47 f, gastro doc confirmed celiac

[MegWatkins]

After the last couple years of suffering through episodes that would happen every couple months, lasting about 12-24 hours, with bouts of abdominal pain that would resemble labor contractions and nausea/vomiting…I finally had a gastroenterologist perform an endoscopy and confirmed celiac this past week. 
I’m lost!  I’m not much of a cook and don’t know where to turn. 
I’d so appreciate any advice and help on what to do next and what would help make life more manageable for this busy working wife and mom with this recent diagnosis. 
Thank you!

[trents]

Welcome to the forum, @MegWatkins!

So, you say you're not much of a cook but how have you been feeding your family up to this point? Do you resort to fast food a lot, eating out mostly, prepackaged meals? When you say you're not much of a cook, by that do you refer to cooking from scratch?

The first thing to realize is that eating out is the #1 most unsafe choice for the celiac. You may order what seems to be gluten free food from the menu and is even advertised that way but you have no control over how it is handled and prepared back in the kitchen. There are lots of ways gluten free food gets cross contaminated before it gets to you in restaurants. Our forum admin, Scott Adams, tells the story of ordering gluten free noodles at an Olive Garden and getting very sick from them. With some investigation he found out that they were cooked in the same pot with other people's wheat noodles. 

The second thing I would say is that relying a lot of prepackaged dedicated gluten free food is expensive. Yes, you will need to invest in some of those things but to depend totally on them puts a big hit in the budget. It's not that difficult to eat gluten free using main line food products once you get a handle on the myriad of ways food companies deploy gluten unexpectedly in main line prepackaged products and also developing awareness of cross contamination issues. Cross contamination refers to the unintentional inclusion of wheat/barley/rye in food products as it comes into contact with non-gluten ingredients in production, transport, storage and processing. For instance, you buy a bag of dried lentils and you don't realize that 15% of the seeds in the bag are wheat seeds. Or, you buy a snack product and don't realize that it was processed on the same equipment that was just used for a run of Wheaties cereal. Getting savvy at this requires education and experience and mistakes will be made.

The third thing I would say is that it will be challenging for you to eat gluten free while the rest of your family is not. Many families find that they all have to move to eating gluten free in order to protect their celiac loved one or loved ones, at least in the home.

You are not going to want to here this, but the best way to eat safe and economically as a celiac is to focus on cooking fresh, simple and naturally gluten free. Fresh meat and veggies and fresh fruit. 

You also need to be aware that there is somewhere between a 10% and an over 40% (depending on which study you believe) that your first degree relatives (parents, siblings, children) will develop or have developed celiac disease, though many celiacs are "silent" (i.e., largely asymptomatic) for years. So, keep an eye out.

I am including this link to help you get a jumpstart to gluten free eating. Remember, it is easy to eat lower gluten but much more challenging to eat truly gluten free: 

 

[MegWatkins]

Thanks for the quick response!

Yes, cooking from scratch is what I mean when I say I am not much of a cook. It’s been lots of prepackaged meals or very easy prep, and this past year I have been resorting to a grocery delivery service called HungryRoot that plans meals and recipes and I prepare according to what’s been sent. It’s worked out great and made my life easier, finally being able to cook for my family meals that taste good…And I did see that they offer a gluten-free option, so that all the meals sent are tailored to the celiac. So that’s where I was planning to start.

My gastroenterologist’s office has a new dietitian that will reach out in the next few weeks, but I was told she’s still trying to get her footing and won’t be available until then.

I very much appreciate the link and am grateful to have at least a Celiac 101 to help get me started.