Anyone Ever Cheat On This Diet?

[tarnalberry]

To be fair, this board is *not* representative of the average celiac. Studies put the compliance rate for the diet somewhere well under 50% (though I don't recall the exact number). It's one of the reasons doctor's tell their patients that the diet is "too hard", because the statistics show that people can't generally keep it up. (Of course, you could follow this logic down a rather long path...)

[Mango04]

Has anyone ever cheated on this diet out of frustration and being fed up? Did you get sick? Did you have to go to the hospital? I am wanting to cheat VERY BAD. I want to eat a whole cake! I am even having dreams of eating breaded chicken and a slice of entemanns cake. I just am worried that I would get so sick I would end up in the hospital

I don't ever want to cheat because the food I eat is SO good! Really, you should make yourself some awesome gluten-free food (cake and chicken and cookies and everything)...it can be GOOD!

[cmom]

I cheated for about 6 years after being diagnosed. Then one summer, I was sick for nine straight days and I decided enough is enough. I have to get serious about this if I want to be "normal". I think it took that period for me to be convinced. I have been faithful since that day of decision.

[BostonBill]

To the best of my knowledge I have been gluton free since being diagnosed 2/7/07. Prior to being dignosed I was a walking cadaver with many ailments. In four short months the color has come back in my complextion, getting many compliments on how good I look from people who don"t even know that I have Celiac. My mood, disposition, attitude and over all mental state has improved to a level I could not even imagine was possible. I did not know how bad I felt until I felt better. Bruising of skin has just about disappeared. I have not had heartburn since the day I started the diet after eating antacids like they were m&ms prior to diet. I sleep a solid eight to eight and a half hours without waking when prior to diet two hours without getting up was thought to be good. Have gained about ten pounds which is good. Have not had any muscle cramps which I had all the time especially at night. Energy level has not been like now in probably thirty years. I feel like the clock has been turned back. Have had "D" once, ten days after starting diet I ate out and paid for it next day. These are some of the differences for me since being gluton free not to mention what healing might be going on inside. I would have to be absolutely insane to cheat on purpose. This is life like I never thought was possible. Sorry for being so long but once I started to respond to this question I could not stop.

[michelleL]

Never intentionally - the symptoms are too severe (hair loss being one of them is a great motivator...)

[Kayaking Mom]

Has anyone ever cheated on this diet out of frustration and being fed up? Did you get sick? Did you have to go to the hospital? I am wanting to cheat VERY BAD. I want to eat a whole cake! I am even having dreams of eating breaded chicken and a slice of entemanns cake. I just am worried that I would get so sick I would end up in the hospital

I wouldn't want to cheat. There are so many wonderful gluten-free options available. I just made a huge pan of Pamela's brownies tonight. I also made chicken cutlets using Bob's Red Mill all purpose gluten-free flour mixed with Southern Style Tortilla Crumbs Mexican Flavor and served with baked yams. You can make your own healthy gluten-free cakes and add whatever you like, and not have white glue like baked products. I make my own pasta sauce and serve gluten-free pasta and nobody knows the difference. Nothing is worth feeling sick and being in the john for 1/2 the next day. I would encourage you to enjoy as many fresh foods as possible and take pleasure in knowing that you are being healthy and feeling great. A positive outlook is over half the battle. Best of luck to you. PS - if you are in the Philadelphia area June 23, NFCA is putting on a Gluten Free Cooking Spree. You can watch chefs and doctors create innovating gluten-free dishes and there is plenty of samples to try. The event is to raise celiac awareness among the restaurant and medical professions and is alot of fun.

[Ciglee]

Hell Ya!!

I am honest...I cheat!! I don't like to do it..but sometimes I just do! yes, I get sick...yes, I say I will never do it again...but, I totally understand why people do it!!!

I am not proud of myself that I cheat either!

I know this post was from this spring...but, I like to read all the posts...

Don't feel bad if you have cheated...you will stop cheating eventually...we are all human.

