i-geek

fair enough. She's also Catholic, but I realize there's not really any unity in the Catholic church.

There is unity of teaching, and transubstantiation is a non-negotiable. Unfortunately, there is often bad catechesis and it sounds as if your friend is the result. Catholics should not believe that the Eucharist is symbolic.

have her talk to the priest. Taking the wine is considered the same as the host. If her church doesn't have wine every week for everyone, maybe she can arrange something with the priest ( a little paper cup of wine).

This makes me mad, too. Jesus was poor and probably ate bread made of other grains most of the time. But the Pope doesn't take my calls so I just take the wine.

Yes, this. I'm very blessed in that my home parish offers wine to everyone, so it's not been a big issue. But if her parish doesn't normally offer wine, she needs to talk to her priest. I've found that in most cases, they are helpful because their job is to ensure that the faithful receive the sacraments. I'm a music minister so I explained to my pastor why I would only receive the wine at Masses (in case some nosy-body made a big deal about it) and he even offered to look into the low-gluten hosts on my behalf. I've been receiving just the wine for the past year now and it hasn't been a big deal at all.

Now that I think about it, my celiac friend belongs to a small parish where there are a couple of other celiac and wheat-allergic parishoners. Their pastor arranged for them to have their own special small chalice of wine at one Mass each Sunday. Another poster here bought a pyx (small metal box in which to carry consecrated hosts) in which she places a low-gluten host and then gives it to the priest, who consecrates it with the other bread and then gives her the entire pyx at communion.

Try laying off of all alcohol until you've healed somewhat. It made my stomach burn for the first month or so after I went gluten-free. I don't have problems with it now (officially 1 year gluten-free today!). Ditto for onions and things like peppers and broccoli- notoriously hard-to-digest veggies. This is such a hard time of year to go gluten-free, but it will be so worth it once your gut heals. It does get easier and so much better, I promise.

Could you take a big fruit salad to your work potluck? If you bake, how about gluten-free cookies? I found in my holiday baking this year that a mix of 1 part each sorghum flour, millet flour, potato starch and arrowroot starch with 3/4 tsp xanthan gum per cup of flour mix worked beautifully as a substitute for gluten flour in my old favorite standard cookie recipes. In fact, the only cookies that crumbled were the ones that I made with a store-bought flour mix. I took big gluten-free cookie and candy trays to family parties and all the gluten-eaters were quite happy.

I think the only food gifts I received were a holiday lunch from my boss (at a restaurant where I could get a safe fish and rice meal- he was kind enough to ask before making the reservations for our group) and a fancy box of Penzey's baking spices from my sister- and brother-in-law. Oh, and a bottle of wine in a gift exchange. My parents and in-laws cooked dinners for us, but they were both very careful and kept the meals simple on purpose (and they apparently did well since I didn't get sick).

I admit to giving (gluten-free) goodies as gifts this year. Family and co-workers got homemade candy boxes from us- although I specifically only gave candy to people who I know would like to receive it. It's tricky to give it to acquaintances since I don't always know dietary habits. And on that note, I like the idea of regifting sealed packages of candy. I'll have to remember that in future if it comes up.

I survived! My in-laws roasted a safe ham and served it with spinach salad (homemade dressing, all safe ingredients), mashed sweet potatoes and homemade cranberry-walnut sauce. I brought food from home for breakfast and lunch, and the extended family dinner main dish was gluten-free homemade sloppy joe meat with either buns or corn chips. Couldn't eat all of the sides, but there were a couple of bean-veggie salads and a fruit-jello dish that I could eat safely. I ate my own cookies and candies for dessert both nights (as did many gluten-eaters, and they all raved). Yay!

So great to hear others' success stories, too. Here's to a happy, gluten-free new year.