14 replies to this topic

[faithladene]

My fiance has, recently, been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Somehow, he thinks quiting beer, won't make a difference. He has quit all dietary gluten, but, the beer, is most addictive.

Is there anyone, out there, with a suggestion how they have stopped drinking beer. He can drink wine and tequila, rum and potato vodka, but, it is the beer craving he can't get passed.

I thought, perhaps, if, he had a buddy that would understand, it might make a difference. He is 54 years old, and an Operating Room Assisting Nurse having to retire on disability.

Thank you,
Faith Tisdale

[DLayman]

Well if my two year old gets diagnosed.. and gets it from me.. I know where that came from .. my father.. and if my father is diagnosed we will have to get those two together!!!!!! well let's see.. there is a brewery in Suffren NY that has a gluten free brew.. http://www.ramapovalleybrewery.com/ but as for the rest. It is barley malt beverage! so no luck not even with Sapporo!!!

Heheh he could start a microbrewery for us all! I think he can drink mead! It is honey based.. but again home made would be best.. see he can have a new hobby!
Fortunatly my father lives near that brewery..heheh they used to sneak up there when they were young to beat the drinking age in NJ heheh

Good luck hope this helps!!!

Denise

[wclemens]

Denise, you have opened my eyes! My daddy died ten years ago January 21st of colon cancer, and I've always felt that my celiac came from him. He drank lots of beer ever since I can remember, then progressed to whiskey (both are made from grain I believe) until he was able to quit, about the last 8 years of his life. Reading your post here convinces me that our celiac disease is a gift from him--I've always thought beer was horrible. Welda

[dclark519]

Hi I've been diagnosed 6 wks. now with celiac, and I liked beer more than most people, I gave it up completely and have had a few screwdrivers instead, smirnoff vodka and tropicana. I have an appt. with dietician soon, so will find out if it's ok! From my understanding, by including beer in the diet, you are doing as much damage as the gluten food. My mom and sister also died of cancer within the past 4 years, and learning that celiac is hereditary, am sure they both had it. They had terrible digestive/ arthritis symptoms. Thank God we've all found doctors that know what they're doing! Take care and good luck!

[kvogt]

Pre-celiac disease I was a beer afficianado. I traveled to Europe 8 times to drink sophisicated, craft beers from England, Wales, Scotland, Germany, France and Belgium. I felt like my heart was cut out when I had to give it up, and I still lament the loss. BUT - there are alternatives for the highly developed palatte in the form of imported cider, perry and mead. Talk to your local publican about adding these to their menu. Now that my gut works properly, I find it very easy to drink too much, so I recommend caution to all.

[beauvillier]

There is a gluten free beer[4.7%alc./vol.] made in Québec Canada.I drink it and i am very sensitive to gluten.It is approved by Québec celiac foundation.This is a rice and buckwheat beer,and it has a real good taste.Its name is`"LA Messagère".Here is what they say on the bottle sticker:
La Messagère announces the arrival of an ALE-type beer.Her mission is to spread the good news which will appeal to lovers of GLUTEN-FREE products.
La Messagère is a limpid and crystalline pale ale .Its fine bubbles give it a delicate effervescence and a lacy froth.To the nose,a bouquet of honey gently calls to mind a touch of citrus fruits.And the subtle aroma of hops is revealed ever so delicately.
For informations:
Les bières de la Nouvelle-France Inc.
Auberge Le Baluchon.
Saint-Paulin [Québec]
Canada J0K 3G0

Tel: [819]268-5500 or 1-800-789-5968

www.baluchon.com/bnf or www.baluchon.com

[smack]

beauvillier!

I have also tried that beer while in Quebec vacationing! I also enjoyed it, however it is not quite like normal beer, perhaps it is the citrus...

I'm not sure how you can convince your husband to stop drinking beer, I stopped because I'm pretty sensitive and felt terrible after beer or contaminated foods, so the choice was eay for me, be bloated and in pain for a week or feel just fine. Perhaps he really needs to assess the risks of prolonged ingestion of gluten, which we won't get into but we all know what they are.

It's hard to give advice on this, we all have our vices pizza is mine, it is what I miss the most and beer is a very close second. I know that once every so often (like once every few years) I will bear the bloating and discomfort for a slice of pizza, mind you only one slice...others would not do this, but I have to for my sanity...anyone else out there feel this way?

[angel_jd1]

I know that once every so often (like once every few years) I will bear the bloating and discomfort for a slice of pizza, mind you only one slice...others would not do this, but I have to for my sanity...anyone else out there feel this way?

Personally I work too hard at this lifestyle to ruin it with cheating. It isn't worth being sick. It isn't worth getting cancer, infertility, lupus, seizures, diabetes or any of the other ugly things that you can get by cheating!! It isn't even worth the simple bout of diarrhea or a headache. You can prevent those things by just NOT doing it!!
Why why why punnish your body in that manner? Makes no sense to me. I guess to each their own. I know I have spent too much of my life sick and I don't care to go back. I am feeling too good now and loving life again.

-Jessica

[smack]

Geez Louise, it's not like I'm taking a cyanide tablet! I'm not advocating cheating on a daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly basis, I've been gluten free for over 2 years, one day last month I said, I know it's bad, I know I shouldn't but I'm going to eat that slice of pizza. I'm sure it'll happen to most people in their life time. I remeber how sick I was and how bad I felt, and I would never go back to that or a glutenous diet, but I am human.

