I figured that since it was a long’ish flight (6 hours) and since we were given a meal, that perhaps they would offer a gluten-free alternative. Below is a recounting of the phone call.

me: I am flying out on Sunday and wanted to find out if your airlines offers any allergy-friendly or gluten-free meals?

rep (in broken English): oh, all our food is eco-friendly!

me: uh, ok, thanks for that, but I need something that is gluten-free. no wheat.

rep: our food is eco-friendly and contains only organic when possible.

me: that’s fabulous, but what about something for someone who has allergies?

rep: oh yes, I understand that you are wanting to eat a meal that is non-allergenic?

me: no, not really – I just need something that is gluten-free. No bread, no wheat, no gluten. On the flight here you served breakfast burritos and I was unable to eat those or the snack packs as they contained pretzels and other items made with wheat. And the premium meal available for purchase did not have any ingredient information so I was unable to eat that (a chicken salad) either.

rep: ok, you would like a special meal that is non-allergenic and I can tell you that all our food is made fresh.

me: umm, that’s nice. Do you see anything about gluten-free?

rep: hold for a moment (she’s gone for a few minutes and then returns and quite excitedly says…) our food is MSG-free!! There is no MSG used in the production of our in-flight meals!

me: oh dear. Well, that’s not helpful. I don’t care about msg, I was hoping that I could pre-order a meal that would be *gluten-free*

rep: we offer premium meals for an additional charge. Please note that Hawaiian airlines is a cashless flight so you will need to use your credit card to purchase one of these meals

me: the premium meals are not labeled and on the flight here, there were no gluten-free options. So you don’t offer special meals for those with dietary restrictions?

rep: unfortunately, we cannot offer you a dietary-restricted meal. You should bring your own food onboard and eat that or one of our premium meals. Those are available for purchase and are also eco-friendly and msg-free.

So after that, I decided to throw caution to the winds. I found a delightful little organic deli a few miles from the airport and on our way there, we swung by so I could order a gluten-free turkey sandwich. Yes, made with grains and other things that I don’t eat. But it was that or another long day of snacks and in the end, based on the time our flight left and the lack of meals I would have, I opted for the yummy sandwich. And let me tell you, that thing was super yummy! Though it was 6 hours old by the time I ate it, it still was delicious. Thinly sliced and toasted gluten-free bread with a nice stack of turkey, carrots, and sprouts. With mustard. I demolished it in a manner of minutes along with club-soda with some apple juice. A meal fit for a queen!

Best of all, we landed at 2am and I wasn’t starving or feeling ill. Next time we fly, I’m just packing another sandwich. Travels well and stays mostly fresh and I don’t have to deal with forks or salad dressings or other things that’ll leak or take up room or maybe be quite odorous and bother my seatmates.

We are on an 8 day trip to Hawaii with one of my sisters and her hubby. Apart from having the best time EVER, we are really enjoying the local food that can be had on virtually every corner here. The fresh fruit makes the stuff we normally get at Costco and the local farmer’s market taste like plastic. The mangoes here are amazing. So juicy, sweet, fresh, fruity. I’m in serious danger of needing to go to mango-detox when we leave. The bananas are short little guys but packed full of nummy flavor and they don’t cause me as much of an oral allergy as the bananas at home do. Not sure why – I’m not complaining. Just eating tons of them.

Amazingly enough, between my meds and the hours spent playing in the ocean daily, my sugar levels are fantastic. Phenomenal even! Every afternoon has seen a lower number than the day before. Today I’m celebrating with a 94. I’ll take that. Considering that just 4 weeks ago or so, my afternoon readings were well over 140, I’m happy happy happy with the 90′s. I’ve even dipped into the 80′s a few times while we’ve been here. Woo!

I don’t normally eat rice. Apart from the fact that it’s not on my diet plan, my tummy just doesn’t like it. But I was starving and the thought of a plate of nothing but pork was less than appealing. So I ate plain rice, the super delicious sweet potatoes (which I think were BBQ’d or something and then sliced into rounds), a few chunks of fresh and juicy pineapple and then the kalua pork (that’s what they all that luau pork).

