Chop, chop!

Bruno's Ristorante (across the street from my home) offers
Whole30 compliant dishes--beautifully presented! Lucky me!

After nearly three weeks on the Whole30, here are a few observations: In general, the diet isn’t really too difficult. For me, dairy has been the most daunting sacrifice. (I sure do love me some cheese—and sour cream. Yeah, and yogurt. Well, and of course, ice cream.) I don’t miss grains much at all, and I haven’t had the sugar cravings I was expecting.

Furthermore, my gut issues seem to be improving—except for when I go overboard on the salads and spinach, which can cause a quick trip to the restroom. I don’t feel nearly as bloated and uncomfortable as I did before I started—and my jeans aren’t quite as tight as they were. (No more lying down on the bed to pull them on!) I can’t really say whether or not I’ve lost weight, because, according to the rules, I’m not supposed to weigh myself while on the diet.

Another thing I’ve noticed about this diet is that I’m never hungry between meals, which is not normal for me. I’m usually hungry all the time. Additionally, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how energetic I’ve felt nearly the entire time. I have continued to run/walk (Galloway style) at least every other day while I’ve been on the diet without additional struggle.

Time-consuming, but worth the effort!

Drawbacks to the Whole30 include the amount of time it takes to prepare meals, especially cleaning and chopping all those vegetables. But I’ve found that roasting just about any vegetable is easy and doesn’t require a lot of cleanup. I’ve also found that if I set aside a block of time—say 3-4 hours once or twice during the week—I can do a lot of the preparation in advance. It also cuts down on time to prepare double or triple the amount of vegetables I will eat at one meal, so that I have leftovers to use at future meals.

Another drawback to Whole30 is eating out. Many restaurants are very accommodating, however, and I can always order a salad, minus the croutons and the cheese, and either dress it with vinegar and oil or take along my own homemade salad dressing (which no one yet has seemed to mind).

While most people who try the Whole30 don’t have celiac disease, it’s a good diet to determine if the food you are eating is keeping you from optimal health. It has encouraged me to eat more mindfully and to improve my eating habits. I’ll report on my 30-day results in 10 more days, but in the meantime, you’ll find me in my kitchen chopping away.

Breakfast in the Big City

Chicago is home to Millennium Park--and Wildberry Pancakes and Cafe.

I have made two trips to beautiful Chicago in the past month: on the first trip I accompanied Doug to a conference in the bustling downtown area, and on the second trip we attended the wedding of the daughter of a close friend in the lovely little suburb of Wheaton.

My first cinnamon roll
in six years!

Besides enjoying several of Chicago’s recreational and cultural offerings, I was pleased to find that Chicago is onto gluten-free dining. Such restaurants as Morton’s The Steakhouse (65 E. Wacker Pl.) and Volare (201 E. Grand) in Chicago and Ivy (120 N. Hale) in Wheaton offered some especially nice gluten-free options. But my happiest discoveries were two outstanding breakfast restaurants.

The Egg Harbor Cafe rooster.

In fact, I ate at Wildberry Pancakes and Café (130 E. Randolph St.), a breakfast restaurant located directly across from Millenium Park, three times while we were at the conference. While at the wedding, I ate at Egg Harbor Cafe (208 S. Hale St.) twice. Wildberry’s GF Pancakes were the best I’ve encountered since I’ve had celiac disease. I ate them every day—so quickly, in fact, that unfortunately I didn’t take the time to take a photo. You’ll just have to trust me on this.

(We actually tried to eat at Wildberry one other time on the weekend but the wait was 1½ hours for brunch, and we didn’t have the time—so keep that in mind if you plan to eat there. On weekdays, we were seated immediately.)

At Egg Harbor Cafe, I also had some mighty tasty pancakes on the first day, but on the second day I had the first cinnamon roll I’ve had in four years. And oh, boy, was it ever the bomb! If I ever have the chance to return to Wheaton, you can bet that I will visit Egg Harbor again!

In addition to Wildberry’s downtown location, there are two other locations: 1783 N. Milwaukee Ave, Libertyville, IL and 1383 N. Meacham Rd., Schaumburg, IL. Egg Harbor, happily, has 18 restaurants in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Georgia. You can look them up at www.eggharborcafe.com.

Enoch's BBQ makes the grade

Gluten-free and delicious at Enoch's BBQ!

I loved my career as a high school teacher. I loved my subject matter, I loved my colleagues, and, I’ll admit it, I loved the summers off. Most of all, though, I loved my students—their youthfulness, their creativity, their constant ability to make me laugh, and even (on occasion) their orneriness made me look forward to Mondays.

But the one thing I didn’t love about teaching English, the thing I dreaded most of all, the thing that ultimately drove me to an early retirement was grading papers. Even now, I break into a cold sweat when I remember those stacks of research papers, sometimes numbering as many as 180 at once (and usually gathered just before a holiday).

One of the “shortcuts” to grading that made life more bearable was using a rubric (or scoring guide) that listed the expectations and/or weaknesses for each student’s paper. With a rubric, a teacher can assign points and make comments with a mere checkmark and the student can better understand his grade and, hopefully, make improvements in his future work.