Some of these people on this forum don't even have Celiac!! they want Celiac soooo badly...( which I don't understand ) they have every other symptom....and then you read their profile...and it says..negative bloodwork/biopsy **** well...you know what that means? it means you don't have Celiac!!!! I understand that you feel better when you don't eat gluten...but, don't proclaim yourself Celiac...if you don't have it!!!

I totally understand cheating on this diet.

I was just diagnosed this fall....I have cheated less and less...I am getting a lot better...and you will too.....

[cruelshoes]

Some of these people on this forum don't even have Celiac!! they want Celiac soooo badly...( which I don't understand ) they have every other symptom....and then you read their profile...and it says..negative bloodwork/biopsy **** well...you know what that means? it means you don't have Celiac!!!! I understand that you feel better when you don't eat gluten...but, don't proclaim yourself Celiac...if you don't have it!!!

I would respectfully disagree on your statement above. Many individuals have their bloodwork/biopsies performed by physicians that are untrained or ill-informed on how to perform them. General consensus is that 10 - 12 samples should be taken when performing a biopsy to get a true picture of ones condition. I know many people who had only 1 - 2 samples taken. Considering how long the GI tract is, one sample is very unlikely to show a true picture.

You say you are not proud of your cheating, but it certainly sounds like you are. You are almost boasting about it. Why would you do that to yourself? One cannot stick ones hand into the lions mouth without expecting to get bitten. Not tring to start a flame war, and it is good that you are being honest, I guess. But I hope you decide to stop cheating because the only one you are hurting is yourself.

[Teacher1958]

Hell Ya!!

I am honest...I cheat!! I don't like to do it..but sometimes I just do! yes, I get sick...yes, I say I will never do it again...but, I totally understand why people do it!!!

I am not proud of myself that I cheat either!

I know this post was from this spring...but, I like to read all the posts...

Don't feel bad if you have cheated...you will stop cheating eventually...we are all human.

Some of these people on this forum don't even have Celiac!! they want Celiac soooo badly...( which I don't understand ) they have every other symptom....and then you read their profile...and it says..negative bloodwork/biopsy **** well...you know what that means? it means you don't have Celiac!!!! I understand that you feel better when you don't eat gluten...but, don't proclaim yourself Celiac...if you don't have it!!!

I totally understand cheating on this diet.

I was just diagnosed this fall....I have cheated less and less...I am getting a lot better...and you will too.....

Oh well. Yes. Hell ya and good morning to you, too.

There are plenty of people who either have no health insurance or health insurance that is so inadequate that they are unable to pursue the tests necessary to obtain an accurate diagnosis. In my case, my health insurance is fine, but I am not going to go through a six-week gluten challenge to prove that wheat is very detrimental to my health. I've had symptoms since the age of 7 and I am 49 years old. I think that if I am doubled over in pain with severe diarrhea on a frequent basis, I have painful sores in my mouth, I have vitiligo which is causing my pigment to fade, I have significant symptoms of ADD that I don't have when I am eating gluten free, I've had depression for years which lessens without gluten, myoclonic jerks which disappear when I am not eating gluten, symptoms of fibromyalgia that disappear on a gluten free diet, etc., then I must have a problem with gluten. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are it's a duck.

I may have celiac disease, I may not. I am looking for a gastroenterogist who specializes in gluten issues. I am scheduled to have a colonoscopy. I just had a bone density test (no results). In the meantime, I will remain gluten free. There are many other people on these boards who are doing the same. They don't want to have celiac or gluten sensitivity or whatever you want to call it, but they're stuck with some nasty symptoms that improve drastically when they follow a gluten free diet. I applaud them for having the discipline to take care of their health.

[Eriella]

Some of these people on this forum don't even have Celiac!! they want Celiac soooo badly...( which I don't understand ) they have every other symptom....and then you read their profile...and it says..negative bloodwork/biopsy **** well...you know what that means? it means you don't have Celiac!!!! I understand that you feel better when you don't eat gluten...but, don't proclaim yourself Celiac...if you don't have it!!!

