Monklady123

This is kind of a spin-off of another post here, the one whose friend eats gluten even though she says she has celiac.

 

I have a friend who says she *was* gluten intolerant. She swears that she was cured of her symptoms -- joint aches, migraines, intestinal issues -- after going gluten free. She's been gluten free for over a year. Then just a few weeks ago she ate some bread because she "couldn't stand it any longer" (her words). And lo and behold, no symptoms. So she ate another piece the next day. Still no symptoms. Then she tried some pasta. Nothing.

 

What do you think? I'm wondering if she ever was really experiencing those symptoms, although there are a lot of them on her list. All the same ones I got rid of, in fact. But I am NOT willing ever to try eating a piece of bread   since I know how bad I feel when I get accidentally glutened.

 

I've googled around, but can't really find anything reliable on whether or not someone can recover from being gluten intolerant.

 

My thought is maybe someone could recover from being gluten intolerant, but not from having celiac?

 

Well, I don't know, but I do know that I am not ever eating gluten again. Just wondered what you all think, those of you who know so much more than I do about this whole subject.

 

edited to add: I am diagnosed with celiac by a blood test. I never had the endoscopy because I wasn't willing to eat gluten for weeks and weeks and weeks just for that. My doctor agreed, and said the blood test was enough.

So yesterday I was eating Glutino's pretzels. Dipping them in Nutella, in fact. My dog was watching me as always, since you know she's totally starved and never gets a thing to eat. So I gave her a pretzel. (these are the thin stick-like ones, not sure if there are other kinds). She took it in her mouth and took it away to her bed to eat.

Later I was walking through the living room and there on her bed was the pretzel, with all the salt licked off. So I put it in her bowl. Later at dinner time it was still there. I put her kibble in her bowl and since we were out of wet food (sigh) I took a bit of peanut butter and stirred it all around so that all the kibble pieces had a bit of pb on them. Including that pretzel.

She ate her dinner and after she was done....there was that darn pretzel on the floor, licked clean of peanut butter! Do you think she is trying to tell me her opinion of gluten free things? rofl... She's never been known to turn down any food, not even carrots and green beans, so this is pretty funny.

That pretzel is now sitting in her bowl again (I forgot to put it there for breakfast) waiting for dinner. I went to the store today so she now has wet food. We'll see if she can separate that pretzel out once again.

I know this is a fluff post and maybe belongs in "food" instead of here in "coping" -- but, I find the story to be funny and I could use a bit of humor lately, with all the end-of-school-year parties and barbeques and church potlucks and baby showers that have occurred recently -- their seemingly endless tables of food, most of which I can't eat.

my doggie

All Northern Virginia folks run, do not walk, to this new bakery! It's in the Del Ray area of Alexandria. -- While I was at church this morning my dh drove there and came home with the most fabulous things! bread! and cupcakes! and other chocolaty things. omg. That's all I have to say.

Remember my post about new celiac pain a couple of days ago, even though I'm entirely glutenfree? With me it IS the coffee. I can not have coffee or I'm getting my old celiac pains.

Well, I'm not a doctor, but I would say that probably you're getting the pains from the coffee itself -- i.e., the caffeine, or the acid, or whatever else is in coffee. Not from gluten, which is not in coffee. Lots of people who have "stomach trouble" (as the doctors like to call any number of things) cannot drink coffee.

My entirely unmedical opinion is that all sorts of things bother us while we're healing, and that it can take a long time. I was doing okay with milk, then got glutened (through my own stupidity), and then couldn't have cereal with milk for the next week or so.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

I had this same problem in the fall with an course I'm taking. It's a fellowship-type thing in a hospital. At the end of the four months we have a little "graduation" and a lunch that's catered by the food service at the hospital. Well seriously, the only thing I feel confident eating in that cafeteria is the hard-boiled eggs. Anyway, the director of my program insisted that I talk to the head of food service and work with them on having something to eat. I must have told him six times that I'd bring my own but he kept saying "oh no, we'll get you something to eat."

But the thing is, as you understand well, I was FINE with bringing my own! So I went ahead and brought something which I figured I'd eat if the gluten-free option was suspect. Well, everyone had a chef salad, and there was a plate of raw veggies with some kind of dip in the middle. And a plate of fruit. Three kinds of salad dressing, none labeled with ingredients. My plate was plain lettuce. I was supposed to put the veggies on and make a salad I guess. Except that there were no ingredients on the dip or dressings, so of course I didn't trust them.

So I just pulled out my food that I'd brought.

