This week I've been off my feed, as my mother would have said. I'm going through another fairly major adjustment in diet, attempting to completely eliminate wheat for a trial period to see whether an intolerance may be the cause of some problems I've been having. (No, I don't have celiac disease. This, if it exists, is simply an intolerance and may be causing allergic skin reactions. Not life-threatening.) This has absolutely nothing to do with the contaminated wheat gluten in pet food, but take the two together and wheat's been on my mind all week.
Being hyper aware of an ingredient means that I overthink everything I think of eating. It's 4 pm, for instance, and I sometimes have a little snack around this time. So I go to the kitchen and... Woops, put back those Wheat Thins. How about an apple? Should have gone to Costco and got fresh ones; the old ones are pretty mushy by now. Well, then, a slice of cheese? That's probably okay, but doggone it, it just feels naked by itself. Okay, a slice of good cheese and a cup of tea. That's edible and takes the edge off my afternoon hunger, but it's not really satisfying.
Breakfast is the worst. No toast, or waffles, or pancakes, or even my old standby breakfast burritos (flour tortillas). I am so sick of scrambled eggs that I never want to eat another one. I don't eat pork, so bacon and sausage are out. Cereal? Grits are acceptable, as is oatmeal, but I'm not terribly fond of either one. I've taken to eating chickpeas with olive oil, lemon juice, and mint for breakfast.
If I'm out running errands and it's lunchtime, where can I get a bite? No sandwiches. Soups are iffy because a lot of them use flour thickeners. Salads are okay (hold the croutons) but most commercial dressings use wheat starch as a binder. So olive oil and lemon juice, or a vinaigrette if they have it. The Mexican restaurant could be a reasonable choice: taco salad (don't eat the shell) with guacamole and refritos. And the corn chips and salsa are okay to eat.
Dinner? No pasta, no meat loaf or breaded meats (bread crumbs), nothing with a gravy (flour thickener). Watch out for "food starch" in the ingredients list of any processed food; it might be corn but it might also be wheat.
Every time I think of something that sounds good to eat, I get smacked with a wheat ingredient, and I've pretty much lost all appetite this week. If this were midsummer, I'd have eggplants and tomatoes and zucchini and peppers and all sorts of lovely fresh things to concoct a meal from, but the non-local grocery store produce just does not make my heart sing.
Then the pet food mess began to unravel. The Adorable Hairy Beast has been eating Hill's Science Diet for Senior Dogs for some time now. Fortunately, that food has not been recalled nor does it contain wheat gluten. It does, however, contain a number of "byproducts," which concerns me enough that I decided to pull her off it until I know a bit more. For dinner last night she had scrambled eggs, no fat, cooked in my lovely Scanpan sauté pan. Today I made the week's chicken stock; I'll take some of the chicken, cook some rice and veggies, and make up this recipe from Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats:
Food for the Four-Legged FurBaby
- 4 cups cooked vegetables (peas, carrots, green beans, corn, etc.)
- 2½ cups cooked brown rice
- 1 cup fat-free or lowfat cottage cheese
- 1 cup cooked lean chicken or turkey (no fat or skin)
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
For long-term feeding, you will also need a calcium supplement. For short term -- a week or so -- this will work fine.
Mix together and feed according to the following chart:
Dog's weight (lbs)
| Feed (cups)
|
10
25
40
60
85
| 1½
4
5
7
9
|
Note: This is a fairly low-fat feed and if your dog is underweight, it may need a little more. Again, for short-term feeding, this should not be a problem.
As for me, I've been reading gluten-free cookbooks and websites. I've picked up some gluten-free baking flour at the health food store, and I have a recipe for pita bread that I may try. I'll cope without wheat, especially if I end up feeling better as a result. But tonight, because I'm off my feed, I really don't have much to bring to dinner, and I apologize.
What's on your plate tonight? Or anything else on your mind?