More on malnutrition

Well, the bruising and fatigue are back, but I've been lucky enough to have been eating quite a bit of meat lately.

It just so happened that I started reading the wall of the Facebook group for people with Celiac's, and there was a conversation on malnutrition problems. Apparently, one can continue to suffer from complications absorbing nutrients their entire life, even on a gluten free diet, and especially every time one has an accident. A few weeks ago, I had a really nasty accident (I knew there was a good chance the food was all gluten heavy, but I had failed to prepare, and there was honestly no other food for two days. Big mistake!) Also, never ever ever go to McDonald's if you have any dietary restrictions. They pretty much suck for making accommodations.

So, it turns out iron deficiencies are quite common for people with Celiac's disease, and it is possible that I could suffer from this my whole life. Dukes! And, since it's an absorption issue, the problem isn't that I'm not eating enough of it, it's that I'm not keeping enough of what I eat.  Double dukes!

One answer was to take a multivitamin. I guess the idea is to take more than the average person needs, because then the likelihood of my absorbing enough is higher. Honestly, I should be doing that anyhow. Taking a multivitamin not only helps fill in the nutritional gaps, but it can boost your immune system!

Another idea that came to my mind was that I should work on gaining more muscle and loose some of the extra pudge in my easily bruised areas. That one is really just an idea that I had based on the fact that fat body parts bruise easier (the capillaries are stretched further, I believe. I read about all that very long time ago, so the details are fuzzy).

All-in-all, it's something I'm going to start looking more into.

Camping Adventures

Okay, so this is a tad late, but I did want to post about a recent adventure. I went on a camping trip, and while a "feast" was provided for everyone both Friday and Saturday night, both nights the food consisted of food that was pimarily gluten heavy and non-kosher. Having known this ahead of time, I planned my own meals all three days, and prepared accordingly. It was an interesting adventure, as I've pretty much never planned meals like this.

Thursday night, I made Ranger Stew. It can also be called Hobo Stew, and a few other names I don't remember, but basically, it's a bunch of veggies, and a meat of choice wrapped in tin foil, then thrown into the bonfire until it's cooked. An awesome choice for camp outs. I just chose to throw some kosher hotdogs into it, with veggies, but it's probably best with ground meat. And if you don't keep kosher, and are feeling adventurous, use rabbit meat.

Friday, in the morning, I made Mujadarrah. This time, I added beeffry, which is beef bacon, and I fried the onions in the bacon grease. Best. Idea. Ever. It was so insanely good. I under spiced it, but once I go enough salt in it, it was so good that everyone ate it up, even though it was suppose to last 2 days. I was also told to add some maple syrup, but I forgot.

Friday for lunch, I made my famous shakshuka, because I make that every camp out, but the peppers were not spicy at all. Shakhukah is, apparently, also called "Eggs in Purgatory". It's basically crushed tomatoes, boiled, and eggs are dropped in. I don't think it's common to add them in the shell, but I imagine some people do. I prefere to just drop them in, so that they're sooooort of poached, but not that fancy. It's middle eastern comfort food, and it's amazing. When I was staying w/ friends after my live-in boyfriend broke up with me, they made this for breakfast the next morning. It was the most appropriate breakfast food I could have eaten that particular day.

For dinner Friday, I was planning on making ginger talapia, a dish my aunt taught me. I didn't end up cooking, because I was pretty satiated from lunch, and it was bitter cold and raining, so cooking was no very appealing. The dish is super easy though, just fry the fish in some olive oil and quite a bit of powdered ginger. Then add some lemon juice to garnish, and serve w/ a green veggie.

Saturday breakfast, I ate left over shakshuka (it was below freezing all night, so the food was well preserved), lunch was skipped, though I had planned on making jambalaya for the first time. I won't post the recipe, because I didn't try it out. Dinner was my friend's mom's chicken stew, and it was amazing.

First, you want to cook the chicken, so put a little bit of water in the bottom of the pot, add the chicken, and leave until it's food (test it by cutting into it, the juices should run clear, and the meat should show no pink). Then, cut the chicken into pieces, throw away the bones, and add vegetables, probably carrots, celery, etc. You MUST add potatoes. If you don't add something startchy, it will be soup, not stew. Then add your spices and herbs, I just added salt, pepper, peprika, and dill. Cook until the veggies are soft.

There you have it! A gluten free camping weekend. And honestly, the food all came out pretty awesome.