I'm New And Need Help For College

[bekkisue]

hey my names bekki. i've been celiac for a year and a month now. it was so cool to find a website were there are people around my own age. i'm 17 by the way. this coming fall i'm entering college so if there is anyone out there who can give me some advice on dealing with celiac in college please let me know.

[jerseyangel]

Hi Bekki--welcome! There are several people here that are in college and I'm sure they'll jump in to answer your questions. Glad you found us here--best of luck in school, and feel free to ask questions anytime

In the meantime, you might want to check this out:

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[MySuicidalTurtle]

It's not hard to be gluten-free in college if you stay in control. I don't live on campus and bring food with me for lunch when I have classes or other activities. If you surround yourself around good people that will help. Sometimes I explain to professors that I have Cleiacs and may need to ge tup during class and I usually make sure to sit near the door in case I get sick. Good luck!

[Mahee34]

since as a freshman you'll most likely have to live on campus your best bet would be to, once you figure out where you are going, to contact the "chef" at the school as well as residence life. I was able to work out a deal that had me pay less than the normal meal plan since i wasn't able to eat the majority of the things in the caf. however, many places are very understanding and i had a cook who just asked me to call ahead and he'd make something special for me. it's easy to stay in control by cooking a lot of your food on your own, once you get to live off campus this is much easier. until that time, just try to make those aware of the situation......and i've sat near the door many a times haha, the professors most likely will understand good luck

[bekkisue]

hey thanks for the advice, i'm planning on attending murray state university and i just talked to the disabilities people and they said i can talk ot the chef and they can also try and figure out what else they can do to help. but thanks for the advice.

[tessa4837]

Hi,

My daughter (a freshman at U. of IL/Champaign) was recently diagnosed with Celiac. I've had it diagnosed since right after she was born (almost 20 years ago). I have no problem with the diet but she is having a real hard time with the lifestyle change. She is a picky eater to begin with and now she can't have Potbelly's and she is lost. I know how difficult it must be for a 19 year old to not be able to eat pizza or beer, does anyone have any ideas? My heart breaks when she calls up and says there is nowhere to eat on Green Street. Does anyone have any ideas of any restaurants on Green Street that offer gluten-free food? Thanks for any ideas.

A Loving Mom

[chick2ba]

Hi-

I am currently a junior at U of I and couldn't help but respond. Unfortunately, I have not eaten out since I was diagnosed (last Thanksgiving), so I don't know which Green Street restaraunts have gluten-free menus. Tell her to check out Za's fresh salads or La Bamba's loaded nachos or Legend's Tuesday special bacon cheeseburger (no bun!-- very good). These restaraunts MIGHT be places to start asking. I've also heard that everything at Chipotle is gluten-free, but you have to bring your own tortillas and watch for cross-contamination.

As for finding gluten-free food, I frequent Strawberry Fields Natural Food Store right off of Springfield Ave in downtown Urbana (just a few blocks East of Lincoln Ave; not a bad ride on a bike). They have a whole aisle dedicated to gluten-free flours, cereal, chips, cookies, pizza dough and many mixes. The Corkscrew Wine Emporium on Vine St (right across from Schnuck's) further down the road in Urbana carries two kinds of gluten-free BEvERages. Ramapo Valley and New Grist are both super. No bars that I know of have these on tap, but they can be found here. While I'm in the area, I usuallly hop over to Schnuck's and take advantage of their huge gluten-free flour, fruit and veggie selection.

Hope this helps. Too bad there is not an Illini Celiac Group. If she needs more on-sight pointers, I can be reached on AIM under the above screen name.

-Ashley

[IntensePort]

I too have been recently diagnosed and am going away to college in the fall.

If you live in California there is a state law (405) requiring that the college must provide accomidations for those with conditions such as mental disorders and sever peanut allergies. I'm not sure if it also relates to those with gluten intoherances, but I'm calling the 405 director on campus soon to see if I qualify.

[Nadtorious]

I went to SIU (go Salukis!) and lived in the dorms. I went to the school dietician and told her I was a celiac. They gave me a huge catalog I could order food from-Ener-g, Amy's, all the good stuff.....I ate like a queen when I was in school! I didn't eat out a whole lot-usually just at steak places (plain meat and potatoes and veggies), but when I went out, I always ordered rum and coke. I didn't have a hard time at all.

