Newly Diagnosed Mother And Daughter

[my3kids]

I have type 1 diabetes and am now recently (within the last six months) diagnosed with celiac disease. Never had any symptoms except some mild upper abdominal discomfort. Great GI doc suggested an endoscopy to rule out hernia and diagnosed celiac. TTG was off the charts for me as well. Now my 8 yo daughter has been diagnosed and only because her growth started to lag a bit. Her ttg was 9 and IGA (I think) was 30.

Needless to say, I am overwhelmed now more than I was when it was just me. A few questions: because we don't have any overwhelming symptoms, will an ocassional gluten-containing food screw us up and redamage any healing that had occurred. Does MSG have gluten in it and what's the deal with soy? How about Frosted Flakes? Thanks for any help you all can offer especially for my daughter's sake.

[mamaw]

Hello

Sorry you & your daughter are having a heard time of this. I will tell you it will get better... But having a crumb of wheat is the same as having a bowl of wheat...... Msg does not contain gluten but many people can not tolerate MSG ( me for one)

Frosted flakes are not gluten-free.

I would start out by eating simple "naked" meat , veggies, & fruit at first. By Naked I mean with no marinate or glazes .... you can spice it up with your favorite spices, salt, pepper, worchestire & so on.

When a product states it does not contain wheat that does not mean that it doesn't contain gluten .. So look for product that have no gluten in them or hidden gluten which can be found in things like soy sauce, beer, & so on.

If I can be of any help finding your cravings please send me a personal e-mail. I'm a mentor for several years now & I know the cream of the crop products...

hth

mamaw

[Darn210]

Here is a list of companies that do not hide the gluten in their labeling. This means they will call out wheat, rye, barley and oats on their labels and you don't have to worry about the generic "natural flavoring". Kraft is one of the big companies that do not hide their gluten but there are many others.

Open Original Shared Link

Envirokids Amazon Frosted Flakes would be your best substitute for the Kelloggs Frosted Flakes. It can be found at health food stores or possibly the health food section of your regular store. Mainstream cereals would be fruity pebbles, trix, and dora stars.

Unfortunately, like mamaw said, cheating will cause damage. Some people continue to have issues after going gluten free. They find they have additional intolerances to other foods with dairy and soy being the most likely culprits. If you have very minor symptoms, I probably wouldn't eliminate those foods at this time. If in a month or two, you find you don't feel any better, you may want to try eliminating one or both (at least for a while). Many people have problems with lactose until they heal. My daughter was fine with just taking a lactaid tablet for about 6 weeks after going gluten free. I don't think we even really needed to but we did it because the doctor recommended it since her sugar processing was on the low side.

If your daughter has some favorite foods that you are having a hard time replacing/substituting, just post her favorites (probably best in the kids section) and you'll have lots of moms sharing what has worked best for their kids.

[loco-ladi]

Welcome, it may not seem it now but you can get thru this, we all did and you can also.... You will have good days and bad days but heck thats life in general so why should this be any different right, lol...

depending on your dairy situation (and any others) and mostly for your daughter as I recall when I was that age pizza rules the world.... still does some days, lol......

2 corn torillas (I use mission brand white corn)

gluten-free pizza sauce (sorry make my own)

gluten-free pizza cheese (Kraft)

gluten-free toppings (I use hormel natural choice ham, hormel black label bacon and/or hormel pepperoni depending on my mood fiound some of hormels chicken strips I am going to try out tonight!)

place 1 tortilla on a baking pan...

sprinkle with pizza cheese

top with 2nd tortilla

add sauce, cheese and topppings

bake 500 oven until golden brown and bubbling... caution very hot but very close to perfect!

[my3kids]

Here is a list of companies that do not hide the gluten in their labeling. This means they will call out wheat, rye, barley and oats on their labels and you don't have to worry about the generic "natural flavoring". Kraft is one of the big companies that do not hide their gluten but there are many others.

Open Original Shared Link

Envirokids Amazon Frosted Flakes would be your best substitute for the Kelloggs Frosted Flakes. It can be found at health food stores or possibly the health food section of your regular store. Mainstream cereals would be fruity pebbles, trix, and dora stars.

Unfortunately, like mamaw said, cheating will cause damage. Some people continue to have issues after going gluten free. They find they have additional intolerances to other foods with dairy and soy being the most likely culprits. If you have very minor symptoms, I probably wouldn't eliminate those foods at this time. If in a month or two, you find you don't feel any better, you may want to try eliminating one or both (at least for a while). Many people have problems with lactose until they heal. My daughter was fine with just taking a lactaid tablet for about 6 weeks after going gluten free. I don't think we even really needed to but we did it because the doctor recommended it since her sugar processing was on the low side.

If your daughter has some favorite foods that you are having a hard time replacing/substituting, just post her favorites (probably best in the kids section) and you'll have lots of moms sharing what has worked best for their kids.

Thanks for the information. I've been reading alot on this website about lactose intolerance. I did not know that those with celiac had issues with lactose. Is this really common. You mentioned "if in a month you don't feel better" - we don't feel badly at all. No symptoms other than the mild growth delay with my daughter. I'll leave lactose in for now I suppose.

Please help me find a good gravy. My daughter's comfort food is chicken and rice with gravy. The chicken and rice are gluten-free but I can't find a tolerable gravy. Any suggestions? Thanks.

[Sharon Marie]

You can make very good gravy with corn starch.

[Darn210]

Thanks for the information. I've been reading alot on this website about lactose intolerance. I did not know that those with celiac had issues with lactose. Is this really common. You mentioned "if in a month you don't feel better" - we don't feel badly at all. No symptoms other than the mild growth delay with my daughter. I'll leave lactose in for now I suppose.

Please help me find a good gravy. My daughter's comfort food is chicken and rice with gravy. The chicken and rice are gluten-free but I can't find a tolerable gravy. Any suggestions? Thanks.

The area of the small intestine that is damaged by celiac is the same area that processes lactose. So if there is a lot of damage, the body will not be able to process lactose. The normal symptoms of lactose intolerance is very similar to some people's celiac symptoms . . . diarrhea, abdominal pain. As the gut heals, the ability to process lactose returns (I would say for most people). If you aren't having those kind of symptoms, I wouldn't worry about it . . . and it sounds like you're not.

Now, on to more important things . . . gravy! I don't know of any premade gravies. Have you made gravy before? Are you looking for a milk based gravy or broth based? If you were purchasing your gravy, that is probably a broth based gravy

Here is a recipe from Julie (check the quantities, you might not want to make that much)

Check for gluten-free chicken broth - I believe great value brand (Wal-Mart) is good or you can use Better than Boullion or Herb-ox boullion.

I usually use a flour substitute but I will probably try the potato starch next time. A little tip that I got from my brother-in-law just recently when the gravy was coming out lumpy . . . he used one of those immersion mixers and "delumped" it making the gravy nice and smooth.

Good Luck, ask more questions when you need to. . .

I make a roux with the pan drippings, butter and a flour substitute.

I used to use rice flour until I got a little tip from Patti last year about using potato starch (thanks Patti, best gravy I've ever made )

Ratio of butter to flour substitute is 1 to 1, I usually do about 6-8 tbsp of each.

Stir or whisk the flour/potato starch in with the buter and pan drippings over low-medium heat until the butter melts and the flour incorporates making a sort of paste, then stir in chicken broth slowly and a little at a time until it reaches the desired gravy consistency (usually about 4-6 cups of stock). Season with salt and pepper to taste.

The potato starch doesn't get lumpy or gritty/grainy like I had experienced with the rice flour.