JonJonQ's Blog

OK trying to be optomistic Ive been gluten free for 1 month straight now. My stomach pains have stayed the exact same. Headsches have decreased slightly. But starving constantly is worse than anything. I went to Sprouts and bought all the gluten-free foods they offer. My wallet is empty along with my belly. soooo is it worth it? yes yes it is. Ill keep at it, but Im getting tired of hunger

JonJonQ,
Being gluten free doesn't have to cost a packet. I hardly buy any gluten free products, at most it is breakfast cereals and flours, and maybe the odd crepe. I'm not sure what Sprouts is, it sounds like a vege shop, but is probably more than that.

You can get aong quite well eating mainstream, after a while you learn how to read labels and work out what products have gluten in them or not. My major problem would be eating out, which I don't do anymore. Takeaways are quite difficult for me too. I have found two safe options and tend to stick with them

All fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, milk, rice, corn, eggs and plain meat is gluten free, a lot of cheeses and yoghurts are also gluten free too. I think the secret is, if you can't afford to buy gluten free speciality food, you need to learn how to cook and start meals from scratch, but I found that rather time consuming to start with as I was working nearly full time, but a year down the track I had it all sussed out and it is now second nature to me. Speciality food is not necessarily good for you and maybe they contain too much in the way of starches for your stomach to handle.

Hopefully you will find there are a lot of things out there that you can eat, and that it doesn't always have to be labelled as gluten free. I find that the minute they label food that way, the price goes up. I still read labels, and probably always will but it is a necessary label and gets easier.

Wishing you luck with your new way of eating, and hoping you keep your optimism.

Cathy

There is absolutely no reason to go hungry.

Like Kaycee said, there are lots of mainstream foods to eat that are gluten-free. It doesn't have to say gluten-free on the label, although many companies are now starting to put that info on their labels without charging for it like it's something special. Just about the only specialty items I buy regularly are gluten-free frozen waffles (Van's usually), Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flours, and I order cases of Chebe bread mix off the internet.

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Just buy meats like steak, hamburger, chicken, turkey, etc. from your grocery store butcher or frozen food section. Do check with the butcher to make sure they don't use flour for any reason on their slicers. They usually don't. Any fresh veggie and most frozen and canned ones are gluten-free.

Go here and print out these two lists:
 

and
 

 
The first one is a list of safe (gluten-free) ingredients and the second is a list of unsafe (not gluten-free). Take them to the grocery store when you shop and compare the labels with your lists to make sure you aren't buying anything with gluten in it. I keep these lists on my PDA but after eating and buying gluten-free for 3+ years, I rarely need to consult them anymore. It's cumbersome at first, but it will become second nature to you very quickly.

The celiac.com site has a wealth of information for us. It's the first place I go when I have a question about gluten-free foods or other celiac related issues. I would encourage you to read as much as possible on this site.

I also have loads of recipes that are gluten-free and do not require specialty ingredients. If you are interested in having any of those, I'll be happy to post them. Just let me know.

If your pain hasn't gone away, it may be that it's just taking your gut a longer time to heal. Or it may be that you are still getting gluten somewhere in your diet and just don't know it. Double check all of your food and make sure you aren't getting any cross-contamination...like sharing a toaster with someone else who eats wheat bread.

Don't get discouraged. It gets easier. 

thanks for the website! that was very useful for me. my problem is that I work 2 jobs and go to school, so I only have time to grab food at restraunts and fast food. but Im going to start packing and what not
thanks again

thanks for the encouragment Cathy! Your right, I see at sprouts(which is a health food store) that products already gluten free put a big label on the box " GLUTEN/WEAT FREE" and then charge 5 more dollars than normal. very fustrting, but Im going to start bringing the gluten free ingredients list with me for now on.

thanks again