Gluten During Menstruation

[Steph1]

Does anyone else or did anyone else have difficulty staying gluten free when menstruating?  Any suggestions?  I don't always eat it when I menstruation, but every few months I convince myself that I will be fine.  Then I am sick for a week or two.  Headaches, joint pain, incontinence  (awesome) swollen ankles and feet, etc. Right now I'm still having ear pain/ some vertigo from eating a cookie 2 weeks ago.  I mostly just need support. I stopped posting here when I intentionally had that cookie and got sick because I didn't want to acknowledge my lack of will power.

[Adalaide]

I have always gotten cravings and have found the best way to deal with them is to have safe things to eat on hand. If you want cookies, have safe cookies on hand. You can make your own or buy some and put the extras in the freezer. Do the same with cupcakes, brownies, any baked goods. Luckily, my cravings are usually for chocolate or mac & cheese. Chocolate is easy because I only eat artisanal chocolate which is nearly always gluten free. Mac & cheese was easy to change to gluten free.

 

My favorite hobby before being diagnosed was baking. It was a serious emotional blow to me when I thought I had to give that up. In the last 1 1/2 years I have learned that I've actually lost nothing but the gluten. Baking is one of my favorite hobbies again. Just like I didn't have to give up my favorite hobby, you don't have to give up your favorite treats. You simply have to find a way to modify your life so they're gluten free.

[LauraTX]

I understand the ability of hormonal mood swings to eat away at your willpower.  You may consider meeting with a therapist to talk about what is causing you to cave... if it is just lack of willpower, or is it self-destructive in nature?   If your PMS symptoms are very bad overall, and since they are interfering with your life, there are medications including different birth control that may help in reducing those symptoms that are caused by out of balance hormones.

 

It may be a good idea to have a plan in place to redirect your cravings.  Some things that could help you direct your cravings to more suitable gluten-free options would be keeping baking ingredients at hand, cookie dough in the freezer (don't even have to cook it, lol) or baked goods in the freezer.  Those little tubs of Udis Chocolate Chip cookies are irresistible to me especially when I am having cravings.  Although I try to limit my intake of the bad stuff, I try to always have a frozen gluten-free mac n cheese, frozen gluten-free pizza, and some kind of sweet on hand for when I do crave them.  If you were craving a normal cookie last time, gluten-free cookies are exactly the same texture and such as the gluteny counterparts.  If you want to make some of your own we can help you out with recipes and such.  Pamela's mixes has little individual microwaveable brownie mix pouches and they are the bomb.  You can get them in multi packs at the big "A" online store.

 

Overall, trying to suppress cravings can sometimes set you up for failure.  Of course you don't want to completely give in and eat the whole pantry, but I find that feeding them a little helps my food cravings stay in check.

[beth01]

Last month during my period I was having weird cravings. I really wanted a bunch of things I shouldn't have. Taco Bell, Chinese food, Cheddar Bay biscuits, a deep dish pizza.  My boyfriend gave me this speech:  you want to a Taco Bell- I will go get you an order of stomach pain, you want Chinese- I will order the diarrhea, the Red Lobster biscuits- how about I order the nausea and vomiting, the pizza- we can have the brain fog and joint pain on that.  We might as well get all that to go and eat it in the parking lot of the ER because that's where your going to end up."

 

Needless to say, I didn't get all that food.  It's hard.

 

Maybe try and call bakeries in your area to see if they cook gluten free.  There is a bakery in my area that cooks gluten free once a week.  They have a very strict protocol for the disinfecting process and don't use any machinery that they can't get 100% clean ( they don't slice the bread, do all mixing by hand).  They then put everything in the freezer.  It's nice and the baked goods are to die for.  I have heard the gluten-free Wow brand has really good cookies. There are also a ton of recipes on this site and online.

 

I think you more just have to look at that yeah the food is awesome, the way we feel after it's really not worth it in the end.  Stay strong and put the cookie down!

[LauraTX]

Stay strong and put the cookie down!

And pick the gluten-free cookie up!    

 

Also, you can make cheddar garlic biscuits with gluten-free bisquick, there is a recipe on their website.  They really should be called crack biscuits.

[beth01]

Thanks Laura, I will check that out. I even have some of the bisquick here. Can't wait!

[janiney08]

I am right there with you! I can splurge before my test but didn't want to overdo it so I have gluten free cupcakes, ate one yesterday and will eat one today! I have a few good bakeries by my house and have a little  cousin who is an aspiring pastry chef. She made me awesome cupcakes with rice flour substitution and I wrapped them and froze them so they are always on hand! Also, Cheetos! If you by any chance live in New Jersey there is an awesome gluten free Chinese place! lol stay strong!

[Steph1]

Where in New Jersey??  Uggh it wasn't even a good cookie.  Students gave me homemade cookies and chocolate covered pretzels today.  I gave them away already.  I just have to have a reserve of gluten free treats that I like that are only to be eaten in case of emergency.  Thank you everyone.  It really makes me feel better to know I am not the only one who wants to poison myself.

[janiney08]

Freehold! Panda Asian fusion across from the sams club on rt 537, my friend gets bad gasto symptoms and was fine! Had a gluten free egg roll and general toas chicken! If u are close it's certainly worth it!

[beth01]

Do they deliver to Wisconsin?  LOL

[janiney08]

Lol probably not