Monklady123

So, after I started the gluten-free thing I realized that I was also intolerant to lactose. (thanks to this board, which explained why, and also why I could eat yogurt but not drink milk) -- anyway, I'm hoping I'll be able to add milk back after awhile. But meanwhile I tried lactaid milk.  Too sweet. (why it should be sweet if they removing/altering the lactose I don't understand, but whatever...) -- So then I tried almond milk.  {gag} -- too thick.  Then I tried rice milk. {double-gag}.  Can't drink soy milk because my oncologist said no soy, or very little soy.

So I thought I'd have to give up cereal completely, which was sad news with winter coming on (and I had just bought some Gluten-free oatmeal!)

Well... um....why didn't I think to try the lactase supplements?  I bought some and they work great!  At least for my small bowl of cereal. I'm not going to push it and go drinking a big milkshake or anything like that. But at least I can have my beloved corn chex with banana.

Silly me for not thinking of it right away.  

First holiday season for me too. I'm thinking it won't be too much trouble because we always have the holidays here at my house. Sometimes my brother-in-law comes for Thanksgiving, and my sister comes for Christmas. But I'm the cook. And since I hate to cook I'll probably just fix the usual gluteny stuffing for them and not have one for myself. Same with desserts, although I might try one of those crustless cheesecake things.  We will see...

Potlucks, the minefield of celiac!  I've been to plenty of them at my church since I was diagnosed but those are easier in the sense that there are enough people there that it's not obvious about what I'm eating. I always make sure to bring something I can eat, something substantial -- main course, salad, etc. So that's not a problem.

But.... haven't been to one at a friend's house until a few days ago. A bunch of us are going on a dream trip to Israel in October with one of these Christian tour groups. My pastor is the local "host" of it so she had us over to her house so we could meet another couple who have gone before and have them answer questions, etc.

Well... she must have emailed me four or five times to ask about gluten-free. Making sure I could eat the brown rice noodles, and asking about the spices she was putting on the chicken, then asking about the chicken because she had been "doing some reading on the internet" and discovered that a lot of the frozen chicken breasts have been treated with something that might have gluten...etc.

Turns out that she had asked several people, those who were bringing salad-type things, to try for gluten-free if they could.  She made sure that one dessert was gluten-free.

And the next morning I woke up feeling TOTALLY FINE!!!!  wooot!!!!!

my pastor.

Definitely we can have problems with dairy. Lactose specifically.  The way someone explained it to me is that the part that digests -- or breaks down -- the lactose is on the tips of the little villi things in our intestines. But the villi are what is damaged by the gluten. So if you have a lot of damage you can't digest lactose. Often you'll be able to go back to it after your intestines heal and the villi grow back.

Now if it's the actual dairy protein then that's a different story. But for now I'd stop all dairy (be sure to take a gluten-free calcium supplement -- ask your doctor).  THen you can slowly introduce it back. I'd begin with yogurt and hard cheese, and increase from there.

I stopped all dairy except for yogurt and feel SO much better.

I don't know how it happens. I mean, I don't know the science of this disease. But that's what happened to me.  I was fine my entire life. I never even had any intestinal type problems, except once in awhile -- I mean very rarely.  Then suddenly boom -- stomach/intestinal pain, diarrhea, gas.. the whole thing.  Overnight. In fact, I remember I had just some All Bran cereal because I decided I wasn't eating enough fiber. So I was planning to add a couple tablespoons of it to my regular morning cereal (which was usually Special K or Bran Flakes or something like that.) -- Anyway, it was overnight. I suffered along with that for a couple of months, then went to the doctor. The rest is history, as they say.

Thanks Peter. Very interesting.  Still seems a bit funny to me though, to tell people that something called "peanut butter" actually contains "peanuts".  Or that "milk" contains "milk".  

So, having suddenly become pretty good at reading labels   I've noticed something.  On my peanut butter -- which says on the front label in big letters "PEANUT BUTTER" -- it says (after the list of ingredients, which is "peanuts, water, salt") "contains: peanuts."  Um... you think? Peanut butter contains peanuts? who would have thought?      -- Or, my milk -- which says on the front label in big letters "FAT-FREE MILK" -- sure enough, the ingredients say "contains: milk".  lol..

Okay, so is this a law that companies have to include allergens?  Or are the peanut butter and milk companies just being really over-zealous due to our litigious society?

Yah, I hear you.  Mine was bottled bbq sauce. I was so careful -- we had steak (with just some salt and pepper), baked potato, and corn on the cob.  No gluten anywhere in sight. So why didn't I think to read the bottle of bbq sauce?  Who knows... my only excuse was that I'd only been at this diet for a few weeks. oy..

Hope you feel better soon.

OOOH I feel your pain!  Here's one of my "punch the idiot" moments:

wife at spouse social: "Here, I'll just make you some toast and you can eat that.  That's what I eat when I have an upset stomach"
me: "I don't have an upset stomach, and I won't have one as long as I don't eat anything with flour.  Like bread."
her: "but...it's bread. There's NOTHING that can hurt you in that! It's bread!"
Me: "...made out of flour..."
her: "but the bread is white bread, wheat is brown"
Me: "It's bleached to be white.  Still made out of flour which is made out of wheat."
her: "Oh, I thought it was rice or something because it's white.  Well what about pie, can you eat that?"
Me:  *eyeroll* "Do you have any wine?"

Rofl!  Yes, please pass the wine.  

My husband once told me that I could eat some quiche because "it was mostly eggs anyway". I said yes it is, but what's the rest of it made of.  He said "well, crust, but not much of it."  --- And my mother has been thinking that she might try the gluten-free diet since she has stomach troubles.  She said to me "I suppose it could be gluten since you tell me it can be inherited... but, I don't eat much wheat."  Me: "um mom, you have at least six slices of bread every day!"  Mom:  "oh that's just white bread, not whole wheat."  Me: "Let's talk when I come visit next week."