[gooldenwending]

Yes, I'm living in China and am fairly certain that I have celiac disease and was looking for some help or suggestions about how to go about remaining gluten-free here. Growing up both my mother and brother had celiac disease and so I'm fairly familiar with the symptoms, restrictions, etc. The main problem is the language barrier--I can say things like wheat, rye, oats, barley, soy sauce, etc. without hitch, but when we get into the more subtle variations of the way that gluten can be contained in food I have no idea (I don't know how to say gluten itself either). So, is there anyone out there who has a list of foods with gluten in Chinese (preferably with both characters and pinyin pronunciation, but I would live with just one of either)? Does anyone know how to say Celiac in Chinese??? (wishing on a prayer here, I know)

Also, I'm not certain that I can find a soy sauce without wheat in it, although I'm going to make the attempt. If anyone knows of one that you can readily get in China let me know. Also, if I were to find said non-wheat soysauce, can I safely have things cooked in a wok that has had soysauce containing wheat cooked in it? What if you only wash the wok with water (I don't know of anyone here who uses soap on their woks)?

I suppose it's possible that I only eat at home here, but the restrictions would become impossible whenever I attempted to travel anywhere.

Thanks in advance for any help you might provide.

gooldenwending

[travelthomas]

The word celiac comes from the Latin word coeliacus meaning gut or abominal cavity.

Living in Thailand, India and Mexico I have found that it is way to hard to try and explain the disease, so I end up doing most all my own cooking. In Thailand I did really good with eating out, but in India I got sick quite often. I would have done much better in India if it was not for an insensitive girlfriend, because I had a backing stove that I could have cooked all my meals with. I left her in India and she seemed really suprised when I didn't come back! Some people...

[Sinophile]

Its been six months since you posted your issue, Gooldenwending but I hope that you are still here in China doing well, feeling healthy and enjoying yourself.
I have been living in China for 3 years now so have a little experience. Although I have only been gluten free for six months, I have been speaking Chinese for a few years. I have a few things that I have learnt about staying gluten free here and would be happy to share them, and hear from you what you have learnt. I will wait for a confirmatory posting from you. I wouldn't like to use up my precious kilojoules/calories typing stuff up if you are no longer in China!
Regards, Sinophile.

[sfortney]

Sinophile,

Hopefully I will be travelling to China within the next year, can you offer any suggestions for me as far as eating out gluten free?

[stef_the_kicking_cuty]

Hello Sinophile,

I have a question. Do you know of any asians, who have celiac disease? Due to trouble with an ex-friend of mine, that is from India, I would like to know. Because she is asian, her doctor said to her, she can't have celiac disease.

Hugs, Stef

[happycc]

I am of Chinese descent and my blood test came back positive for celiac disease. My children also have celiac due to their symptoms. Will be getting them tested. They are mixed however. My husband does not have symptoms so most likely it is from me. My mom and dad and siblings all have gastrointestinal problems. My mom has diabetes and joint pains and my dad has thyroid problems. I have IgA Nephropathy an auto immune kidney disease.
My son has autism like behaviors and history of seizures and severe gastroproblems he is Chinese, black, white and native american. My daughters who are Chinese and Caucasian just have minor gastroproblems.
This is a miserable disease and a miserable diet and to get your Chinese family to understand is even harder. It took over 10 years to convince doctors and we were on a gluten-free diet for two years and I was in good health. Then we went off diet due to me going back to work and school and husband didn't understand. That is when I got the blood test as positive and finally it is being recognized. Very frustrating.
Carolyn

[Shweta]

It is absolutely unreal for anyone to say that Asians cannot get celiac disease. I am an Indian, always lived in India and ate India food. And yet 2 years earlier (2003) I was diagnosed with celiac disease. However, my problem was not correctly detected untill after I came to the US. I agree with happycc, that is not easy to make your family and friends understand. But fortunately, it did not take long for my family.

Sinophile, I would appreciate that advice you were about to give to goldenwending. I am moving to Hong Kong in August this year. Was just there infact. And I was disappointed to see that gluten-free foods are very very rare in Hong Kong. I had a really tough time explaning my situation, and just having them make food without soy sauce in restaurants. I just love to eat. So it is even more important for me to know about gluten-free foods. Please help!