Just want to offer the opposite side of the coin... My blood work shows no antibodies and my GI decided not to do an endoscopy for a lot of very good reasons (I will be switching insurance several times in the next few years, we already know it is gluten, so it doesn't make a difference if it is intolerance or celiac...). I know gluten caused my health problems, and not eating it took them away, but I don't have a disease or condition to label it. This means I am not covered under the ADA, I am not able to get reimbursements for food expenses, and that my prescription insurance will not cover the more expensive, gluten-free prescriptions. None of this would be a problem if gluten wasn't a problem for me, but I get severe symptoms from even the smallest amounts of gluten. I have to act like a celiac and celiac disease is more understood. If I had a celiac diagnosis, my life would be so much easier.

I do not refer to myself as a celiac, because we don't have the tests to prove it, but I understand why a lot of people would. Because it takes something like 11 years for the average person to get a diagnosis, there are a lot of really bad labs, no definitive tests, and such a broad range of symptoms, there are a lot of people that may **know** they have celiac, but not be able to prove it or opt not to prove it for insurance reasons.

While I definitely understand and respect your point, I think that until a definitive test is developed, technicians and doctors are trained to know what to look for, and insurance doesn't deny you coverage for the disease, people will continue to say they are celiacs without a diagnosis. Whether it is right or wrong can be debated, but I feel like many of the people are in the same boat, regardless of their diagnosis, or lack thereof.

And in response to the original question-- NOPE! I want real pizza so badly, but I remember how sick I was and how much it messed up my life.

[kbtoyssni]

Hell Ya!!

Some of these people on this forum don't even have Celiac!! they want Celiac soooo badly...( which I don't understand ) they have every other symptom....and then you read their profile...and it says..negative bloodwork/biopsy **** well...you know what that means? it means you don't have Celiac!!!! I understand that you feel better when you don't eat gluten...but, don't proclaim yourself Celiac...if you don't have it!!!

I would also disagree. I do not have positive bloodwork or biopsy. I figured it out through an elimination diet. By that point I'd been gluten-free for too long to get positive bloodwork, and I was not willing to keep making myself sick just to get an "official" diagnosis. I may have been "just" gluten intolerant, but I feel that celiac is the last stage in gluten intolerance, the one where your body is so badly damaged. And I still never cheat. I get too sick when I eat gluten to want to cheat. If I did cheat, I'd probably end up developing celiac so people who are "only" gluten intolerant should still not cheat.

[Mango04]

Some of these people on this forum don't even have Celiac!! they want Celiac soooo badly...( which I don't understand )

I don't think these people want celiac "soooo badly." What they want is an answer to their ongoing health problems.

Granted, I don't understand why people with negative test results and no improvement on the gluten-free diet label themselves celiac, while blaming all of their severe symptoms on mysertious sources of cc, but that's another issue that has nothing to do with the topic of this thread

[little d]

Has anyone ever cheated on this diet out of frustration and being fed up? Did you get sick? Did you have to go to the hospital? I am wanting to cheat VERY BAD. I want to eat a whole cake! I am even having dreams of eating breaded chicken and a slice of entemanns cake. I just am worried that I would get so sick I would end up in the hospital

Yes I have cheated more than I care to admit. It is really hard for me, because I am the only one in my house that admitts that there is a problem. I was tested last year and all test were negative so that makes even harder for me because my hardheadedness kicked in and I wanted to show the GI doc that there was something wrong with me when I really paid the price with all my symptoms, I don't get sick like some people hear so I am fortunate in that respect. I have been making a point now to eat what I need and pass what others in my family eat because I don't want the heartburn, stomach burn, nasuea but no Vomiting somtimes I wish I would, D, C, headaches, bodyaches muscle and bone. So any way I am getting better with my food choices I am passing more on regular food, sometimes I am not but I know I am only hurting myself and other noses in the house

donna

[Guest Doll]

Hell Ya!!

I am honest...I cheat!! I don't like to do it..but sometimes I just do! yes, I get sick...yes, I say I will never do it again...but, I totally understand why people do it!!!

I am not proud of myself that I cheat either!

I know this post was from this spring...but, I like to read all the posts...

