Jenna, Author at Runs on Espresso

Adventures in Gluten Free Eating: Otro Cafe

Posted on July 20, 2015November 23, 2021 by Jenna

Shortly after my official celiac disease diagnosis, we went out for my first gluten free dining experience. I was extremely nervous. I was finally feeling good and my body was starting to heal. I did not want to mess up and get sick again. Otro Cafe, in central Phoenix, was chosen to accommodate my celiac disease and J’s parents, who are vegetarians.

I struggle with telling complete strangers that I have an autoimmune disease. Four months after my diagnosis I still struggle, imagine how hard it was a few days after my diagnosis, my very first time out. I did it though, I told the waitress that I have celiac disease and cannot have anything with gluten. She seemed to understand the importance.

We started with the guacamole classico and ceviche. We made sure to order the raw vegetables, as the chips were not gluten free. Many restaurants dust their corn tortillas with flour before frying. Seriously, they add gluten to everything. The guacamole and ceviche were tasty but eating them with vegetables just wasn’t the same as chips. I’m not sure I would order either of these unless I knew I could have the chips with them.

Despite reading online reviews stating how many gluten free entrees, I found the menu to be lacking. Only three entrees were marked gluten free and ironically were all served with a side of flour tortillas. I hate to break it to you but adding flour tortillas means it is no longer gluten free.

I ordered the paella Mexicana and reminded the waitress that I had celiac and did not want the flour tortillas. Of course when my entree comes out there are flour tortillas. Thankfully they were on the side and not on top of the food but it really made me question the staff’s willingness to be careful with gluten when someone has informed them of having celiac disease.

The entree was decent. It wasn’t something where I would go, I need to have it again. It was lacking something, probably the tortillas. It had decent heat to it, but I was expecting more. I also thought it needed more meat. There was chicken, pork and chorizo in the dish, but it seemed the kitchen added them sparingly. I have also found out since that many chorizos have flour in them and it makes me wonder if this dish truly was gluten free.

Otro Cafe also did not have any gluten free desserts on the menu. I had to sit while everyone else enjoyed desserts that looked amazing. I had to listen to them go on about how great the desserts were. I want to have amazing desserts at restaurants too, and not just flourless chocolate cake which is the standard gluten free dessert.

Overall, I was not impressed with Otro Cafe and their claims of having gluten-free items on their menu. The gluten free options were limited and came with items that have gluten. I don’t know if I trust their staff to take care for cross contamination, since I asked for no tortillas and still received tortillas. The food I was able to eat was not anything impressive. I am able to get the same, or similar, items elsewhere that taste better.

If I have my choice, I would choose not to go back to Otro Cafe and would not recommend it to those who have celiac disease. If you are just avoiding wheat because it is the hipster thing to do, this could be a place for you. But when my health is involved I want places to take it seriously.

Firecracker 4 Mile

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Jenna

On the Fourth of July, I had an opportunity to run in the Firecracker 4 Mile in my hometown. I was pretty nervous going in because I did not run for the month of June. For me, June in Phoenix is the only month I cannot run outside. It is just too hot at 115 degrees for several days. The heat just zaps my already limited energy. I tried to do some other cardio workouts and strength training indoors, but I felt extremely undertrained for this race.

I arrived in LaCrosse, WI on Thursday. It is about a three-hour flight followed by a two and a half hour car ride, which makes for a long day. The weather was amazing, in the upper 70s with fairly low humidity for Wisconsin in the summer. I didn’t go for a run Thursday night but planned to get up and go Friday morning.

I stepped outside Friday to 55-degree weather and partly cloudy skies. I didn’t plan a distance or speed; I just wanted to go. Even after all of the traveling Thursday, I was feeling good. I ended up putting in three miles in 30:56, which averaged out to a 10:17 pace. Not bad for not having run in a month!

I was definitely feeling good headed into the race on Saturday. The race started at Riverfest, which is right along the Mississippi river. The morning wasn’t as cool as Friday, but it sure beats a lot of 90-degrees.

My dad was running too, but I told him to go ahead and not wait for me. He runs about two minutes faster per mile than me. I didn’t want to slow him down. We lined up together and started off weaving through the walkers together but when it the crowd opened up he pulled away. I soon lost sight of him.

