Side note: Yes I admit I merely glossed over said articles. I held them with a grain of salt (fine grind not coarse). I read the first paragraph, nodded in theoretical agreement, and moved on. Raise your hand if you are guilty of the same. Raise 'em a little higher, please, I can't see 'em! Okay, I still can't see your hands, it's kind of making me feel a little zeroed in on... give me some feedback. Oh wait... maybe you just glanced over this paragraph? Huh, I never thought of that (that is until now). So what is the big push to have a doctor do a bunch of strange tests on you? And no, it's not all propaganda funded by the medical institute (no one has just paid me to say that). These numerous articles are mostly written out of empathy (or at least this one is). You maybe saying to yourself right now "What are you talking about Tamara?" Allow me to explain through a little analogy (forgive me I am not the greatest at analogies): Have you ever been doing a heavy labour job, say digging a ditch and your only tool was an old wooden handled shovel? The ground was rocky and parched. The shovel was so weathered it either splintered your hands ever time you gripped it or is calloused your hands so bad it hurt to bend them. You had been digging for days. It got so you were numb to the pain. Mr. Smith, your neighbour, was out for his daily stroll and saw you still working away at that ditch. The two of you got talking and he offered for you to use his brand new digging machine. You think amount and then think again wondering why there's even a question in your mind about this, of course you'll take Mr. Smith up on his offer! So now life's a breeze. You've been digging with the greatest of ease now, and your back thanks you, even though you hadn't realized you were experiencing back pain now the relief comes washing over you. So all your muscles are relaxed and your hands healed over. BUT oh no! Mr. Smith comes tapping on your shoulder to say "I need to check the fuel level in the machine." And go figure it's as dry a done. Well Mr. Smith explains that his precious machine takes only the finest fuel and that will take a few days to order in. Now what? Do you wait for the fuel? No, because you need this ditch dug within the week. So it's back to the ol' wooden shovel. BUT now your muscles have become unaccustomed to the labourious task, your hands being now as fresh as a babies skin are cut with the very first rub against that nasty ol' shovel handle, and now your having no trouble identifying that back pain. It's bandages and recuperation for the next few days. Do you get the meaning to this analogy? You're body before going GF was used to fighting with Colonel Wheat and the Gluten Gorillas, meaning that is kept loaded on ammunition and all of General Immune System's soldiers are kept on the alert. So what happens if you stop eating gluten? Well then peace is declared between Col. Wheat's tropes and Gen. Immune System's. Col. Wheat has gone left the scene and the Gen. must combat war on other fronts (e.g. fight the bacteria battle). So now you have been eating GF for X amount of months/years and you decide that eating GF is indeed making a difference. You now see warrant to be tested for Coeliac disease. Well guess what the doctors will tell you? The same thing all these articles have been trying to tell you: get tested before going GF because you have to be actively eating gluten in order for any accurate test to be made! Well by now your body has forgotten all the tactics it devised to keep Colonel Wheat at bay. It's chaos and you can now you feel the pain/discomfort like you never felt before (just like you did when going from using the digging machine back to the shovel).
strange reality the doctors appointment will be booked 4-8 months in the future. And believe me you don't want to be eating gluten that long ever again because it hurts!!! So what did I do? Well it was February and I found out my appointment was in the end of July so I went back to my GF lifestyle. As of two weeks ago I started eating gluten again (a most unpleasant experience). If however you can stomach eating gluten for six months I'm sure the test results will be 99% accurate (I don't think any test is ever completely accurate, unless orchestrated by God).
2) You maybe to lax in your GF eating habits. Meaning: you be convincing yourself that your not Coeliac so I a little gluten wont hurt. But believe me it can hurt! And some people just can't feel your body waging war against the gluten. If you have dermatitis (skin disorder resembling both eczema and psoriasis) related to gluten then you are Coeliac and more than likely wont feel it in all the typically manners. If your skin is being inflamed due to gluten it mean that your intestines are not BUT not that your skin in the only organ in your body being harmed. I'm Being Tested For Herpetiformis So all that being said, I'm the pot calling the kettle black (you may have picked up on that already). Two and a half years ago now I started a 6 month gluten free diet test run. The idea was live gluten free for 6 months and then slowly introduce gluten back into your meals to help identify your gluten sensitivity level. But after the 6 months I just kept on the GF track. Now I realize the need for testing. I have an appointment with a dermatologist July 28th, 2015 to be tested for dermatitis herpetiformis (the skin condition related to Coeliac disease). So please keep that in prayer. Here's a few ideas for how to pray for me:
Thanks & Blessings, Tamara Green. P.S. Any more question you have about being tested or about gluten/GF period? Asking me in the comments below through my contact page.
