bumblebee_carnival

Are you eating a lot of gluten free baked goods, pre-made gluten free foods, grains or fruit? Naturally gluten free foods (vegetables, meats, eggs, cheese, etc.) are also what is recommended to keep blood sugars stable, but ready made gluten free foods contain a ton of sugar that can cause blood sugar spikes.

If you are taking medication for diabetes, maybe you should talk to your doctor about adjusting your dosage?

It stinks that you got sick, but you just can't assume anymore. I did the same thing at Thanksgiving and paid the price. The relative who hosted Thanksgiving was really good about telling me what ingredients made up each dish. So, I was loading my plate up (and my mouth) with sweet potatoes. I got to literally my last bite and saw sitting in the middle of my sweet potatoes.....a freakin' cube of stuffing. It was baked in! It had put some time in with the rest of the dish. When I looked at the rest of the dish, I saw a couple more cubes in there. I don't know if the box fell or if she maybe used the same spoon on the two dishes or what. But I was thinking how much stuffing did I just accidentally ingest? I was sick for EIGHT days after TG, so it was more then just a cube or two. Plus, I found out later, she had some kind of basted or "flavor enhanced" turkey, so that most likely had gluten in it, too.

I don't think she was like Mr. Burns, gleefully cackling over her devious plan to "accidentally" gluten me, but she just doesn't get it. To her, this is just an extreme form of carb restriction for losing weight. I'm really, really good about putting on a happy face when I am miserable, so she didn't see me in pain. She didn't see me wandering the house at 3 AM because walking around was the only way to make the pain stop a little. She just doesn't get it. She sees that I dropped 20 pounds in a month and that is it.

We can't take it for granted anymore that anyone is going to get the seriousness of this situation and have to be our own advocates. Until proven otherwise, it must be assumed that all baked goods contain gluten. I made a Pam's (I think it was called Pam's) gluten free chocolate cake mix for a birthday cake and it was awesome. My family still eats gluten and they couldn't tell it was gluten free. I've also made gluten free corn muffins using the Betty Crocker recipe and substituting rice flour for all-purpose and it came out exactly the same as the regular recipe. So you can't tell just by looking.

I was thinking the same thing about therapy. Also not meaning to be snarky...but it's not that those of us who have said we can resist are "superior" or anything -- although that was the tone of one of the previous replies -- it's just that if it makes me really sick then I have NO desire to do it. When I was dieting I would cheat, because I knew I could either make up for it by exercising extra, or eating salads and lean chicken the next day, or just sucking it up and admitting the extra pounds and doing better the next time. But none of that really caused me to suffer. Eating gluten does. And I have no desire to suffer.

Just my two cents.

I normally lurk here, but I wanted to chime in with agreement. I've been gluten-free for about a month and had I not been in pain and so completely miserable, there is no way I would have stuck to it even this long. To be perfectly blunt, it sucks. It sucks to be the one who can't just grab a sandwich or wrap on the run. It sucks to have to read every single label looking for hidden allergens. It sucks that I can't have stuffing tomorrow and it sucks that I won't get to have Christmas cookies in a month. And yeah, there are gluten-free alternatives, but they are so expensive and they rarely taste just right.

BUT

What sucks worse is waking up with horrible cramps an hour after falling asleep, sitting in the bathroom thinking I'm going to pass out from the pain and dehydration, the anxiety that controlled my life for so long, the constant fatigue, the hair loss, the horribly aching joints (I thought at 35 I was getting arthritis in my knees), the anemia (I have ulcerative colitis, too) and on and on and on.

I'm not some super disciplined health fanatic and I don't think I'm better then anyone else. IMO, breaking the physical hold gluten has over us is easier then breaking the mental hold. So many of our celebrations, get togethers and family time revolve around food. Almost every party in most cultures could be called, "Come over and let's eat!" I just decided that the pros outweigh the cons a million times. It sucks being the only one at the party who passes up the cake, but if I do have that cake, the only person who has to deal with the consequences of eating it is me.

That's not to say I'm not tempted or I don't have freak outs every once in a while. A week ago I had a really bad day, was tired, and didn't feel like cooking. There was literally NOTHING I could eat in our kitchen. I think I ended up (angrily) having a popsicle. Someone in our building was baking bread yesterday and it smelled like heaven. It made me so sad and a little angry thinking, "Why can't I be 'normal'?" But these are the cards I've been dealt and I just have to deal with it. It's not a situation I would wish on anyone (okay, maybe a couple people hehehehe), but it isn't going to change.

You deserve health. You deserve to be pain free. You deserve good things. We all do.