Catching up........

Oh my goodness, I can't believe I haven't posted since January!!  My goal is always to post at least once a month.

Life has been crazy busy, I have to admit.  Somehow it seems that's always the way it is LOL!  But we finished up 2nd grade for my son very recently & are taking a breather & catching up with life!  I'm still struggling with my own health, but have been seeing a new (to me) naturopath & I am hopeful he will get to the bottom of my issues & help me.

My son just celebrated his 8th birthday, with his gluten free chocolate cake!  He always reminds me about a million times that he wants a CHOCOLATE cake for his birthday.  My cakes are not the prettiest or best decorated, but they do taste great.  And everyone I know says they would never even know that they are gluten free!

I wish you could taste &/or smell the cake through the blog!!

I'm still loving my Nima sensor.  Although I recently saw a celiac on Instagram that still eats the food even when the test results are "low gluten" (but she doesn't eat it if the result is "high gluten").  I guess that's a decision we each have to make for ourselves, but I was shocked.

So May is Celiac Awareness Month.  I'm very thankful we have a month dedicated to this.  It helps people who know someone affected with or by Celiac & it can help those who may have celiac & haven't yet been diagnosed.  In hearing about it they may ask their doctor or realize that might be affecting them.  Anything that moves us closer to a correct diagnosis is a good thing!

I hope to get another post on here soon!  (Keeping my fingers crossed this time!)

Bread and other updates......

Oh my goodness!!  I haven't blogged since I received my Nima Sensor back in October of last year!!!!!

I seriously didn't realize it had been that long.  I've had a really bad cold that I've been trying to get rid of.  It's always a challenge when you're autoimmune & your immune system doesn't work properly.  Between essential oils & homeopathic meds I think I have finally kicked it completely!  And I've been busy with homeschooling & karate with my son.  I always view my primary job as my son's education.  And I truly love homeschooling him, although it does present it's challenges at times & it was recently.  But my hubby & I seem to have resolved the recent issues very well.  My husband,  ummm, errrr, I mean the school principle, is amazing at problem solving & coming up with effective solutions.  And we are more than half way done with the school year, so I suspect the rest of this year will be smooth sailing from here on out.  He will be testing for his next (5th) karate belt on Friday of this week.

We hosted a glorious & completely gluten free Thanksgiving feast at our home in November complete with turkey, stuffing, steamed baby potatoes, hawaiian yams, & dinner rolls with pumpkin pie & pecan pie for desert (I might be forgetting some items......).  And we hosted 2 separate completely gluten free Christmas meals in our home in December with cornish hens, broccoli, & mashed potatoes along with chocolate bundt cake & an apple tart for desert.

I am still totally in love with my Nima Sensor.  We rarely eat out, but recently we were going to & it totally saved me!  We had a gift card for Lucille's Smokehouse BBQ so we ordered take-out.  We've eaten there in the past & love it.  The Chicken salads they brought out had the crispy onions on them, which are totally not gluten free.  We had to send them back & have them make new ones.  And then the Tri Tip salad tested positive for gluten with the Nima Sensor.  So I ate the Chicken salad, which tested negative for gluten.  But I was super thankful that I didn't have to get glutened & didn't have to suffer for weeks all because I have a Nima Sensor!  I will add that I am extremely disappointed that Lucille's never even responded to the complaint I filed with them about having to throw the Tri Tip salad in the trash.  I don't think I'll ever give them my business again in the future.

I will add that even though we don't eat out much the Nima is still very useful at home.  I've been able to test lots of items that were questionable & know that they are safe.

Lately I've been working on mastering the art of gluten free breads.  I bake a lot of cakes, cookies, cobblers, tarts, pies, quick breads, etc & I'm really good at it.  Everyone who tries them tells me they can't believe they are gluten free.  But I still miss bread.  I honestly wasn't even eating much bread just prior to my celiac diagnosis, almost as if my body instinctively knew it wasn't good for me.  But after 4 years of no good homemade bread I have to admit I'm starting to get a little desperate.

