I do still complain, I still get sick plenty, and I am so tired all the time. Even after I've slept a ton. I feel so old. I feel like a senior citizen in a 21 year old body. I miss energy, and smiling so much my cheeks hurt. I always thought about people who were continuously sick or had something wrong with them, and I saw them and thought that I would try to make the best of the situation and rise above it. It's a lot harder from the outside looking in. It just seems nearly impossible when I eat something bad or have a crohns ish relapse. Then I'm basically incapacitated. Can't move, can do anything. Just sick.....Ok, enough with the depressing post. It's just what has been on my mind recently. Now for the next post on food and stuff I've learned about.

Peace.

 Brittany