sreese68

My kids and other gluten-free kids we have over devour these: http://www.thegrainl...rch-item&idn=37 I can't do dairy, so I've never tried them. But the entire box disappears when we have company. Their bread is also the best my kids have had, and my husband likes it too. (I can't eat it due to a brown rice intolerance, so I don't know what it tastes like.)

The Gluten Free Mall also carries them. Brand name is Grainless Baker.

My kids didn't like the Schar crackers. But I know others love them, so this is definitely a YMMV area! LOL!

For those of you who are eating corn and feeling great, I read on this, and other forums, that if you are a true celiac even the smallest amount of gluten can cause damage to your intestines, whether or not you feel the damage. If corn contains gluten aren't you concerned about that? If not, why?

As I understand it, all grass family seeds contain gluten. This includes wheat, rye, barley, rice, corn, oats, etc. I want to say sorghum does, too, but I'm not actually sure. HOWEVER, MOST people with celiac only react to the type of gluten in wheat, rye, and barley. The glutens in wheat are called gliadin and glutenin. (Can't remember if rye and barley's glutens have a different name. Sorry!) So technically, we should specifically be avoiding gliadin and glutenin instead of all glutens. Corn gluten, rice gluten, and oat gluten (someone can supply the specific name for me! LOL!) are all different proteins and most celiacs don't react to them. Much like how someone who reacts to beef doesn't react to pork. They're both meat, but they have different compositions. Does that make sense?

So my body doesn't freak out when I eat the gluten in corn. Or white rice.

Personally, I eat a TON of corn products every day - grits, tostadas, tortillas, corn flakes, pasta, Fritos, etc. OK, maybe not all of those in one day, but several. And I feel AMAZING! Better than I have in over a decade! All my awful symptoms are gone or greatly diminished. So no, not all people with celiac react to corn or don't get better while eating it.

Now, brown rice is another story for me. Gives me the worst stomach pain and the big C. (C is one of the ways celiac affected me.) I can't eat gluten-free baked goods because almost all of them have brown rice flour in them. If I ate gluten-free bread, brown rice pasta, muffins, doughnuts, cookies, crackers, etc, I'd be in terrible shape. But that doesn't mean that no other celiacs should eat them.

You'll read a lot of alarming articles about what you should and shouldn't eat in terms of intolerances. Or what's safe or not in terms of cross contamination. It's best to research first, react second. Some articles are exaggerated. Some aren't. Classic example is not licking postage stamps or envelopes because the adhesive contains gluten. In actuality, they don't, but that misinformation keeps popping up.

You've gotten good advice. I'll add: do not go to the grocery store hungry. It makes things worse.

Don't buy a million gluten-free substitutes (bread, pasta, etc) at first. Try a little bit at a time and find out what brands, alternative grains, etc you like. It'll save you money.

Keep in mind that your tastebuds will adapt and gluten-free substitutes that taste not-so great now will taste better to you later.

Budget plenty of time to shop. It takes a long time to read labels on everything. It'll get easier as you discover what you can have.

Try to shop when you're in a decent mood. I'd bet serious money that most of us on this board have had a partial to full breakdown at the grocery store at first. It gets better. I still stare longingly at Pop Tarts, but I don't tear up over them anymore.

Find a comfort food that makes you smile. Mine is Fritos. I've even eaten them with baked potatoes or inside tacos.

Congrats! Glad you're doing so well!

Neuro problems from celiac are not always due to nutrional deficiency. I get neuropathy, hypoglycemia, anxiety, brain fog, irritability, fatigue, lightheadedness, etc from eating gluten, but my nutrient levels are all normal. Gluten can cause the immune system to directly attack the nervous system. And this is what my neurologist believes is happening in my case (very forward-thinking guy). My GI difficulties have shown up in the way of many secondary food intolerances.

I was wondering why Organic Valley says that their cottage cheese isn't gluten-free even though there's no gluten ingredients listed. I found this on their website under the comments on their cottage cheese produce:

Question from consumer dated 4/16/10: "I am a celiac, trying to learn to discern gluten free or not on cottage cheese labels. I see your cottage cheese is listed in the NOT G.F. category. Can you tell me which of your ingredients puts it in the Non gluten free category, or does it have to do with cross contamination in your factory? How is one to know?"

Company's answer: "Cottage Cheese is not on the gluten free list due to the fact that we use a particular barley source as a fermentation nutrient in one of our cultures. During the manufacturing process, the culture is "used up" to form the curds and provide the lactic acid fermentation of the milk. It's quite possible that the OV cottage cheese you purchase is free from gluten, but we cannot guarantee that will be true 100% of the time. Thank you!"

I deal with C as a symptom of my food intolerances, so I've had to up my fiber and try to keep it pretty level. My method is kind of a pain, but it's helped me figure out what to eat in a day. I write down what I eat and track how much fiber I've had. If I'm low for the day, I eat something extra before bed or take more Citrucel. After doing this awhile, you can get a better idea of what to eat and lay off the tracking. Here's the USDA website that will give you the nutrient content of food (including fiber): http://www.nal.usda....oodcomp/search/ Oh, you should first google what amount is recommended for your age. Then, just eat what you regularly would for a few days and see how much you're getting. If you're low, add a gram or two a day depending on how sensitive you are, until you're at the recommended amount. Do NOT add in a whole bunch at once. Your stomach will rebel!

So it's a pain, but now if I get constipated, I know it's due to a food I've tried to reintroduce into my diet and not because I didn't eat enough fiber.