I loved the sweet spuds. They were plain but man, so flavorful. Not sure if it’s because I’ve not had one in eons or because they are cooked a certain way or what. But those were delicious. The pork started out pretty tasty but I knew it was time to stop eating when I gagged after a bite about 3/4 of the way through. Hahaha. Told you, I’m just not a pork person! My hubby happily snarfed it down for me. Unfortunately, something in what I ate had some cross-contamination or outright gluten in it. Ended up feeling quite ill almost immediately. No more luau for me. Which is probably fine. Because unless it’s a side of beef or chicken wrapped up in there, I’m really not terribly interested. While the food wasn’t my cup of tea, the actual event was pretty interesting and fun to participate in. Lots and lots of Hawaiian dancing!

The shrimp is sooooo juicy and fresh. With the garlic and butter on it… heaven. The shells are on so you have to peel them off. You end up with butter and shrimp juice running down your hands and arms but it’s so worth it. Seriously, I could eat 4 plates of this stuff. nom nom nom nom nom x 10000000.

Unfortunately, tomorrow night will be our last time for the delicious shrimp truck. When we leave on Sunday, this vacation will be comprised of 3 main memories. Surf. Fruit. Shrimp. And I don’t think we could ask for anything better.

I can’t do the dosage I was at before (2500mg/day) as it caused some less-than-desirable side effects including major hair shedding (it’s fine and thin to begin with so I don’t need to be losing huge amounts or I’ll be bald before you know it!) and intense neuropathy in my hands/feet. So for now, I’ll be doing a ping-pong dosage: 1000 one day and 1500 the next. Hopefully that won’t be high enough to cause those same symptoms.

The plan for now is to do this for 3 more months and then do another A1C. If it’s not back down to a better number, then I guess it’ll be time to speak to my Dr about other medications and insulin. Major bummer. I was really *really* hoping to be able to control this with diet alone.

But I didn’t get this disease through poor eating and with my other allergies and celiac disease, I was already eating a mostly-paleo type diet so the change wasn’t that major and apparently, that’s just not going to do it for me.

So it’s back to the meds and pressing on with our new way of eating. That won’t be changing that as we both really enjoy it. Breakfast this morning was homemade sausage (made with organic ground pork and my own spice blend), green peppers, red peppers and spinach with scrambled eggs. Yum! And dinner last night was browned chicken thighs (hot frying pan with some garlic and coconut oil) topped with slices of zucchini, peppers, spinach, and topped with organic tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Double yum!

Why? Because of my 90/10 or 95/5 guide. I eat properly and well 90-95% of the time which allows me to *occasionally* indulge in something that is definitely off the menu. I read on another blog (I think that is where I saw it..) that eating healthy is like depositing money into a bank account. Do this long enough and you build up a substantial savings account which allows you to “make withdrawals” without going bankrupt or broke.

So I spent all of January, February, March eating only what was permitted. Meats, veggies, fruits, fats. This gave me a big fat account that I could spend while we were on vacation. Without going completely over the top, I enjoyed the things mentioned above while still eating properly the remainder of the time. Breakfast was my standard eggs, veggies, meat. We went to In-n-Out a few times and I enjoyed a delicious lettuce wrapped burger sans cheese.

The end result was a trip that was fun and yummy and blood sugar levels that didn’t spike too high. For my own personal bank account, I am planning ahead to my birthday (August) and dinner out at my favorite pizza joint with some form of gluten-free baked good for dessert and Christmas (cookies and chips!) for future spending. This gives me the opportunity to indulge a few times each year without going hog wild and blowing everything I’ve worked so hard on.

And now that we’re back home, it’s back to my normal way of eating. I was actually looking forward to this – it’s hard to get the same amount of veggies in your breakfast eggs on the road as I can prepare at home. And though In-n-Out is delicious, it does get old pretty fast. A plain patty with mustard and tomatoes wrapped in lettuce is only good so many times. I missed my chicken thighs and a mountain of sauteed veggies on the side. Yum!

What can you expect to find at the new She Loves Cake? Reviews of restaurants, some recipes, learning to purchase organic meat and veggies/fruit, posts about life in general. Things are going to be more personal.