Good luck-

Nadia

[watchthestars]

Wow, that's amazing that your college was so accomidating. I wish mine was!!! However, I didn't seek out much help because I didn't realize the severity of my condition until a few months ago. But now that I remember what it feels like to be somewhat healthy I will NEVER go back to my careless ways.

So I guess I should introduce myself - my name is Elaine, I'm 19 and live in Wisconsin. I'm just finishing up my first year of college. I haven't been officially diagnosed with anything, but my dad (a chiropractor who practices alternative medicine) figured out that I have a gluten problem. My gluten history is a bit complicated but here goes: age 8 - we figured out that i always had a stomach ache after eating "white flour." I avoided it and tried to eat whole wheat products because they didn't seem to bother me, but I would still eat a few cookies here or some pizza there. A little stomach ache and digestive trouble was worth it to me. I had no idea how much I was harming myself.

Through the years I've suffered from a slow thyroid, which made me chronically fatigued, anemia, insomnia, "brain fog" (although I thought I was just stupid), frequent colds, and depression. My dad helped me keep it under control with tons of nutritional suppliments (mainly to support my thyroid) but by high school they just weren't cutting it anymore. When I was about 16 we figured out that GLUTEN was the culprit, white, wheat or otherwise, and I felt much better when I didn't eat it. But it wasn't until about a year ago that we put it all together, and I began to understand the severity of it. I vaguely understood that gluten hurts my intestines and that I would never feel great as long as I ate gluten. Even so, I still ate it now and then. It was too hard not to.

My problem was that I didn't realize that it's a DISEASE. A disease that will worsen and ultimately kill me if I let it. So that's why I'm here. I need to deglutenate completely. No more of this "oh I can have a little..." I'm much more sensetive now and small amounts effect me more. I don't know why I didn't really take my dad seriously. It's not that I didn't believe him, it's just that I thought I could get by if I just avoided gluten and didn't think I needed to eliminate it completely. (He should have TOLD me, gosh...I don't think he had thorough understanding of celiac disease at that time.)

I've been pretty darn strict lately (as strict as a college meal plan will allow) about not eating gluten, and I do feel better. I'm not as fatigued (but yet it's still a problem), I'm not as spacy, and I almost feel like a normal human being!

My biggest problem now is that I eat it gluten accidentally all the time. I was wondering what everyone's favorite books or guides are for ingredients and foods that contain gluten. I'm going to print off the lists from this site but do you guys have any other suggestions? I'd really appreciate it!!

Sorry this was too long.

-Elaine

[MACleod]

Hey,

I am new here but have been wheat free for over 2 years now and just finished my first year at the University of Virginia. I know that wheat free because of an allergy and gluten free from Celiac is a little different but I thought that I would toss my 2 cents in here.

I went through the year eating all my meals (except breakfast because I ate cereal in my room before class) at the university dining halls. I was able to do this because during the summer I called the nutritionist at my university who put me in contact with all the right people. We met at the beginning of the year when I got there and she introduced me to all the people in the dining hall where I would eat and explained what I needed to do to make sure the food didn't have any wheat in it. We basically had a system where there were 3 to 4 main chefs who I would see when I walked in and I would ask what was good for me today. They pointed me in the right direction and if there wasn't anything they would cook me something while I waited. I liked this because I am very shy and didn't want to look weird just trying to get a meal. It was very casual and just looked like I was being nice to the staff which is pretty normal at my university. I still had a hard time going out to get meal and am very self conscious asking about wheat free selections at restaurants and such.

Sorry this was so long, but if anybody is going to UVa or any other university, I hoped this helps and feel free to contact me for more information.

Thanks.

[Guest ChloeB]

hey my names bekki. i've been celiac for a year and a month now. it was so cool to find a website were there are people around my own age. i'm 17 by the way. this coming fall i'm entering college so if there is anyone out there who can give me some advice on dealing with celiac in college please let me know.

HI I'M CHLOE ! MY OLDER SISTER IS GOING TO GO TO COLLEGE AND SHES 18 MAYBE SHE CAN GIV YOU SOME TIPS,HER NAME IS MORGAN SHE ALSO HAS celiac disease!

CHLOE.