Forget to add: fruit is an excellent source of fiber. Just don't add a bunch of servings in all at once, or your stomach will hurt. Do it slowly. Teff and quinoa also have lots of fiber if your stomach reacts well to them. Oh, potato with skin has lots of fiber, but you have to eat the skins. Pocono cream of buckwheat is tasty, but it's low in fiber. As are grits and pasta.

You need to be eating gluten for a celiac blood test to be accurate. Did you ask them to run a celiac panel? Might be a good idea before you try gluten free. Once you go gluten free, you'll react even worse to it when you reintroduce it into your diet if gluten really is causing your problems. Makes it hard for those who are gluten-free to eat it again in order to get an official diagnosis.

I wouldn't bother with the expense of Enterolab. Go gluten free for two months, then try it and see how your body reacts. (Make sure you eliminate all possibilities of cross contamination in your home and avoid eating out, so you're truly gluten free.) If you suspect other foods, this is a good time to eliminate them also. Oh, before you go gluten-free, you may want to eat that favorite cake/bread/meal one last time just in case gluten is your problem. I wish I had done that.

Oh, my bloodwork was negative, too. Definite reaction to gluten challenge. My doctor diagnosed me with celiac based on symptoms and reaction to gluten.

My 13yo doesn't seem to have problems to gluten, but she does need to have things proven to her before she accepts them. If it were my daughter, I'd find a good book on celiacs and have her read it. Sometimes getting information from an expert vs mom makes all the difference in the world! Of course another choice is to have her look at websites and blogs dedicated to celiacs or gluten free living.

Good luck!!

Unfortunately, the false negative rate for bloodwork is much higher than what a lot of doctors think. My own GI said it had an accuracy rate of 98%! (which is quite wrong! And he was wrong about other details of celiac.) Good thing my neurologist said that he sees false negatives all the time and to pursue things further. Anyway, I had negative bloodwork, but I definitely have celiacs.

I have a slightly different take on this, this time. I think it is wrong of a company or a boss to insist that spouses must come to an event. I am not the employee. What I eat or how I talk or look or think, should not effect my husband's job performance. Very few jobs really need a spouse's participation (maybe President of the US). I attend things occassionally, it I want to. Even before gluten-free, I rarely went to these "command performances". Yes, the boss says it is to "reward the employees for thier hard work, and the spouses for putting up with the long hours". I don't find sitting eating with people I barely know and have little in commmon with, a reward.

I agree with this. However, I also think you should take your husband's feelings into consideration. Is this event really important to him? Does he want you to meet the people he spends all day with? Does he want to show you off (I mean that in a flattering way)? If it means a lot to him, you should just go. Sometimes we have to do things we don't like for our loved ones. If it isn't a big deal to your husband, then find a way to bow out gracefully.

sreese68, all it took was a few sips and I was a total mess. I think testing when the c is bad is a good idea. Or better yet, just avoid the stuff. It's synthetic "food" no one should be eating anyway, imo!

LOL! I'm not a fan of synthetic food either, I must admit! (And I thought it tasted terrible!) Thanks for letting me know it only took a few sips. I've never had D as a food reaction, so I'm kind of curious if I would happen again and what ingredients I could possibly be reacting to. I'm going to the place where I drank it next week, so I'll have to look at the container. If I try it again, it'd be more like a Mythbusters experiment - "Does Coffeemate cause D in our test subject, or was it the meat?"

I don't know if all the doom and gloom stuff will work with him. He's the kind that would much rather live a shorter happier life, then a miserable long life.

The problem is he may end up with a long and miserable life. I wish I had known that my neurological problems wouldn't have gotten this bad if I had been diagnosed a decade ago. I didn't have GI symptoms until a couple of years ago, and those actually come from fructose malabsorption. (People with celiac often develop secondary food intolerances.) I had "silent" celiac for a long time looking back at symptoms I've dealt with for years. My nerves are damaged enough that I have a body part tingling every day. Sometimes all day. Sometimes enough to keep me from falling asleep. My muscles are losing mass due to nerve issues. It's no fun to have a doctor tell you that you HAVE to exercise, never go barefoot, and wear comfortable shoes. (note that I'm only 42 and on the thin side and looking into buying orthotics!!) I've had problems with pain most days for 2+ years now. I don't know if my nerves will ever heal - I have may been diagnosed too late.

I developed enough food intolerances that I'm down to 15 foods I can safely eat now. I keep trying to expand my diet, but I keep reacting to foods. I doubt I'd be this bad off with leaky gut if I had gotten off gluten a long time ago.

I had problems with fatigue and lack of motivation for years. Gone gluten free. My anxiety levels and irritability which were going on the rise the last few years - gone. Memory and processing problems - gone. These things only come back when I accidentally get gluten or an offending food in my system. Did you know that a celiac eating gluten can get dementia? My mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's at 47. No one else in her family has had early onset Alzheimer's, and it's strongly genetic. Makes me wonder if she was a silent celiac, and my neurologist thinks it's entirely possible. The last 15 years of her life were not happy.

So he can wait to go gluten free until he has symptoms like another autoimmune disease or nerve problems or diabetes, but then he has to deal with the consequences of THOSE issues which will impact his daily life. Just because his celiac is silent doesn't mean it's not doing damage that may lead to much more misery than a diet change. (I don't say "diet change" lightly. I know it's hard and sucks. I react to my 3 favorite foods, and I have MAJOR food fatigue eating the same things all the time, but I feel more alive than I have in years.)