Expectations: The Good, The Bad and the Worst

As I'm learning to navigate my life with chronic migraines, I've realized that it's really hard to talk about what you're going through without people having the expectation that I just want sympathy. It's actually the opposite. I don't want sympathy, and I definitely don't expect anyone to take care of me. What so many migraineurs want to hear is that someone is there for them. Not that they're sorry, not "oh wow your life must be so hard." I appreciate people who recognize my struggle but understand that I am a person too, who just so happens to have a chronic illness. To me, it is more important to have someone realize that my migraines are a part of who I am, but they don't define me. I have amazing friends who I can talk to and they support me, whether they can relate to my problems or not. With my friends, I'll be very open about the fact that I didn't sleep, or make jokes about how I'm a human barometer, but to others it is very difficult for me to feel like I can explain what I go through without feeling like I'm burdening them.

Gluten-Free Thanksgiving

Ah! It's been so long since I last posted, and I am so sorry that I've been MIA! School and a capella have been taking over my life and it's left very little time to blog. It's almost time for finals so this will probably be my last post for a little while until I'm back home for winter break.

I thought I'd talk a little bit about my first gluten-free Thanksgiving and the how it was. I am in no way endorsing the products that I'm going to talk about, this is just what I've found to be the best for me! I was with my family, and Thanksgiving was 5 days full of family and food. I was a little bit worried that I was going to struggle to find things to eat, but we ended up going to my savior and holy grail,Whole Foods, which has some of the best gluten-free items I've ever had before. I started off by grabbing my favorite brand of gluten-free bread, Canyon Bakehouse, which is the most bread-like gluten free bread on the market in my opinion. That loaf of bread got me through numerous lunches where otherwise I would have just been eating deli meats by themselves. I also grabbed Udi's double vanilla muffins, which we also get at my college.  I also love the double chocolate muffins too! These were my breakfast for the week, which was wonderful because they taste like regular muffins and not like cardboard.

Moving onto the actual Thanksgiving feast, my wonderful mother found gluten-free cornbread and proceeded to make an amazing stuffing out of it with lots of veggies. When I brought back leftovers for my friends at college, they gave it their stamp of approval.
Our turkey and cranberry sauce (a recipe that has been passed down through my family) were both gluten free and staples in any thanksgiving meal. It wouldn't have been a true thanksgiving without sweet potatoes with marshmallows, so of course I loaded up my plate with that.
Walking into Whole Foods last Tuesday, I was worried that I would not get dessert because there wouldn't be any gluten free pies or cakes. I was very wrong, and I strongly encourage everyone to try the Maine Pie Company's pies. We got both pecan and pumpkin pie, which turned out to be amazing.
What everyone in my family failed to realize was that these pies were not pre-baked, so when dessert rolled around, I was surprised to find soupy pies in the wrapping! With some quick thinking, many of my family members stepped in and helped me to bake the pies so that I would be able to eat dessert within an hour! I then proceeded to eat half of the pumpkin pie by myself for the next day and a half.

I also tried local gluten free bagels from a bakery in New Hampshire, which given how most gluten free bagels taste like cardboard, I had very low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised that these tasted more like regular bagels and that I could finally have my bagels and lox that I had been craving since I went gluten-free.

All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving, filled with family, friends and food. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of all of products that we used but that will be a task for next year's Thanksgiving. Did you have a favorite gluten free food or recipe that you want to share? Comment below or share! I hope everyone had a lovely, migraine-free Thanksgiving vacation, and that you all have a lovely couple of weeks. Good luck to everyone who has finals!