Don't feel bad if you have cheated...you will stop cheating eventually...we are all human.

Some of these people on this forum don't even have Celiac!! they want Celiac soooo badly...( which I don't understand ) they have every other symptom....and then you read their profile...and it says..negative bloodwork/biopsy **** well...you know what that means? it means you don't have Celiac!!!! I understand that you feel better when you don't eat gluten...but, don't proclaim yourself Celiac...if you don't have it!!!

I totally understand cheating on this diet.

I was just diagnosed this fall....I have cheated less and less...I am getting a lot better...and you will too.....

I have never cheated personally, because I react very severely. I am not sure if this makes me lucky, or unlucky! All I want to add is that I do understand why some Celiac's do not approve of those who actually TEST negative (NO antibodies, NO pos. biopsy, nothing!) for Celiac calling themselves Celiac simply because they feel better gluten-free (assuming the test was correct). When I got a new doctor, I told her I had Celiac Disease, and she actually asked if I actually had been Dx'd! For a second I was shocked. I had no idea why she would ask that question, and I was kind of insulted and surprised. I mean, look at my sig, I'm a text book high risk category. ;p Who would lie about Celiac? I should point out that after we got that cleared up, she turned out to be an awesome doctor. It turns out, some people say they have Celiac, cut out gluten, and feel no or not much better on the diet. Then they come to her, suffering with late stage Crohn's, bowel cancer, intestinal infection, etc. Don't forget, even if Celiac is more common than thought, it still affects less than 1% of the population. I also don't understand why someone would call themselves Celiac if they actually test negative AND have no response to the diet. Just before I was tested for Celiac (3 days prior) I only ate fruit salad and tuna. I did this because I was pretty sure I had Celiac and wanted to do a "trial run" gluten-free just to see if I felt better. I felt better RIGHT AWAY. I did not get diarehea, and my blood sugars weren't falling dangerously low. When you take the offending substance out (allergy or intolerance), you should feel at least *somewhat* better right away. Granted most don't become 100% better overnight, but if you still are sick after 3 mths gluten-free, you probably don't have Celiac (unless you have refractory Celiac or perm. intestinal damage, both which should show up in standard tests).

P.S. Although I do miss the taste of wheat and regular beer , I find that you can make pretty much anything gluten-free. I have meals with lemon pepper salmon, salad with goat's milk feta, and rice. All natually gluten-free and it tastes great! Cook yourself a healthy gluten-free meal when you want to cheat...it is better for you and will fill you up.

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Hell Ya!!

Some of these people on this forum don't even have Celiac!! they want Celiac soooo badly...( which I don't understand ) they have every other symptom....and then you read their profile...and it says..negative bloodwork/biopsy **** well...you know what that means? it means you don't have Celiac!!!! I understand that you feel better when you don't eat gluten...but, don't proclaim yourself Celiac...if you don't have it!!!

I haven't seen people with negative biopsy AND negative bloodwork, but I have seen many with positive bloodwork and negative biopsies (including myself), as well as textbook high risk indicators, such as other autoimmune problems often seen together with celiac, such as diabetes, Graves, Hashimoto's, etc, and/or "diagnoses" of other syndromes that are most likely celiac disease, anyway, such as fibromylagia nad IBS.

Nobody here WANTS celiac. But neither do we want to be told we DON'T have it when a biopsy is such a hit-and-miss thing. Yes, I know it's considered the gold standard of diagnosis, but think about it: 22 feet of intestine, and villi damage is often patchy and not visible to the naked eye. The doctor takes two random samples, they either don't show damage, or the doctor observes that the samples aren't normal, but since the villi aren't totally gone, the doctor says it's not celiac (yes, this often happens in this country).

Being told that you don't have celiac disease simply because of a negative biopsy (even though you have at least one positive blood test) is like being told you are not allergic to peanuts unless you have a major anaphylactic reaction first.

So what do we do--go back to eating gluten until we destroy our intestines so that we can finally be told we were right all along?