My favorite right now is the focaccia.  I make it at least once a week.  I've been baking since I was a teenager (& I'm now in my 40s) & I used to make wheat focaccia all the time when I was younger.  I'm so thankful to have that at least.  And I have a loaf of cinnamon swirl bread in the oven baking as I type this.  My house smells amazing!!  My plan for now is to continue to work on gluten free bread baking.  I definitely need some more pans though--hot dog buns, hamburger buns, french rolls, etc!!

gluten free focaccia 

And I'm also planning to work on making pastries.  That's another item I'm really missing--flaky pastry dough.  And my husband really loves pastries as well, so I know he'll really appreciate it.  That is one area I hadn't gotten to yet in my old wheat baking days.  So it will be an entirely new adventure, but I know I can handle it.  By now it's clear that baking is a gift of mine.  I am good at it & I love doing it.  For Christmas I had made a chocolate bundt cake for Jesus' birthday cake.  When my sister in law took a bite she declared that I really need to open a bakery.  She said it's not just the best gluten free cake she's ever had, it's the best cake she's ever had period.  That was quite a compliment.  And I have to admit that although I love baking, I do love even more seeing people enjoy what I've baked even more.

And for my other love: guitars!  I got a Cordoba guitar for Christmas & have been practicing classical guitar style now.  That's a whole new animal for me.  And I sold my Fender right before Christmas & then got a gift card for Christmas & with those monies combined I was able to buy the Martin LX1 that I've been wanting.  So I'm pretty excited about that & that completes my collection.  I now have a spruce top (Martin), mahogany top (Taylor), & a cedar top (Cordoba), just as I had wanted.

So that's it for now.  I'll keep you posted on bread making, pastries, Nima Sensor, & homeschooling!! Hopefully we'll get to do some RVing again soon too!

My Nima Sensor has arrived!!

As usual life has been crazy busy & October is almost over & this is my first blog post of the month......but I have very exciting news to share!!

I received money last month for my birthday & it was right before the cut off for the Nima Sensor pre-order.

I've been following this product for a very long time now.

And I had been debating for a long time whether or not I should get one.  The pre orders actually began last year!

In the end, with birthday money in hand, I decided yes, mostly for my son's sake.  My son & I both have celiac.  And he is only 7, he has his whole life ahead of him & I felt this could really help him so much.

So far I've only tested one item: Cadia organic pinto beans.  I've had issues with beans, they tend to be on equipment shared with wheat quite often.  This is one brand I haven't had issues with, but I have wondered.  Just because you don't have symptoms doesn't always mean it's totally gluten free & isn't causing damage to your intestines.

That is one reason I am excited to get a Nima.  It tests for anything above 20 PPM, which is the legally recognized limit.  I react often to products that are certified gluten free, but are on equipment shared with wheat.  I have always wanted to know--are those products really below 20 PPM?  Or are they above & aren't being monitored carefully enough?  The Nima will help me answer that question.  (Personally my guess is that they are above 20 PPM, there are many products out there that are labeled gluten free & have been tested & proven to be way over the limit, although I have yet to see proof of this for a product that is certified gluten free.)

There are plenty of Nima-naysayers that complain that another part of your plate that you didn't test could have gluten on it & the Nima would miss it & you'd still get sick.  Yes, this is true.  Much like when doctors do biopsies for cancer & other things.  They can be right next to it, but if they don't get the right spot then you get a false result.  So yes, this is true, BUT it's still far better than nothing in my opinion.  To each their own I say.  If you don't think it will benefit you, then don't purchase one.  But I do think it will benefit my son & I greatly.  There are so many things I just pass on out of fear.  Now I could test those things instead & maybe be able to partake.

As it is so far, when we eat in a restaurant it's a total crap shoot.  Maybe we get sick & maybe we don't.  With the Nima we actually have a chance at catching the gluten & not getting sick.

It's also hard for so many to believe that cross contamination is so serious & that such a tiny amount makes such a big difference.  You can't see gluten with your eye.  You can't prove whether it's there or not & people often think it's all in your head.  With the Nima you now have actual proof.

Vitacost & Topical Gluten!

My apologies for not blogging sooner!  I thought I had blogged in August, but in reviewing my blog I see I am mistaken.  I did write up a draft in August, but it never got published.  It's about my love of essential oils, but I don't think I'll publish it, not that version of it anyways.  I still adore essential oils, but some things have really changed in regards to that.  But I suppose some things are better left unsaid. Anyways.......

I've been trying hard to get to a point where EVERYTHING I use is gluten free.  

It's proved to be much harder than I had first thought.

I would go to a store & try to figure out which products were gluten free.  This was hard & time consuming--especially with my young son at my side.

I would search online & find products listed as gluten free--often to find later on that some of them really aren't.

