You know the feeling - - you are invited to someones lake house for a holiday celebration and you think to yourself - how am I going to stick to my health supporting diet?
Living with autoimmune illness, such as celiac disease, Hashimoto's, Parkinson's or something else is a strain on the body and mind. Deciding you want to do whatever it takes to prevent further progression of the disease process - or better yet prevent the process from getting a foothold requires great will power and intestinal fortitude!
Whether you have recently been told you have celiac disease or you are a seasoned veteran with a known autoimmune process, you've got to take charge and make sure your meals stay free of immune stimulating foods.
My wife and I (and our children) need to be gluten free, casein free and soy free (among other individually varying food sensitivities) - so what do we do? The most sensible plan is to make and bring safe foods to eat whenever we get invited to someones home for a holiday celebration. We love going to White Lake to take in the beauty and fun of the lake and the fireworks on the 4th of July weekend. We found out we were not alone in having sensitivities as our host's mother was diagnosed with celiac disease.
Our gastronomical contribution was cut up watermelon, a tomato salad, fresh organic strawberries, seared Ahi Tuna steaks (cooled and sliced, then placed on a bed of romaine lettuce for eating cold) , gluten-free brownies, a vegetable tray, hummus and some veggie crisp munchies. Sticking to gluten free adult beverages like gin and tonic or wine allows for guilt free toasting as well.
When it came time to come together to satisfy our hunger, we knew all our food selections would be safe and we could continue our health supporting lifestyle.
Our host's mother was new to the whole gluten free lifstyle so she learned a lot in the process too. For further help, I directed her to my blog and website so she could learn about accurate testing and other nuances of the whole autoimmune process.
An important point to remember...just cheating a bit with a piece or bite of forbidden food can set a whole body inflammatory process that can last for days, weeks or months!
Our 4th of July celebration was fun, healthful and full of guilt-free food and drink. You can do it too!