Anyway, I hope that you’ll stick around or if you’re new, join me as I learn to enjoy life without the things that most people associate with happiness: cakes, cookies, and other comfort foods. And instead, learn to eat what will give me a longer, healthier life.

Looking for the gluten-free recipes that used to be here? They can be found at my other blog, Beyond the Wheat. Mosey on over if you’re looking for gluten-free cupcake recipe or more!

So imagine my overwhelming joy at discovering PF Changs a few years later and their tasty gluten-free menu. I nearly threw up at the restaurant table, I ate so much that first visit there. The chicken wraps – glorious! The lemon chicken – heavenly! The ginger chicken and broccoli – how did I live without it? I was hooked and not ashamed to admit it.

Now embarking on this new, paleo-style, whole foods lifestyle, I figured that once again, chinese food was out. Soy sauce? We’re no doing soy. And thickeners? Nothing that I’d like to be eating. Bummer. Then I ran across a facebook post where someone was commenting on a blog they’d read and lo and behold, it was about paleo-approved orange chicken. Yes!

http://www.health-bent.com/poultry/paleo-orange-chicken

I don’t know about you, but that looks amazing. Delicious. Definitely yummy. So I made it last night and we sucked it down before I even thought about getting photos. I had 2 chicken thighs left so guess what? I made it again tonight. And this time I waited to eat until I’d got a few photos.

This is super easy to make and comfort-food-approved. Feeling a bit down? Eat this. Having a bad day? This’ll fix that. Best of all, as you’re eating your feelings away, you’re not ruining your healthy way of eating. Just doesn’t get better than this. Nom. Nom.

I served ours over steamed broccoli and tossed in some sauteed sweet peppers and for a bit of an orange boost, 2 seedless mandarin oranges. The blog noted above has the original recipe – I have tweaked it slightly as I didn’t have all the ingredients. This uses my new fave – coconut aminos. Soy sauce without the guilt. Joy!

ready for the fridge

So the other day, I wanted a cookie and that elusive blog and recipe came to mind. In an attempt to recreate what I *thought* I remembered seeing, I came up with the recipe noted below. Scrumptiously delicious! In fact, so yummalicious, I ate many more than I should have. As these are refined-sugar free and were made from wholesome and organic ingredients, I’ll just overlook my momentary pig-out session. (Isn’t denial a lovely thing?)

I roast my own nut blends so I used those (no soy or other no-no items when you do it yourself. Plus, I think they taste better – especially the almonds which I buy direct from a farm in CA). This particular batch had almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, macadamia nuts, and a few pistachios. Those went into the food processor with some dates, a dash of vanilla, coconut flakes (unsweetened, of course!), and a nice helping of coconut oil. The result was a bit squishy and didn’t really hold together so I mushed them as best as I could and stuck them in the fridge, thinking that the coconut oil might solidify and hold them together.

after chilling – just look at the texture

They were quite good when we had them a few hours later for dessert but the real treat came the next morning when I pulled them out as an add-on to breakfast. They’d dried a bit and the texture was just like a no-bake cookie. Only these were better! Not sickeningly sweet and no oats to give my poor tummy digestive issues. It was at this point that I ate the remainder of the batch. In my defense, it was only 3. Ok, 4. But they were SO good!

In any case, to help keep me on the straight and narrow, I’ll be using these as “rewards” now and again. Just a bit of a boost to make sure that the siren call of the forbidden sugar-laden foods continues unheeded.

Where was I? Oh yes, we watched that documentary and found it fascinating and just a bit exciting. Not that I’m going to hold to that philosophy in its entirety. We still eat meat and will continue to do so but I’ve cut back in the amount and upped our veggie intake even further.

excuse the photos – taken in a hurry with my iPhone

Look at that plate filled with glorious color. It’s like a painting. Red, green, orange, black, yellow, purple. Vibrant colors that are just bursting with flavor. So much more welcoming to the taste buds than bland rice or a bowl of oatmeal. And infinitely better for you.