It is fascinating to run a race in a city you haven’t lived in for several years. I enjoyed taking in the scenery. I was noticing all the changes to downtown, all the new restaurants. I reminisced as I ran by areas where friend’s lived during college. I ran past the college as well. It was like running through my past.

Where I live in Phoenix is flat. I rarely have any elevation change on my Fitbit surge. I have no hills and never do hill workouts. Well… let me tell you, Wisconsin is not flat. I rediscovered this on Friday and again on Saturday when we rounded a corner and had to race up a hill. Driving and walking these hills never seemed like much but once you run them? Worse thing ever! At least the uphill battle was at the beginning instead of the end. Race directors who put uphills at the end of a race are the devil.

While running uphill I focused on maintaining my intensity rather than my pace. For the first mile, I was around 11:30 per mile. I knew I could do better and started to pick up speed as the course flattened out.

The course looped around and ended at the start line. I was pleasantly surprised at the end because they were handing out red & white or blue & white sunglasses to finishers! The sunglasses actually fit nicely, not nearly as cheap as the aviators handed out at Run the Runway.

I received the blue & white sunglasses (my dad happened to get the red & white). I made sure to wear my blue running shirt and star capris (my attempt at 4th of July fashion).

Overall I enjoyed the race and the weather. I appreciate the hill training, and I wish I could do it more often. I thought four miles was a great distance, not your typical 5K but still a distance most people can do fairly easily. I think holidays are great days to get a race in because I know there will be lots of yummy food in my near future (and probably some vodka too).

I would definitely do this race again or recommend it to others. I didn’t stay for the after party but it is Wisconsin and we know how to party.

Maintaining

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Jenna

I originally planned to write about my new strength training plan, but I never got around to putting anything together. I’ve been lazy this month and have been doing whichever workout I feel like that day.

Instead, I decided to write a bit about moving from losing weight to maintaining. And possibly recomposition in the near future. On June 3rd, I decided that trying to lose weight right now is too stressful, mentally and physically.

Most of my celiac symptoms have gone away with a gluten-free diet, but I am still exhausted all the time. I think it’s best to focus on eating well, and making sure I am fueling my body. My hope is that eating at maintenance will help with the exhaustion.

I eventually would like to drop about 10 more pounds, even though I am in the healthy range for my height. For now I am going to focus on maintaining and reducing body fat instead. I may find that I am happy at my current weight once I drop some body fat.

I am starting maintenance at 143 pounds and approximately 33% (gasp!) body fat. Yes, I need to work on body fat.

As of this post, I have been at maintenance for about a month and it is a struggle, at least mentally. Each week the scale changes by about a pound and a half, sometimes up, sometimes down. I have to keep reminding myself that fluctuations are normal.

Thankfully, I haven’t had two weeks in a row of up and the highest I’ve hit is 145. If I go over 145 I will drop calories a bit the following week. I would not be comfortable going above 145. I am still working through the logistics of maintenance, as it is much harder than I thought. I need to watch my calorie intake better. When I was losing, I allowed myself to go over calories some days because I knew I was eating below maintenance. Now, I need to watch calories better. I find myself still going over, which doesn’t help since I am eating at maintenance. The struggle is real.

Although my weight has fluctuated a bit, I seem to come back to 144 after an up week. 144 appears to be a sweet spot. My problem currently is body fat. It has gone up each week. I am now up to 33.6%. I know it is not a lot, but it is still an increase. I also know this isn’t accurate as I am measuring using my FitBit Aria scale. I figure at least I can get a trend going. I need to work on my diet to help decrease body fat.

I haven’t been running. It is rare that I run in June, as it is miserable here this time of year. It usually gets a tad cooler in July. I am also trying to incorporate weights and body weight training at least twice a week. I have also included some MMA-inspired videos. I need more cardio ideas for the days I can’t run.

My First Race

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Jenna

The morning was much colder than I was used to. There was frost on the ground and I could see my breath. I was nervous. This was my first official 5K and my first time running in 12 degree weather. I was hoping that as the sun rose in the sky the temperature would warm up.

I had been training in Arizona to run a race in Wisconsin. The difference was quite drastic, but I was up for the challenge because I had wanted to run this race for years. I remember being in college and hearing about the 5K. Back then I mostly ran on treadmills. I was afraid to run outside. I thought I would never be able to run a 5K outside. I was letting my asthma win.

