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Temptations

MollyBeth

By MollyBeth
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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MollyBeth Contributor
MollyBeth
Posted

I'm just days into my Gluten Free Diet. This is day five to be specific and it's been going well. I found a store that has a huge selection of gluten free products...including some pretzels that I actually like better than when I was still a member of the Gluten world....and I know some would say it's too soon to tell but already I am more regular in my bathroom visits and I don't have D everyday anymore...My joints haven't been getting random pains! Suprsingly I haven't really even missed to much....that is until today at work. Someone had a birthday and there was the most delightful buttercream cake. Ofcourse, I didn't take part but I did look at it and mourn the loss. I also realized that the hardest parts are yet to come. Like the first time I go out to eat with a group of friends. I know you guys have all been through this so I guess I'm just feeling a bit sorry for myself. I will add though that even though I was mourning the cake and did want to partake...the road to recovery is proving to be the only motivation I need to stay away.

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darlindeb25 Collaborator
darlindeb25
Posted

You did great, stay positive. There will always be those days when you get tested, this was your fist big test and you passed with flying colors. Keep up the good work.

We do mourn gluten, there is a mourning process for most of us. I mourn every year at holiday time, all the wonderful foods on tv ads, patients bring us treats at work, other doctors sending foods, all the parties...yet, I always get through it and so will you.

Keep up the good work!!!!

ShayFL Enthusiast
ShayFL
Posted

You did a great job!!

What has helped for me is to view anything with gluten to be contaminated with RAT POISON. Some use a DOG POOP analogy. Whatever might be effective for you is good. Im not goin near rat poison......

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

I cope by making sure I have some of my favorite gluten free mixes and stuff at home. When I see something that looks really yummy I go home and make a safe version. Gluten Free Pantry makes some great cake mixes that are quick to make and easy to jazz up and their french bread mix makes really good pizza. One of my new favorites is Tom Sawyer flour mix, it makes the best scalloped potatoes. If they give you advance notice at work when someone is having a birthday or whatever perhaps you could bring in a treat for yourself.

Green Eyes Rookie
Green Eyes
Posted

You did it - you got thru a major challenge!!! Wee Whoo

If there is something special with food going on around me, I take a treat of my own. To feel like I'm a part of things I usually choose a chocolate treat!!

Jennifer

spunky Contributor
spunky
Posted

Good for you.

The more time goes by, the better I feel, and the better I feel, the more yummy stuff looks... but I just stop and remember the pathetic image of myself doubled over in the bathroom... and all the other things that went along with that... then the goodies don't look so good anymore.

THere was a gastro who said publicly he thought celiacs should think of gluten as rat poison, and avoid it just the same... can't think of his name... was it Murphy or Murray or something? Anyway... that's kinda scary advice, but good... would you want the cake, donuts, pizza, whatever, no matter how good it looked and smelled if the chef told you he'd put rat poison in there??? LOL... that oughta mess up the desire somewhat too.

I think there is a phase where you must mourn and feel sorry for yourself... I do think that's a legitimate stage... I remember crying in the aisle of the store a few times... it's good to get out of that phase, but I really believe it's a normal part of this and important to go through it, work through it, and then, by the time your health is back good and steady and dependable (maybe 2 years gluten free), you have such appreciation for good health you can rise above the feeling sorry for yourself part and just go on and be grateful you found out what was making you sick.

I know it doeesn't work that easily for everybody... but in my own experience, I needed to go through a certain amount of self-pity, work through it, and then when my health just turned around for me I never looked back again. All I have to do now when something looks good is remember some of those past experiences... definitely not worth the few seconds it takes to eat the stuff. Waking up and feeling human, positive, confident, ready-for-the-world every day... it's just an awesome thing and there ain't a donut or cake in the world that can compare!

ang1e0251 Contributor
ang1e0251
Posted

You are AWESOME! You wanted it but resisted it for your own wellbeing. You deserse a little pity party! It's a breakthrough moment when you resist & whenever you are tempted again, you can remember that moment and know if you did it then, you can do it again. I agreee with the advise of take your own goodie. When I have Death by Chocolate, everyone drools over MY food. Very good feeling...

