Updating… and what not
I always think that it’s such a shame when people abandon their blogs… and well, here I am. I’m going to be honest, not a bone in my body wants to blog for the most part considering my condition. The thought of constantly talking about my health just depresses me considering that I’m not in the best of health right now, so there’s my lame excuse.
However, there is somewhat of a light at the end of the tunnel. I was able to decrease my food allergies from 45 to 37 after intense special dieting prescribed by my doctor. I now have lettuce, blackberries, oranges, cucumber, celery, watermelon, and red beans back in my diet! Progress is progress 
I also started adding in things that I wasn’t able to have when I was on my strict detox, like ice cream, oatmeal, turkey cold cuts, and even the occasional cup of coffee. I even got to have a birthday cake on my birthday this weekend made from Almond flour and gelatin for egg substitute! Which was the first thing with any sort of bread consistency that I’ve had since November…
But, what I’m really here to show you guys is a video that I made for my production class documenting what I’m going through right now, and how other people (like my boyfriend) are helping to be a support. My brothers girlfriend also has leaky gut, and is featured in the video with my brother as well. If you would take a few minutes to watch it, that’d be slammin’
So I have hope that I’ll still blog in the future. My theme here drives me nuts, but next semester I’ll be taking more classes on CSS and HTML so hopefully I’ll be able to tweak it myself. Also, I’ve started interning at a fashion consulting company doing their social media…
There I am at a fashion show 
So maybe that’ll turn into something to blog about when I just don’t want to talk about eating 
And hopefully my eating will continue to improve and I can do a WIAW one day without boring everyones face off. We’re coming to find that my biggest problems are starches/sugars (rice, potato, fruit juices, etc.) but hopefully everything will come back.
Be aware that I still read plenty of your blogs and please feel free to follow me on instagram. My username is oatsnbows… that’s something I haven’t abandoned… yet:P
Until later boys and girls,
Michelle
Why I’ve been MIA…
Yes, I am still alive. I’ve always wondered what would happen if I had actually been struct by lightening or a runaway golf cart at cowboy stadium and not made it out alive, and no explanation was left of my blog. Then I realize that’s just pretty darn cynical… but at the same time it might as well have happened already considering the state I have left my blog in. So here’s why boys and girl… okay just girls, I know…
Forty Five food allergies, right? Okay. Food/ health blog, right? Okay. So forty five food allergies+ food health blog=________.
Nothing.
No inspiration what-so-ever at the moment.
I could come to you and be like, “hey guys guess what happened today!”….
“….my cat sat on the fridge…?”
And that’s about the most interesting thing that would have involved my fridge.
My love for food, and health runs deep. I’m not gonna lie. It really does. But, my meals are horrifically uninspired, and bland. And the more that I focus on it right now, the more that this leaky gut detox seems to get me down. When I focus more on the food, I focus on how I miss it. And why I focus on how I miss it, it’s just a recipe for frowns.
The good news?
This Friday.
Feburary 3rd.
Wait for it….
Sit through another picture of my cat for it…
Still waiting….
Okay I get it. I’ll get to it.
I WILL BEGIN TO ADD FOODS BACK INTO MY DIET Thus, I will rise again. AND I’ve been operating on this Cannon EOS t2i these days. 
Check out this quality of this picture of my mister!
Good things to come folks I promise.
Year in review 2011
I know it’s cliche, but I really can’t believe it’s already new years again. The time between New Years Eve when I was growing up living in New York, felt like a million years. Now it feels like it’s every other weekend. I knew my house is most definitely gearing up for New years when I saw this when I walk through the door last night…
Lentil soup is the ultimate characteristic of a Jewish New Years. We eat it for wealth. My moms side of the family is jewish, and even though we’re all now christians in my house, Judaism is as much of a culture as it is a religion. Plus, lentils are friggin’ tasty.
This time last year, I definitely was in a different state of mind while eating these lentils. My New Years was spent coming home from my fulltime job waiting tables (where there was a pizza boy infatuated with me), and sitting on the couch next to a boyfriend that I didn’t want to kiss, and surely didn’t want to kiss me back, with the idea of returning to my school I didn’t enjoy looming over my head. My day to day was dry, and the only real joy I created in my life was spending time in the gym.