When I moved to Arizona I switched between running on the treadmill and running outside then I stopped running. I gained weight. I decided to start running again to lose weight. Somewhere along the line I decided I was going to run that 5K. I wanted to prove to myself that I could run outside for 3.1 miles.

I made plans to go home for Thanksgiving and run the UW-L Turkey Trot. My dad decided he wanted to join me. He also has run off and on over the years.

The Turkey Trot was the Saturday the 17th, just before Thanksgiving. I arrived from sunny Arizona to the frozen tundra just the day before the race. I was incredibly nervous and had trouble sleeping the night before. My dad and I were up early to grab our race packets. We parked, trekked across campus and then went back to the car to warm up a bit. In order to stretch and warm up before the race we went into the nearest building; we weren’t alone in this idea.

It was then time to line up. In 2012, the Turkey Trot did not have corrals (they now do) and we lined up in the middle area, as I knew I wasn’t going to be fast. I predicted a 36 minute 5K. I thought 12-minute miles was a fair guess since I didn’t usually run in such cold.

As most people do, we started out too fast. After a bit, I had to slow down due to my asthma. I usually don’t have an issue in Arizona, but the cold air was making it more difficult. My dad stuck with me and ran my pace even though he can run much faster.

The route took us through the streets near campus and then through the marsh. Even though it wasn’t green this time of year, it was still gorgeous scenery to run through. To finish, we ran into Veteran’s Memorial Stadium and around the track. I always feel a sense of accomplishment when running into a stadium to cross the finish line. It makes me feel even more like an athlete than just a random finish line on the street.

We had warmed up a bit on the run, but it was still cold out. We headed inside to the post-race party, had our banana and coffee to warm up. We waited for our results to be posted. We finished our first 5K in 34:49, an average pace of 11:13. Not too shabby! I already was swelling with a huge sense of accomplishment but now I ran almost 11 minute miles?? I was ecstatic! I knew I could finish; I had run my training plan in Arizona which had me hitting 4 miles at the peak but I was so worried the cold would really slow me down.

I haven’t been able to go back to run the Turkey Trot the last two years but I have participated in the virtual race. I have since ran three half marathons and signed up for my first marathon but the UW-L Turkey Trot will always hold a special place in my heart because it was my first race. It solidified my love for running and racing. Hopefully I will be able to go back and run it again. I would love to see if I can beat 34:49 in the same race.

I am looking forward to fourth of July; my dad and I will be running a 4 mile race together. I am looking forward to cooler temperatures in Wisconsin but am a little worried about the humidity!

Marathons & Fundraising

Posted on June 20, 2015 by Jenna

I’ve decided to form a Team Gluten-Free to raise money for celiac disease while training and running my first marathon. If you want to run PF Chang’s Rock n Roll marathon, why not join my team and raise money for a great cause? If you are interested in donating you can do so on my page.

From now until I actually run the marathon in January 2016 I will be posting different ideas for donations. Join my Facebook group to have instant updates about how my training is going and to see new ways to donate.

For my first donation event I am running a 4 miler on July 4th. Here is more information:

On Saturday, July 4th I will be participating in the Firecracker 4 Mile race in LaCrosse, WI. The Firecracker 4 Mile benefits two wonderful organizations, the LaCrosse Area Autism Foundation and the Children’s Museum of LaCrosse. The website for the race is http://festivalfoodsgrandadhalf.com/firecracker-4/

I have not done a 4-mile race so I will PR (personal record), no matter what! That is always exciting for a runner.

For those who may not know, I spent the first 25 years of my life in LaCrosse. I may not live there anymore, but a piece of my heart will always be there. By participating in races when I visit family, I am given a chance to give back to the community that raised me.

I will be running with my dad. We ran the UW-L Turkey Trot a few years ago together. He is much faster than me and will probably leave me in the dust. I am looking forward to running in cooler weather as we have had record heat in Phoenix lately. Although it will be much, much, much more humid.

Even though I am not yet training for my marathon, I would appreciate a donation to my fundraising page. Let’s consider this the ramp up to the official launch of my marathon training. I will have other ideas and opportunities for you to donate; if this doesn’t appeal to you maybe something else will.