Ok, I'm not the NYC health department,
but I do give Enoch's BBQ a great big A!

In my retirement, the only type of scoring guide I use is the mental checklist I have for trying out new experiences. Because I am a foodie, restaurants are the most frequent recipients of my grading, with my main criteria being the following:

1. Does the restaurant have a gluten-free menu or offer easily identifiable gluten-free foods?
2. Is the food tasty?
3. Is the wait staff friendly, helpful, and efficient?
4. Is the price reasonable?
5. Is the restaurant within walking distance of my home?
6. Does the restaurant have outdoor seating?

Now, a restaurant may fail in one or two of these areas and still make a “passing grade” (but not offering gluten-free food is obviously a deal-breaker, an automatic F, as far as this celiac is concerned). Unfortunately, I don’t have the opportunity to give out many straight A’s—but last week I did just that--to Enoch’s BBQ at 307 S. National in Springfield, MO.

Before walking to the location from our loft (Check!), I had contacted the restaurant to find out if they had a gluten-free menu, which they did (Check!). When Doug, his cousin John, and I arrived at the restaurant, we sat down at our outdoor table (Check!) and were greeted by our friendly, efficient and helpful waitress (Check!) Within moments we were eating fantastic barbecue and excellent side dishes (Check!), and we left feeling satisfied, having paid our very reasonable (Check!).

In addition to passing each of the criteria with flying colors, Enoch’s received extra credit for its chef coming to our table to greet us personally, for offering a nice selection of drinks, and for hosting Mark Bilyeu and Cindy Woolf on Tuesday evenings from 6-8.

Final assessment: Add Enoch’s (Straight A) Barbecue to your list of restaurants to “check” out!

Where to dine gluten-free (when you don't want a salad) ...

Outback has a nice GF menu!

The teenaged son of one of my acquaintances was recently diagnosed with celiac disease. Still trying to wrap her mind around the diet changes her son will have to make, she emailed me to ask about Springfield (MO) restaurants that offer gluten-free foods other than salads. The following is my response: (Maybe it will help you, too, if you are just beginning to explore gluten-free dining options.)

I'm sorry to hear about your son's diagnosis. I know it would be especially hard for a teenager to give up gluten. At first it seems very overwhelming, but it does get easier--and many restaurants are beginning to catch on. I eat a lot of salads, when I eat out, but you are definitely not limited to salads. I'll list a few of my favorite places that have great "teenager" food*:

HuHot is great, because you can build your own dish with gluten-free ingredients. Ask for their allergen brochure, which will tell you which sauces to use. The cooks at the big grill are well-trained for gluten allergies. They clean the grill and separate your food from the other food they are cooking.

Red Robin offers a good GF bun and GF fries! 

Red Robin has a nice gluten free-bun for their burgers and sandwiches. Their fries are also gluten-free. When I crave a burger, Red Robin is where I go.

The Aviary, both downtown and at their new southside location, has gluten-free crepes. They also have a steak and frites meal that I love.

Outback Steakhouse (everywhere) has a great GF menu.

At Maria's and many other Mexican food restaurants, he can eat the nachos. The chips at most Mexican restaurants are generally gluten-free, but just be sure to double-check with the waiter or chef. If the chips are homemade, they may have been fried in a deep-fryer in which other breaded items are fried.

Olive Garden, Bruno's, Gilardi's, and Avanzare all have gluten-free pasta. 

Wendy's chili, baked potatoes, and fries are gluten-free. McDonalds beef is fine without the buns, and in most places you can eat the fries, but you must always ask if they have a dedicated fryer. Some places fry their nuggets in the same oil as the fries, and that's a no-no. Don't eat anything at Taco Bell.

Cafe Cusco on Commercial St. is almost entirely gluten-free. It is one of my go-to restaurants, because there are so many options.

You can get good gluten-free pizza at Cravin' Pizza in Springfield and Bud & Walt's Pizza in Nixa (worth the drive).

You may have already discovered the app called Find Me GF, which will help you find GF restaurants near you. Yelp will also find GF restaurants if you type in "Gluten-Free Menu" in your search. There's another free app called Gluten Free Fast Food. It's not the greatest, but it will give him an idea of what he can eat when he's on school trips.

If your son likes sushi, it is mostly gluten-free, but I always carry my own GF soy sauce. Some places offer GF soy sauce, but you have to be careful. Also, you can eat the meat at most barbecue places. Just quiz the servers/chefs about the barbecue sauce. I have had good luck at Rib Crib and other places. If you want to check out their menu before you go to the restaurant, many chains have GF info on their websites.

As far as school lunches are concerned, leftovers for lunch are definitely the best. For times when you don’t have leftovers, here is a link that gives lots of good suggestions for school lunches for kids (or work lunches for adults): http://glutenfreeville.com/featured/100ideas

I hope this list will get you started. Obviously, I am well-aware of how hard it is to avoid gluten, but the up-side is that once you get used to the diet, the food you eat is much healthier than what most people eat. 

*Remember that when you eat out, there is always some danger of cross-contamination. For me, the extremely rare “glutenizing” is worth the risk.