But I was more than thrilled in February when we received an ice storm that shut down the state of Texas for a week…
My Valentines day was still spent in a dead end relationship, so I cheered up with baking…
School was the farthest thing from interesting to me at the time, so things didn’t start to pick up for me at all until April when I got Turbokick instructor certified, which was actually my New Years Resolution.
Then on May 5th, I turned 20 and celbrated my birthday at the top of the Dallas reunion tower…
With some delicious eats…
Almost directly after, I ended my incredibly dead end relationship, and did what newly single girls do and I got a new wardrobe (good idea)
And a spray tan (bad idea)
After spending the bulk of the summer working, I took a family vacation in July to Walt Disney World (my ultimate favorite)
I ate all of the fabulous Gluten Free foods that Disney has to offer,
And visited all of my favorite attractions, as well as my old place of work, Disney’s Hollywood studios,
Remember that pizza boy I said was infatuated with me? After he spent the year professing his love, and me turning him down, we patched up or friendship right around the weeks leading up to my Disney trip. On the drive back from Disney I arranged a trip to Sea World San Antonio with him, and two other friends. I got home to Dallas from Orlando at midnight, and by 6am, I was in the car again on the way to San Antonio. I brought along my stuffed penguin to sleep with in the car, and comedy ensued with Waddles, and “The Pizza Boy”, Nick.
After a long, and disgustingly hot day of feeding beer to whales…
Me and this guy…
Finally made it official on July 19th 2011, after him chasing me for nearly a year. Okay, and I can’t deny it wasn’t completely one sided
Soon after, I also made my transfer to a new school, and switching to a new major (Emerging Media and Communications) official..
And in August, I got the keys for my new place, and quit my job.
In september, I started my blog, and my usual stomach problems form gluten intolerance began to worsen. I ate incredibly light, and still got sick. This was nearly all I could stomach…
I couldn’t deny my symptoms anymore as I started to sleep for hours and hours a day… and things like this weird sunburn-like facial redness set in…
In October, I was diagnosed with leaky gut, and 45 different food intolerances..
I celebrated my last hoorah with Thanksgiving with my family and prepared my wonderful boyfriend…
Then on November 25th, my detox kicked in…
In December, I watched my brother play Gaston in Beauty and The Beast
And enjoyed my Nick’s work Christmas party…
As well as Christmas
Looking back, there’s been a tremendous change in my demeanor, my health, and my life this year. 2011 was the year where I learned what I wanted to do with my life, and transferred to an amazing school. 2011 was the year that I got to the bottom of my health problems. And 2011 was the year where I spent a roller coaster, and finally a happy begining with Nick. I only hope and pray that good things continue to develop in 2012. And I know that they will
Question:
What was your favorite moment of 2011?
Books on Food Writing, Food Photography and Blogging
Growing up, I didn’t really read a lot as compared to my peers. And considering that I’m a creative writing minor, it’s strange. Writing is one of those things that you really only master by reading, so I don’t know what the heck I’ve been thinking. Don’t get me wrong though.. I love to read when I have the time. But outside of all of the stellar reading I do for school, I have trouble kinda finding my genre.
The Hunger Games was good… but perhaps a bit too young for me to become completely immersed… (but I’m still seeing the movie)
And Looking for Alaska was like someone threw Holden Caulfield into Ron Carlsons “Keith“… and didn’t do a good job of really getting to me personally one bit in the process…
So Santa had something else in mind for me this year when he added to my collection by putting books on food writing, blogging, and photography under the tree. Don’t get me wrong… there are plenty of resources out there on the web that offer tons of help. But I was looking for something more than just “10 Step on How to Make Your Blog Successful”.
Nicole S. Young is a food photographer that offered up this really stellar book on her craft titled, “Food Photography“.