A few ideas for donations:

$1 per mile I will run, a $4 donation (equivalent to the cost of one coffee at Starbucks)
$1 per mile that both my dad and I will run, a donation of just $8
$42 which represents my approximate finish time ($1 per minute). I will most likely average 10:30 per mile
$104.80 donation which would be $4 (since this is a 4 mile race) for the 26.2 miles I will run in January
$106 the average high in Phoenix on 4th of July (where I currently live)
$84 the average July high in LaCrosse

Or any number in between that you feel comfortable with!

Restaurant Review: Fired Pie

Posted on June 15, 2015November 23, 2021 by Jenna

Having celiac disease I have to be really careful about what and where I eat. It really limits the places I can go that have a dedicated gluten-free menu. Surprisingly, some of the best restaurants are pizza places. Fired Pie just happens to be one of my favorites.

Fired Pie is a local Phoenix-area chain in the style of Chipotle. You can design your own pizza or pick from a few of the pre-designed menu items. So far I have only sampled from their pre-designed menu items because they have all been extremely tasty.

I have tried the pesto chicken, steak and blue, and meaty Italian. My least favorite was probably the meaty Italian because, of course, it was more greasy than the others. I really liked the steak and blue, although I did leave off the mushrooms. The menu items are well thought out and all the flavors mix well together. I plan to try the Hawaiian bbq next. Then maybe I will design my own. 😉

The toppings all seem to be fresh. They don’t skimp on the meat or cheese, which are essential ingredients on a pizza. My only complaint is the gluten-free pizza crust. It is one of the better gluten-free crusts I’ve had, but it isn’t the same as a regular pizza crust. Their gluten-free crust is a little bit thicker and chewier than their regular crust (I had it before I knew I had celiac). Plus it costs more, unfortunately for me it is expensive to have celiac disease.

They are very cognizant of celiac disease. Every time I tell them I have celiac disease, they go into attack mode. They change their gloves, wipe down surfaces, and they even have a gluten-free crust only pizza cutter. They take it quite serious, more so than some other places I’ve been. I have never *knocks on wood* been sick after eating at Fired Pie.

If you are ever in the Phoenix area I would highly suggest you check out Fired Pie (and get the steak and blue).

Autoimmune Disease and Marathon Training

Posted on May 25, 2015July 13, 2019 by Jenna

As you may have read in my last post, I had my first glutening and it took me out for the entire week. Since I wasn’t able to get my runs in it got me thinking about celiac disease and marathon training. I was out for a full week; I was able to walk towards the end but for about five days I couldn’t do anything. I went to work, came home and crashed.

I am already having a hard time wrapping my head around running 26.2. I want to. I want the challenge but sometimes I start to doubt myself. I seriously hopped aboard the doubt train while glutened. Running is really a mental game and I often find myself losing.

I know to be careful and watchful of gluten but accidents do happen. The final weeks leading up to a marathon I will need to be extra vigilant. I will not miss my chance to prove I can run 26.2 because I ate gluten.

But there are 16 weeks of training leading up to worry about. 16 weeks. 4 months. That is a long time. I want to make sure I put in my best effort in order to finish the marathon in under 5 hours. I already know I miss a few week day runs here and there due to scheduling issues; I do not want to miss a long run and subsequent workouts because I had gluten.

I do not want to be laid up on the couch when I could be out running. What do you do to beat the mental roadblocks to running? Do you have an autoimmune disease that affects your training? How do you deal with it?

I was glutened

Posted on May 18, 2015July 13, 2019 by Jenna

I had my first glutening this week and I hope to never have it happen again. Of course this will be next to impossible unless I shun the outside world and ban gluten from my house.

Sunday night I went to have gelato and reused the ice cream scoop. I rinsed off the scoop but didn’t wash it. I didn’t realize that my boyfriend used the scoop on ice cream that had gluten in it (Breyer’s Thin Mint, in case you were wondering).

Yes, I glutened myself. I feel incredibly stupid. I did go out and by myself a pretty magenta ice cream scoop so there’s that.

I would not wish glutening on any one. It felt like I was coming down with the flu. Monday I was so exhausted I came home from work and couldn’t get off the couch. I didn’t have a fever but my body was emitting a lot of heat, which usually doesn’t happen. My temperature was actually below normal.

