Every year there is an amazing event called the Gutsy Walk. The Gutsy Walk is your typical charity walk, pledges donate money and we walk a nice 5km walk. The Gutsy Walk focuses on Crohn's and Colitis, and obviously I just have to walk in this.
I'm actually really glad that there is a walk dedicated to these nasty diseases. I know when I first got sick a lot of my friends and family had no idea what colitis was and felt uncomfortable talking with me about it. It's a "yucky" disease and some people just feel uncomfortable talking about it. Regardless, we do deserve a walk.
So anyways, the first year I walked the Gutsy Walk I ended up walking by myself. I found out about the walk too late for any of my friends and family to make time to walk with me. I get it, it's early on a Sunday and some people like to sleep in and relax. Who in their right mind shows up at 10 in the morning to warm up for a 5km walk? Well my first year I did.
So before I talk about the walk I should just mention my horrible sense of direction. For those familiar with Hamilton you'll understand how crazy I am, for those not familiar with Hamilton, you're probably just as great as getting around as I was.
I had taken a bus down to the new MacNab terminal and figured I would just take the Bayfront bus to Bayfront Park. You'd think that the bus would go relatively close to the park, right?
Nope, it goes down to Pier 8. Pier 8 is a nice little place. It has William's Cafe, Scoops (best ice cream in the world), roller skate or ice skate rentals (depending on the season), a grill, boat tours, and some nice fishing spots. It's actually a great place to go and hang out with friends or for family fun. It's great except it is not Bayfront Park.
I knew enough about Hamilton that Bayfront Park is near Pier 4 and I asked someone for directions. Great idea if the person knew directions. They totally pointed me in the wrong direction and I ended up walking past the old Lakeport factory to some indoor skating area before I realized how lost I was.
So here I was freaking out. I knew the event started officially at 11 and it was already 10! I was going to be late if I didn't figure out where the hell I was going soon (and if you don't know me, I freak out about being punctual).
So finally I find a sign at a public park, the kind with the map of local parks in the area. I had a general direction of where I was going and where I should be going. FINALLY!
So after knowing where I had to go, I book it over to Bayfront Park. On the way I pass a few other events, such as the Juvenile Diabetes Walk, and a few others that I can't quite recall. I knew I was on the right track and I could see some red and white signs that belong to the Gutsy Walk. After all the chaos of my horrible directional skills I was there. I had made it to the Gutsy Walk in time to do the walk.
So when I got the the registration place I was shocked to see how the Gutsy Walk was laid out. It was a really nice set up. They had tents with snacks and drinks that you could eat before the walk or after, and after the walk they had pizza coming after. I was really impressed. I thought that we would just walk and stuff, that there would be some events after. But food? Woah man. That is just amazing. I was used to the Terry Fox Run (or walk with my cardio skills) and a Freezie at the end of the day.
So after a very pumped up warm up we began the walk. It was gorgeous out that day and the walk was along the Harbour Front Trail, so that was just a beautiful walk. It was actually a walk that my family and I had done for fun. We are very outdoorsy people. In fact, this walk was very relaxing and something I could see myself doing on a regular basis.
Anyways, while I was on the walk an older gentleman started talking to me. He was doing the Juvenile Diabetes Walk that I mentioned earlier and was curious about what walk I was doing. I told him about the Gutsy Walk and a bit about Crohn's and Colitis. It turns out that a friend of his son's was really sick with Crohn's. The man was really surprised that there was a walk for the disease that struck him so close to home. It was then I realized that a lot of people are afraid to talk about things that involve the grosser workings of the human body.
Anyways, I finished the walk in a relatively fast time. My dad had told me walking 5km would take a few hours to do. It took me about an hour to finish, and I'm a slow walker. After the walk I was drawn to a couple white food tents by the smell of delicious pizza. This was before I had discovered Pizza Pizza's gluten free delight and was used to Domino's bland options. I had asked if they had any gluten free but I guess a lot of other people there were gluten free as they had run out fairly quickly. No worries, I ate a bunch of bananas. Probably better considering the fact I walked back to the terminal after the walk.
Yeah, I must be a masochist. After my earlier mishap with directions and a 5km walk I decided it would be a good idea to walk about 3km to the terminal. Wow. This was definitely a leg day.
Monday, June 8, 2015
Friday, June 5, 2015
Gluten free? Is it actually good?
Let's start with my favourite gluten free go-to place, Burrito Boyz: Amazing gluten free corn tortillas, and the staff is well aware of what foods on the menu are gluten free. Great price for gluten free food and fresh tasting toppings. Another bonus; they can even do dairy free and vegan options! 11/10.
Pizza Pizza: Very nice topping selection. Decent tasting crust. A great feature when ordering online is when you select the gluten free crust all options that contain gluten disappear from their menu for that pizza alone. Not that bad of a price either. 9/10.
