It is so nice to eat bread again. All of my father’s family consider bread to be its own food group, so it was a big loss not to be able to properly participate in the breakfast ritual of tearing off a steaming, crusty piece of baguette at my grandparents’ house each morning when we visited.
So why can I now get down with all this gluten? Honestly, I don’t really know. For ~2 years, I was plagued with near debilitating- and wholly unpleasant- gastrointestinal distress every single day. My doctor diagnosed me with collagenous colitis, which is a chronic condition that I would have the rest of my life. My working theory is that all of the healthy bacteria was completely destroyed when I was on powerful antibiotics back when I got sick, so I was loathe to try the steroids my doctor was recommending for treatment. Instead, I tried healing my body through food: eating a diet low in FODMAPS, drinking only smoothies, and finally going gluten-free one (very long) year.
Then this past May, during the finals period of my last semester of grad school, I finally made an appointment with a nutritionist to see if she had any new ideas. She immediately instructed me to nix alcohol for two weeks, eat only cooked, low-fiber foods such as carrots, zucchini, and baby spinach, and replace white grains with whole. No salads, no dried fruit. It was as if everything I’d known about “healthy” food was suddenly determined to be unhealthy for me. The strange thing is, though, the very next day, my symptoms were gone. And they’ve stayed gone, even as I’ve reintroduced almost all of the foods I eliminated (with the exception of chia)- including gluten. I think some part of my illness must have been psychological to allow for such a quick turnaround. Still, my GI doctor told me a little while later that the colitis is still present, I just seem to be in remission. Whatever it is, I am so happy. I’ve been able to enjoy all the foods I love, and haven’t felt limited by my diet. I’m also pretty sure I don’t have to worry about my symptoms returning before the wedding, which was a huge fear of mine. Who wants to deal with that while wearing a big dress?!
So now that I can eat all the bread I want, I jumped on the chance to sample the vegan varieties Ozery Bakery is producing out of Canada. The family-owned company makes a variety of whole grain breads, from sandwich thin “One Buns” to scone-like “Morning Rounds.” The Morning Rounds are my personal favorite, because they come in delicious flavors like Muesli, Date + Chia, Apple Cinnamon, and Cranberry Orange. They’re just sweet enough, and a perfect supplement to breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They also come in a cute “snacking” size. I will warn you, though: they’re really addictive!
One Buns with a smoked salmon scramble (one of my favorite meals lately!):
Apple cinnamon Morning Rounds with a Mediterranean-inspired egg scramble:
A One Bun mezze plate:
They’re great for road trip snacking, too: no mess!
When I was still studying for my licensing exam- still can’t believe that’s over, oof- I’d bring some of the snacking rounds to the coffee shop with me as a study snack. They make great portable bites, because they don’t need to be refrigerated and don’t make a lot of noise when you’re eating them. (My friend Hannah and I once thought it was a good idea to bring baby carrots to the movie theater… we learned our lesson.)
You can purchase Ozery Bakery’s products online here, or see where they’re sold in stores near you. We have a bunch in our freezer, and they’ve been so convenient for the chaotic summer we’ve had.
What’s your favorite kind of bread? I’m making myself hungry… it’s snack time!
