Newly Diagnosed - Vegan

[vfaith]

Hi everyone,

I was recently diagnosed with celiac. I am still eating gluten because I have to get my endoscopy in a couple of weeks but I am trying to get prepared for the transition. I am 27 years old and I have been a type 1 diabetic since the age of 11.

I have been a vegetarian for 13 years and a vegan for 7. I am wondering if anyone has experience with doing the gluten-free, vegan diet? I am scared that I will never be able to eat out anymore.

Thanks!

[celiacgirls]

I don't have a lot of experience with this but my 8 year old daughter is gluten-free, trialing CF, and is a vegetarian. By eliminating the dairy, she is almost a vegan. I am trying to find other protein sources for her without relying so much on soy because apparently lots of celiacs also have trouble with soy.

When we eat out, she eats a baked potato and a salad. Or beans and rice if they are known to be gluten-free.

We have not tried the vegetarian restaurants here yet but some of them are listed as good places to go for gluten-free dining. My sense is that the vegetarian restaurants may be more accomodating than others.

The sad truth is that with this diagnosis, eating out will probably never be the same. I am also gluten-free and used to love to eat out. While I miss the convenience of being able to eat whatever, I am enjoying the way I feel now and it makes up for the lack of convenience.

[eKatherine]

I was recently diagnosed with celiac. I am still eating gluten because I have to get my endoscopy in a couple of weeks but I am trying to get prepared for the transition. I am 27 years old and I have been a type 1 diabetic since the age of 11.

I have been a vegetarian for 13 years and a vegan for 7. I am wondering if anyone has experience with doing the gluten-free, vegan diet? I am scared that I will never be able to eat out anymore.

Why are they telling you you need an endoscopy if they have already given you the celiac diagnosis?

[Mango04]

Hi everyone,

I was recently diagnosed with celiac. I am still eating gluten because I have to get my endoscopy in a couple of weeks but I am trying to get prepared for the transition. I am 27 years old and I have been a type 1 diabetic since the age of 11.

I have been a vegetarian for 13 years and a vegan for 7. I am wondering if anyone has experience with doing the gluten-free, vegan diet? I am scared that I will never be able to eat out anymore.

Thanks!

Hi -

I'm not vegan, but vegan restaurants are my favorite. I usually don't have a very hard time getting gluten-free food at vegan restaurants (and I'm soy-free too). There's also an entirely vegan market near me and I love shopping there for gluten-free foods. I especially love raw vegan food.

[AndreaB]

Welcome!

I was vegan before being diagnosed with allergy and later through enterolab intolerance to gluten and soy. I am also allergic to some beans and my hubby is allergic to pinto and not willing to try others again. Please if you feel you must remain on the vegan diet, don't rely on soy to fill the gap. Soy can cause as much damage to the villi as gluten and it is a cummalative allergen. If you can tolerate any meat at all, please consider buying only the organic or natural meat that hasn't been fed antibiotics or hormones. It is very expensive but worth it for better health. If you don't feel you can go back to eating meat than you will need to rely on beans for your protein with a little soy thrown in. Please be advised that pinto beans are also one of the highest allergenic beans (soy is highest). Also if you don't want to eat meat, maybe you could return to a ovo vegetarian diet and start eating eggs again. Again be picky about what you buy and only buy the cage free, organic eggs. We buy the ones with omega 3 from wild oats. Wild Oats brand and they are also organic.

You will find a wealth of information of this site.

[lorka150]

i follow a closely related vegan diet (the only non-vegan food i use it honey, and sometimes egg whites in baking and actually find it easier that anything else with eating. because i eat a whole foods diet, i never worry about cross contamination.

regarding eating out, i cannot answer your question as every time i have, i have gotten cross contaminated, however, most vegan restaurants, i am sure, are more diet aware than anywhere else.

[BRUMI1968]

I have been a vegan eater (except for honey and salmon - I know the salmon is a big one...but other than that I fit the diet well) for two years, vegetarian (except the salmon) for fifteen years.

I did find that when I had to go gluten-free, it was more challenging than if I was a meat/cheese eater. Lots of folks on here would talk about yummy meaty/cheesy things they were eating instead of gluten things...but all I had was veggies, fruits, nuts, etc.

All was fine, actually, until I decided to quit grains and beans altogether, to see if that would help some ongoing problems I was having. Suddenly, I didn't have enough to eat, and especially in the protein department.

I made the choice to TRY eating farm-raised ethically treated chickens and eggs (I visited the farm to check) to see how I felt, both ethically and physically. So far it is going alright, though it's only been a few days.

This diet is totally DOABLE as a vegan - it just requires more diligence. And I would definitely stay away from soy - whatever you use now for protein that has obviously been working for you for some time, should work the same. I guess the combining to get full amino acid profiles might be an issue. Well, beans and corn make a complete protein, so that's one way. Nuts and seeds of course, and quinoa is a full protein. Plus, not all folks need a huge amount of protein. If you've been at this vegan thing as long as you have, you must be doing alright.

Do you ever get the magazine Herbivore. I LOVE that magazine.