Domino's Pizza: I prefer their crust to Pizza Pizza's crust marginally. However, the toppings and sauce selections are very limited and not my favourite. The price is not worth the product in my mind. 4/10.
Kelsey's: I'm a huge Pesto Pasta fan. Good choice for gluten free and non-gluten free people. Their salad with the blood orange sauce and chicken is very good too. They have ice cream as their gluten free dessert, which I kinda can't eat. They also have steaks there for you gluten free red-meat eaters. I really do like this restaurant as a gluten free option. It's just a little too pricey for a casual dining place. 9/10
Red Rocket's: They said the honey garlic sauce is gluten free, and I hope it is. The non-breaded wings are decent, but my favourite part of their chicken wings when I was younger was the breading clumps covered in sauce. They have AMAZING potato wedges, so even if their sauces aren't gluten free you have those to look forward to. I'll give their wedges a 10/10 and the wings 7/10. Their salads? 4/10.
Spring Sushi: Don't even get me started. I love sushi. I'm a big fish lover and I love rice. And their eel? Mmmm <3 I'm not sure how much of their menu is gluten free. Just avoid soy sauce. I love it. It's beautiful in their. Beautiful decor, food, and overall atmosphere. This is by far my favourite place to eat. Oh did I mention all you can eat? Hell yeah! 100000/10!
Spring Rolls: They have good gluten free options. It's not my favourite sushi restaurant but I do like it and would eat there again. 7/10.
The Works: They have great gluten free options. Great red meat free options. I love the food there... except the gluten free bun. I find the gluten free bun a little spongy and eggy tasting. If you're very picky about the taste of the bun I recommend getting a bunless burger. Buns: -1/10. Everything else: 8/10.
South Pacific: Well I really don't like Chinese take out food. It's not bad or anything, we just sued to eat it at least once a week and I'm very sick of it. I like the fact they advertise no MSG. However, the only gluten free food is the pineapple rice and mixed veggies. 6/10.
Tim Horton's: Well, I just love your gluten free macaroons. That's really all I can eat there. The macaroon are pretty good though. Keep it up and maybe start including more options. 8/10 for the macaroons.
Dating the sick girl really must suck
So as mentioned earlier I have a very wonderful and supporting boyfriend. He understands how crappy (pun intended) have colitis can be. Usually it doesn't cause any problems. Sometimes my stomach really hurts and I'm not up for hanging out, but I usually manage me symptoms.
So what's the biggest, and pretty much only problem, with going out on dates? My damn food restrictions. Imagine a life without gluten, dairy, and red meat? Yes I can eat very small amounts of these foods, but I pay dearly for it.
The biggest challenge is finding a restaurant that I can eat at, that I like, and that he likes. Take out food also delivers problems too (another horrible pun, I'm sorry). Have you guys ever eaten gluten free food? If not I really don't recommend it and if so, I'm so sorry that you had to have eaten that stuff.
Don't get me wrong, rice is pretty good. So are veggies and stuff. But a lot of good food has gluten, and waaaaay too many sauces do. You know how gross sauce-less chicken wings are? Or gluten free pizza without sauce and cheese is? Gluten free spongy burger buns? Yeah, no thanks.
It also sucks trying to go to places that my boyfriend and his friends love. The guys all love this place called Burger Barn, and I'll give it to them, the burgers are great. Except now I can't eat burgers. And they don't have any salads I can eat there, so they improvise. The salads aren't bad either, I'm not knocking the place. It's just called Burger Barn, not Salad Saloon (kudos to Will for that lovely joke).
So anyways, it's pretty hard even finding a place to eat at. Some places do gluten free, like Kelsey's and Boston Pizza. Those are good places to eat at, and Kelsey's pesto pasta is the best gluten free dish I've eaten at all, but only eating a few dishes over and over again gets really boring. Kelsey's does have a lot of other options, but the whole dairy and red meat free takes those away from me.
There are other places that do gluten free, like my favourite burrito place Burrito Boyz. I ate there before I was gluten free and gladly switched to their gluten free options, and the prices are pretty cheap. It just really sucks because pretty much that's our go-to place to eat.
So anyways, once a place is found then comes the lovely part of paying the bill. You know how expensive gluten free specialty items are? Holy crap, I should be getting freakin' lobster for that price.
Sometimes I do cheat on my diet, but it's not worth it anymore. My body is finally used to avoiding my trigger foods and then bam, I decide to eat a normal pizza. That pretty much puts an end to date night early and even takes me down for the next day or two. Nothing more romantic than horrible stomach pains, gas, nausea, and bloody waste.
