Cravings

[Holly04]

Hello everyone, I'm 13 and pretty new on the gluten-free diet. Just wondering, I know you can't have dextrin, but what about dextrose? Anyways, if anyone could get back to me on that, it would be very helpful.

I've been on the diet for a couple of weeks now, and I get unbelievable wheat cravings-especially when I'm around my friends and they're eating pizza or a sandwich or something along those lines. I haven't brought myself to cheat on purpose yet, but I have had some awful results after cross-contamination. Does anybody else ever get cravings??

Please Reply If You Can!

Thanks,

Holly

Hate To Be gluten-free

[flagbabyds]

Dextrose is just sugar so i'm pretty sure it's ok. Also just the gluten-free safe/forbidden ingredients lest on this website

[byuiemily]

Hey Holly

Even though it's been almost 2 years, I still get horrible cravings sometimes; I think that is normal, but it's when you can control those cravings, like trying to ignore them and fight against cheating on the diet, that's what will make the biggest difference. I crave pasta a whole lot and bagels, so I make sure that I keep corn pasta at home so that I can make it up when I get home, instead of giving in to the gluten filled pasta. I don't know, you just have to come up with little tricks to help pass the cravings, and you'll learn what works best for you as time goes by. Who knows, maybe your cravings will cease in the next couple months; there are those out there who no longer crave things that they aren't supposed to be eating, but it isn't guaranteed that you'll ever stop having cravings. Just hang in there, and give a hollar whenever you feel like you need the help; that's what we're here for

[burdee]

I learned I had celiac only 10 weeks ago and then more recently that I react to caseine as well as lactose in dairy. When I first started the gluten free approach I feared cravings would distract me from avoiding gluten and make me get careless or even give up at times. So I immediately looked for gluten free substitutes for all my favorite starches. I never much liked pasta, but I really needed breads, cereals and cookies. Fortunately I found really great tasting gluten-free varieties of those foods. I didn't feel deprived at all. When my continuing symptoms made me suspect dairy intolerance as well, I really DID NOT want to give up dairy. But feeling great for 36 dairy free hours and then feeling TERRIBLE after drinking about 1/4 cup of lactose free milk convinced me I had to go dairy free as well. I had already done a whole day without any dairy, so I knew I could find substitute foods. But my craving for milk in my coffee tempted me to return to dairy after 36 hours of feeling great. So today, I looked for soy milk and soy yogurts as well as sorbets and frozen dairy/gluten free fruit juice bars. Just doing without makes me feel deprived and crave what I can't have. Feeling deprived makes me want to 'just have a little' of whatever I crave. However, I've learned that a 'little' gluten or dairy causes as much pain as a LOT used to cause. The only way I can avoid deprivation, craving and cheating is to SUBSTITUTE with great gluten/dairy free foods. Fortunately many people on this website and local celiac group members are more than happy to help me by sharing what gluten-free or dairy free products THEY like. Good luck! Focus on getting well and SUBSTITUTE!

[celiac3270]

Hello everyone, I'm 13 and pretty new on the gluten-free diet. Just wondering, I know you can't have dextrin, but what about dextrose?

Hi...I, too, am thirteen and about 5 months into the gluten-free diet.

First off, you can have dextrin...sometimes. Dextrin is often a safe ingredient in the United States, but you have to call the company...the source of it matters. Dextrin can be made of wheat, therefore, being a forbidden ingredient. However, dextrin is an ingredient of Starburst, a gluten-free candy, because in that instance, it is made of corn. So, if the dextrin is made of wheat, it's bad....corn, it's good...it depends, and you have to call the company to find out what it's derived from.

Next, dextrose is fine. It is on the safe ingredient list at Celiac.com. The ingredients can be confusing since they sound similar....and can be misleading. For example, malt is bad, and dextrin can be bad, so what a surprise when you learn that maltodextrin is fine in the US. Another is buckwheat, which, although it has the word "wheat" in it, contains no wheat whatsoever and is gluten-free.

I've been on the diet for a couple of weeks now, and I get unbelievable wheat cravings-especially when I'm around my friends and they're eating pizza or a sandwich or something along those lines. I haven't brought myself to cheat on purpose yet, but I have had some awful results after cross-contamination.

[MySuicidalTurtle]

Hello! I used to get cravings and sometimes do when I can mell certian food. but there are many yummie treats that are glutenfree. I have always belived in the 21 days to start a habit and that works well for me with this food. Once I just keep on eating it I get used to it and next thing I know it's what I am craving. Tobe honest I cna't recall what wheatbread tastes like anymore, ha. Just keep sticking with the food, be creative, and try to enjoy it because there is a lot to like!

