Ellie84

Whew, that's indeed good news! Hopefully the rest of the problems will disappear soon as well.

celiac disease is a relatively new disease, it was discovered shortly after the second world war. Before the nineties it was considered a rare disease and doctors didn't learn much about it. It has become more well-known since the nineties, so the knowledge about it is slowly increasing. It's still poor with most doctors though, so it can be useful to drop off a leaflet with information about celiac disease. The Dutch coeliac association offers these leaflets to patients to show to their doctors.

Totally agree with you Going gluten-free was a necessity for me, but it also changed my lifestyle for the best. Before I went gluten-free my eating habits were bad, I ate whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. When I rented my own place I gained nearly 10 kgs in one year (22 lbs). Going gluten-free made me have to plan my meals and choosing healthier options. A lot of junk/comfort foods I used to eat are either unavailable now or hard to come by and expensive. No more snacks on the go or stopping somewhere for coffee and cake. Cooking also changed: I can't use pre-fab stuff like sauces and spicemixes so I have to cook my own. These are tastier, contain less salt and no flavour enhancers.

Going gluten-free also gives me the energy to exercise, I'm totally addicted to strength training now People often think that going gluten-free is very difficult and restrictive, they hardly see the positive side of it. As a matter of fact: I wouldn't want to go back to gluten even if I could.

Some leftover Chinese take-away from yesterday: chop suey with beef and white rice. Very mysterious: everytime I can't cook there's fast food on the table. You'd almost think my BF doesn't like to cook

I'm quite happy with our local chinese restaurant: they know exactly what's gluten-free. When I asked about gluten-free dishes they gave me the menu and underlined everything I could eat. The waitress also said I couldn't have their curry soup, because it contained coconut. I was surprised and said that coconut is gluten-free. She then told me that their dried coconut has flour in it to prevent it from sticking. Now that's someone who's well-informed I've given them a very good recommendation in the Dutch gluten-free restaurant database.

I'm not happy today because the shin splint I had in both legs is back and I have to get treatment for it. I have to take medication and it's making me very sleepy and dizzy. Couldn't go to work yesterday because of it, and that really stinks