As I stated I'm not advocating cheating on a regualr basis, but I hardly think that a few slices of pizza in a lifetime is going to cause cancer, maybe a slice every week or month. I'm far more likely to get cancer from the air I breath in this smoggy city I live in or through sun exposure - with sunblock, than I am from a few slices of pizza over the next 60 years. This is my only vice, I haven't touched food or drink containing gluten since I went gluten-free, I'm not much a fan of sweets anyway.

I agree that we all have to be vigilant and watch what is in our food, but I think it's also important to recognize that we're all human and bound to slip up or cave at some point in life on a very restrictive diet.

[celiacfreeman]

amtel light is gluten-free according to european standards
see post under product/med in this board for replay from amstel
I had 3 last night and they were so good. I have silent sprue, so I wouldn't react
but anothter ceiliac said no reactions accure. see board under product/med and then beer. I think I will drink for a year and then when they check me for absorbtion I'll know for the rest of my life wether i can handle this beer.

[pturse]

Hi all, I recently read somewhere on one of these message boards about Amstel beer possibly being gluten free . . . so I decided to email the company. This was their response. I'd like some thoughts on the letter . . .

Dear P:

Thank you for your recent email message. Heineken USA has been informed by
our parent company, Heineken NV, that our beer does not contain wheat; or
other grain adjuncts. Our recipe contains only barley, hops, yeast and
water. Although barley has a source of gluten, the gluten content of our
products is lower than the gluten free level. Consequently, Heineken beer
could be considered gluten free.

Thank you for your interest in Heineken USA.

Kind Regards,

Kristen
Heineken USA


The customer wrote:


To: amstel@qualitycustomercare.com
cc:
Date: 5/18/04 4:11:03 PM


Message sent from amstellight.com by P.

I have Celiac Disease which is an intolerance to Gluten which is in wheat,
malt, rye etc. I read on a random website that one of you beers might be
Gluten
free according to European standards. Is this true? It would have to
contain no
malt, barely or wheat. I sincerely hope this rumor is true!

Thank you for your time,
P

[pturse]

Just adding to my previous post . . . I went to the Heineken website to research and they said they use "malted barely" and I thought, "that contradicts what the woman emailed me" so I researched further and this is how they "get rid of" the malt in the malted barely:

Can you tell me more about how beer is made?
Brewing beer is a 100% natural process. To guarantee a consistently high quality, a thorough knowledge of the brewing process is essential. Heineken beer is brewed using solely malted barley, water, hops and yeast. The malted barley is ground, mixed with water and then heated. Step by step, the temperature increases so that the starch in the malted barley is converted into sugars. Later on, during fermentation, most of these sugars are converted into alcohol and carbon dioxide. After the solids have been filtered out, the result is 'wort', which is then brought to a boil. During that boiling process the brewers add the hops. Hop, a plant of which only the flower is used, gives the beer its characteristic bitter taste and improves its lifespan. After the wort has been boiled, the next step is fermentation. First, the wort has to be cooled down to 8 degrees Celsius. Yeast is added to the wort and the process of converting the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide can begin. That takes place in special fermentation tanks, where the beer remains for seven to ten days. The result is 'young beer' that – cooled down to freezing point – is pumped into storage cellars for post-fermentation. One of the goals of this storage is to improve the beer's taste and clarity and give it better keeping properties. Once storage is completed, the remaining step is filtration, after which a superb-tasting, bright and clear beer is filled into bottles, can or kegs.

[zippyten]

Hi Beer Lovers (former and current),
As I understand it, the process of making beer, which is by fermentation, is what makes it not gluten-free. The process of making other alcohol, whether it be whisky, vodka, bourbon and mostly made from gluten-containing grains, is by distillation, which is for all intents and purposes, gluten-free. That's because most experts on celiac are now coming to agree that the process of distillation does not allow any molecules of gluten into the finished product. They are simply too big. The Canada celiac associations have had all liquors on their safe list for some time now and I hear the US will soon follow suit. This is what I've found in my research. I can understand why some people want to be especially safe, but for those people with celiac who've had some hard alcohol with no ill effects, it does seem to be pretty risk-free.

I'd still be wary of any beer, though, since the fermented barley (what gives beer its distinctive flavor) actually sits in the beer until the liquid is strained, cleaned, pasteurized (or whatever they do to make it sanitary) and bottled.

I, too, was very fond of all kinds of ales and microbrewery-type beer (can't say I could ever miss Budweiser or Heinekin!) and it was very, very hard to give that up, along with pizza and bagels. But I've been drinking the Ramapo Valley Honey Lager (I"m very fortunate in that there's a gourmet beer store in my neighborhood that carries it) and have really grown accustomed to the slightly sweeter flavor and enjoy having one a few times a week, as I'm not a big wine drinker.

And don't forget about a Margarita which, if made correctly (real tequila and not that junky mix) have no gluten history and should be completely gluten-free. Not the same as a nice cold beer, but in the summer is a pretty good treat.
Ellen

[celiacfreeman]

The Rampa Vally taste like cider and beer mixes and 60.00 a case when
I purchases May 1 2004. Which didn't make since, says in april it was 45.00
with shipping.

I've been drinking both the Amstel and the Rampa valley. There really
no comparision the amstel wins every time. Now that I've read more info
on the Amstel I think I will drink it solely.