[celiac3270]

Hello! I used to get cravings and sometimes do when I can mell certian food. but there are many yummie treats that are glutenfree. I have always belived in the 21 days to start a habit and that works well for me with this food. Once I just keep on eating it I get used to it and next thing I know it's what I am craving. Tobe honest I cna't recall what wheatbread tastes like anymore, ha. Just keep sticking with the food, be creative, and try to enjoy it because there is a lot to like!

Good point...eating gluten-free pizza instead of the regular isn't a big deal to me when I'm at home...and I don't care about non-gluten-free pizza or crave it at all except for when I'm walking past a pizza place or I see others eating it. The same goes for everything else. Sitting here right now, I can honestly say that there is no gluten food that sounds tempting or good....but sitting next to people eating regular pizza right now would be really annoying and the pizza would be annoying ot smell and be around. Smelling it and watching others eat it is what bothers me....not thinking about it in general...and if you have a good substitute for something it's even easier...................etc.

I can still remember what regular bread, pizza, pasta, and all that other stuff taste like....pretty similar to my replacements for them ...but I don't really miss them.

There is a lot to like...it's just a matter of thinking positively and finding replacements, rather than looking at the things others can have and you can't....good points, Kristina

-celiac3270

[catfish]

Pasta, pasta, pasta.

I crave this constantly and I have found all the gluten-free substitutes (at least to my pallate) pretty substandard. I would love to find something that tasts like real pasta, but nothing I've tried does. Oh, well. The other thing I crave is cheesecake, since I'm also lactose intolerant. I found a good milk-free key lime pie recipe that oddly enough satisfies my cheesecake cravings. But that pasta...

[celiac3270]

Oh, well. The other thing I crave is cheesecake, since I'm also lactose intolerant. I found a good milk-free key lime pie recipe that oddly enough satisfies my cheesecake cravings. But that pasta... 

Mmmm.....ooooh....that sounds good....cheesecake!! My aunt makes an amazing cheesecake, but she'd have to adapt her recipe to make it gluten-free...I haven't had it in ages.....

-celiac3270

[dana-g]

Catfish, does that Key Lime Pie recipe have soy in it? Please say no! It looks like I'm allergic to it (I find out for sure next week.) I'd like to get the recipe if it won't make me break out in hives. You stay home with the kids and cook, too? What a guy!

[burdee]

Catfish: Please post your keylime pie recipe. Now that I'm caseine AND glutton free, I'm also missing cheesecake. I used to LOVE keylime pie flavored yogurt, but I'm afraid to mess with gluten-free pie crusts. Maybe you have an easy pie crust recipe? I hope I'm not sensitive to soy as well. This is my second day of trying soymilk substitutes, but I still have lingering milk sensitivity symptoms. So I'm not sure about soy yet. Avoiding gluten and dairy is ENOUGH!

BURDEE

[hsd1203]

if you're one for baking, Bette Hagman has an amazing vinegar pie crust recipe in her "comfort foods" book, just be careful to use soy free shortening b/c most have soy. (this book has all sorts of other yummy things, too). Trust me, the recipe is worth the trouble, it is super yummy.

I haven't really found a good premade pie crust and mixes without soy can be tricky to find.

[catfish]

I'll write up the recipe and post it. I didn't write down exactly what I did when I made the crust for it the first time because I was improvising on the crust. I used Health Valley brand gluten-free rice bran vanilla cookies instead of graham crackers for the crust, it turned out really good! All my friends agreed it was at least as good as a regular graham cracker crust. There is a little butter in the recipe but I imagine margerine or some similar butter substitute should work just as well. And no, there is no soy in the recipe I used. I have enough key lime juice left over to make another pie and I will write up what I am doing next time so I can post the recipe for the crust; it's really pretty simple.

The filling is made as follows, when I make the crust again I can post the recipe for that too:

Key Lime Pie

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cold water

1 1/2 cups hot water

6 tablespoons lime juice or key lime juice

3 egg yolks

3 tablespoons butter (or substitute)

2 teaspoons fresh grated lime peel

1 pie shell, 9 inch

6 tablespoons sugar

dash salt

Mix 1/3 cup cornstarch in 1/4 cold water in a saucepan. Add 1 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt to cornstarch mixture. Mix well; add hot water. Cook on low heat, stirring constantly, until very thick. Stir in lime juice and continue to heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. In seperate dish beat egg yolks lightly. Beat in about 1/3 cup of the hot mixture; stir egg yolk mixture to the saucepan mixture and cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes longer. Add butter and lime peel and let cool.