I'm just finishing up a second unit of the course and I'm not even going to discuss it this time. Last time I did ask him "why does it concern you?" heehee... So I'll just say that this time, yet again.

Of course, this is a bit different from what you're describing. In your case I would call the restaurant and talk to them. If nothing else you could probably have a salad and a drink. If he asks why you're only eating that then just tell him (again). Explain that you cannot take the chance. Period. Personally I think it's rude of people to keep on INSISTING over and over and over and over that we do what they want, when we've said what works for us!

Sorry...my pet peeve.

Hey Everyone,

So I read this blog today that basically says a protien in coffee can cause the same harmful effects as gluten can. I'm just wondering if anyone else has heard this or knows anymore. I'm a little upset about it. :/
Here is the blog http://www.thehealth...t-drink-coffee/

I wouldn't stop that morning cup of coffee just yet.

And you know how people say to us "I would DIE if I couldn't eat bread!" and we reply (to ourselves) "no you wouldn't." Well... seriously...I would DIE without my morning coffee.

(Go ahead, think to yourself "no you wouldn't." But I'm telling you that yes I would!)

I just looked on Wendy's website -- the nutritional information opens in a pdf file and the natural fries do NOT contain wheat. On the chart they have a blue dot which means that they "may be fried in the same oil as other foods" (or however they worded that). The items with the RED dots are the ones that actually contain wheat.

So, the natural fries on their own do not contain wheat. You just have to ask for your own individual Wendy's to find out about the fryer. My Wendy's has a dedicated fryer which is not even near the one that they use for the nuggets. I've been eating these fries for ages and have never had any reaction.

How do you guys stay gluten free and resist the temptation to eat normal food? I'm in high school so it's really hard to not eat normal food especially when i'm with my friends.I had very minor symptoms. My only problem was that I was too short when I was little so I was gluten free for about a year but then i stopped because gluten free food is GROSS! I hated all the disgusting breads and snacks my parents made me eat. The bread was all frozen and sour and disgusting. I actually lost weight when I was supposed to gain it because I didn't eat much. I never went to parties or anything because I knew I would give in and eat good food while I was there. And it doesn't help that while I'm eating rice and vegetables everyday, my family gets to eat out and order delicious treats like pizza, pasta, and burgers. I don't really see the point in being gluten free either because I feel no different than when I wasn't gluten free. I was never sick or tired or anything like that. I was just short. But I'm actually taller than three of my aunts and my two of my grandparents because I come from a family of tiny people on my mother's side.

I think it must be really difficult to be gluten free if you're still living at home and in school which means you don't have an income of your own. I think the key will be for you to find substitutes for all the things you really want to eat.

So for example, if you love potato chips (who doesn't? lol...) but the ones you were eating have gluten, then read labels and find one that doesn't. Lots don't. My favorite are Utz chips with ridges. Nice and salty.

If you like to take a Nutrigrain bar to school in the morning for a snack then ask your parents if they can buy you some Betty Lou's fruit bars. You can get them on Amazon in several flavors and personally I think they're better than Nutrigrains.

If you love chocolate you're in luck. Just be sure to read the labels. My favorite is Snickers bars.

Brownies? There's an excellent mix which, drat, I can't think of the name at the moment. But Betty Crocker also makes cake and cookies mixes that are gluten free. And Goya makes wonderful gluten free cookies that are like shortbread. They're called "Maria cookies" and they come in a big green box.

Hamburgers can easily be gluten free. If you go out with friends you just have to ask if the burger is grilled on the same grill where they do any bread products. If not, then it's fine. You could call ahead and ask so that you don't have to do it while you're with your friends.

Pizza will be much harder of course, but there are places that offer gluten free pizza. It's more expensive and not quite what we remember from our gluten days....but it's a decent substitute, especially if you're out with friends.

Macaroni and cheese? Amy's makes a wonderful mac and cheese. It's in the frozen section. Just read the box carefully because she has another one that's not gluten free and it's often right next to the the gluten-free one. Browse in that section for a bit, there are other yummy things in there. Donuts, waffles, other entrees.

Bread. Don't buy any but Udi's or Rudi's. Or Against the Grain's baguettes. The other brands are usually disgusting, as you said. Besides regular white and whole grain bread Udi's also makes hamburger and hotdog buns, and a wonderful cinnamon-raisin bread. Udi's

I hope that helps a little bit. And I hope your family can help you buy some of these things. Most other foods in their natural states are gluten free -- meat, vegetables, rice, nuts (yummy peanut butter), fruit...so hopefully you'll be able to have a lot of that around the house.

