I feel pretty terrible.  I’ve neglected this site for five months.  I haven’t written anything, not updated my platform, and didn’t check my email.  I did this intentionally.  In August, I moved from New York City to Vienna, Austria.  While I mentioned that in this post. I thought that perhaps I’d continue Gluten Free and the City in Vienna, but change my focus to Vienna, instead of New York City.  But after a while I realized I’d rather just write about my new experience here in a foreign city and country rather than focus on being gluten-free.   So, I stopped posting.  I stopped checking email.  I started German classes and have been doing other side projects.

Then, today I decided to check my email.  I had an email from a woman who was traveling to NYC in December and wanted to know of a place to eat in midtown near the Christmas-y sites.  I felt terrible.  I had just left her hanging without a response.  And, I knew of a place as well.  Then, I checked my google analytics, and was surprised to find that more people actually visit my site than before even without anything active.  I had given up on my site, but others hadn’t given up on me.

So, I’m writing this as a “sorry it’s been so long, can we still be friends?” kind of post.  Even though I’m not living in NYC anymore and therefore can’t really write anything current about living the gf life in the Big Apple, I am still happy to answer your emails about my experience living there, gluten-free.  I promise that I WILL check email!

If you have any interest in my life abroad, you can find me at La Vie Claire.  If you were following my wedding updates, you can read about my thoughts and feelings on the wedding here.

Thanks everyone for reading!

Claire

Happy New Year!

I took a two week break from all things non-holiday related- but I’m back!  And I’m back with my list of gluten-free and food related resolutions for 2011.

1. Blog more. I resolve to blog at least once a week, and will try my very hardest to get three posts a week.  When I blog, I feel creative and connected to the gluten-free community.

2. Attempt more complicated gluten-free baking recipes.  I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to gluten-free baking.  I don’t yet have a scale and shy away from recipes that call for flours I don’t have.  This year, I resolve to be braver in this area.

3. Eat less meat. I like meat.  I just don’t like it enough to eat it at every meal.  However, my fiancee does, which means I usually eat it at every meal.  This year, I resolve to stand my ground and make at least two vegetarian meals a week.

4. Use my recipe books. I have a lovely collection of recipe books for gluten-free cooking and baking.  Sadly, they don’t get much use as I mainly shop on sale and create my own dishes from what I’ve bought.  This year, I resolve to open those beautiful books and do something more with them than stare at the photographs.

5. Be more careful about cross-contamination. Being a celiac who doesn’t feel the consequences of eating gluten, this is hard for me.  I am generally not that concerned with accidentally eating a crumb.  However, I know that consuming gluten has serious long-term health effects that I must be aware of.  This year, I resolve to take better care of myself and be more careful about my own cross-contamination in my kitchen as well as being firm with restaurants.

6. Take my vitamins regularly. Most celiacs take vitamin supplements.  I should be taking vitamin D, iron, and calcium every night.  Some nights, I forget.  This year, I resolve to take my vitamins every night.

And those are my gluten-free resolutions for 2011.  I’ll be posting soon with my gluten-free holiday pics.

Happy Anniversary to Me!

It’s been one year since I was diagnosed with celiac disease.  I realized this last weekend when someone I hadn’t seen in a while asked when and how I found out.  I don’t think I’ve ever shared my diagnosis story here on Gluten Free and the City, although I’ve shared it with so many others.  Here goes.

When I moved to New York City in 2008, I started seeing a new GP who diligently ran the required tests on me to get a sense of my medical background.  She noticed that I had really low iron and put me on iron supplements.  However, she wasn’t satisfied with just treating the problem, she wanted to know why.  I’ve always had low iron, always and no one had ever questioned it because it never was a real problem for me in my day to day life.  But, I did more blood tests and other tests and answered questions and nothing added up.  Finally, my doctor asked me if I had trouble digesting wheat.  I said, no, never!  She mentioned celiac disease, which I knew about, but was sure I didn’t have.  She sent me to see Dr. Lisa Ganjhu, a gastroenterologist to investigate further to be safe.

Dr. Ganjhu suggested a endoscopy to look at my intestines to make sure nothing was going on there that was preventing me from absorbing iron.  While she was explaining, I nodded, but secretly thought it was a waste of time.  I even called my mom and she agreed that an endoscopy was not worth it.  It seems the hypochondriac in me won out.  I had the endoscopy and Dr. Ganjhu explained that my intestines were smooth, indicating that the villi that absorb nutrients had been stressed and flattened by something.  That something was my body’s inability to digest gluten.  I received the confirmed diagnosis and had my first gluten-free Thanksgiving.

I knew what I had to do; knew that all I needed to do, was stop eating gluten, but I felt like I was missing something.  I did lots of research, medical and anthropological, consulting the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia as well as reading Shauna James Ahern’s story in “Gluten-Free Girl.”  After reading so many peoples’ stories and talking to other celiacs, it became apparent to me how many similarities there were but also how many differences.  Celiac disease is strange because it isn’t really well understood.  For example, I can eat a piece of bread and not feel it, while others will be sick for days because of cross contaminated food.  Why?  No one can really tell me.  The only answer is just that it manifests itself differently in every case.

Initially I just tried to replace my previous gluten-full diet with gluten-free items and that wasn’t really satisfying or healthy.  I saw a nutritionist to help me eat more healthfully and read blog up blog about gluten-free food.  I became really interested in expanding my palette and cooking repertoire.  I tried to learn about gluten-free baking, but have come to terms with the fact that it isn’t really my thing.   I started getting really excited about making dinner every night and going to farmer’s markets and instead of feeling deprived of something, I felt that going gluten-free had opened up a whole new world of food for me.

After a couple months, after becoming comfortable being gluten-free at home, I realized that I was still pretty unsure about the gluten-free lifestyle outside of my apartment.  I became obsessed with finding gluten-free restaurants, beer, and other coveted gluten-free items (pizza, pasta, cupcakes!) in New York City.  I realized that New York City has a whole lot of gluten-free options out there, but they are hidden and not well advertised, and I wanted to help other gluten-free folks navigate New York, gluten-free.  Gluten Free and the City was born.

I originally  thought I’d only blog about restaurants, recipes, and product reviews; keep it simple and focused.  I shortly realized after an incident at work, that being gluten-free is not just a change in diet, but a change in how I experience food in life.  I had food culture shock and I wanted to write about it.  Gluten Free and the City is not just a food blog, it is also my outlet for expressing and sharing my feelings about being gluten-free.  It’ about forming a community and when someone out there feels bad that she can’t participate in the office holiday cookie exchange, she’s not alone.

So, it’s been one year since going gluten-free and nine months of blogging and people always ask me, “do you feel better, without the gluten?”  Well, I don’t think I feel physically better than before (although I have had less colds) but I feel better about food and about life.