Even something as simple as going to the movies presents a problem. First of all, I'm supposed to be caffeine free (my Starbucks and Monster cravings really kill me) so picking a pop to drink is hard. I meant I always hated Coke and Pepsi so that's not too bad. Canada Dry, Crush, and Mug are caffeine free so that's not too bad as long as the place carries those drinks. But popcorn? Butter makes me sick, the fake butter makes me feel like I'll puke, and overly salted popcorn will make me feel sick the next day. Oh yeah, did I mention heavily salted foods will make me sick? Bye bye potato chips and salted nuts. Not worth the nausea. Like wtf body? I just want to eat junk food that isn't soy milk ice cream.
It's okay though, I'll eat Skittles. Gluten free and trigger food free. And the Tropical Skittles are amazing. None of my friends agree with me so I don't have to share.
Also, Maynard's candy is trigger food free, but I worked at a candy factory that handled their brand. I've seen enough candy to last me a lifetime. I swear I gained weight just by smelling the candy. Want to stop eating your favourite junk foods? Work at the factory that produces them. You won't want to eat the junk food ever again.
Anyways, once we're on a date it's perfectly romantic. After all those stupid troubles I'm a normal teenage girl on a date. No worries, I won't get sick on the date as long as I don't cheat on my diet. I even offer to pay for my half of the meal, not that my boyfriend lets me unless it's my turn to pay (every other date I pay, I'm not the type of girl that expects my boyfriend to pay for every date).
The best part about the date? I won't get you sick since colitis isn't contagious.
So what's the biggest, and pretty much only problem, with going out on dates? My damn food restrictions. Imagine a life without gluten, dairy, and red meat? Yes I can eat very small amounts of these foods, but I pay dearly for it.
The biggest challenge is finding a restaurant that I can eat at, that I like, and that he likes. Take out food also delivers problems too (another horrible pun, I'm sorry). Have you guys ever eaten gluten free food? If not I really don't recommend it and if so, I'm so sorry that you had to have eaten that stuff.
Don't get me wrong, rice is pretty good. So are veggies and stuff. But a lot of good food has gluten, and waaaaay too many sauces do. You know how gross sauce-less chicken wings are? Or gluten free pizza without sauce and cheese is? Gluten free spongy burger buns? Yeah, no thanks.
It also sucks trying to go to places that my boyfriend and his friends love. The guys all love this place called Burger Barn, and I'll give it to them, the burgers are great. Except now I can't eat burgers. And they don't have any salads I can eat there, so they improvise. The salads aren't bad either, I'm not knocking the place. It's just called Burger Barn, not Salad Saloon (kudos to Will for that lovely joke).
So anyways, it's pretty hard even finding a place to eat at. Some places do gluten free, like Kelsey's and Boston Pizza. Those are good places to eat at, and Kelsey's pesto pasta is the best gluten free dish I've eaten at all, but only eating a few dishes over and over again gets really boring. Kelsey's does have a lot of other options, but the whole dairy and red meat free takes those away from me.
There are other places that do gluten free, like my favourite burrito place Burrito Boyz. I ate there before I was gluten free and gladly switched to their gluten free options, and the prices are pretty cheap. It just really sucks because pretty much that's our go-to place to eat.
So anyways, once a place is found then comes the lovely part of paying the bill. You know how expensive gluten free specialty items are? Holy crap, I should be getting freakin' lobster for that price.
Sometimes I do cheat on my diet, but it's not worth it anymore. My body is finally used to avoiding my trigger foods and then bam, I decide to eat a normal pizza. That pretty much puts an end to date night early and even takes me down for the next day or two. Nothing more romantic than horrible stomach pains, gas, nausea, and bloody waste.
Even something as simple as going to the movies presents a problem. First of all, I'm supposed to be caffeine free (my Starbucks and Monster cravings really kill me) so picking a pop to drink is hard. I meant I always hated Coke and Pepsi so that's not too bad. Canada Dry, Crush, and Mug are caffeine free so that's not too bad as long as the place carries those drinks. But popcorn? Butter makes me sick, the fake butter makes me feel like I'll puke, and overly salted popcorn will make me feel sick the next day. Oh yeah, did I mention heavily salted foods will make me sick? Bye bye potato chips and salted nuts. Not worth the nausea. Like wtf body? I just want to eat junk food that isn't soy milk ice cream.
It's okay though, I'll eat Skittles. Gluten free and trigger food free. And the Tropical Skittles are amazing. None of my friends agree with me so I don't have to share.
Also, Maynard's candy is trigger food free, but I worked at a candy factory that handled their brand. I've seen enough candy to last me a lifetime. I swear I gained weight just by smelling the candy. Want to stop eating your favourite junk foods? Work at the factory that produces them. You won't want to eat the junk food ever again.
Anyways, once we're on a date it's perfectly romantic. After all those stupid troubles I'm a normal teenage girl on a date. No worries, I won't get sick on the date as long as I don't cheat on my diet. I even offer to pay for my half of the meal, not that my boyfriend lets me unless it's my turn to pay (every other date I pay, I'm not the type of girl that expects my boyfriend to pay for every date).
The best part about the date? I won't get you sick since colitis isn't contagious.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)