It’s day 55, I’m almost home! As you can tell I am a little excited. For today’s post I met up with one of my friends, Yashema to talk about the gluten and dairy free lifestyle. Yashema is a vivacious person, full of energy who has almost as vast of interests as I do. Yashema, who went gluten and dairy free out of necessity, sat down to discuss why she went gluten and dairy free, the struggles and the benefits she has encountered in her own journey.
Below are some excerpts from our discussion. To learn more watch the above video. A big thanks to Yashema for participating.
Gabe:
Now Yashema, how long have you been gluten and dairy free and why?
Yashema:
It was probably about a year and half maybe two years ago. The reason being I found out from the doctor after having some things wrong with me and having no idea what was going on that I indeed had a gluten and dairy allergy at the same time. Imagine my devastation (laughs) when you go from used to having certain things and eating a certain way then all of sudden someone tells you you can’t do that anymore. It started out as a necessity but then I found ways to make it fun.
G:
What kind of ways do you make it fun?
Y:
A lot of times people, I think people’s default reaction to not having gluten or dairy or can’t have the gluten or dairy is to automatically try to substitute what they’re eating with dairy free items, right.
G:
Which is kind of what I’ve done. (Both laughing).
Y:
But I’ve found things that I like and incorporated into, in unusual ways. For instance, I love turkey burgers so obviously you have a burger you gotta have a bun, right. But what I found at the time that I could not eat the gluten or dairy I found that a lot of gluten free items were not necessarily good (laughs).
G:
You mean like taste?
Y:
Taste-wise, texture, flavor – they’re just completely lacking. So what I did was find very interesting recipes and I would try things. So I can now have my turkey burger but I do it with a sweet potato bun.
G:
Is this a bun that you make or something you buy?
Y:
I can make it, it’s very hard to find so most of the time I do make it but there are recipes out there where you can make sweet potato bread. So you make it fun, you incorporate things you like. I love sweet potatoes so just knowing I can have a sweet potato bun with my turkey burger was amazing. You make it fun in those ways.
I went back to the doctor about 6 months after I found out I had a dairy allergy and he said, “I want you to try some things.”, because I eliminated dairy completely. He said, “I want to be able to determine the difference between you having, being able to have dairy from a cow versus dairy from a goat.
G:
I never thought about that.
Y:
Right, so I tested for that and the results were I can have dairy from a goat but not from a cow. I was excited because I could incorporate my goat cheese, and feta which is a combination of sheep and goat, and now I was ‘ok, now I can have some dairy!’ So now the salads were fun, I could put goat cheese on them or I could do snacks where I could do almond crackers with flavored goat cheese. So there were different things I could do, it made it more exciting, I didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything.
G:
Let me ask you, one of the things I have an issue with, I’m an impulse food buyer (laughs) and a lot of that is because I will make something that is supposed to last 8 meals but by the 4th or 5th time I don’t want to eat it anymore. So I will just go out and buy something. With you do you have the same issues with impulse food buying and how do you address that? Or if you don’t when you go out with friends how do you when looking at the menu you’re making sure that what you need is what you’re getting?
Y:
When I first started, because I was so nervous about eating anything with gluten in it, I would go and find something simple. I love fish, I love seafood, and I love veggies. What I would do is, if you go anywhere you can find a default fish and veggie dish. A lot of times when they bring the dish it has a lot of sauce on it. What I would do is actually ask the chef what’s in the sauce because I have an allergy. They will actually make modifications with the sauce for you if you have an allergy. So it’s no longer a big deal like it was 5 or 6 years ago. I had a friend who was gluten and dairy free and she was losing her mind (laughs). She was like, “I can’t, this can’t be my life.” But now when you go to restaurants they have gluten and dairy free options. It’s gotten a lot better.
G:
Now you mentioned the cheeses, one of the reasons I am doing this challenge is because with my MS they say gluten causes inflammation and then dairy kind of mimics gluten which causes the inflammation. I should have consulted with you before I started this (both laughing), probably would have saved me a lot of trouble, but have you heard anything about the goat and sheep cheeses and if they mimic the gluten or anything like that?
Y:
According to my doctor the goat and sheep cheeses are a whole lot, they digest better. He even said at one point that women who are not nursing, that the children have raw goat milk because it’s just that sensitive on the stomach. So I wouldn’t say it mimics the gluten but I always say it’s on the individual basis. Try it and see how it does for you.
G:
One last question – other than the allergy aspect of it, would you, being on the gluten and dairy free life for 2 years now, have you seen any other benefits to it?
Y:
Actually yeah, a lot more energy. Before I would work 40 hours a week a be like “I am soo tired.”
G:
I’m like that after 3. (both laugh)
Y:
And now I’m working 70 plus hours a week and I’m like “I got some more fuel in me.” So yes, definitely a lot more energy. It’s been a ride but it’s been enjoyable.
G:
Thank you very much for coming and sharing, again I wish I had talked with you earlier.
Y:
No Problem.
This is Gabe at the end of day 55 signing off. Just 5 more days to go! Until next time, adios.
Attempt it. Chance it. Try it. Get to It!
[/cs_text][x_custom_headline level=”h2″ looks_like=”h4″ accent=”false” class=”cs-ta-center”]Recipes[/x_custom_headline][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section][cs_section parallax=”false” separator_top_type=”none” separator_top_height=”50px” separator_top_angle_point=”50″ separator_bottom_type=”none” separator_bottom_height=”50px” separator_bottom_angle_point=”50″ style=”margin: 0px;padding: 0px;”][cs_row inner_container=”true” marginless_columns=”false” style=”margin: 0px auto;padding: 0px;”][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/2″ style=”padding: 0px;”][x_image type=”circle” src=”https://gettoitmovement.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/meatball-sub.jpg” alt=”” link=”false” href=”#” title=”” target=”” info=”none” info_place=”top” info_trigger=”hover” info_content=””][/cs_column][cs_column fade=”false” fade_animation=”in” fade_animation_offset=”45px” fade_duration=”750″ type=”1/2″ style=”padding: 0px;”][cs_text]For this week I made some meatball subs. The bread is a gluten free sub roll and the sauce just a store-bought marinara. The meatballs were just ground beef with oregano, basil, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper, all to taste.[/cs_text][/cs_column][/cs_row][/cs_section]