Contamination. Sounds like a scene from the movie Silkwood, doesn’t it? Meryl Streep played a metallurgy worker at a plutonium plant that was repeatedly contaminated. That’s how I feel when I get sick – contaminated. Dirty, crazy and unstable.
One of the things most overlooked is kitchen safety when learning how to deal with a gluten free lifestyle (and yes, it’s a lifestyle necessary to stay safe) and it’s really surprising to find that your kitchen tools may be making you sick. Gluten is a protein that will hang out in your kitchen for your whole life, quietly just THERE. It’s a protein that is absorbed in your wooden utensils, rolling pins, toasters, bread machines, cast iron, bbq grills and so on and it stays there, forever. You’ll have it forever like luggage – it ain’t going nowhere.
Recently, there has been talk about the term “gluten-intolerant” and studies are showing that there may not be an intolerance, just Celiac disease – no in between, and I am thinking more and more that I fully agree. I don’t have “just a little” sickness, I have the whole spectrum of sickness, and it ain’t pretty. I am currently in another state, cooking in my bff’s kitchen and guess what? It’s making me sick. Not only the kitchen, but food out here isn’t the same, brands aren’t the same and with limited internet and absolutely NO cell service, I can’t stay safe. I suppose you are going to ask – well how did you post this? Well, I wrote and scheduled my posts after I hacked into her router and kicked everyone off – she doesn’t even have the bandwidth to allow me to connect to my server to complete my design. I’m roughing it, folks!
So, what does this mean? I can’t Google anything when I’m out to see if it’s gluten free. I’ve been poisoned the following ways this past week:
1. Adolf’s Tenderizer with Seasoning
2. Jack Link’s Teriyaki flavored beef chunks (totally MY fault – I have a safe list of foods that I can eat without needing insulin – but that list has to change – like yesterday!)
3. I accidentally used a spaghetti fork in my gf pasta pot – after I made angel hair for everyone else – I stirred both pastas repeatedly with the same plastic instrument – DUMB!
4. A potato seasoning packet – that looked harmless – but wasn’t.
5. McDonald’s – there is no hope here – with or without that stupid bun.
You might think that these 5 little things wouldn’t make a hill of beans, but you’re 100% dead wrong. I’ve been so sick that I almost just HAD to pack up and come home. In my neck of the farms, I have 4 stores I get vittles at, and I know what to buy and where to buy it. What brands to trust and what brands to run from, but here? Different brands – different stores – different EVERYTHING! There are brown tags on the GF items on the shelf of Food City – but it took me a week to find them. I feel so DUMB! I’ve paid for it – dearly and let me tell you this: I’m on the side of a mountain in a trailer here, no central air, no unlimited internet, no GAME OF THRONES – and I want to come home, like RIGHT NOW.
Unfortunately, that is not possible until Sunday, but until then, I scoured Pennington Gap and bought about $50 worth of stuff I CAN eat because I have been starving myself, literally, because I’m just not safe here. Not to mention, this is the first time I have traveled since D Day (diagnosis day) and I took for granted that the Wal-Mart up here would have my favorites – it doesn’t.
I systematically went through my kitchen and got rid of all wooden, plastic and appliances and bought new – I didn’t mess around, but short of packing up my food (which DOES NOT keep) I’m at the mercy of this kitchen, and that is a good time to share information about what you must take into consideration after you have been diagnosed – are you ready? Your kitchen is POISONED! 100% no doubt about it poisoned and you must get rid of the things that are making you sick, and yes, that means about EVERYTHING!
I found this little image, because I know that a picture is worth a thousand words, and I hope that saving this to your phone, tablet or desktop will help to remind you that even eating completely gluten free doesn’t count when cooked with poison equipment. I learned that on Easter when my wonderful, loving mother in law made us some chocolate peanut butter candy – with her old wooden rolling pin. Washing it does not help – you need to buy a new one. She felt so bad, but it wasn’t her fault, and people are not aware of how serious contamination is – so let’s say it together: C O N T A M I N A T I O N is like cooking a chicken in a pot made of poison – it’s dangerous.
So far, I’ve been rebuilding my kitchen arsenal, and I’ll put up an Amazon partner page to share, but I’m not done yet, it’s a work in progress. What items in your kitchen do you wonder about? Leave me a comment and we can get a discussion started! Sharing is caring! Kisses!
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