Young covers lighting, detailed instructional on photoshopping, little tricks of the trade (like using a hand steamer to make food look fresh and hot), and my favorite, plating…
Not only does she make a lovely plate, but she goes through why everything is where it is, why she uses certain shapes and colors, etc etc. She also makes me see that I need a better camera…
These two books on Travel Writing, and Food Writing consist of really light, and fresh short pieces on food and travel. They have everything ranging from reviews, to humorous and light hearted pieces. They’re a must read for anyone wanting to get into either form of writing!
I’m going to be honest, this is the one book that I haven’t gotten to really read into yet. But David Lebovitz is mentioned in constantly in the world of food writing, and I felt like this would be a fun read. From what I see, “The Sweet Life in Paris” is a light hearted view into this writers culinary escapade through France, as well as some recipes. Can’t wait to get into it
I knew that this book would be my favorite, and I was right. “Will Write For Food” is the ultimate how to guide for anyone wanting to get into food writing, blogging, recipie writing, etc.
It was originally published in 2005, but it’s been updated to include current tips on everything from wordpress, to blogspot, to twitter and beyond. It gives instruction on how to get published, how to write cookbooks, how to freelance, and pretty much anything else you can think of. It’s a MUST!
Question:
Have you ever read/bought a book on food writing/blogging?
Back from the dead…
So my finals really didn’t last that long. I was considering coming back and saying that I actually did have a two weeks worth of finals… but no… I was just being negligent. More than anything though, I lost inspiration. The heart and soul behind food blogging/ healthy living blogging is actually about eating food, and being healthy… one thing that I feel like I don’t do, and one thing that I’m not. Ever since being diagnosed with forty five different food allergies and having to go on my detox diet to cure the leaky gut that put me in this situation, my plates has been a bit of a whirl wind. Or really, it’s lacked any whirl, or wind at all. They’ve been bland, nearly unpalatable to most of you lovely folks, and just straight up boring. So I’m going to take you through my journey of the last couple of weeks and see where we go…
The initial excitement and overwhelming sensation of freedom when a college student finishes finals, can only be brought down by the plague… which I had indeed be-plagued me right after finals. My meals were blah, my work out schedule was as nonexistent as a clear breathing passage in my nose, and I spent a lot of time on the couch with these two…
What pals.
Falling ill while you have leaky gut, and an autoimmune disease is a lot different than just straight up being ill. It causes your body to take significantly longer to heal, and I wasn’t 100% back on my feet until Christmas eve.
I spent my Christmas eve at a beautiful church service with the family…
As well as driving to see my boyfriends friends who recently had gorgeous twins . There’s just nothing like when a baby grips onto your finger right? Or two…
Christmas morning came and went so fast (thanks to my overly eager little brother) that I didn’t even get a chance to get a picture of the gifts under the tree…
My brother relished in his drum set, and posters, while I was incredibly surprised by my $150 gift card to H&M, DVD of Mean Girls (which if you’re a regular reader, you know is my favorite), VS Pink sweatshirts (also my favorite), a yoga mat (…still my favorite) and even more so of my favorite…
And lots more where that came from. Flipping through these books momentarily inspired me to write again… but I didn’t have any food to write about. Until later when my boyfriend, along with my brothers girlfriend and her family came over for a Christmas dinner.
I felt inspired enough to make this veggie plate with olive penguins which donned cream cheese tuxedos and carrot beaks…
But my creation was no match for Nick’s seafood paella…
The rice wasn’t the exact brand that he wanted, but that man can cook shrimp and rice like no other.He spoiled me in the days to come and I’m not just talking about my owl necklace christmas present…
Nick has a way of making food into art. He took all of the simple ingredients like shrimp, squash, beef, etc. that I had literally been butchering and making so uninteresting and turning it a real sight for the eyes, and about 100x more exciting for the taste buds. He always makes it so nonchalant. “What do you want? Shrimp? I’ll make you shrimp?” And what I usually just boil and eat completely unseasoned, he turns into this…
And when I have a day where I have to eat beef, and just expect a plain hamburger (no cheese, bun, or condiments), he lays this out.
Nick can create thing that I barely can find the words to use when writing about it… but it’s inspiring enough to make me learn. And hopefully I can I can look as cute doing what I love as he does…
And on that note, we’re back in business here at Oats n’ Bows. Expect me to be self hosted soon as well
Question:
How was your holiday?
