6 weeks of gluten free living: Week 5
May 16, 2018
Week 5
Here are Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, and Week 4.
This week is all about avoiding cross contamination: cooking in separate pans, using different utensils and plates where we would normally share to cut down on dishes.
I’m not a fan of the extra dishes to wash but I’m also trying to make the most of this trial and we do have a dishwasher so we can handle it.
As I mentioned to Linda, we’re doing more substitutions now than we may later in part because we’re trying to preserve some of our easy go-to recipes but I can see that changing over time as I learn new recipes and adjust them to our lifestyle and time constraints. I adore rice myself and grew up eating it for every meal so I have no issues going to a mostly-rice based diet but the family is going to need a bit of time to adjust with me.
Day 1.
We’re working on the leftovers from last week’s entertaining, supplemented with some easy sandwiches (for them) and simple tacos and quesadillas (for me).
Pain/Discomfort: Pain is still complicated by this dang virus I’m trying to shake. I probably need to enforce more rest periods for that to happen.
Day 2.
I foolishly tried to recreate the roasted veggie medley from last weekend but at triple the volume so we could eat it all week or freeze some. That turned into 30 minutes of just vegetable prep! While that was roasting I realized that the defrosting chicken had not in fact totally defrosted so I was about to be up a creek with half a dinner. Luckily I’d picked up some GF enchilada sauce packets to try, and frozen corn tortillas reheat in the microwave really well for the purpose of rolling enchiladas, so the last of the Costco chicken breast plus cheese and sauce = dinner! It was pretty good. JB loved that ze was allowed to squish the sauce packets and now wants enchiladas every night.
Pain/Discomfort: I didn’t feel it all until the next morning but the start of the knee aches flared up. I should have been more mindful about how much standing was involved in the veg prep and sat down for that part.
Day 3.
The best way to think about feeling better is to scope out recipes! I’m looking forward to making this GF sweet cornbread recipe from my friend Heather. I’d like to add canned corn to it, but I know some people think adding corn is The Worst. Thoughts?
Pain/Discomfort: My cold keeps threatening to get worse, and it’s really annoying both for this trial and for the sake of just not feeling like a glob of mucusy gross. BUT – though it’s done nothing for my fatigue unfortunately, I’m starting to feel like maybe my baseline of pain is moving from a “usually 6-7” down one step to more of a “usually 5-6”? It’s hard to tell exactly but the number of joints hurting every day seems to be fewer and perhaps a little less intense.
Day 4.
I’m dreaming of complicated meals again but my energy is still hovering around squat and I have defrosted chicken to cook first, and then I’ll have defrosted ground turkey to vanquish. Half the chicken was grilled and served with rice and veggies, the other half was baked with potatoes and pesto for the next day.
Pain/Discomfort: I was FINALLY smart enough to think ahead and not stand for half an hour to prep chicken. Instead I pulled up a seat and sat there while my arms quavered, suspended over two bowls, as I stripped several packages’s worth of chicken thighs of their skins and trimmed off excess fat. I don’t debone our chicken but sometimes I do trim the thighs down so that we have more chunks of boneless meat and just a small amount of meat on the bones. This prep works really well with masala and curries.
Day 5.
Every day that I have dinner already prepared feels like a small victory. Thanks, yesterday me! I love eating freshly cooked meals but I also love not losing 90 minutes to planning, prep and cook time. This is 90 more minutes I can rest and work. Yay pesto potatoes and chicken, with a side of broccoli!
Pain/Discomfort: Hands are a mess today, again. I can’t bend my fingers when I wake up. Apparently I’m back to having a secret sleep life?
Day 6.
Today is “batch of pasta, vodka sauce in a jar, and ground turkey” Day. YUM. I think I overcooked the pasta by about a minute, though, it was a little too sticky and not as firm as I like it. How do people open glass jars without another human around? It’s incredibly frustrating to have to wait for help when you can’t pry the lid off a jar, and feels incredibly cliched to boot, and even without my regular hand pain, this seems like a problem. There must be a solution to this that doesn’t include “be dependent on other humans”.
Pain/Discomfort: My weird hand thing’s still an issue. I just get going with my day as if they don’t hurt to see if warming them up with use helps. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t, it’s totally unpredictable.
Day 7.
It’s been a snacking sort of day which is unusual for me, but sometimes the urge comes on me and I need something to gnaw on a little something, not necessarily a nutritionally fulfilling something. I love Trader Joe’s beet chips. They’re delicious and satisfy my occasional urge for something crunchy. Sometimes I overdo the snacking and then I realize my only lunch was that box of chips and a protein bar, but that’s just the price of being an adult with all the things to do (and a really short attention span for feeding oneself)!
Pain/Discomfort: Mostly mild, though widespread. The hand thing is suddenly better after four mornings in a row of waking up unable to bend my fingers or straighten them all the way. What was different? Nothing. My body is weird and makes no sense.
Normally, if I have a normal, even severe pain tends to strike in one area one day, then move on to another area the next. It doesn’t tend to stick around and I’m not sure why most of this week was a fresh reset of the hand pain every morning.