Our breakfasts typically look something like this: sliced zucchini, green peppers, sweet peppers, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, black olives, yellow squash, etc. Some days I’ll scramble some eggs over the top or like today, we’ll have some diced up ham. Toss it all in a frying pan with coconut oil and you have a meal that satisfies for hours (we ate 6 hours ago and I’m just now making dinner… I’m hungry but certainly not *starving to death*) and is so chock full of good health, it should come with a prescription. Or at the very least, a brownie point. (mmm.. brownies… best not to go there)

It will take some time for us to arrive at our permanent way of eating. There is so much information out there that one could literally follow a new whole-food diet of some kind or another every day and not run out of different viewpoints over months of doing this. For us, it boils down to several important facts.

1. Whole foods only.

2. Emphasis on fresh vegetables.

3. No processed food. No sugar. No soy. No dairy, corn, gluten (of course), grains of any kind, legumes, potatoes. No natural sugars (honey, agave – horribly allergic to that anyway – and the like). No artificial sweeteners or sugar-subs.

I have learned to love fruit again. I made a list of all the low-glycemic fruits and we have small bowls at breakfast and then for dessert after dinner. Berries, oranges, grapes. Delicious. Fresh. Healthy.

And look at the color. That is real food, folks. Good for you and great tasting. Is it any wonder that I now wake up in the morning craving my breakfast fry-up of assorted veggies? Yum.

(Those sweet peppers are like candy. Crunchy, sweet, bursting with garden-fresh flavor. Nom. Nom.)

20 years ago this May, my husband and I welcomed a robust and wailing little boy into this world. He was the light of our lives and our focus from that point forward. We’d just been married 10 months when he was born so our entire marriage together has included our son. He was just the first of what we had planned on being a large family, but unfortunately, due to my developing celiac disease during my pregnancy (unbeknownst to me until 12 years later…) and the myriad of health issues that came along with that, I was unable to have more children. Our son was it. We loved him so much.

As you watch your child grow, it’s only natural to think about the person they’ll become. To think of telling others that your son or daughter is an XYZ or is off doing this or that. What no parent ever thinks about or could possibly plan for is telling others that their child is a drug addict.

Timothy started like most teens, I suppose. He was “out with friends” but was actually out drinking. “Kegger” parties in the woods. This when he was just 17 1/2. I nearly had a stroke when I found out. It simply couldn’t be! He was a GOOD boy. He went to school. He had a job. He was responsible. But as we later found it, it was a sham. Everything. He was biding his time until his 18th birthday when his true self finally emerged.

Because he was “legal” at that point, we could do nothing to him or about his illegal behavior. I died a bit the night I called the local police station to find out if they could do anything and the officer spoke to me with such pity and blanketing kindess… I was mortified and ashamed. We soon found that he wasn’t content with drinking – he was also smoking (something I despise and which is an absolute filthy and disgusting habit and for one with asthma, beyond stupid). And not just cigarettes, but marijuana. It was at this point that we had to tell him to leave our home.

Unfortunately, it’s been a downhill journey since that day. It’s been a little over a year and half and just this weekend, our greatest fears were realized. He’s actually using needles and, we assume, meth. Or heroin. Or whatever other poison is cheap and readily available on the Olympic Penisula. Not that it matters one whit what he’s shooting up. My baby. My one and only child. The sturdy, confident boy who was going to be a Marine and then go into some branch of the Special Forces. That boy with the bright and promising future – has given it all up to worship at the altar of alcohol and drugs. My precious son is a hard-core drug user.

When I heard this, my world collapsed around me and my first thought was desperate hunger. I wanted something sweet. Chocolately. Dessert. Ice cream. Candy. Cookie. Cake. A bottle of syrup. It didn’t matter. I simply wanted to eat anything, and everything, in an attempt to drown the sorrow and push back the grief. But in a moment of startling clarity, I realized that doing that would solve nothing. Instead of waking up the next morning, heartsick over the plight of my son, I would wake up heartsick and ashamed of my own behavior. I cannot control what my son does, but I darn well can control what I do.

And so I did. I cried for hours that night and into the wee hours of the morning. I cried for his future.. unknown and nightmarishly scary. I cried for what could have been and what was forever lost. I cried until I could cry no more. The following day was sheer misery. But in the midst of this seemingly bottomless sorrow, there was a tiny flame. A miniature candle. My resolve. In spite of what seemed at the time to be overwhelmingly horrifying news, I didn’t give in to my old self. And though that was a perfectly awful day, there was that bit of me that flickered. Proud of myself for not letting this take me down.