Comments
 Hello dear reader, If you've been following this blog since my Live Below the Line recipes post series then you may recall that I mentioned I had a really good GF biscuit recipe that I had been planning to upload, but all I could upload at that time was a cheap version of it. Well today here's the real deal! I'm not trying to hype you up these really are very, very good biscuit! This recipe calls for Non-GMO Soy Protein. I emphasis that you should be sure to get Non-GMO as soybeans are one of the most heavily genetically modified foods in the planet, birthing may possible health risks. I was going to include some links to the health risks of soy for men but the topic is so controversial that I have decided not to (you may look it up on your own). That being said I do not cook with soy very often, these biscuits are one of the few times I do. You can make this recipe using 5 tbsp of 100% whey protein in place of the 1/4 cup soy if you like, the biscuits wont be quite as good to the taste but they will still be plenty rewarding. Heat oven to 400f. Okay now all you need is: 1 1/4 cup Tapioca flour/starch 1/2 cup Amaranth Flour 1/4 cup Non-GMO Soy Protein 1 tbsp Baking Powder 1/2 tsp Salt 1/3 cup Butter, frozen & grated Now using a pastry knife cut into the flour: If you are one of the many people who have never heard of a pastry knife before (ps. let me know in the comments section if you have or haven't), then you most likely don't own one. That being said, you can instead use a potato masher for this method (as shortening will slice very easily). Now stir in: 2/3 cup Milk If you are comfortable handling the dough with your hands/rolling pin then flatten in into a small rectangle (10 cm long or so) if the dough it to sticky then skip to the next paragraph. Now fold the dough in half. Flatten again into a small rectangle. Fold again. Repeat flattening and folding another 2-10 times. Now roll/flatten it out to 2 cm thick (4/5 inch) and cut into your desired size of biscuit. Place biscuits on a cookie sheet or glass pan. Drop cookie dough onto a cookie sheet by tablespoons full and pat down with the palm of your hand or glass pan. Place cookie sheet in the center of the oven, and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool 1 minute then remove from the pan.  Coeliacs & those with any gluten sensitivity are blessed to live in the day and age we do, because we have gluten free products expansively available to us.
I took a little time this morning to collect a few links for websites which are designed to help you find gluten free options near you and while traveling abroad. www.celiacrestaurantguide.com Africa, Asia, Australia & New Zealand, Europe, North America. www.glutenfreefind.com Cananda & USA. www.gfoverflow.com Companies & industries which produce GF items, no particular location supplied. www.findmeglutenfree.com USA www.glutenfreeontario.ca Just Ontario, Canada. www.vitacost.com Wide variety of online groceries. Wait online, does that mean that your have to download the food to your downloads folder and then eat the virtual megabytes? Um... no it means you can place your orders online and they will ship them to your door (worldwide shipping as far as I can determine although certain items may not be available to certain countries). Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or sites which you think should be added to this list leave a comment or contact me through the contact page (http://lifeaftergluten.weebly.com/contact.html). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ P.S. One website I do not recommend buying online from is vitanetonline.com they list their shipping price purely based on the American rate no matter where you are buying from. This rate is clearly displayed throughout the whole purchasing process it is only when you check PayPal (or your credit card as it may be) after the purchase that you really find out what you've spent! So always read the boring fine print or companies like Vitenet get away with ripping you off. The thanks go to God for using Becca (regular commentator) and Bolthouse Farms to inspire me with these smoothie recipes.  A Funny Thing Happened to me Along the WayOriginally speaking I had intended to post 4 smoothies recipes but as the heading says "A funny thing happened to me along the way." Continue reading to find out what happened to the fourth recipe.