Cooking ahead is the only thing that keeps me going throughout the week. I am glad the GF diet is (maybe?) working to lessen your pain.
I have carpal tunnel and sometimes have a hard time with jars, too. I just use a rubber grip pad but there are more intense helpers on amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077QG1N2C/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B077QG1N2C&pd_rd_wg=Cq8Vb&pd_rd_r=TSNDJ7EGM133GG7HHSXD&pd_rd_w=DJnc5
and
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078W1TY4V/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B078W1TY4V&pd_rd_wg=Cq8Vb&pd_rd_r=TSNDJ7EGM133GG7HHSXD&pd_rd_w=DJnc5
Any major disturbance to my sleep schedule puts me at risk for getting a migraine the next day, so yes, definitely–losing a few hours of sleep can wreck me the next day!! I am usually OK for less sleep one night but more than that and it is a crapshoot how functional I’ll be. I am a light, fussy sleeper, too, so all that isn’t a good combo. Red-eye flights & jet lag are the banes of my existence!
I love cooking ahead by a day or two but absolutely suck at doing it for the week ahead for some reason. It’s something I really have to get over.
Thanks for the suggestions!
Red eyes feel terrible! Did you hear that there may be migraine prevention on the way?
Do you think it’s working so far? Looks like you’re still hurting. Hope you feel better this week.
It’s quite hard to tell for sure since I can’t do this diet in isolation without other variables like stress, lost sleep, fatigue, and catching a cold. Any one of those is a really big thing that sidelines me, so I’m figuring it out while balancing those other factors. That said, I THINK it’s helping in small ways, I’m just not sure yet how much.
The trick I use for jar lids I can’t open is to whack the edge (pretty hard) with a can opener or heavy butter knife. It leaves a little dent in the lid but breaks the seal. Works almost every time.
For some reason, that’s never worked for me! I try running it under hot water but that’s not foolproof either.
I find this very interesting and I hope it helps if you decide to stick with it.
Jar opening: the main issue is the vacuum seal, so I use either a kind Chen knife or an old school can opener and pry the edge of the lid out a bit in a few spots. You’ll hear the seal break and then it’s way easier to open!
(kind Chen knife = kitchen knife, of course!)
Ah ha, hadn’t thought of that one, thanks!
This! I use an old school can opener pry part to get the seal to pop by letting some air in, then it’s waaaaayyyyy easier to open!
I swear by this: https://amzn.to/2L4mbln . (Also works when the problem isn’t the vacuum seal, like an already been-opened jam jar that someone screwed back on too tight.) Technically ours has white handles– it looks like those are now being sold on amazon as well.
Yes, bad sleep destroys my next day.
nicoleandmaggie recently posted…Trying out recipes that sound kind of gross
(p.s. Full disclosure: I think that link is an affiliate link)
nicoleandmaggie recently posted…Trying out recipes that sound kind of gross
Thanks for the link!
I used to be able to power through after bad sleep but that was .. so very long ago.
Lack of sleep is not something I deal well with. I can overcome with caffein sometimes. I need and usually get quite a lot of sleep.
Yes, please make sure you are resting enough with all your meal prep!
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How much sleep do you usually need/get? I lament our loss of sleep since the kid came along but truthfully I’ve struggled with insomnia due to pain for 20 years.
A good sleep is one of the secrets to life, and when I don’t get one, my day is compromised. You are certainly giving this experiment your all, and I’m sorry that you’re not getting more consistent and clear answers. I hope that with all of your efforts to reach a fine balance, you’ll succeed. I wonder if the climate is related to your pain. When the weather changes, do you feel it? I also struggle with the lids of jars. Highly dependent in this area.
Prudence Debtfree recently posted…Journey out of Debt: Spiritual Bookends
Thanks – I do have some climate-related changes but it’s also not totally clear how much of it will be due to how I slept / barometric pressure / change in weather / previous day’s exertion / diet / exercise … !
My aunt with arthritis used a longer handled jar opener. There are tons of different types on Amazon. Any one of these will change your life! She preferred the ones made of plastic because they were lighter and easier for her to handle (ha, pun intended).
I’m really enjoying getting your impressions of the benefits of the GF diet on your pain. Hope it continues to improve.
Haha, thanks for the tip, I’ll look some up 🙂
Corn in cornbread works for me. We sometimes add shredded cheese as well and make a meal of our “loaded cornbread”. Chopped green chiles are also an option, though not one we usually use.
Yeah, losing even an hour of sleep can really wreck the next day for me. I’m often okay the morning after, but drooping or outright falling asleep by mid-afternoon, and cranky to boot.
I’ve heard that whacking a stubborn lid with the handle of a butter knife is a bad idea, because you can chip the glass of the jar. I’ve never had it happen, though. Sometimes running hot water over a metal lid can help relax and expand the metal so the jar will open. You have to grip jar and lid with a towel or dry them off for a good grip, though. I think some of the gripping aids listed above are probably a better solution overall.
Oh that sounds fantastic, we may have to try experimenting with those both.
I always count myself lucky if I feel halfway normal by the afternoon after a bad night.
Thanks for the reminder, I WOULD be that person who chips the glass jar.