This is my Mardi Gras

Last Monday I finished my Wilton Cake Decorating class. Which meant time is up. My fructose free diet would start the next day at work, after eating a tasty slice of cake. Embarrassingly, I spent more energy researching cake designs than I did finding recipes to tide me over the first week. Already, I met with Becky, one of the extremely knowledgeable ladies I met who ran the Health Starts Here blogger challenge last spring. She pointed me in the direction of foods I could eat, how to make sure I am getting enough nutrients, and overall left me with an extremely positive outlook on my latest challenge. At her recommendation, I looked into the Paelo diet (aka the caveman diet) - only foods that coiuld be hunted or gathered. While I am not going full fledged paleo (I'm keeping gluten free grains in my diet), I cannot have fruit. But the cookbooks are helping me think about my plate differently.

When Tuesday came around, I had a large slice of cake with plenty of sugar flowers. Is this what the doctor ordered? Probably not. It's like binge drinking a bottle of alcohol and then going completely dry - is your body meant to absorb that shock? It would have been better to taper off of sugar, but I spend the few weeks since my diagnosis eating my way through my pantry and freezer since I did not know what contained sugar or I was scared I wouldn't be able to eat that frozen cupcake again.

Tuesday was my Mardi Gras. The celebratory feast before the seriousness of the fasting/new diet. I ordered Chipotle for lunch. Chipotle and I have a great relationship - the staff handling the web orders know me and are always sure to change their gloves to minimize risk of cross contamination. And there are only three things I can't eat: flour tortillas, cheese and sour cream. But low fructose means no onions. No limes. No tomato salsa. There went majority of my cilantro lime rice bowl...

I ate my food, trying my best to remember to savor every bite. I finished my cake and licked my fork clean. That night I went home to a somewhat bland fructose free dinner. And so it begins. My adventures as a triple threat: gluten and lactose free and low fructose home chef and foodie.