I have no idea what the future holds for our son. I really don’t want to think too much about it or it’ll consume me. Until he wants help, I’m afraid there is nothing we can do. He’s bent and determined to pursue this deadly course and if pressed too hard, we believe he’ll just vanish and leave us wondering if he’s still alive.

No parent should have to go through this. Not us, not anyone. And certainly not our son. But this is our life with all the ups and downs that make it so amazingly wonderful and so horribly tragic.

Allergies and intolerances, that’s what. As it turns out, both my hubby and I just don’t do well with onions. Lest this turn into a TMI post that has you scrambling for the unsubscribe button, let’s just say that onions make me *very* sick. Immediately. And they do the pretty much the same for the man. Onions in the raw are 10000 times worse for both of us, but sauteed or cooked onions still cause us upset tummies and a day or so of feeling unwell. Instead of onion, I’ll use the leafy part of celery and a few celery stalks. No, this doesn’t give the flavor that onion does but in a pot of chili, it fools the mouth into thinking that bit of crunch could be onion and since neither of us likes the flavor of onion, we don’t miss it one bit. I haven’t cooked with it in years so if you like onion in your dishes, you’ll want to add it accordingly.

As for garlic.. this is yet another intolerance that the hubby and I share. Too much garlic gives me heartburn and an upset stomach and he’s one of those unfortunate folks who oozes the stench of garlic from every pore, necessitating his sleeping in the guest room – of a house 10 blocks away. I’ll never forget the day he came home from work after going to lunch with his work buddy. He opened the door to the house and before he could walk through, I was assaulted by the noxious cloud that ran in ahead of him. It was like nothing I’ve ever had the horror of smelling before.

“WHAT THE HECK IS THAT SMELL?” I calmly asked him (although to hear him tell it, I was screeching…).

“It might be the white pizza I ate for lunch.”

“What is a white pizza? (And stop struggling – you’re not coming in this house so just get back outside.)”

“It was this really yummy pizza with lots of whole garlic cloves, white sauce, cheese. How come I can’t come in? It’s cold out here!”

“Well, you should have thought about that before you ate that pizza. You’re banned from the house until that stench goes away.”

I thought about putting him in with the dog but then I was worried that PETA might come after me for extreme dog abuse. At least if any vampires came attacking, I’d be safe. Cuz there was no getting past the staying power of that garlic. It took a full week before the smell finally dissipated and since then, he’s been on a “if you eat a clove of garlic, no judge or jury will convict me for what I’ll do to you” garlic moratorium. There are people who simply cannot eat garlic – he is one of them. As a result, you’ll find that I have a very gentle hand with the garlic clove. Just a touch here and a touch there – if you like your food to pack a real punch, you can up the quantity. My garlic is super subtle – just enough to provide the tiniest of flavors and give a bit of depth to whatever I’m cooking.

Which brings us to eggplant. And canker sores. Doesn’t everyone get mouth ulcers from eggplant? That’s what I used to think. I hated that vegetable as a child – Mom would pull it out and I would cringe, knowing I had several days of painful sores to look forward to. It wasn’t until I was an adult and could avoid that evil purple gourd that I came to understand that getting canker sores from food was not normal. No eggplant recipes will ever be found on my blog.

There is one final taboo item.. hot (chili) peppers. This hits both the mouth and the tummy for me – immediate canker sores and many a day and night writing in pain have taught me to steer very clear of the hot pepper family. Yes, I use a dash of cayenne peppers or paprika if necessary, but that’s about it. No amount of pink death (aka Pepto Bismol) or Alka-Seltzer can adequately negate the impact of a hot pepper on a sensitive system. Thankfully my darling hubby (sorry for throwing you under the bus earlier in this post, honey!) isn’t one for really spicy foods so I’m able to avoid using them in my cooking.

So there you have it. The whole sordid tale of woe and acid indigestion. Perhaps one day in the future, after eating paleo-style for a few years and removing other possible allergens (soy, dairy, corn) from my diet, I will heal enough to slowly begin using some of these off-limit vegetables. Maybe. But you still won’t find onions or eggplants in my cooking. They’re just gross!