Finals Hiatus
How original right? Well I can’t deny that I’m swamped with work. But unlike most of you, I only have one final that I actually have to go in and physically take. Everything else is all writing… since I’m a creative writing minor, and my major focuses in writing. So I can’t really be distracted by multiple writing topics. There fore, I’m gonna be MIA for the week. I’ve definitely been eating well on my detox though recently!
Just some good words about that
I’ll be back full force by the end of the week! Especially considering that I have a new job as a social media marketer, AND warming the couch with my butt for the next month.
Good luck on finals everyone!
Navigating through Holiday Parties with Food Allergies
I’m officially into week three of the leaky gut detox boys and girl! Okay.. probably just girls. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t difficult avoiding forty-five different foods while also dealing with the effects of detoxing, but I can get by. However, I was tremendously nervous for the Holiday’s. Particularly my boyfriends work Holiday Party last night, but after being gluten free for three years, navigating my way through wasn’t too difficult. But let’s start at the top,
I started my morning off with a detox shake… as usual… next to my favorite little Christmas village…
Followed by a day of studying and spending time with this fellow…
As the night approached, I started getting ready far too early for the party… just as every girl does…
Nick works at a conference center as a cook. Since it’s not open to the public, this was my first time seeing it inside. But everytime I’ve driven by, I was always impressed by the size…
And I was incredibly impressed by the interior…
And this cute birdie picture that Nick insisted taking a picture of me in front of…
The coolest part was this huge screen that spanned the length of the entire wall with a timeline of the company’s history featuring all of the founders and past CEO’s that was interactive. Very Disney World-esque
I dunno what made these folks here think that this was the Prom, but it at least we got the cute prom picture out of it…
The set-up inside was pretty elaborate…
Everyone enjoyed a nice little spread…
And super surprisingly I actually got to eat! Plain shrimp cocktail (without the sauce) and lime…
It was really tasty, and a really great night with my guy
Now how can folks like me with leaky gut, gluten intolerance, or other sorts of food allergies. Here are some of my tips on navigating through holiday parties with food allergies:
- Eat before you leave. I was sure to drink plenty of shakes before I left, but I still got lucky any how
- Don’t be afraid to badger the servers/ host on what’s in the food. I was a server for a long time, and I assure you that restaurants are a lot more sensitive to allergies than you may think they are.
- Plan ahead. Try to call the restaurant or host ahead of time to see what they can do for you, and what you need to be aware of.
- Try to avoid making it the center of conversation. I always try to avoid actually saying why I’m eating normal things, but if the topic does arise…
- Try to laugh it off. I’m pretty used to be corny, so maybe this comes more natural for me, but try to laugh it off and not be so serious about it. Your fellow party goers aren’t WebMD… they really aren’t interested in hearing about all of the symptoms and details of your condition.
- Enjoy everything else the party has to offer. Your company, the music, the new people, the holiday spirit. The holidays just have so much to offer! When I focused more on my company, I totally forgot about the cake I was missing out on
Hopefully you all have a great time in the coming weeks, and good luck on finals to my fellow students!
Question:
Do you have trouble eating at parties? What do you do?
Ready for finals to be over and done with?
What I ate Wednesday: Roasted Chickpeas
I almost for got it was WIAW folks!
I was formulating blog ideas in my head when I realized it was Wednesday. How the times flies. So let’s get into it shall we?
My first two meals consisted of 2 of my detox shakes fresh blueberries, milk, ice, olive oil and my vanilla detox powder, which produced this interestingly blue colored shake…
After some low impact yoga to get me moving, and then I participated in some thrifty events. I sold all of my books I had to read for school as well as some others at half priced books, as well as picking up this book on Leaky Gut.
I haven’t read much, but from what I’ve read so far, I know I’m gonna get a lot of really awesome info about autoimmune disease I also stopped by platos closet to see if I could find an alternative dress for Nick’s work Christmas party this weekend if my girly urge to wear a different outfit chimes in. And this is what I found…
Though I wound up passing out of fear of looking like a club rat, or Snookie. So you guys will see the real deal on Saturday
As for dinner, I wasn’t feeling fish, chicken, or beef… and that’s pretty much all I can have. So I turned to something new and roasted some chickpeas in olive oil at 450F for 15 min, and paired it with some pureed sweet potato.
