Mini Road Trip to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods

Hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine consisted of sitting around the house with John and a walk around our neighborhood and Smithville village. Nice and relaxing :-) Since my diagnosis last week and honestly for a long time beforehand I had been dying to make the hour trip out to Marlton to go to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. From Pinterest and some of the blogs I follow it seems a whole lot easier to stock my pantry and fridge with good options when the grocery store is filled with tons of healthy (and now in my case, gluten free) options. 

So on Saturday my friend Amanda and I went! And I have to say both stores didn't disappoint. Trader Joe's was small but so cute and I had so much fun looking through all the options I had seen on their website. (So crazy how your idea of "fun" changes when you become an adult) Whole Foods is sooo much bigger and definitely had more of my gluten free basics. I felt a LOT more confident after this trip that it IS possible for me to completely change my diet. And I totally wish we had both of these stores by me, BUT I will explain in a bit why this isn't going to be such a big deal.

Here is my haul in detail-

 This is a combo of stuff from both Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. 

 Of course we had to get a pic of the cute little Trader Joe's brown bags in Amanda's trunk...

 Check out the gluten free PIZZA and HOT DOG BUNS! I did NOT think I'd be able to eat either of these two items again. And the hot dog buns taste exactly the same as regular ones! I am so happy! Not the healthiest but being that it's summer time sometimes nothing beats hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill. 

 Some other key items, pasta and breadcrumbs. As mentioned in my last post I am a HUGE pasta lover and this was one of my first fears upon hearing I had to switch to the gluten free diet. I haven't tried this organic brown rice pasta fusilli from Trader's yet but I will mention it was only 1.99 (over 2x what I paid for regular pasta but compared to some of these other gluten free items a bargain). The bagel chips I'm excited to try with some bruchetta, only after taking Pepcid AC of course. 

Those chocolate chip cookies in the yellow bags are DELISH! And don't taste gluten free at all. I'm not a big snacker but do get a sweet tooth sometimes and these two bags should definitely hold me over until my next trip out there or until I can perfect a homemade gluten free cookie recipe. I will admit I wasn't a huge fan of the corn pasta in the blue box, which sucks cause it cost 3.50 a box. Amanda can attest that it was a little difficult for me to drop 2 boxes of this in my cart but I won't let the other go to waste. 

 I'm excited about trying the gluten free honey corn flakes in the yellow box and mix it with some fruit to hopefully create my own Special K, which was my go to breakfast cereal that I miss dearly. I'm also hoping the peanut butter panda puffs taste like Cap'n Crunch peanut butter crunch which I also get a craving for occasionally. 

Not gluten free but definitely wanted to try these organic pasta sauces.

I found this at Whole Foods and am hoping it tastes good because chicken noodle soup can go wrong. If it's bad, I will start making my own.

Trader's had tons of yummy drink options. The organic strawberry lemonade is a little tart but very good, John already made half the bottle disappear. We're a fan of Arnold Palmer's so hopefully this organic Trader's version is good.

I got this for our BBQ this weekend. Spinach dip is my FAVE and while I've yet to find a gluten free bread bowl I'm excited I can still dip my gluten free chips in this and not miss out on some BBQ staples.

I was a little apprehensive about this but I love oatmeal and felt I should at least try it. It is SO good! I used to eat Quaker's fruit and cream which tastes so processed compared to this! I've had it for breakfast the past two days and it will definitely make my go to shopping list for the next trip.

So there's pretty much everything I got. My total at Trader's was 73 dollars and 103 at Whole Foods. Definitely more than my usual grocery bill and the fact that this is all for me mostly is a bit staggering. But I called John while at Whole Foods to warn him of the high cost and he put it simply "I'll spend as much as I have to as long as it makes you feel better" So sweet! ;-) But I remember a friend mentioning something about tax write offs for Celiac disease so once I got home I researched it further and discovered good news about the extra cost, we can use it for tax write offs! Since I need these foods for a diagnosed disease, we can claim the difference between a "normal" food and the gluten free version. For example if a loaf of bread costs 2.50 and my version costs 6 (which it does and kills me), we can claim the additional 3.50. I can also claim any extra mileage it takes to go to a specialized store, which helps because these stores are an hour away! I just need to file all of my receipts in the case we get audited so I have my proof.