I also agree with the rat poison, dog poo advice. I use poison ivy. It's not only a good visualization for you, it explains to your servers at restaurants how little gluten can hurt you.

You're going to be fine, you have the strength and fortitude to be a Celiac Goddess!

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purple Community Regular
purple
Posted

Bake a cake for yourself...you deserve it! A fantastic and easy cake. I use a sorghum blend flour but white rice blend works great too. This cake is good with or w/o frosting.

Open Original Shared Link

Freeze some for an emergency, like a party at work, if you know ahead of time you can take some with you or have some to look forward to when you get home. Keep a tub of Pillsbury frosting in the cupboard too(I freeze frosting often). I like to bake the cake above in an 8x8" pan, then make 2 jumbo or about 5 regular sized cupcakes with the extra batter. I freeze them and give them to my dd. She likes peanut butter chips in hers. I add about 3/4 cup of choc or p.b. chips to the batter.

GFqueen17 Contributor
GFqueen17
Posted

it gets easier the longer you are gluten-free. i have been gluten-free for almost three years now and i rarely am tempted to eat something with gluten. of course there are times when i am still tempted...like the other day when i went to brueggers with my friends...i wanted a bagel so bad! but usually if i see something that i really wish i could eat i just imagine how good it would taste and remember that i am much, much better off without it.

JNBunnie1 Community Regular
JNBunnie1
Posted
it gets easier the longer you are gluten-free. i have been gluten-free for almost three years now and i rarely am tempted to eat something with gluten. of course there are times when i am still tempted...like the other day when i went to brueggers with my friends...i wanted a bagel so bad! but usually if i see something that i really wish i could eat i just imagine how good it would taste and remember that i am much, much better off without it.

I think I've done a good job of sublimating my desires. Using the example above, when I'm at work and someone toasts a bagel and I can smell it, I don't wish I had THAT bagel. I wish I was at home where I could toast MY gluten-free bagel. I don't want THAT gluteny piece of cake, I want to bring my OWN gluten-free piece of cake, with my favorite marshmallow-cream cheese frosting. I walk past a pizza place and it doesn't even faze me, since my pizza is so much better than that delivery, rubbery, greasy pizza I used to get. My calzones are even way better! SO THERE! I just wanna yell at the restaurant, your food sucks!

purple Community Regular
purple
Posted
I think I've done a good job of sublimating my desires. Using the example above, when I'm at work and someone toasts a bagel and I can smell it, I don't wish I had THAT bagel. I wish I was at home where I could toast MY gluten-free bagel. I don't want THAT gluteny piece of cake, I want to bring my OWN gluten-free piece of cake, with my favorite marshmallow-cream cheese frosting. I walk past a pizza place and it doesn't even faze me, since my pizza is so much better than that delivery, rubbery, greasy pizza I used to get. My calzones are even way better! SO THERE! I just wanna yell at the restaurant, your food sucks!

I would love your pizza and calzone recipes...OK??

At least gluten-free cooks know what is in their food and who makes it!!!

MollyBeth Contributor
MollyBeth
Posted
  • Author

Thanks so much for all your support and ideas!! I'll certainly be looking into making that cake Purple. Thanks for the recipe! It sounds like the perfect weekend project... Before my only plans were laundry and bathing the dog! :)

purple Community Regular
purple
Posted
Thanks so much for all your support and ideas!! I'll certainly be looking into making that cake Purple. Thanks for the recipe! It sounds like the perfect weekend project... Before my only plans were laundry and bathing the dog! :)

You are sooo welcome. Its easy and my favorite cake!

JNBunnie1 Community Regular
JNBunnie1
Posted
I would love your pizza and calzone recipes...OK??

At least gluten-free cooks know what is in their food and who makes it!!!

I use Whole Foods BAkehouse for pizza, or Chebe, and Chebe cheese mix for calzones. You just gotta be careful rolling out the dough and make extra sure there's no holes!

purple Community Regular
purple
Posted
I use Whole Foods BAkehouse for pizza, or Chebe, and Chebe cheese mix for calzones. You just gotta be careful rolling out the dough and make extra sure there's no holes!

