Need Info. Please Help.....

[r10]

I'm just starting a gluten free diet. This is very overwhelming. I have a hard time eating food "plain." I love salad but I cannot eat it without dressing. Does anyone know of any good dressings that I can use?? What about ketchup and mustard? I have a gluten free soy sauce. I use light mayo so I think I have to get rid of that and get the regular kind. I also need to lose weight. I have a horrible time with digestion and just recently bought some digestive enzymes to help. I'm going to need all the help I can get and any tips to help with weight loss. Thank you!!!

[Happycat]

Hello,

I know Heinz Ketchup is gluten-free. French's mustard prepared mustards,and French's Honey mustard are gluten-free. Helmann's mayo is gluten-free. Kraft lists gluten clearly on their labels. They don't hide gluten it will say it in parenthesis (wheat) or whatever the gluten source is. Boars Head list of not gluten free foods are olive loaf, dutch loaf, pickle and pepper loaf, Hickory smoked pasteurized process gruyere cheese, Pre cooked bacon (food service) Bulk pre sliced pepperoni, and LaRosa D'Oro stuffed cherry peppers. They say all the rest is gluten-free. Skippy peanut butter and Jiff are gluten-free.

Aunt Jemima pancake syrup.

If I think of more I will let you know.

Have FUN!

Lisa

[tarnalberry]

I almost never eat plain food! :-)

I usually make my own dressings (lemon-garlic, honey-mustard, balsamic vinaigrette) but Annie's makes a number of gluten-free dressings (check the label) and Kraft will clearly label wheat on their ingredients.

As for the rest of it... that's exactly what the spice aisle is for. And aromatic produce (garlic, onions, shallots). What sorts of things do you like to eat? Maybe we can fuss them gluten-free...

[ponita]

Hey r10,

Still feeling overwhelmed?

You are in the right spot for support, menu suggestions and soooo much more.

I too am a "newbie" and this site has given me so much encouragement that I'm handling this life change one day at a time.

When I 1st started I was looking at my food as basic as possible and have added to it with more safe choices. The internet has so much info on gluten-free foods with goggle but before I have bought anything I have asked others what their preferences are and that has helped me save money on products that may be gluten-free but taste awfull.

This is the place to be if you must be gluten free!

Melissa

[r10]

Thanks so much for all of you responses and suggestions. I guess I am just going to have to take this one day at a time. I now know that I can't eat Chinese food anymore because I had steamed broccoli with chicken and garlic sauce yesterday for lunch. That afternoon, I had severe cramps and felt pretty bad the rest of the afternoon at work. Last night I had a beer and I don't know if I had a delayed reaction from it but once again I had cramps this afternoon and that's the only thing I think it could've been. I had coffee with sweet-n-low and cream this morning and ate a banana. Am I not supposed to be drinking coffee?? I had a v-8 at lunch and some salted pumpkin seeds because I didn't have much time to eat because I had errands to run and ran out of time. We are having major flooding here in PA and instead of it taking me 45 minutes to get home, it took two and a half hours and I thought I was going to explode on that bus - I had to go to the bathroom so bad and had to hold it. Not a fun experience let me tell you. I had a salad tonight with dressing - but I just noticed that it has "natural flavor" as an ingredient. I hope this doesn't again bother my stomach. Do most of you after you ingest gluten notice symptoms right away or do you notice it the next day??? I'm drinking right now a raspberry flavored sparkling water (sugar-free and caffeine free) and it also has natural flavor. This is really really frustrating. I admire everyone on these boards. I hope I can be successful at this. I can see not eating breads, cakes, and stuff like that but if I have to worry about flavored sparkling water... this is going to be extremely difficult.

[celiac3270]

First off, if you have an issue with weight, the gluten-free diet alone might solve it (if it's due to celiac).

Heinz Ketchup is gluten-free -- if you e-mail them, they'll give you a gluten-free list.

Check the celiac.com site index....you can get lists of forbidden ingredients and go to a mainstream list of gluten-free........whatever you want: hotdogs, dressings, etc. It's a great place to start.

[tarnalberry]

That's a funny thing about the Chinese place... Was the garlic sauce brown? Or anything other than white? I probably had soy sauce or a sauce that used soy sauce in it. I generally stick to the steamed shrimp and vegetables, or the shrimp and vegetables with the white sauce. I think that many neighborhood places may use frozen chicken (far more economic, and easier to store), which may be "enhanced" with broth, which I why I stick with shrimp, which I have never seen to be broth enhanced.

[BRCoats]

If you are just beginning the diet, you might not be healed enough to not have a reaction. In other words, I've been gluten-free for over a month, but I still don't digest things well (but better!). Give your body time to heal, and give yourself room for mistakes. You might want to just stick to the basics.....meat, potatoes, veggies, etc. I do a lot of bbq chicken. Put a cup of Heinz ketchup, and one can of Pepsi together, and mix with a wisk. Marinade the chicken overnight and you can either grill it, or fry it. Pretty yummy, very simple, and cheap! :-) Bananas do good to.....and eggs.

Good luck, and keep your chin up. The diet gets easier the more you do it.

Brenda

[lovegrov]

Beer bad. Made with barley.

richard

[DrLeonard]

You mentioned coffee and I've wondered about that, too. I know that the coffee I drink is gluten-free, but sometimes it's just as painful. I've noticed that it's especially harsh if I haven't been eating regularly---maybe coffee on an empty stomach is just rough, celiac or not?

[Canadian Karen]

Beer is definitely a no-no, unless it is a special gluten-free make of beer.....

I find Kraft dressing and bbq sauces are best and safest for me. I know they list gluten quite clearly on their labels and I completely trust Kraft. I even use their peanut butter.....

Karen