“I want to have my cake, eat it, and have everyone tell me I lost weight”
This hilariously extended expression, alluding to the impossible, may not be that far out of the ballpark for people with gluten intolerance and Celiac disease. Affecting approximately one in one hundred North Americans, it is estimated that only 3% of gluten intolerant people are actually diagnosed with the allergy. That means that thousands of North Americans are still living with the odd and seemingly unconnected symptoms – bowel and indigestion problems, fatigue, nausea, canker sores, skin rashes and depression, to name a few.
Although it is my full-fledged intention to create a food blog for people with gluten intolerance and Celiac disease, it is of course necessary to introduce myself, elaborate upon the condition, and convince all new followers that gluten free food is not only unbelievably delicious, but it may have the power to change your whole perspective on life.
My name is Kristen O’Sullivan, and I love food. As a young child, I used to sit at our kitchen table during mealtimes, and hum my way through each bite. Yes, I know faces of young children often light up when given fast food, cakes and candies, or maybe if you’re lucky, their favourite meal at home that just happens to be somewhat healthy. My face (and my vocal chords) would brighten immediately before any meal – I’d sing my way through spaghetti, tap my fork and knife to the tune of beef goulash, and perform a descant when it came to the savouries, such as lemon rosemary chicken on the BBQ, complemented with garlic mashed potatoes.
As I was munching away, my mother was suffering with symptoms of Celiac disease. She has recently shared with me that stomach/intestinal/bowel malfunctions, canker sores, and chronic fatigue kept her in the bathroom for hours, convinced she had some unknown cancer that no one could diagnose. This was the mid-1990’s, and gluten intolerance was considered an extremely rare and under researched condition. When she did finally get diagnosed, her own research and meetings with nutritionists left her eating scrambled eggs for three months straight. Now, I love my eggs with goat cheese, mushrooms, bacon and asparagus, but even that concoction for three months in a row will send your sanity and your cholesterol through the roof!!!
With small gains being made in the medical realm of gluten intolerance during the last few decades, we learned as a family that Celiac is a genetic condition and can be passed from parent to child. My mother (Sue, as we can affectionately refer to her from this point forward), frantically rushed my perfectly healthy brother and me to our respective family doctors to have the proper antibody testing (blood work). I was twenty years old at the time. My younger brother and I secretly celebrated when both of our tests came back negative Рand headed back to Montreal where we were studying at university and eating olive bread sandwiches from Premi̬re Moisson.
Last summer (2008), I was living the life of a francophile in Quebec City – teaching English, serving ice cream in Vieux Quebec, and frolicking on the plains of Abraham with friends. Oh yeah – and I was sick as hell. Every morning I would wake up feeling nauseous, unable to even look at a bowl of cereal. Testing negative for Celiac three years earlier, I immediately crossed it off my list of maladies. Having moved in with the boyfriend for the first time, I began to worry I might be pregnant (probably worsening my actual health and mental condition). We were eating healthy, and I was averaging twenty kilometers on my bike every day. An atheist, I began to pray – not to some God, but just to anyone. This became a ritual before I went to sleep, but every morning I was disappointed. I eventually started ignoring the way my body felt, and focused on my summer, and my upcoming move to Toronto.
Things only got worse. In Toronto, my condition seemed to get slightly better, but every week or so there would be a sudden attack. I would wake up exhausted, and nauseated, with grey looking skin and baggy eyes. My boyfriend began examining the various shade of purpley-blue under my eyes every night, and commenting on the spectrum of colour. Sometimes my professors would tell me how tired I looked, and I would get pretty offended. Between the months of November and January, I had to go on antibiotics four times for sinus infections. On top of that, I had a cold or the flu every three weeks, like clockwork. Then in January, I started to feel sad, everyday. I would wake up, and immediately feel like I wanted to cry. I knew I didn’t want to be upset but I couldn’t help it – nothing in particular was triggering these emotions. Eventually, my doctor (after I asked) booked me an endoscopy – photographs and scrapings of the stomach liner, and a referral to a gastroenterologist.
I walked into my procedure, decidedly without anesthetic, and feeling naked in an open-back robe. As the nurse was preparing the equipment and reiterating how brave I was for staying awake, in walked who I now refer to as hot, hot Dr. Green. He began with the standard questions: age, family history, etc. He then moved on to why I was being scoped. I meekly suggested that for the past eight months, I’d been feeling sick and tired, and my family doctor couldn’t figure out why. I mentioned that my mother and maternal grandfather have Celiac disease, although my blood work had returned negative a few years back. He stopped looking at his clipboard, immediately made eye contact and stated with confidence, “oh, don’t worry. If your blood work was negative, there is no way you have Celiac disease”. He then proceeded to convince me that camping in Quebec may have caused bacterial infections that can last for months. I can’t lie. His beauty and doctoral aura left me feeling assured. I probably had pasta for dinner.