Thanks for the info. Darn...we don't have a Whole Foods...but I saw it advertised on T.V. the other day! All we have is a co-op with about 6x6' of gluten-free items and few here and there. Nothing fancy but the prices. I can't order Chebe but one day I am going to...it sounds like the perfect thing!!!

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    • trents
      how much gluten do I need to eat before blood tests?

      By trents · Posted

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    • catnapt
      how much gluten do I need to eat before blood tests?

      By catnapt · Posted

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    • trents
      how much gluten do I need to eat before blood tests?

      By trents · Posted

      Welcome, @catnapt! The most recent guidelines are the daily consumption of a minimum of 10g of gluten (about the amount found in 4-6 slices of wheat bread) for a minimum of two weeks. But if possible stretching that out even more would enhance the chances of getting valid test results. These guidelines are for those who have been eating gluten free for a significant amount of time. It's called the "gluten challenge".  Yes, you can develop celiac disease at any stage of life. There is a genetic component but also a stress trigger that is needed to activate the celiac genes. About 30-40% of the general population possesses the genetic potential to develop celiac disease but only about 1% of the general population actually develop celiac disease. For most with the potential, the triggering stress event doesn't happen. It can be many things but often it is a viral infection. Having said that, it is also the case that many, many people who eventually are diagnosed with celiac disease probably experienced the actual onset years before. Many celiacs are of the "silent" type, meaning that symptoms are largely missing or very minor and get overlooked until damage to the small bowel lining becomes advanced or they develop iron deficiency anemia or some other medical problem associated with celiac disease. Many, many are never diagnosed or are diagnosed later in life because they did not experience classic symptoms. And many physicians are only looking for classic symptoms. We now know that there are over 200 symptoms/medical problems associated with celiac disease but many docs are only looking for things like boating, gas, diarrhea. I certainly understand your concerns about not wanting to damage your body by taking on a gluten challenge. Your other option is to totally commit to gluten free eating and see if your symptoms improve. It can take two years or more for complete healing of the small bowel lining once going gluten free but usually people experience significant improvement well before then. If their is significant improvement in your symptoms when going seriously gluten free, then you likely have your answer. You would either have celiac disease or NCGS (Non Celiac Gluten Sensitivity).
    • catnapt
      how much gluten do I need to eat before blood tests?

      By catnapt · Posted

      after several years of issues with a para-gland issue, my endo has decided it's a good idea for me to be tested for celiac disease. I am 70 yrs old and stunned to learn that you can get celiac this late in life. I have just gradually stopped eating most foods that contain gluten over the past several years- they just make me feel ill- although I attributed it to other things like bread spiking blood sugar- or to the things I ate *with* the bread or crackers etc   I went to a party in Nov and ate a LOT of a vegan roast made with vital wheat gluten- as well as stuffing, rolls and pie crust... and OMG I was so sick! the pain, the bloating, the gas, the nausea... I didn't think it would ever end (but it did) and I was ready to go the ER but it finally subsided.   I mentioned this to my endo and now she wants me to be tested for celiac after 2 weeks of being on gluten foods. She has kind of flip flopped on how much gluten I should eat, telling me that if the symptoms are severe I can stop. I am eating 2-3 thin slices of bread per day (or english muffins) and wow- it does make me feel awful. But not as bad as when I ate that massive amnt of vital wheat gluten. so I will continue on if I have to... but what bothers me is - if it IS celiac, it seems stupid for lack of a better word, to intentionally cause more damage to my body... but I am also worried, on the other hand, that this is not a long enough challenge to make the blood work results valid.   can you give me any insight into this please?   thank you
    • trents
      Accuracy of testing concerns

      By trents · Posted

      The biopsy looks for damage to the mucosal lining of the small bowel from the inflammation caused by celiac disease when gluten is ingested. Once you remove gluten from the diet, inflammation subsides and the mucosal lining begins to heal. 
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