I finally figured out the double edge sword to this....The fact I don't cook, never have cooked and don't enjoy cooking.... The thought of going GF has been overwhelming to me! But I think the biggest obstacle has been the fatigue. I don't have the energy (or time) to get up early to shop or cook. With a 75 mile commute to work, Sleep/work/sleep/work and eat in the car is all I have done for a while now. I don't prepare food... I kinda just "forage" for it! I have messed up with something I have eaten every day.... either knowingly or by accident. (Seriously.... I just figured out "malt" last night. After I ate something of course). So today I stopped at a grocery store otw to work and brought my "ready to eat" purchases inside with me. I have a co-worker who is also gluten intolerant (ever since her chemo) check all my stuff when I got here. So.... This might be my very FIRST gluten free day!!! Wow!!
AmyNicki
My first true GF day!!
Moderators: Rosie, Stanz, Jean, CAMary, moremuscle, JFR, Dee, xet, Peggy, Matthew, Gabes-Apg, grannyh, Gloria, Mars, starfire, Polly, Joefnh
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tigereye92
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2012 8:05 pm
- Location: Lynchburg Virginia
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Gabes-Apg
- Emperor Penguin
- Posts: 8332
- Joined: Mon Dec 21, 2009 3:12 pm
- Location: Hunter Valley NSW Australia
AmyNicki
Some quick and easy ways to survive GF / eating on the run… and you don’t have to do a heap of cooking
Find a good quality GF Protein shake that you can mix and make smoothies. I make up a couple each morning and have them in an cooler bag under my desk, if my work day gets busy and I have to eat on the run, the shakes work well. I can take them to meetings with me, don’t need cutlery.
If I am out and about for the day doing photography I can drink them in the car.
Do what you did today, get some GF foods on the way to work and make sure you have a stock of safe foods at work.
If (and only if) you do get the inkling to cook, doing a bit of cooking on the weekends so that the meals for lunch and dinner are pre done makes the working week so much easier.
A little bit of planning will make the days so much easier. Majority of people (about 90%) had more energy, clearer thinking once they gave up gluten so it is definitely well worth the effort and slight change in your routine. Some people see an improvement within weeks.
Some quick and easy ways to survive GF / eating on the run… and you don’t have to do a heap of cooking
Find a good quality GF Protein shake that you can mix and make smoothies. I make up a couple each morning and have them in an cooler bag under my desk, if my work day gets busy and I have to eat on the run, the shakes work well. I can take them to meetings with me, don’t need cutlery.
If I am out and about for the day doing photography I can drink them in the car.
Do what you did today, get some GF foods on the way to work and make sure you have a stock of safe foods at work.
If (and only if) you do get the inkling to cook, doing a bit of cooking on the weekends so that the meals for lunch and dinner are pre done makes the working week so much easier.
A little bit of planning will make the days so much easier. Majority of people (about 90%) had more energy, clearer thinking once they gave up gluten so it is definitely well worth the effort and slight change in your routine. Some people see an improvement within weeks.
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
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Sheila
- Rockhopper Penguin
- Posts: 1150
- Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 5:10 am
- Location: Palm Beach Gardens, Fl
Amynicki, I know, you don't like to cook. BUT if you cook one day a month and freeze your GF food,it is like having money in the bank. There is nothing better than being hungry and tired and being able to pull something GF out of the freezer. I make butternut squash soup and add previously cooked duck or turkey. There are the many varieties of morning glory (paleo) muffins for breakfast or if you are just hungry. Buy an already cooked chicken, cut it up and freeze in dinner sized portions. If you REALLY hate to cook, find someone who does enjoy it and pay them to make you some GF food for the freezer.
Go to the recipe section here for food ideas. With this disease food will make you sick and that gets old really fast.
Sheila W
Go to the recipe section here for food ideas. With this disease food will make you sick and that gets old really fast.
Sheila W
To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.
A person who never made a mistake never tried something new. Einstein
A person who never made a mistake never tried something new. Einstein
AmyNicki,
Congratulations! This is the first day of the rest of your life. Home-coked meals are the key to remission, and as the others have suggested, many of us cook on weekends, so that we don't have to cook during the week. It makes all the difference in the world on healing.
A lot of us don't like to cook, but when it's our passport to get our life back, it seems so much more appealing than being sick half the time. I hope that you'll be able to make every day gluten-free, because as soon as we begin to taste success, it's much easier to remain motivated.
We're all rooting for you,
Tex
Congratulations! This is the first day of the rest of your life. Home-coked meals are the key to remission, and as the others have suggested, many of us cook on weekends, so that we don't have to cook during the week. It makes all the difference in the world on healing.
A lot of us don't like to cook, but when it's our passport to get our life back, it seems so much more appealing than being sick half the time. I hope that you'll be able to make every day gluten-free, because as soon as we begin to taste success, it's much easier to remain motivated.
We're all rooting for you,
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Joefnh
- Rockhopper Penguin
- Posts: 2478
- Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2010 8:25 pm
- Location: Southern New Hampshire
AmyNicki congrats on taking the bull by the horn so to speak. As far as cooking, I have MC for 'encouraging' me to learn. Like you I have a long commute (92 miles total each day). To survive I adopted a method other board members use by cooking a weeks worth of meals on the weekend. Mainly I use recipes from board members here and from a book called "Paleo Comfort Foods"
For me on Sunday I cook enough for the week, I make up my lunch and dinner portions and freeze them so all I have to do is take them out the night before and I'm all set. I also keep a backup stock of meals ready to go in the freezer in case of a bad weekend that I could not cook.
At work, I have a snack drawer stocked with some good GF, SF snacks.