The point is, it's immaterial whether it is gluten intolerance or celiac disease. If you are gluten intolerant, and you continue to eat gluten (which the doctors tell you you can do if your biopsy is negative), you WILL most likely damage your intestines.

[little d]

Hell Ya!!

I am honest...I cheat!! I don't like to do it..but sometimes I just do! yes, I get sick...yes, I say I will never do it again...but, I totally understand why people do it!!!

I am not proud of myself that I cheat either!

I know this post was from this spring...but, I like to read all the posts...

Don't feel bad if you have cheated...you will stop cheating eventually...we are all human.

Some of these people on this forum don't even have Celiac!! they want Celiac soooo badly...( which I don't understand ) they have every other symptom....and then you read their profile...and it says..negative bloodwork/biopsy **** well...you know what that means? it means you don't have Celiac!!!! I understand that you feel better when you don't eat gluten...but, don't proclaim yourself Celiac...if you don't have it!!!

I totally understand cheating on this diet.

I was just diagnosed this fall....I have cheated less and less...I am getting a lot better...and you will too.....

SORRY I JUST SAW THIS AFTER I POSTED ON THIS TREAD:

SO YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE LIKE ME AND OTHERS HERE WHO ARE NEGATIVE WANT A DIGNOSES OF CELIACS. I DON'T KNOW ABOUT EVERYBODY ELSE HERE WHO IS NEGATIVE BUT FOR ME I AM SORRY IF OFFEND YOU HERE BUT I WANT A DIAGNOSE BECAUSE I NEED TO KNOW THAT I HAVE A LIGIT PROBLEM, I WANT A NAME FOR MY POSSIBLE PROBLEM REATHER IT IS REAL OR NOT!!!!! I SUFFER JUST LIKE YOU, MAYBE NOT THE SAME WAY THAT YOU DO, BUT I DO. I DON'T GET SICK LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE DO BUT I SUFFER. I HAVE STRUGGLED THINKING THAT MAYBE I DON'T BELONG HERE BECAUSE I DON'T GET SICK, VOMIT THAT IS WHAT I THINK OF WHEN YOU SAY SICK. I HAVE MY SHARE OF DIARARRA, CONSTIPATION, HEARTBURN, STOMACHBURN, NAUSEA, MENTAL PROBLEMS THAT I HAVE NOT ADMITTED TO HAVING TO ANYONE BUT HERE BRAINFOG, LACK OF CONCENTRATION TO NAME A FEW. YOU KNOW I WAS TESTED AND I WAS IN FACT GLUTEN FREE STRICK DIET, PRIOR TO TESTING AND I HAVE READ HERE THAT IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE TESTED DO IT BEFORE GOING ON THE DIET I DID NOT SET FOOT IN THIS FORUM UNTIL I STARTED THE DIET AND TESTED WHICH EVERYTHING WAS NEGATIVE, BLOOD WORK, ENDO, COLONSCOPE, EVEN THE PILLCAM I ONLY DID THAT BECAUSE MY GI DOC HAD A NEW TOY AND WANTED TO USE IT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE THINKING THAT MAYBE I HAD HIDDEN DAMAGE SOMEWHERE. SO I MAYBE NEGATIVE BUT THAT DOESNOT MEAN THAT I DON'T HAD CELIACS. JUST TOO LET YOU KNOW HERE ARE JUST A FEW OF MY SYMPTOMS.

D, C, HEARTBURN, STOMACHBURN, NAUSEA, FATIGE AFTER EATING GLUTEN MEALS, BRAINFOG, LACK OF CONSITRATION, TOOTH ENAMEL DISCOLORATION, SHORT STATURE ALWAYS THE SHORTEST WHEN GROWING UP, OVERWEIGHT YES CELIACS CAN BE OVERWEIGHT. AND APPERANTLY OUTBURST LIKE I JUST EXIBITIED

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Hear , hear, little d!!! Well said! (And, girlfriend, you TOTALLY crack me up! )

Just wanted to add one more thing: if it takes an average of 11 years in this country to get an accurate diagnosis of celiac disease (as shown in the 2006 University of Chicago study), what gives any already-diagnosed-sufferer-of-celiac disease the right to tell someone else that they DON'T have it, just because they have one of the stupid doctors who takes 11 years to figure it out??!!!!!