So long story short this ISN'T as bad as I thought it would be. It's definitely staggering at first to hear you need to make a complete overhaul of your diet but with how popular gluten free options are nowadays (which after seeing my grocery bill I can't understand why ANYONE would eat gluten free by choice) it's easier to go to a health store and have these options. I was going to see a nutritionist at the doctor's recommendation but honestly feel like I can handle this myself. It hasn't even been a week yet but I'm doing great so far! I haven't consumed any gluten (besides ONE cheat bite of John's wawa quesadilla Friday night) for 5 days now. I am feeling better but at the same time think I'm fighting a bug off so that's kind of messing with my gluten free results. Until next time! 

Diagnosed and Confused

Hey everyone! My name is Ally and I'm from South Jersey. I am a newlywed to my wonderful husband John  

(Us minutes after being married!)

I am creating this blog as an outlet for my recent (as in the other day) confirmation of Celiac's disease. A little about the disease for anyone who doesn't know- basically it is an autoimmune disease in which my body reacts negatively to the protein gluten, which is found in wheat, barley and rye. Aka most of my current diet. Consuming gluten damages and inflames the lining of my intestinal wall and prevents it from absorbing necessary nutrients. This causes weight loss, bloating, and other unhappy symptoms. There is currently no cure. One of the biggest misconceptions of Celiac disease is that it is simply a food allergy, but being that it is an autoimmune disease it can impact neurological functions as well as having a connection to lymphoma (a type of cancer) if not properly treated. So needless to say this pasta lover needs to get over it and find some alternatives to successfully conquer and come up with a major overhaul of my diet.


This diagnosis has been about a year long journey in the making. I went to my gastroenterologist a little over a year ago because I had lost about 20 pounds over the course of a few months and anyone who knows me knows my small frame cannot handle that much weight loss. My BMI was and still is at a 17, which is 1.5 points underweight. I haven't been able to do much about this despite the amount of food I eat but I now know this is one of the biggest symptoms of Celiac's. But it sure was fun having a doctor mimick sticking a finger down his throat and ask "if I ever did a little of that." So professional! I was sent for blood work to rule out a whole list of diseases including Crohn's disease, and IBS. Last October I was sent to the ER following what I thought to be a stomach virus but upon arriving at urgent care the physician said she thought I was having issues with my gallbladder and would need an ultrasound at the hospital to confirm. The ultrasound showed my gallbladder was normal and the doctor diagnosed me with gastritis, or inflammation of the stomach lining. However this needed to be followed up with an endoscopy, which I had this past March.


The "esaphagogastroduodenoscopy" as it was officially termed showed I have a hiatal hernia (my stomach pushes through my diaphragm), gastritis (as suspected by the ER doctor) and lymphocytic duodenitis (inflammation of the duodenum-part of the intestines). The duodenitis was the main indicator of Celiac disease but my bloodwork was negative for it, which can happen. The hiatal hernia causes indigestion because of the pushing upward of my stomach that causes acids from food to come back up so I have to avoid spicy and acidic foods and take Pepcid AC twice daily. So yesterday I had my final confirmation that everything else is normal and the doctor believes I do have Celiac disease-so here I am left to figure out what I can and cannot eat until I meet with a nutritionist who will help me further.


So to sum it all up the idea of this blog is a place for me to document recipes and foods that I will be trying to see what works and tastes good. Obviously it would be a pain for me to have to cook two different dinners every night for both me and my husband so this journey will also include him!

The first night after my appointment I went through my cabinets and fridge and looked for things we already had that I could eat. To my surprise and delight, brown rice is gluten free! I thought for sure it would be made with wheat hence the brown color, but no-yay! This is great news as I am a HUGE pasta lover and brown rice is a great side that can be played up with veggies, cheese or beans. I chose to cook it up with some Aidell's all natural Italian style sausage we had in the fridge, which is also gluten free. This took less than 15 minutes and resulted in an easy, delicious dinner!

I should note that I should have DEFINITELY taken my Pepcid before this meal because the seasonings in the sausage gave me heartburn. But for others who are Celiac/gluten intolerant only this is a good and yummy option.


For those who have read this far, yay! Hopefully my research and experiments can influence others who need a gluten free diet. All I know is having a place to put all this info will be a great way to help me keep my   sanity so I remember what works best for me and my husband. Celiac disease IS genetic so hopefully when we have children none of them will have to deal with this but if they do, it's a good thing I'm getting all my knowledge in now. My next post will include my new grocery list which is in the works and hopefully a trip to Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, two grocery stores I don't have nearby that make eating gluten free a lot easier!