I seasoned mine with salt, pepper and lemon, but garlic would be great (but I’m allergic). I usually eat these raw, so this was a real treat to cook them and try something new while I’m on such a restrictive diet!
Question:
Have you ever tried roasted chickpeas?
It’s Corn-day, Corn-day
Long time no blog! I’ve been all sorts of caught up this weekend visiting with Disney villains that bear a striking resemblance to my little brother.
Little brother still making little brother faces, regardless of the fact that he’s nearly twice the size of me. He’s Gaston in Beauty and the Beast if ya can’t tell And that is not a wig on his head… and I’m 5’6″… just to give you some depth there.
And Nick spent a little time with Ace Ventura…
Anyways, I’m over a week into my detox, and I’m starting to find where my indulgences lay. No longer can I indulge in something like a hersheys kiss, because I can’t have milk chocolate for 30 days. No more gluten free bread or muffins, because I can’t have the potato starch or eggs. And no more… 99% of processed foods because I can’t have soy. So what do I indulge in? Corn products. Not only are corn products acceptable for my detox, but they’re also acceptable for a standard gluten free diet.
So I start off with one of my prescribed detox shakes for breakfast and lunch… as usual…
Then comes the money. My parents were kind enough to let Christmas come a bit early and get a air popper from Bed Bath and Beyond for me
So nostalgic huh? And none of the trans fats from microwave popcorn. It’s different… but I’m all about it now
Dinner consists of corn pasta with a little parmesan cheese.
How beautiful is that huh? Not a half bad detox diet?
On a side note, I went to the gym to do something other than yoga for the first time on this detox! I’ve been restricted from rigorous exercise, because my body is supposed to be in healing mode. But I need to move, I just need to find a balance. Just like I found my indulgence on a restrictive diet. I need to find my workout indulgence More on that tomorrow.
Question:
Air popped or microwave popcorn?
Quack Quack
After a week on this leaky gut detox, one of my intolerances that I miss the most is definitely eggs. After my first attempt at trying duck eggs and finding that they were already boiled… and black. I turned to the folks at metzerfarms.com to buy them fresh. 20 of these babies weren’t cheap. And I couldn’t even imagine how they were packaged. Until this mystery package came in the mail with absolutely no indicator of what it could be…
And I opened it up to find these very well packed little eggs…
Okay maybe not so little…
My doctor said that these eggs are okay to freeze. But since they didn’t come in a carton, and I wasn’t going to shove the entire box in the freezer, I had to get a little crafty…
I guess you could say that I channeled the Jurassic Park employee inside all of us…
Yeah. My life is getting progressively weirder. The metzer farm folks offered up this little perk. Yes, Metzer Farms. There is nothing I would like more than weekly information on waterfowl.
I wanted to go my normal ol’ route and just straight up scramble the eggs. I was pretty surprised at how dense they were since the yolk was so much larger than a chicken egg.
Other than that the taste was pretty similar. I really wish I would’ve had some ketchup though.. but tomatoes are one of my intolerances. I eventually sprinkled on some feta, and after that, I didn’t even notice I wasn’t eating chicken eggs! Home run!
On a quick side note, my 16 year old brother is playing Gaston in his high school’s production of Beauty and the Beast and his girlfriend Nicole is Belle. I wish I could’ve got a picture of them in costume. Oh and my brother isn’t wearing a wig… that’s his real hair.
Not only were they both completely and utterly fantastic, but I have a lot more praise for the both of them in other respects. Long story short, when my brother started dating Nicole, I eventually found out that she too was gluten intolerant, and she was the one who refereed me to the doctor that diagnosed me with leaky gut and put me on this detox. I owe all of my success so far, and all to come to Nicole! I can’t wait to see them again tonight with my parents and Nick Break a leg! I know you guys will be incredible
Question:
Have you ever seen Beauty and the Beast the musical?
