I recently went to Toronto on a work trip. I actually had the opportunity to be a bit of a tourist rather than be stuck in a hotel working the whole time so that part was really nice. What wasn't nice was trying to find places to eat around my hotel. OMG that was brutal. I ended up having one dinner at The Keg which was nice since a lot of their stuff is very gluten free friendly and they even have a separate menu which was a nice touch but of course, that's a bit more expensive. However, much more reasonable than the lunch I had at my hotel. OMG. BRUTAL. Which is what lead to me wanting to find a different place for lunch the next day.

I hopped on Google to try to figure out what was near by and noticed there was a Boston Pizza not far away. They have GF pizza's that are just sooooooooo good. Except, while it looked not far away it was a good 15 minute walk from my hotel in plus 35 (celsius) heat. Awesome. And when I got there they were full and the wait was 20 minutes and I was dying of the heat. I ended up deciding to go elsewhere which was pretty much my 2nd mistake (my first was not opting to go to The Keg again for lunch, lol). I ended up going to a couple other places and reading their menu outside to decide if I wanted to go inside. Except, I didn't. I ended up at Tony Roma's and when I asked the manager there about GF options he was USELESS. I'm sorry but if the manager is useless, then it's really just a pointless restaurant excursion because OMG if they don't get it, their staff won't either. I ended up having fries. yay!!!!!! Anyway, I later found out that all their rib sauces are GF so I could have had ribs but since the manager was useless, I didn't know that. Woohoo.

Anyway, I figured Toronto would be super eassy to find GF food because hello, huge city! That means more people with a special diet like this. But nope, I had bigger obstacles than in Winnipeg. Although, I'm pretty sure the only reason I don't have huge obstacles here is that I'm familiar with the lay of the land as it were and so I know where to go. And I have a car so I can go wherever I please rather than being at the mercy of where I can walk/taxi/bus without getting lost. Oh well!!! I was there for a conference of sorts and I must say, they were awesome at ensuring GF meals HOWEVER, my only complaint is that I had to find a server and ask them for my food (it was a buffet for most people). I felt like this created an obstacle as well as singled me out. I work in the disabilities community and I really strongly believe in eliminating barriers. I hate when people need to ask for a key to an elevator in order to ensure accessibility, that type of thing however, I felt like I was basically "asking for the key" in order to get my lunch. I really just wish they had had the buffet items labelled as to what they are with a little "GF" symbol next to them. If I couldn't get protein off the GF buffet, then fine, make me ask I guess but almost guaranteed there were items I could have had from the buffet but since they weren't marked, I wasn't going to risk it :(

Anyway, this has made me want to become more involved in advocacy work. I think the more restaurants know about gluten intolerances and the more they know how EASY it is to accommodate then the better. So yes, I am on a mission. Watch out.

In happier news, I discovered Kinni-Kritters this week. Yum!!! I've been a wee bit jealous of my nephew because he can have all the animal crackers he wants but yay now I can have them too!!! Other than bread and pasta, there aren't a ton of gluten type foods that I love. I like cookies but I don't love them so no big deal. I've really only ever like chocolate cake/brownies and I have a store that makes FAB GF brownines so that dilema is solved. And Glutino makes amazing crackers that I love. The Kinni-Kritters just completes the "missing" food from my life. YAY!!!

Being gluten-free

About 6 weeks ago I cut out gluten. It's been at times quite trying but definitely a really great decision.

The story -- stop reading now if you're squeemish --

You see, I've spent nearly 8 years in pain. Nearly 8 years of wondering why I was so sick all the time. Not sick in the contagious sense, I have a great immune system. Sick in the bloated, frequent BM, tired but can't sleep properly come night time, gas, migraines, iron deficiency, "IBS" (what a b*ll sh*t thing by the way), etc. The biggest, most annoying thing was the whole needing to run to the bathroom about 30 minutes after EVERY MEAL! Okay, maybe not every meal, just about 95% of them. It was horrible. So I was trying to just eat healthy and properly and not have food with preservatives as much as possible. I mean, during this time we also discovered I couldn't wear contacts anymore and they figured it was likely from the preservatives that are involved so it would totally make sense that it would be preservatives hurting my tummy. Except, this didn't completely solve things and my doctor just said "oh you have IBS" and "oh well some people just have that many BMs in a day". Seriously? 3 times a day? 3?? And in that um...shall we say consistency? Oh, and let's not forget that during this time I've suffered through on and off again bouts of fissures. YAY!!!!!!!!

I've also known about Celiac Disease during most of this time however refused to believe that that's what was going on. What I didn't realize is that you can have a gluten intolerance as opposed to a gluten allergy (which is what Celiac Disease is).

Over the last 8 years more and more people have figured out that they have this problem and over the last 8 years more and more food has become available in more tradional grocery stores. Now, you can actually go to your local grocery store and find special gluten free foods rather than driving half way across town to a little tiny store that charges an arm and a leg for these things. Now, I do totally support the little guy but um dang this stuff can be EXPENSIVE!!

So about 7 weeks ago I said to my doctor "can we do the blood test for gluten sensitivity". "sure" he said. So a week later I did the test. And right after that I stopped eating gluten. Guess what? I felt so much better. I didn't even realize how bloated I always felt. Apparently, I was just always bloated but sometimes I was EXTRA bloated. Oi! How terrible! Well, the test has since come back negative but, here's the thing. Those tests aren't terribly accurate AND I really wasn't eating tons and tons of gluten before the test (which I have since learned is QUITE important).

There have been two occassions where I knowlingly ate something with gluten in it. 4 weeks ago I ate a hot dog with a regular bun. I spent the next 24 hours with gas cramps. And this last week I ate something that had just a weeeee bit of breading and yup, gas cramps for 18 hours. But, was it worth it? Hell yah! I loved every bite. But something tells me I should be confirming that it's a gluten intolerance and not Celiac Disease (I should point out that I generally don't crave things that have gluten in them because I KNOW it could make me feel VERY crappy and it is sooooo nice to not feel crappy).

Now that things will be calming down a bit at work I'll be going to visit my doctor again to talk about these developments and see what our next steps are. I may have to find a proper doctor (as in, not the doctor I've seen since I was 5) and start down this path with a new doctor. But, it should be an interesting journey.