I would email companies inquiring if their products were gluten free.  The responses varied.  Some companies tried to convince me that topical gluten (not ingested but used on the skin/hair/etc) wouldn't harm me.  Most said they had no idea if they were gluten free or not.  And some said they were, but when I tried their products I hated them.

This was a much harder task than I ever imagined.  I have very difficult hair--it's wild & likes to frizz.  Most natural products do not work for my hair.  In fact, most drug store varieties of hair products don't even work for my hair.  I have always used high end hair products, but most aren't gluten free or don't know if they are or aren't.

I was getting ready to start trying to make my own hair conditioner when I finally stumbled upon a shampoo & conditioner at the health food store that were labeled gluten free.  Even better--they actually worked pretty well on my hair!!  It was then that I remembered Vitacost.  In the past we've ordered from them off & on, mostly for vitamins, but I know they carry much more than vitamins.  So I looked it up & found the shampoo & conditioner I had just bought was half the price on Vitacost!!

I continued browsing on their website & found most of the products we buy are cheaper at Vitacost!  I decided to start ordering all of our shelf stable items from Vitacost.  It will save us money & it's usually delivered the day after I order!!  And when I do go grocery shopping I can be in & out of the store much faster!!  This is a total win in my opinion!!

One more bonus of Vitacost: this is a BIG one in my book!  They have filters, several of them.  But my favorite is the gluten free one.  So I can search for soap & then filter for gluten free!  Now I don't have to search through millions of soaps, trying to figure out which ones are or aren't gluten free.  I only have to look at the gluten free soaps.  THIS has made my life so much easier.

I seriously can't say enough good things about this company.

Oh!  And about the topical gluten?  Since switching ALL my products to gluten free with the help of Vitacost, my horrendous acne that NOTHING could get rid of is magically clearing up!!  THAT is priceless in my book!

Homeschooling!!

While I do try to focus on gluten & health related topics, this blog post does reflect MY life.  And a huge part of my life is homeschooling my son.  We have 3 years under our belts so far and will be starting up our 4th year very soon!

I've used Heart of Dakota curriculum each year & absolutely love it.  Last year I added on a couple of things (Spanish, art, & Bible study) & this year I'm adding on those same things plus a couple more new things (another art & visual perceptual skills)!  And there's a lot more books & a lot more involved this year than there was last year.  So far each year has taken longer to complete than the previous year.  This year I do think I will need to schedule some breaks into our school time.  Last year I was iffy about this & did it when I saw it was needed, but it wasn't needed every day.  I was very casual about it.  But this year I'm quite sure we'll be needing breaks on a regular basis.  I'm just not sure how many & how long......I will have to play it by ear.  The first 2 weeks are always a period of adjustment & learning as we find our groove, so to speak.

At times homeschooling can be a lot of work.  I've been preparing stuff like crazy recently, trying to get ready for the big day of kicking off the new school year!  Life has been super busy with this, but I still enjoy it so much.  I honestly couldn't imagine NOT homeschooling my son.  I love it & so does he.

In addition to schooling at home, he does swimming & karate.  These are both year round & great activities for him.  And once a week I try to have a "fun day" where we break from school work & do something fun & active--it could be having a play date with friends or going to the zoo or a museum, etc, etc.

That's all for now, I hope to have another blog post coming soon.  :)

Traveling Gluten Free

Where does the time go???

Oh my, I didn't post at all for the month of May.  I finally have time to sit down & write a blog post & it's June!!!

Life has been busy, as usual.  We were wrapping up homeschooling 1st grade & then we went on vacation!  I really felt like I needed a vacation & it was fabulous!

We live in sunny Southern California.  It is nice here, we have it all--oceans, beaches, deserts, mountains, forests, the list goes on & on.  Yet, because it's so nice, it's also super crowded.  And there's also so much more beauty out there in other parts of the country that I so enjoy seeing.

This time we headed to Idaho.  We went there almost 2 years ago & had a great time, but last year some of our family actually moved there.  So it was wonderful to be able to go & see them.  We had a wonderful time.  We stayed around the Boise area (Meridian, Nampa, Eagle, Star, Middleton mostly).

Traveling can be tough when you have celiac disease or any food related issue.  Eating out safely is very challenging for my son & I.   We really love traveling by motorhome.  I did a lot of traveling by motorhome with my family when I was a kid.  And I love being able to do it now & let my son have great memories too, just like I did as a kid.