It is really hard at the beginning, and I'm sure it's harder for students and young people. In fact, isn't there a board on this site that's for teens? I bet folks over there would have some good ideas for you. (But of course stay here also, we'd love to have you.)

Hang in there. It does get easier as time goes by.

This was a retirement party for my husband's boss. About 25 or so people. It wasn't a sit-down dinner, just one where you fill your plate then go find a place to sit among several rooms and seating areas. So I didn't bother to tell the hostess anything about gluten, figuring that there is always salad. Or something. Anyway, I didn't want to be a problem for her since this isn't someone I know well, although we have been to her house before.

Well...last year we did go to the house of another colleague, who had a smaller gathering. My dh did mention to that woman about celiac and gluten and she did a fabulous job cooking gluten free. So it turns out that that woman from last year talked to last night's hostess and almost everything was gluten free!

There was a stuffed shell thing that obviously wasn't, but she actually made a small pan of gluten free pasta baked with cheese, etc. Then there was rice, chicken peanut stew, a seafood gumbo type of thing, two salads, and even fruit and ice cream for desert (and she told me she checked the label on the ice cream although as she said "why the heck do they need wheat in ice cream?" lol...)

And, she said "really it isn't difficult to cook gluten free. Turns out that most food *is* gluten free." lol.. (that's what I always tell people when they start in on "what CAN you eat?") -- Anyway, my dh works with some nice people.

Yes, I do understand about people wanting to accommodate us. And food is so much a part of being "hospitable". But what gets me is that this is a hospital! I've only been gluten free for a bit more than a year so I've never had experience with a hospital since my diagnosis. I guess I just expect hospitals to be experienced in diet for various conditions. When I expressed that to a friend who is also gluten free she said "yeah? well think again."

Well since ALL food is gluten free except for wheat, barley, and rye (and oats depending on the person) this has taught me to give up a lot of the processed food I was eating and to cook more. So now instead of fixing one of those boxed rice mixes I make plain rice and spice it up, or cook it with broth, or with veggies in it, or something. We're eating much better now. I'm the only gluten free person in the house but since I'm not a short-order cook (in fact, I hate to cook) I'm only cooking one meal for everyone. (If I make them pasta I just don't bother for myself and I'll eat the salad and veggie.)

It will get better. Really.

The thing I've learned after being gluten free for a bit over a year now, is that I just have to "suck it up" (as my kids say) and cook. If you think about cooking from scratch then just about everything is gluten free. In fact, the only things that are not gluten free are wheat, barley, rye. (and probably oats.)

So you can eat all meat, all vegetables, fruit, legumes, dairy. Everything. (unless you have some other sensitivities of course). I hate to cook, but I'm amazed at how good I feel if I do. I often "cheat" and use things like canned vegetables -- if I can't get fresh corn then I like canned corn better than frozen. On the other hand I'd never eat canned peas. But frozen are good. So it's pretty easy for me, the I Hate To Cook gal, to cook some chicken in a pan with some spices or maybe a can of stewed tomatoes, cook rice, steam a veggie and there you go.

The problems for me were finding a decent bread, and finding a cracker. I have found them, finally. Udi's or Rudi's, and Glutino's crackers. That cracker is the closest I've found to a regular type like Ritz or that kind, like we'd put sliced cheese on.

It is difficult to always have to read labels, and to find substitutes for things like say creamed soup if you liked to cook with that before. I discovered a gluten free boxed cream soup in the regular soup section, and then I thickened it with corn starch and it worked great. So now I know and it doesn't take me any time to shop since I know where to look. (I'm still paranoid enough though to glance at that label anyway. lol)

Well, sorry, kind of long-winded. I guess the short answer is that it gets easier, and if you cook "from scratch" then almost everything is gluten free.

Since the restaurant said it would be okay to bring in your own food then you could bring all sorts of things that would only have to be heated in the microwave. (I'd check that first though, with the restaurant, just to be sure.)

Personally, I'd order a drink and a salad and enjoy the company. But that's just me... I hate being fussed over.

After reading that ingredient list I'm not sure I want a Slurpee.

However...they sure do taste good on a really hot day. Which is the only kind of day we've been having lately.

I just noticed on another of my posts that I joined here in May last year. A whole year gluten free and a whole year here. I have learned SO much from you all. Couldn't have done it without you. Thanks everyone for the great advice, recommendations, tips, and stories.