Overall this does take a little planning but the rewards are well worth it. This is manageable and does require a little planning and work. There are a lot of easy simple recipes that can be found in the "Dee's Kitchen" section of the website.
Take care and stay committed....it is worth it.
For me on Sunday I cook enough for the week, I make up my lunch and dinner portions and freeze them so all I have to do is take them out the night before and I'm all set. I also keep a backup stock of meals ready to go in the freezer in case of a bad weekend that I could not cook.
At work, I have a snack drawer stocked with some good GF, SF snacks.
Overall this does take a little planning but the rewards are well worth it. This is manageable and does require a little planning and work. There are a lot of easy simple recipes that can be found in the "Dee's Kitchen" section of the website.
Take care and stay committed....it is worth it.
Joe
Hi, Since you do not have the time to cook. There are personal cook's that will buy the supplies and cook the meals you request in your kitchen. You pay for the food items and their hourly rate.They will freeze portions for the rest of the week. If there is any g-f support groups in your area, contact them for a name of a person who provides the service. The support group can also provide a person to go g-f food shopping with you. Jon
Congrats! You can do this! I hate cooking with a passion and was forced to learn how when diagnosed back in July. Once I got on Pepto and got my energy back, I used that time to learn how to cook quite a few items and now it's no biggie. My main problem was having to cook all this meat as I never was much into meat. My homemade chicken/rice/veggie soup is so much better than the canned stuff. I make it on the weekends and freeze portion sizes for the week. Once you get some energy back you may find the "cook" in you....ya never know.
I do have issues with breakfast items as I've only been eating Rice Chex. I honestly will never get tired of it but would rather eat more whole foods than processed foods. I'm thinking a hard boiled egg in the morning....that's if I don't react to eggs. I hope not. I have a banana as a mid-morning snack.
Best of luck to you and, remember, it does get easier.
Terri
I do have issues with breakfast items as I've only been eating Rice Chex. I honestly will never get tired of it but would rather eat more whole foods than processed foods. I'm thinking a hard boiled egg in the morning....that's if I don't react to eggs. I hope not. I have a banana as a mid-morning snack.
Best of luck to you and, remember, it does get easier.
Terri
Diagnosed with Lymphocytic Colitis in July, 2012 then with Celiac in November, 2012.
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tigereye92
- Posts: 12
- Joined: Tue Nov 06, 2012 8:05 pm
- Location: Lynchburg Virginia
Thanks guys... I'm def going to look into that shake idea for work!
Just frustrating... I certainly made it 24+ hours gluten free..... and ended up in a Hardee's bathroom at 6:30 in the morning sicker than I've been in a month :(. I don't know what set me off!! I ended up walking out of a meeting 3 times when I finally did get here. But it has passed for now and I will continue on with my new GF pantry!
AmyNicki
Just frustrating... I certainly made it 24+ hours gluten free..... and ended up in a Hardee's bathroom at 6:30 in the morning sicker than I've been in a month :(. I don't know what set me off!! I ended up walking out of a meeting 3 times when I finally did get here. But it has passed for now and I will continue on with my new GF pantry!
AmyNicki
The beginning of this journey is the hardest part. GF takes a while to work, so hang in there. For me, dairy set me off immediately every time. keeping a food journal will help you figure it all out. Rice/corn chex in the am with almond milk is fast. Hard boiled eggs is an excellent idea. You can make them in batches to have on hand.
Even though you don't like to cook, the paleo muffin recipe on this site is so yummy and they freeze great. fast breakfast or snack. Soups are great also. Big batch, and freeze.
....with the shakes, be careful because most of them are whey, which is dairy... or soy. The safest ones are made from rice protein.
Hang tough. It does get easier :)
Leah
Even though you don't like to cook, the paleo muffin recipe on this site is so yummy and they freeze great. fast breakfast or snack. Soups are great also. Big batch, and freeze.
....with the shakes, be careful because most of them are whey, which is dairy... or soy. The safest ones are made from rice protein.
Hang tough. It does get easier :)
Leah
I too had to get back to cooking and do my cooking on Sunday morning-1 lb. ground turkey lasts me a whole week and I used to roast chicken (I can't have it anymore). Also, tuna is easy and I buy real crab meat also. I buy frozen mixed bags of veggies to put with my protein....5 minutes in the microwave and they are ready to go, put into my container with my protein and there's lunch! Both DH and I are trying to eat more fresh fish so I do stop at the grocery store 3-4 nights a week and pick up fresh haddock, shrimp or I tried cod last week...yummy and very easy to cook in the oven (takes 20-30 minutes..a little salt and pepper and you're good to go). I usually have some of this for breakfast also. Like Gabes I also have found a really good gf/df, whey free, casein free protein powder for my after workout shake. You can put tons of good veggies in with it ( I like kale and spinach) either almond or coconut milk, ice, and water in the vitamix and yummy!! A good quick meal. I have also done this for breakfast, if I'm in a rush. Planning is the key and I feel so much better knowing I have good, clean meals to eat daily.
Hang in there and don't give up even when you have D. I know it's tempting to give it up without immediate results but keep trying. My joy for being in the kitchen has all but disappeared since going GF/SF/EF/DF but it is a good plan do get your food prep in on the weekends. I do the same, do lots of cooking on the weekend so I have meals and snacks at my fingertips. It's too easy to give in to cheating if you're tired at the end of the day and just don't have it in you to drag out the fry pan and cook a meal from scratch. I'm pretty much in that boat everyday after work and if you also have to cook dinner for the rest of the family before your own that makes it even more difficult. Keep at it and it and the planning part gets easier, especially when your choices are narrowed down to a handful of foods- haha. 