Three weeks later, I had just returned to my apartment with four friends, two large pizzas, apricot beer and Edward Burtynsky’s Manufactured Landscapes. The phone rang just as we were getting settled. It was Sue, and she sounded funny. You know the type of phone call – either a family member has died, they’ve lost their job, or in the case of my family, it could just mean you’ve screwed up big time. I called her out on her funny tone, bracing myself for finding out I hadn’t paid my visa bill, or something of the like.
“Well, as I thought, you have Celiac”
I was dumbfounded. And pissed. The two together – pissed and dumbfounded. I don’t really remember the rest of the conversation, or the movie, or how good those last slices of pizza with goat cheese, green olives and sun dried tomatoes tasted.
But the next morning, I woke up feeling a little relieved. This diagnosis meant a couple of things. One, I wasn’t a hypochondriac. Two, there was a reason for all of my symptoms, and I had the power to make them go away. Three, I already had a support team – my mom, my close friends who are amazing chefs, and a boyfriend who by now has learned as much as I have about Celiac – and who came up with a creative title for those who promote awareness about the condition: “celiactivist”.
Except for one more massive sinus infection a week after I got diagnosed, my symptoms have diminished drastically. There are still days I feel sick, and tired. However I haven’t had a cold, the flu, or a sinus infection for three months. My itchy patches of skin disappeared. My attitude towards my life has changed immensely.
But being Celiac is no piece of cake - literally. You probably can’t eat half of the things you see in your grocery store (skip the cereal section, the bakery, the pre-made frozen foods, the cracker isle, and most of the sauces). But what you can do is discover the world of foods, including alternative grains and flours, that is at your disposal. Spending the time to make meals from scratch takes effort, but it’s also wildly rewarding, economical and environmentally friendly.
The second weekend of my diagnosis I packed up my bags and headed up to Kingston for some TLC. I visited a good friend of mine, Ms. Debbie Lobbazoo, a brilliant sociologist and mad cook on the side. Together, we made a variety of gluten free and lactose free foods (most Celiacs are also lactose intolerant, at least for a few months after diagnosis. This is due to the damage in the intestines). We caught up over soy lattes, simmered spicy sausage paella while sipping red wine, and ate our “famous Canadian breakfast” – peanut butter and jelly French toast made with cinnamon rice bread and Deb’s grandfather’s pure smoky maple syrup. With a special flour mix created by my Nana, we came up with this fine delight:
Gluten Free Lemon Cake – “Let them eat cake!!!”
1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
*You can substitute one cup of canola oil if you are following a lactose free diet
1 cup granulated white sugar
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (make sure the vanilla in your cupboard is safe by calling the company)
One package of lemon pudding mix
2 cups of Nana’s Flour Mix (see below for recipe)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Zest of 1 large lemon
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (grate the lemon for the rind, then squeeze out the juice)
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Oil a 9-inch spring form pan. Like all other cake mixtures, you can turn this cake into a bunt loaf, or cupcakes, if you so desire.
Cream together butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, or an electric mixer if you have one. Add in one egg at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add in your vanilla extract and lemon zest.
Sift together your dry ingredients – the flour mixture, baking powder and salt. Slowly add this to your wet ingredients, along with the lemon juice, Mix just until both parts have incorporated into one another.
Using a flat spatula, pour your mixture into your pan and smoothen it out. Place it in the oven, and bake for approximately 45 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean
Icing
Sift your confectioners’ sugar with two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice. Your consistency should look like a glaze, and should run over the side of the cake when poured on).
Pour over your fresh cake. Allow enough time to harden before serving
*If you make this cake right before serving, put it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to allow the icing to harden. You can make the cake in advance, and store it in a sealed container. The cake will last for several days in the fridge.
Nana’s Flour Mixture
I whip up this mixture in mass, so I always have it on hand when baking. You can find all of its components in the gluten free section of Canadian Bulk Barn stores.
6 cups white rice flour
3 cups potato starch
1 cup tabioca flour
10 teaspoons of guar gum
Suggestions:
Not all recipes call for guar gum. You can wait and put it in when you’ve found a baked good you’d like to try out, however I always just put it in my flour mixture at the beginning. Guar gum is a great source of fiber, and fiber is often lacking in gluten free diets due to our dietary restrictions such as bran.
Speaking of fiber, you can substitute brown rice flour, or use half and half. I find this works best for baked goods that are savory (cheese biscuits for example, but not chocolate chip cookies)