This is what I looked like at work on Tuesday. Can you tell how tired I look?

I went to work on Tuesday, which was a big mistake. I became more exhausted as the day wore on. I ended with a migraine and extreme sensitivity to light and sound. I was moody and depressed. I couldn’t think straight. I wanted to eat everything in sight, and I did. I had no energy. It was early to bed for me.

I stayed home Wednesday. My alarm went off and I just couldn’t get up. I tried. I hit snooze once and then reset my alarm. I still couldn’t get going. My bed was calling and I gave in. I spent most of the day sleeping.

Thursday and Friday I went to work. I still wanted to eat everything and just sleep. Thursday night I went to bed at 8:45. I cannot believe how tired this made me. I guess this is my welcome to having an autoimmune disease.

I wanted to work out and run all week but I couldn’t. I kept saying, “Today I will go for a walk” but never did. Finally on Saturday I went for an hour walk and did a yoga video. I felt pretty good until about 10 pm. Sunday I also went for an hour walk but didn’t get in any yoga. I felt pretty good and not nearly as tired as Saturday night.

I also had some very strange dreams. I usually don’t remember my dreams but I woke up several mornings this week and could vividly remember the strange things my mind comes up with while sleeping.

Hopefully being glutened is a rare occurrence because this sucks. It knocked me out for the entire week.

Disaster in the Kitchen

Posted on May 8, 2015November 23, 2021 by Jenna

My first gluten-free baking attempt was awful. I knew it was going to be a disaster as soon as I went to stir the chocolate chips into the batter. The batter was just the wrong consistency. It got worse as I was spooning them onto a cookie sheet. The chocolate chips were sinking to the bottom; stirring seemed to make it worse. Once on the cookie sheet the batter started to spread out way too much.

I put the first cookie sheet in the oven and waited the 12 minutes to pull them out. I had three large snowmen instead of 12 small cookies. I then waited the recommended 2 minutes before trying to remove them. They were stuck. The didn’t come off easy and did so in pieces. And yah, they didn’t exactly taste good either.

I worked hard to be a good baker and now have to start all over again. I’m not sure it’s worth it to relearn. These gluten-free cookies were probably the worse thing I have ever made. I don’t recall having to throw anything I’ve made out but these cookies went straight to the trash can. I have made missteps but most have been minor and fixable. These cookies were beyond help.

The recipe I tried did not have any sort of flour in it. I may try some other recipes that use a variation of flour. I may also try using some of the cup 4 cup flours in regular gluten recipes. It is going to take a lot of work and a lot of attempts to get gluten-free baking right. I have sampled gluten-free baked goods that are fairly tasty so I know it can be done. The biggest issue I see seems to be dryness. A lot of gluten-free baked goods seem dry.

What is your favorite baked good?

Celiac Disease

Posted on May 6, 2015July 13, 2019 by Jenna

May is Celiac Disease Awareness month. I was diagnosed with celiac disease in March. Celiac disease requires a gluten-free diet. It can be a challenge but I am feeling so much better.

Celiac disease is an auto-immune disease that affects the small intestines. It’s genetic and affects about every 1 in 100 people. There is no real treatment; a gluten-free diet will ease the symptoms and help heal the small intestines.

There are so many symptoms that often time are missed. Here is a pretty comprehensive list of symptoms. It can be difficult to diagnose because not all of the symptoms are related to the digestive system.

Gluten is not just wheat but rye and barley as well. And gluten is in all kinds of things, even products you wouldn’t think of. Like toothpaste. I think that was the most surprising one for me when the dietitian mentioned it. Gluten is used to thicken all kinds of packaged foods.

I stick mostly to fruits, veggies, dairy and meat now.

Here are some resources I have found helpful:
The Celiac Disease Foundation

University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center

Celiac and the Beast

I also have used the following cookbooks:

Disclosure: If you click on the book you will be taken to the Amazon page for each book. I am an amazon associate and these books are linked to my account. I do receive money if you purchase but I fully endorse these books. I bought them for myself and really do use them. No one has asked me to push these books.

Do you have a favorite gluten-free recipe or book? If so please share in the comments!