Traveling by motorhome does really help when you have celiac, or any other food related issue.   But no matter HOW we travel I always do some homework before going.  I search for gluten free places to shop & eat & check ratings for how good they are.  My favorite app on my iPhone is "Find Me GF".  I also do a google search.

Some areas definitely have more gluten free offerings than others.  Last summer we went to Santa Barbara for our anniversary & we found a lot of great gluten free offerings.  But then we headed to Solvang & found absolutely zero gluten free offerings there!

Around the Boise area there is a Whole Foods Market.  There's also Jake's Gluten Free market, which was really nice & the owner was well educated about gluten, which is hard to find sometimes.  There is also the Boise Co-op in Meridian, which has some gluten free foods.  It's a lot like Whole Foods, but with better prices.  There's a place called "Hello Dinner" that I saw online but we never made it there.  It seems they offer gluten free food prepped for simplified cooking of meals, which isn't really something I need or like to pay for.  But it's great for those who need it.  There is a bakery called Amaru Confections, which is a regular bakery, but they later purchased a separate building & turned that into a dedicated gluten free facility, so they offer both gluten & gluten free.  We didn't go here, I had already baked & brought goodies with us, but it's nice to know they do have a bakery option.

The one place we did eat, twice in fact, was Costa Vida.  This is a chain that we don't have in Southern California, at least not yet.  They have reformulated everything on their menu to be gluten free.  So the only ingredient they have that contains gluten is the wheat tortillas.  I'm hoping they'll come to Southern California, the food was amazing good!  The first time we went I had a shredded beef burrito bowl.  It was some of the best beef I've ever had, truly amazing.  The second time we went I had chicken enchiladas with rice & beans.  They were really good too, but I still love that beef!  And me & my son didn't get sick!!

Overall we had a great time in Idaho.  It is so beautiful there & there is so much water EVERYWHERE!  It's so nice to see that much water after living in a drought for so many years now. As much as I want to continue traveling & seeing other places, I also can't wait to go back to Idaho!!

For now we are working on summer school & getting set up for 2nd grade.  And I really need to get some essential oil classes set up!

I would love to hear from my readers, where have you travelled & how did you handle eating safely?

Let's Talk Skin Care

Whether or not gluten can topically or transdermally affect us is a topic that is debated frequently......and it's quite often a very heated debate.

Some strongly believe that gluten definitely can affect us topically or transdermally, while others insist that the gluten molecule is too large to be absorbed through the skin.

I'm not here to argue either side, but just to present some great skin care products that ARE, in fact, gluten free.

For Christmas I received a Clarisonic Mia 2.  It's been quite a journey for me trying to get good results from it & I'm planning to do a video about my journey sometime soon, just in case it might help someone out.  Other people's videos on YouTube about their Clarisonic experience have been so very helpful to me, so I want to do the same for others.

In my quest to get good results from my Clarisonic I've had to change my face wash.  And what was recommended to me from several people was Cetaphil.  I've always seen it but had never tried it.  Of course I love the fact that Costco sells it too!!  (Y'all know how much I LOVE Costco!!)

I am currently using the Gentle Skin Cleanser on my face.  You can also use it on your body, but I'm already content with my Dove sensitive skin bar soap that I use on my body.  It doesn't lather, but it does a really great job.

I also grabbed the facial moisturizer, but I don't recommend it for oily skin, which I tend to have.  I plan to continue using it on my décolletage area until this bottle is used up, but not on my face.  There is another Cetaphil moisturizer that is designed for oil control, but it's been out of stock everywhere I've gone so far.  But I am planning to use that one on my face as soon as I can get it.

I absolutely adore the Cetaphil moisturizing cream, in the tub!!!  This is the best lotion I have EVER used!  My husband, son, & I are all loving it!  My son's torso area is always so dry & scratchy no matter how much lotion we use on him.  And my legs are the same way.  But with this stuff the skin truly stays soft & moisturized ALL DAY LONG.  And I also got the regular Cetaphil lotion to try out.  It's very good, but not as strong as the moisturizing cream.  I think once the weather changes & we aren't so dry & itchy we'll be able to use the lotion more.

If there's interest in the Clarisonic let me know & I'll include blog posts about it as well as a video later on.  It is a really good product, but you definitely have to fine tune a few things to get the most out of it.  I don't think I could live without mine at this point!

Have a great week y'all!!  If you have any questions or suggestions, please don't hesitate to share.  :)