Mistakes All The Time

[teemaree]

Hi,

I am new to learning that I have Celiac, and I coped with the news better than I thought I would.

After suffering all my life in pain and ailments, it was finaly wonderful to have a reason for why I had such bad depression and pain etc...

For the first couple of days going gluten free was an interesting challenge, and I was amazed at how good I could feel. but recently I keep stumbling and having the wrong things by accident, and it isn't until I feel pain that I know I have ingested the wrong things...

There are just so many different ingredients out there... that it is impossiable to learn the differences between them.

The past two days have been very difficult.... I eat all the right foods, but still end up in pain to learn that a mistake has been made...

For example..

My skin was so dry last night, that I thought using a coconut based mosturiser would be fine....

This morning I awoke very ill , headachy , depression and the normal stomach pains.

I later learned by researching the net , that the lotion had TOCOPHERYL ACETATE , which is intolerable to some celiacs.

Then later that day, my husband and I went searching for foods in the supermarket, paying a small fortune for them...

My husband that night decided to cook steaks on the bar b q...I made a nice salad no dressings..

Then straight after dinner I started getting the normal rumbles and sickness....I thought that maybe I ate too much...

Now I am starting to get an appetite back, it appears that there nothing I can eat ,that seems to fill me up. It all seems so light .

Anyway my husband and I were racking our brains at what I could have eaten that has made me feel so ill.

Then all of a sudden he said, I sprayed the grill with Canola spray... I said I think that is it...

I read somewhere that there is an added ingredient that has soy...

I went and grabbed the tin and sure enough it contained Soy Lecithin.

How can you ever start to feel better when you think you are eating the right things , and doing the right things, only to discover everything has gluten hidden in it somewhere....

It was discovered that I had celiac , due to the vast amount of weight I have lost... I only weigh 6 stone, 84lbs.40 kg plus the bad depression, helped with the doctors finaly discovering and looking at what was wrong.

But a real problem is I am loosing further weight now...since cutting out gluten.

Before I had no appetite but ate heavy foods like donuts and creams and things such as that...

Now I am getting an appetite back , I am living on just meat and vege's and fruit, and the weight is dropping off me even faster. I can't afford to loose any more weight!...

Can anyone suggest foods that will also fatten me up, as well as be good for me...?

And is there any tips on hidden ingredience that I may not have thought would harm me, such as the ones above?

I'd be grateful for any help at all...

What foods can we eat that will help me gain weight back

[psawyer]

Hi, and welcome to the board.

It will take time for your body to heal. The symptoms will reduce over time if you stay on the diet. For me, it was six weeks before I really felt better, and three months before I was was completely free of symptoms. Until then, you may still have a gastric reaction to food, even if there is nothing in the food that is problematic.

Be patient. You are in the very early stages of recovery.

[Jestgar]

Your problem may not be the food, but what you're cooking it on.

Have you ever grilled buns on that grill? Did you scrub it afterwards? That might be the problem.

Check all your cookware. Get rid of stuff that can't be scrubbed clean (like wooden spoons), separate pots and pans that can't be cleaned well enough and have your husband use those, and thoroughly clean everything else.

[mef]

If you are looking for tips on food products to help you gain weight, check out the gluten-free weight issues section further down the main forum page. I know there is a thread going about gaining back weight.

[Takala]

Some charcoals contain gluten binders.

Eat fat to gain weight. Avocados, nuts, coconut oil or milk, olive oil. Dark chocolate. Eggs. Hard cheeses if you are only lactose intolerant and not casein (milk protein) intolerant. Some people can tolerate organic cultured butter or ghee, also.

[Juliebove]

Soy lecithin does not contain gluten. Now if soy is a problem for you, that's another matter. Did you use charcoal on the grill? Some charcoal contains gluten. Kingsford is one that used to. As it is manufactured now, it does not. But if you have some old charcoal, it could.

[curlyfries]

Also, have you ever marinated meat that was cooked on the grill? That will contaminate your grill. Keep reading this forum.....especially posts by 'newbies'. The more you learn, the easier it gets.

[TES]

I too feel like I'm learning the hard way. Seems like once a week, I have some symptoms, and the last two I can't figure out what it is...unless my can opener is the culprit. Or do you have symptoms without gettting glutened? Have been trying to stay gluten free since AUGUST OF 2008. I have been blaming white vinegar, vanilla, and several other things, maybe it was the can opener all this time. Does anyone else have trouble with white vinegar and vanilla, (like in Nestle Chocolate Chips)?

[wschmucks]

OR if you've ever used BBQ sauce on the grill-- that could contaminate it too. Give the grill a VERY good cleaning and dont use ANY sauces or bread on it again.

The first month and a half i glutened myself at least once every 10 days. Im about to hit 3 months and i havent gotten glutened in over a month. You'll get it-- there is just so much to learn so just keep trying and one day you'll realize how much better it's gotten. The first few months are the hardest so jsut hang in there.

[teemaree]

Thank you everyone....

I hadn't thought that the grill could be contaminated...

We have cooked a lot of marinated items on it in the past..

So that could be it!~...

I guess with time, you get use to thinking where things could have been that could be contaminated etc...

Another incident happened just yesterday that had me stopping and thinking...

I went to order some hot chips... asked what oil they cooked them in ...

Then the lady behind the counter, actually knew a lot about gluten free foods etc...

And she said, that she would be using the same oil to cook the chips in, that she used to cook battered and crumbed items in...

I thought, oh geez that would be contaminated...

If she hadn't pointed that out to me, I would have made another mistake and not even realized what I had done wrong....

So I guess, that this is the real reason it is difficult to go out to dinner at Restuarants, etc... because contamination can happen , and you can't always trust what you have been told...

example.. that their sauces have no wheat base... etc...

It is truly amazing how you have to really stop and think about the process and ingredience.

Since the grill deliemma I haven't stumbled any more this week... keeping my fingers crossed I keep doing good...

I must also say , thank you to everyone for your replies...

This board is just amazing... it's so helpful but so sad that so many people have this horrid annoying intolerance..

[teemaree]

Hi, and welcome to the board.

It will take time for your body to heal. The symptoms will reduce over time if you stay on the diet. For me, it was six weeks before I really felt better, and three months before I was was completely free of symptoms. Until then, you may still have a gastric reaction to food, even if there is nothing in the food that is problematic.

Be patient. You are in the very early stages of recovery.

Thanks peter for this information also... this is good to know that I may still have gastric reactions to food, this makes sense, that it will take a lot more time to feel a full recovery...

I have just been so impressed and over the moon with happiness at the vast difference I have already had.... especially no feeling like being punched in the stomach all the time, and no headaches, and my depression and stress levels have improved so much...

I was at such a low low point... and never thought that just changing your food could have changed the way you deal with problems and sadness etc...

the depression I had was so bad,,, that it was nearly driving me to suicide..

then just being on this diet, is like having a light switched on ... everything feels and seems so much brighter.... IT'S AMAZING!...

[RollingAlong]

For me, it was six weeks before I really felt better, and three months before I was was completely free of symptoms. Until then, you may still have a gastric reaction to food, even if there is nothing in the food that is problematic.

Wow - this is the single most helpful post I've read on this board out of many, many helpful posts. I did not know this and we've been driving ourselves crazy playing food detective!

Thank you

[Lisa]

My experience was similar to what Peter mentioned. Until you have healed, any food can be problematic. It took me three to four months to feel better, to know what "glutened" felt like.