Shweta

[Jennifer W]

I'm soooo happy to see discussion about travel to China.

This is the first time I've posted on this group. I've searched the topic files and have gotten a sense of the discussions that have occurred around travel to China. In the spring, my husband and I will travel to China. I'm looking for suggestions about how to make it without eating gluten. It's been suggested to take a translated card about celiac disease. There's one in the back of Jax Peters Lowell's book Against The Grain. I'm hoping to find a list of ingredients that has been translated. Common and hidden ingredients would be great. Any additional advice is welcome.

Jennifer W

[glen4cindy]

This is a great find for me. I have not been active here in awhile, been so busy doing ohter things..................

My wife and I are in what we hope are the final weeks waiting for what is called a referral from an orphanage in China. We are going to adopt a baby girl from there, and will be traveling, most likely around the beginning of December.

I am doing everything I can to maintain a gluten-free diet, although, some gluten makes it's way into my diet every once in awhile. Case in point, my wife purchased some Chicken Salad from either Schnucks or Sams. I ate it 2x in 2 days, and then, the symptoms hit me like a ton of bricks! I decided to check the label, and found that it contained bread crumbs!!! I normally don't check things that my wife gives me because she has become very well informed as to what is safe and what is not. She just overlooked that one.

I need some serious help to avoid problems in China. Most likely place we will be spending much time is in Guangzhou at the White Swan. We will be flying into Beijing. Any help would be appreciated.

[Merika]

glen4cindy, on Aug 21 2005, 07:17 PM, said:

my wife purchased some Chicken Salad from either Schnucks or Sams.  I ate it 2x in 2 days, and

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Schnucks! You must be in St. Louis! Where can I safely eat gluten-free there? My BIL and family live there (and I did too for 6 years...pre-gluten-free). Sorry, no help about China.

Merika

[kristi]

Jennifer W, on Jul 17 2005, 11:25 AM, said:

I'm soooo happy to see discussion about travel to China.

This is the first time I've posted on this group. I've searched the topic files and have gotten a sense of the discussions that have occurred around travel to China. In the spring, my husband and I will travel to China. I'm looking for suggestions about how to make it without eating gluten. It's been suggested to take a translated card about celiac disease. There's one in the back of Jax Peters Lowell's book Against The Grain. I'm hoping to find a list of ingredients that has been translated. Common and hidden ingredients would be great. Any additional advice is welcome.

Jennifer W

[kristi]

Oops, don't know what happened to my last posting. Since my last post, I went to China for a mainland China for a month and returned. I found it a challenging place at least for a short trip. I was stuck with a tour group and preset menus so that was most of the battle right there...of fried, breaded, sauce thickened, cc stir fries, soy marinated meats and noodle options. It was hard for my guide to understand the cc issues. I ordered a lot of plain steamed rice (avoided stir-fries because of cc), hard boiled eggs and drank Sprite at meals. Towards the end of the trip was able to ordered steamed veggies, but too much fiber gets me too. I was really glad I packed some egg white protein powder I bought from home at a health store and packed added snacks for plane journeys. I read that the MSG made in most of Asia is wheat based as is the soy sauce. I still had a wonderful trip and saw amazing things. Other words of advice would be to pack (if you have the room) a Therma-rest style backpacking foam mattress (half size). They pack pretty small and I was the envy of my tour group on our deluxe hotel rock hard mattresses. I slept when other could not. I'm sure they just take a while to get used to. I also discovered that one can Seal-a-Meal adult disposable diapers down to a more convenient and packable size that is handy for traveling. It is a safety blanket for me now that I'm back out traveling since my illness hit. The world is too amazing to stay home.
Kristi

[Mitsy]

My husband and I are moving to China next week (Ningbo) so I recently purchased the "Triumph Dining Cards" (Triumphdining.com). They are suppose to be in mandarin and describe the types of chinese food that you can and cannot have, specific to the culture. I haven't gotten them yet, but will post when they arrive. They may be helpful for you.

[janetw]

Hi Mitsy, try this group: http://health.groups...food_allergies/ They are in Shanghai but might be able to help you out. Janet