ACK514's Blog

I know how you feel ACK514. I'm in college too. I was diagnosed with Celiac disease about four years ago, but never adopted a gluten-free diet until just over a month ago. I'm feeling much better now.

The challenges are great. It's nearly impossible to eat meals on the go from fast food restaurants or any other dining establishment on campus. Everyday I have to plan out what I am going to eat and at what time, so I can make sure that I don't get hungry and maintain decent nutrition. It's only been a month and there are already days where I feel overwhelmed, like you. I can't just "grab" a burger anymore. It's definitely made things more difficult. However, I do eat much healthier now, so that is a plus. All the dietary restrictions force you to eat good, nutritious foods that are wonderful for the body. I've lost 15lbs in just this one month on the diet (because of cutting out beer drinking, fast food, etc.)

Anyway, just wanted to share with you a little piece of my story, so that you know you're not alone in this challenge. It can be frustrating, but stay strong and keep a positive attitude!

Thanks for your response Cannona3. It's nice to hear from other people in my situation. Currently I don't know ANYONE with Celiac and it's really hard to get people around me to understand. I just found out I had this and it was so unexpected. Like you said a gluten free diet deffinitely does help one eat more healthily. But I'm sure you find it frustrating like I do on a college campus that the vast majority of food is not safe. I feel like no matter how careful I'm being gluten still manages to sneak in somewhere. The hardest is those days where I do something like go to the mountains to go snowboarding and there is NOTHING to eat there. I'm sure you understand. Thanks again for the kind words.
[quote name='cannona3' date='Feb 15 2007, 08:48 PM']I know how you feel ACK514. I'm in college too. I was diagnosed with Celiac disease about four years ago, but never adopted a gluten-free diet until just over a month ago. I'm feeling much better now.

The challenges are great. It's nearly impossible to eat meals on the go from fast food restaurants or any other dining establishment on campus. Everyday I have to plan out what I am going to eat and at what time, so I can make sure that I don't get hungry and maintain decent nutrition. It's only been a month and there are already days where I feel overwhelmed, like you. I can't just "grab" a burger anymore. It's definitely made things more difficult. However, I do eat much healthier now, so that is a plus. All the dietary restrictions force you to eat good, nutritious foods that are wonderful for the body. I've lost 15lbs in just this one month on the diet (because of cutting out beer drinking, fast food, etc.)

Anyway, just wanted to share with you a little piece of my story, so that you know you're not alone in this challenge. It can be frustrating, but stay strong and keep a positive attitude![/quote]

Dear ACK 514,,Yes, you do have a problem and I am glad you have at least one other college student in the same boat. My daughter is away for her first year of college and has allergies so we met with the caf manager to help identify foods with hidden parsley. I am wondering if she may be celiac has she has trouble maintaining a normal weight.

While there I asked if there were any students with Celiac (I was just diagnosed) and she said one!! Only one! The incidence of this is one in 150!! So undiagnosed. And some of us don't get diagnosed until our 40's,,,ahemm until June of 2007 then the big 5.0.

So the good news: YOu are diagnosed now and can avoid years of pain and discomfort. The bad news as you already know is campus is challenging. Does your college have a dorm for food allergies, where students can cook there own meals??..MSU does, the caf managr said the one celiac she knew of lives in the dorm for food allergies and doesn't use the caf. But learning to do your own cooking might be overwhelming while balancing classes and HW. My suggestion. Fill your dorm room frig (you need the larger size) with fruits, veg and other non-gluten foods, read label when you go to the grocery store. My daughter keeps yougurt, cottage cheese, apples, rice cakes with PB and bananas are good. For snacks corn chips. Don't touch pasta or bread, never again, pizza, no not good, some folks to take the toppings off and leave the crust but there is contamination by just touching the crust. In the caf rice and potatoes should be safe (not gravy) and not soy sauce, you need to check with the cook to see if they use a gluten free soysauce.

For a research project go to websites: I just went to Taco bell and found their allergy list and there are a few non-gluten items to choose from. Do the same the fast food restaurants you frequent. (I hope you like salads!)

I don't know if a grad student in the food and nutrition dept. might want to take this on as a project/assignment. It would be a big help to you. And I would definitely meet with the caf manager. He/she should be helpful.

My heart goes out to you...college transitions can be tough and this won't be easy for you. Mother of a college student, sherylj