Well pitaya it was then. That was it; I had decided to put my eyes aside and go with my taste buds. Pitaya would be the fruit base for smoothie number four. So what happened you ask? I'll tell ya. It was the evening of Thursday, June the 4th, we, my family and I that is, were in the grocery store doing what else but grocery shopping. This was my perfect chance to get all the ingredients I needed for the smoothies. Well to make a short story long and then short again, I found what I thought was a beaten up pitaya. We bought it and I brought it home. It was 11 am, Friday, June the 5th, I was ready to make smoothie number four. I grabbed the first "pitaya" and began digging through it's feather like leaves. "What in the world?" I queried. I didn't see any fruit. I convinced myself that is was my ignorance in this particular fruit that led me to believe the fruit was close to the surface, so I kept digging, and digging through leaves, and more leaves, and more leaves, until I found out there was nothing but leaves!!! It's now the morning of Saturday, June the 6th, I have Mr. Duck handy but he's closed his beak. It think this mystery fruit/veggie may indeed be a iguana made paper airplane in disguise designed to spy out my smoothie recipes. The End... or is it? Check the comments to find out! Tips & TricksChill Your Ingredients Chill all your ingredients ahead of time; if you don't, then I recommend chilling the prepared smoothie. If you really can't wait then add a moderate portion of ice. The Age of Your Fruit The ripper the fruit the softer it is thus the easier it is to blend. Don't use rotting fruit but the ripped the better! P.S. this mean that this is a great way use up leftover/aging fruit/vegetables. Caution on Blending Veggies Vegetables tend to be stringy make them very hard to puree :P (P.S. does anyone find it confusing to use proper punctuation after using an emoticon? Or it that just me?). As a general rule: vegetables should be juiced and not blended in a blender. For this reason veggies which contain a higher water content are a better choice for smoothies. What veggies contain more water you ask? I'm glad you asked! Click here to find out. Golden Hour  Cut into chunks the following: 1/2 Papaya, skinned 1/2 Pineapple, skinned 6 medium Strawberries Add the fruit chunks to your blender with the following: 1/2 cup Greek Yoghurt 2 tbsp Whey/Soy Protein (optional) "Get your engines started. Get ready. Get set. GO!" Blend for 1 minute, stir and repeat. If you blender is to small blend half at a time.  Green's Own  This is based on the Green Goodness smoothie I mentioned in my earlier post "Barley Grass Is It Gluten Free?" As I mentioned the Tips & Tricks above veggies are much better juiced than pureed (unless you have a very high powered blender, with multiple blades), that being said this smoothie is juiced and not blended. First you will need to chilled: 1 cup Stepped Green Tea Meanwhile loosely chop the following ingredients: 1/2 cup Spinach, loosely packed 1 long Celery rib (12 inches), with leaves 1 Banana, without peel 1/4 Papaya or 1 Mango (1 cup), skinned 1/4 Pineapple (1 cup), loosely skinned 3 large Green Apples, with skin 1/4 cup Artichoke or Leafy Green Vegetable (optional) You are now ready to juice everything but the green tea. So rev up your juicers engine and GO! I double juiced mine, meaning, after juicing all the ingredients I took the pieces that the juicer discarded and ran them through the machine again. By doing so I got about another 1/2 cup of juice. Now to clean the juicer out a little while harnessing even a little more flavour/juices, SLOWLY pour the chilled green tea through the running machine (if your juicer has multiple speeds run it on the slowest setting for this).  The Golly Green Giant!  Skin and cut into chunks the following: 3 Kiwi 1/4 Honeydew Melon 1 Banana 2 tbsp Hemp Protein/Super Green Protein Powder (optional) "Get your engines started. Get ready. Get set. GO!" Blend for 1 minute, stir and repeat. If you blender is to small blend half at a time.  Banana Substitutes / Creamy Fruit Bases to Give the Smooth to Your Smoothie1. Papaya/Mango 2. Pitaya (e.g. Dragon Fruit) 3. Avocado 4. Jackfruit (tastes like Banana can be found fresh or canned in Asian markets) 5. Monstera (tastes and textures like Banana) 6. Pawpaw (tastes and textures like Banana) Top 15 Veggies For Juicing This chart is purely based on the water content of each veggie and how that will make it easier to get more juice out of the veggie NOT flavour. The percentages pictured represent what percent of the vegetables total weight is from water.  Thanks for taking the time to view/read this post. I hope you enjoy all these recipes. God bless your whole day!
Tamara Green |
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Happy to meet you,
If you are that person with a million and one allergies and intolerance I am there to say you are not alone! Life After Gluten can be better than life with wheat. Living lactose-free since 2007 and gluten-free since 2013. Also intolerant and/or allergic to mushrooms, soy, and yeast.
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