Monklady123

Thank you both, I think I probably learned my lesson. I have been so extra careful since my diagnoses and it's as if I lost my brain this morning. I feel like I'm starting from scratch again, I had been gluten free and now I'm not. Grrr!

 

Lol about "lost my brain". Yes, sadly I bet we've all done that.  I remember the day I ate four or five
Newman's "oreo" cookies. "Wheat free" it said on the package. um yeah,
wheat free but not gluten free (barley malt was in them). sigh. Then
there was the rice from the Mediterranean place nearby where we often
get take-out. Yep, cooked in broth that had wheat in it.  And I'm sure
there are a few more that I'm not remembering. I've probably blocked
them out so as not to embarrass myself.

 

Yes, it does become habit to read every label. But there's a learning curve, and I still fall off of it sometimes.

 

Hope you feel better.

I've been gluten free for three weeks now and i'm having the hardest time finding gluten free food in a grocery store that mostly sales gluten products. 

It really isn't that hard unless you're trying to depend on processed packaged stuff. These are all gluten free: meat, vegetables, fruit, potatoes, rice, beans, legumes, cheese, eggs, yogurt (read the label of course...ones with fiber may not be gluten free), other grains (quinoa, for example), chocolate (an important food group   ). You can make an awful lot of meals with any combination of those things.

 

Then, of the already-packaged but not specialty gluten free things, several come to my mind immediately: many Progresso soups, those ready-to-eat Hormel stews, many canned beans, canned vegetables, tuna, other canned meats (salmon, etc.), lunch meat, peanut butter, jelly...

 

Throw in a loaf of gluten free Udi's bread (most mainline grocery stores have this in their frozen section) and that should get you meals for awhile.

There are gluten free alternatives.  I have had a conversation with my pastor when I was first diagnosed. He said he could get me an alternative from the regular bread, and I don't think they would offer that as an option if it wasn't 'valid'.  Unfortunately, my problem is I still don't feel safe having communion at my church as there always seems to be bread crumbs floating in the communion 'wine'  (I say wine, we have diluted blackcurrant juice).   So I don't feel safe having it at all and it has effected my going to church altogether at present.

 

If you managed to get a gluten free one at your church, how would you keep it from contamination?

We do gluten free at my church, because we (Presbyterian USA) don't believe that it must contain wheat to be "valid". We do communion in one of two ways. Either on trays passed up and down the aisles, bread already cut. For that we use all gluten-free -- either Udi's or Rudi's, because these are the two that are palatable for everyone else. lol. -- Sometimes we do it by intinction which means coming up to the front where the elders are holding a large chunk of bread, and everyone rips off a piece and dips it in the juice. So for that we have some gluten free wafers on a separate dish and a small cup for dipping since there will be crumbs in the larger cups. Either I or the pastor will hold the dish of wafers and the gluten-free cup.

 

When I do services myself, mostly at a local nursing home, we do it the trays way, obviously (since it wouldn't be practical to have a bunch of elderly people trying to come up front). The bread goes around, then the juice in little cups. I just don't take the bread, but have only the cup. It doesn't bother me to do it that way.

 

I often wish they wouldn't bother with the gluten-free bread on tray day because it's so expensive. I'd be happy with a small container with a lid that could be put on each tray, gluten-free wafers inside. But, I haven't been able to find something like that. Yet.

I also just discovered those Go Picnic things at my Target. They're pretty good, and it's more food than you'll think when you first open the box. I sometimes take one to work if I'm in a hurry, along with a banana and some carrots or something like that.

 

You didn't really define what "out and about" means. For me there are several versions of that. One is that I'm out for a few hours, shopping or seeing a museum or something. For that I always take a bar of some kind -- Lara, or Glutino cereal bar -- some nuts, and some dried fruit.

 

For a road trip I take a cooler. Yogurt, cheese, sliced chicken breast, hummos and veggies....depends on where we're going and whether there's a refrigerator on the other end. Usually there is because I always get one at hotels.

 

For airplane travel this is a whole different story. The last time I went on a long flight I packed in my checked baggage: peanut butter in individual packs (Costco sells a large box of these), some Go Picnics, dried fruit, and nuts. In my carry on I had the peanut butter (in my quart-sized ziplock, along with a small toothpaste and small hand lotion which were the only other things that needed to be in there), dried fruit, nuts, a Go Picnic, hard boiled eggs, lunch meat/cheese roll-ups, fruit, and yogurt (also in the ziplock bag). I was prepared for the airline meal to be horrible and it was.

 

And for whoever mentioned the upcoming Israel trip...there's a thread over in the travel forums on this site that talks about Israel. I went there a couple of years ago and it was wonderful. I commented on that thread about my experiences. There will be plenty to eat and the hotels will be more than accommodating. (still take a few things of your own of course, especially for lunches out.)

Good idea! I think this should be brought up in front of your instructor.

The thing that stood out for me is you and the Food pusher are studying to be a chaplain.  Did she not just fail the class for that behavior?  Can you imagine a newly diagnosed Celiac or cancer patient or diabetic going to her for some moral support counseling and being told its OK to ignore the medical advice sometimes?

Hmm...I think I figured out the quote thing. lol... And, you are absolutely right! This is a national training program called CPE -- Clinical Pastoral Education -- and believe me they're all about getting you to look at your own issues and work on how that could impact your ability to provide pastoral care. If the supervisor hasn't already noted down this woman's food pushing she will after I bring it up in the group session next week.

This woman has other issues that have come out during the time we've met, so I'm not surprised by this. She's only in her first unit though (we need four units, plus 1,000 more hours after the completion of the 4th unit, before we can apply for certification) so she'll learn as she goes along.

(oh, and I did make my chocolate cake last night. yummm)