[Karen B.]

I'm a biopsy diagnosed Celaic but my Sis can't eat enough wheat to test positive due to a wheat allergy. That doesn't mean she doesn't have it any more than a diabetic that's tested without consuming glucose doesn't have diabetes. Something you might want to read before assuming people with negative results don't have Celiac:

False Negative Serological Results Increase with Less Severe Villous Atrophy

...

• The serology test may be inconclusive if:
  

The sample handling and shipping is inappropriate; e.g. the serum was shipped at room temperature for days

The patient has IgA deficiency, which occurs in one out of 600 people in the general population and much more frequently in patients with celiac disease. In these cases the antigliadin IgA and the antiendomysium IgA tests give negative results. If the tests are performed in a laboratory specialized in celiac serological tests, the laboratory recommends a test for immunoglobulins. If a patient has IgA deficiency and positive antigliadin IgG test, he/she should undergo further absorptive tests and/or an intestinal biopsy.

https://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p_prodid=25&p_catid=&sid=91hH9H1kUF3M9lr-39107562945.f7

[little d]

Hear , hear, little d!!! Well said! (And, girlfriend, you TOTALLY crack me up! )

Just wanted to add one more thing: if it takes an average of 11 years in this country to get an accurate diagnosis of celiac disease (as shown in the 2006 University of Chicago study), what gives any already-diagnosed-sufferer-of-celiac disease the right to tell someone else that they DON'T have it, just because they have one of the stupid doctors who takes 11 years to figure it out??!!!!!

I'm glad to crack you up Its my pleaser

I think that I am ok now from my little rampaid, I almost thought that I heard a stampede rollin down the way

Just to let Ciglee know that I have suffered for years as long as I can remember with C and D mostley C but when I did have D it really hurt me to the piont of tears.

But I'm not going to argue with someone who thinks that if something is negatvie then it is negative and not try to find out what is causing the pain, or symptoms.

Ok i'll quit before i get in a rampaid again

donna

[Yellow Rose]

Has anyone ever cheated on this diet out of frustration and being fed up? Did you get sick? Did you have to go to the hospital? I am wanting to cheat VERY BAD. I want to eat a whole cake! I am even having dreams of eating breaded chicken and a slice of entemanns cake. I just am worried that I would get so sick I would end up in the hospital

My daughter the bio-chemist and I have been asking about celiac vs intolerances. This is what we have learned so far from her teachers and allergist Dr. If you have been diognosed with celiac you have antibodies running around in your body that will never go away and will always react. When your antibodies find something that it does not know it grabs a hold of it and takes it around to all the other antibodies asking them if they know this thing. When it finds the right one it hands off to it and the like antibodies are alerted and run around grabbing all the rest of what should not be there. If you are intolerant then you will still react it will just take longer. This is why some of you react so quickly and some do not. The other thing Sarah said is after getting rid of gluten there are less antibodies in your system and it may take longer to react but react you will.

The allergist Dr. said that it takes 30 days for any food to get out of your system. That if you are intolerant then you can add back in after 30 days one meal with gluten every 7 days. That you will probably not react if you stick with it this way and only this way. Big emphisis on probably. As far as my thinking goes IT'S NOT WORTH THE PAIN!!!! DON'T DO IT!!!! REMEMBER THIS WHEN YOU GET CRAVINGS: THIS TOO SHALL PASS!!

Yellow Rose

[Fiddle-Faddle]

Has anyone ever cheated on this diet out of frustration and being fed up? Did you get sick? Did you have to go to the hospital? I am wanting to cheat VERY BAD. I want to eat a whole cake! I am even having dreams of eating breaded chicken and a slice of entemanns cake. I just am worried that I would get so sick I would end up in the hospital

Once I got through the first couple of weeks, those cravings to eat an entire cake really dwindled. I did find a wonderful cookbook (Annaliese Roberts' Gluten-Free Baking Classics, which has fantastic bread, cake, muffin, and cookie recipes). I had always baked birthday cakes from scratch, but the cakes from this book--I swear, they tasted BETTER than the gluteny originals. Even my gluten-eating kids thought so.

