High Maintenance

OK, I'll be the first to admit it. I've become a VERY complicated, difficult, high maintenance eater. (Shush to all those who want to leave off the "eater" part of that statement...)

Last May 09, I realized that for whatever reason (I have my theories) my digestive tract could not tolerate gluten (read: bread, barley, pasta, pastries, breaded foods like chicken nuggets, flour tortillas, anything with "modified food starch," oatmeal...)

Let's not forget that I also have to throw in the fact that my cholesterol is easy to control IF I don't eat high cholesterol foods (read: red meat, hard cheese, shrimp... and honestly, you need to keep an eye on chicken because it's not really low-cholesterol - just lowER cholesterol than red meat, and not by that much). If I am not careful about this... hello, medication.

My favorite restaurant experience so far has been at Petrini's, a local "Eye-talian" restaurant, when I ordered an antipasto salad but asked her to replace the salami with grilled chicken. The waitress looked at me and said, "What, you doin' that Atkins diet or somethin?!" loud enough for literally the entire restaurant to hear her. "Um, no," I replied. Whatever.

Last of all, I'm finally willing to admit that recently I found out even more high-maintenance-ness during my physical in August. My gall bladder gets irritated by nuts (Lara bars, granola, almond milk, peanutbutter...), fried food (read: FRENCH FRIES, which I consider God's food from heaven) and whole grains (read: brown rice and quinoa).

Sure. I was sort of depressed. Beaten down for a day or two. But not broken. I have to tell you that I have discovered that I can still eat a lot of great stuff... for instance, in this past week I've eaten:

• gluten-free carrot bread
• breaded mahi mahi (made with gluten-free breadcrumbs that I made myself from a loaf of GF bread)
• omelette
• grilled chicken salad
• tomato soup with grilled cheese sandwich (yes, low fat cheese, but that's life) on GF bread
• pasta salad chock full of vegetables (yes, rice pasta)
• homemade bean soup
• Greek yogurt (new BFF) and berries
• Smoothies
• Indian food -- nearly every kind
  
• homemade hummus and veggie sticks
• turkey burger and baked fries
• naked burrito at Chicken Ranch
  
• GF waffles
  

Perhaps most embarrassing to admit is that now I've learned how to eat the way I should have been eating my whole life: low-fat protein with lots of fruits and vegetables and plenty of calcium. I'm so thankful for string cheese, yogurt, soup, vegetables, fruit, eggs, and gluten-free products. But I really miss French fries. I may fudge once in awhile on those....

Eat healthy, people.