Pour cooled mixture into baked pie shell. Refrigerate until firm, decorate with lime slices or mint sprigs if desired.

[burdee]

Hey Catfish: Thanks a bunch for the key lime pie recipe. YUM!!

BURDEE

[celiac3270]

Yep...thanks Catfish....it's also nice that your recipe doesn't include weird flours that you have to buy in 50 pound sacks ....this way it's much easier to try...thank you.

-celiac3270

[Holly04]

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to say..Thanks!! You all really helped me a lot

Thanks Again,

Holly

P.S. Yummmmm..Cheese cake

[carebear0806]

I know what you mean about cravings I guess. Ive had gluten intolerance all my life, it just was tolerable until last summer. Ive been able to cheat when i was about 4 to 13, sometimes I would have sypmtoms but it was alright. Ever since last summer i havent been able to eat gluten. Im not as sensitive as some. I can eat stuff from pans that have been cooked with wheat so im lucky in that sense. Im getting used to not eating it but somtimes it is hard. I agree with you though. Its so much harder when all your friends can eat things you cant. You will get used to eating gluten-free after a while. I mean now not being able to eat certain things is not as big a deal as it used to. There are times when i just think man I really want a pancake, or a sandwich. You just have to find subsitutes. There are alot of good ready made mixes for like cookies and cakes so that is good. I hope you get used to the gluten-free life!

[Guest ecko_gurl18]

I've been Celiac all my life. And i guess everyone is different. I'm 18 and i still get cravings. I mostly get cravings when i see someone eating sometihng that looks and smells really good. I really do hope that they stop for you. All you have to do, is when you feel like cheating think of how much pain you would be in if you did. That's my advise.

[cynicaltomorrow]

I could be fine just hanging out at home by myself eating gluten-free. But, when I get around other people eating gluteny-goodness.. I get cravings.. not to mention depressed. But, it's only been 2 months for me.. so I'm still dealing.

[Mballerina]

Usually when you have a food allergy such as celiac disease, you get horrible cravings such as food addiction almost. This is because gluten is made of a sequence of opium molecules that when not digested work much like Morphine and cause brain activity. As we all know these are highly addictive substances. So don't be a wheat junkie and fight it.

Magdalena, ON, CDA

[cornbread]

Usually when you have a food allergy such as celiac disease, you get horrible cravings such as food addiction almost.  This is because gluten is made of a sequence of opium molecules that when not digested work much like Morphine and cause brain activity.  As we all know these are highly addictive substances.  So don't be a wheat junkie and fight it.

Magdalena, ON, CDA

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I hear that! When I get glutened I get MAD cravings for wheaty type foods (or their gluten-free substitutes). I don't normally eat any grains at all and don't miss them much, but the few days after a gluten accident I am constantly hungry, particularly for breads, cakes, etc. It's as if when my body gets a little bit of gluten it sends signals out to get MORE... I can trick it (satiate the cravings at least) with gluten-free versions, but I'm still annoyed that I start cramming my face with junk I don't normally eat....

The gluten/opium thing makes sense for me too as my symptoms are mainly of the non-gastric variety. Very much feel like I've been drugged.

[fisharefriendsnotfood]

I know what you mean about cravings I guess. Ive had gluten intolerance all my life, it just was tolerable until last summer.  Ive been able to cheat when i was about 4 to 13, sometimes I would have sypmtoms but it was alright. Ever since last summer i havent been able to eat gluten. Im not as sensitive as some.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you are Celiac, then you are doing extreme damage to your body even if you're not feeling it. Even the pan thing, don't do it, because you are hurting yourself.

-Jackie

[ErraticBinxie]

Hi I just wanted to pass on some words of encouragement. You ended your post with "Hate to be Gluten Free." I know right now your outlook is bleak. We have all been through it. I am 18 and have been gluten-free for ten years. Sometimes it sucks. But in the past few years, I have learned to have a sense of pride about it. Something that helped me was a book called "The gluten-free bible" by Jax Peters Lowell. I think everyone that has celiac should read it. I also just bought a t-shirt from silly-yak.com that says "Wheat Sucks". It is the best clothes purchase of my life. A great conversation starter and a good way to raise awareness. Just hang in there and everyone on this message board is here for you.

-Lexis