And that wanting to eat an entire cake? That has something to do with the addictiveness of the gluten. I can eat 1-2 slices of the gluten-free cake and feel satisfied without eating the whole cake. Same with the chocolate chip cookies (which my gluten-eating kids could not distinguish from Toll-House cookies). Same with pasta (rice pasta instead of regular), same with bread (and the bread recipes in this book make breads that taste like artisanal bakery loaves.

You'll get there. Really. And then you just won't be tempted to cheat. You'll even wonder why others might want to!

[Renth]

It still kind of cracks me up the last and only time I cheated. I was Dx on my thanksgiving break my freshman year in college and being the stubborn thing that I can be I was determined that the doctor was wrong so I had my mom make me a turkey sandwhich after I woke up from the anesthesia from the biopsy and I ate it against her warnings and I got so sick I never purposefully ate gluten again, it just wasn't worth it to me. But I have had dreams of Krispy Kreme

[Researcher]

I did find a wonderful cookbook (Annaliese Roberts' Gluten-Free Baking Classics, which has fantastic bread, cake, muffin, and cookie recipes). I had always baked birthday cakes from scratch, but the cakes from this book--I swear, they tasted BETTER than the gluteny originals. Even my gluten-eating kids thought so.

This book sounds very good and like it would hit the spot for all of those cravings.

Quick question: are the recipes soy free?

[stargazer]

I think about cheating everyday! The first few months after my diagnosis, it was easy not to cheat because I was so sick. But after I started feeling better, I began to question the doctor "do I really have Celiac?" I started to cheat a little bit just to see what would happen. At first nothing happened. So I cheated a little now and then (I really felt guilty!). But then I started to notice all of the old symptoms returning. I started feeling lousy again! I then knew that the doctor was right. The biopsy didn't lie. I guess I had to convince myself that I couldn't eat gluten. I still want to cheat everyday (I really miss pizza!), but I know it will make me sick.

[JNBunnie1]

I think about cheating everyday! The first few months after my diagnosis, it was easy not to cheat because I was so sick. But after I started feeling better, I began to question the doctor "do I really have Celiac?" I started to cheat a little bit just to see what would happen. At first nothing happened. So I cheated a little now and then (I really felt guilty!). But then I started to notice all of the old symptoms returning. I started feeling lousy again! I then knew that the doctor was right. The biopsy didn't lie. I guess I had to convince myself that I couldn't eat gluten. I still want to cheat everyday (I really miss pizza!), but I know it will make me sick.

For everyone that has a craving for a particular food, you might visit the Recipes forum a little farther down the page from Coping With. They have debates over gluten-free pizza crust, whether thin-crust or deep dish, floppy or crispy, you really can have good gluten-free food. I actually made the hot fudge cake on the home page recipes section, oh my god... kinda came out pudding-y but SO friggin good.

For anyone that's tempted to cheat, here's a horror story. I was never lactose intolerant with my Celiac, I think my GI symptoms weren't active long enough to cause enough damage. However, I ate Sam's club rotisserie chicken three or so weeks ago, and not only did I have to deal with a massive headache for days, brain fog, a fever, and excess crapping, but a week after I "recovered" (or so I thought) from my glutening, I started getting the worst diarrhea I've ever experienced. Like someone was stabbing me in the stomach. I've had a colonoscopy and the drug they give you to clean you out didn't hurt this bad. Apparently I'm now either temporarily or permanently lactose intolerant. I say that because I take Lactase every time I eat dairy now and I'm fine, so it's not the casein. And guess what else? I just got Dermatitis Herpetiformis for the first time last week! You know, this might be the worst thing of all of it, because absolutely NOTHING stops the itch! I'm going bonkers! Don't cheat! I will personally provide you with a fabulous recipe or source for gluten free anything you want, don't wind up like me!

GLUTEN=SUFFERING!