New Appliances And Cookware?

[KarenFe]

I found out a few days ago that I am celiac positive and have a GI appointment in a few weeks. I suppose I will learn more then. For now I know that I am anemic and a number revealing this was 9.6, being 2.5 points low. I was told to take a multi vitamin. The nurse that called me also rattled off this sort of stuff:

She rattled off TG ABIGG........

IgG and IgA, normal is 10 (high) and better would be 7. Mine was 38.

Again IgG and IgA - active. Normal is below 5 and mine was 92.

I'm fairly sure I did not write this down correctly (the numbers are correct) because it was like writing down advanced math equations. I just wrote.

Ok, so here is the real reason I posted this thread. Do I really need to replace toasters, cutting boards, etc? That is doable if I have to, but what about my new All-Clad stainless steel cookware? What about my Kitchen Aid mixer? What about my knives? Can't I just wash, wash, and wash some more? Over the years I've been investing in quality stuff that will last and replacing everything would not be cheap.

I have so many more questions and fears, but this is my current one so I thought I'd ask about it. I feel like I'm starving right now. Day 4 into this and I'm hungry! I had always told dh that breads fill me up nicely. A little bowl of cereal in the morning and I felt nice and full. Now, without my breads, cereals, etc, I am hungry...... and not thinking straight.

Thanks so much! I have a feeling I will be doing a lot of reading around here from now on.

Karen

[MaryJones2]

I would definitely replace anything porous, scratched or otherwise uncleanable. The most common items marked for replacement are: wooden utensils, cutting boards, baking sheets, collanders, toasters, plastic, silicone and teflon items.

Anything stainless should be fine after a thorough cleaning so your knives and cookware should be fine - just give everything a thorough cleaning and make sure you get the stuff that collects around the bolts on the All-Clad. The Kitchen-Aid should also be OK after thoroughly cleaning the cracks and crevices.

I'd recommend taking a day and thoroughly cleaning your kitchen. Wash all of our dishes, utinsels, etc. and wipe all the cabinets down. Also, scrub the fridge, stove, microwave and anything else. I did it over 4 sessions and really could've saved myself 3 glutenings if I'd just done it all at once!

Best of luck!

[*lee-lee*]

hi Karen...welcome!

pre-diagnosis, my moto was "it's not a meal without carbs". i never felt satisfied unless i had bread or pasta in my meal. it took me a good 3 months to really stop craving them after i went gluten free. i just started making my own bread 2 months ago but i find myself eating much less of it than i used to. i guess my point is that while it'll be tough at first, give it time and your body will adjust to your new diet. in the meantime, you can try and find some replacement foods. corn tortillas are good for making mini wraps instead of sandwiches. Rice Chex is gluten free and a great cereal choice that you can find anywhere. you can also make a batch of pancakes and then use them as bread. just freeze what you don't use right away and then pop them in the toaster before slathering them with PBJ or lunch meats! i really like the Tinkyada brand rice pasta. you can hardly tell the difference from wheat pasta.

oops, i just realized food was not your question! haha when i cleaned out my kitchen, i replaced all my plastic cooking utensils and cutting boards. i had some fairly new non-stick cookware that i hardly used pre-diagnosis so i just made sure they were cleaned really well before i used them. i bought a new toaster right away...my old one was infested with gluten crumbs that i would have never been able to scrub away! my kitchen is not gluten free (my boyfriend still has his bread, pasta, etc) so i just moved my gluten stuff over to his side.

do you know if you are going to have a biopsy or are you just starting right in on the diet? if you think you might do the biopsy, don't start the diet yet. once you begin to eliminate gluten your body will start to heal.

good luck!

[KarenFe]

Thanks for the replies and the welcome. I wish I didn't need to be welcomed though.

I can probably do the recommended replacements without too much anguish. I've been wanting new wooden spoons anyway. Hmmmmm..... I guess my relatively new silicone spoons and spatulas need to go? These new little gadgets I have excite me as much as cup holders in a new car. I love the little details of things. Crazy, I know.

I can make it 3 months to get over this withdrawal. I must! I made some brownies tonight and had dh and ds try them first. When ds (10 yo) said he liked them, I thought they must not be all that bad. They were actually good and will become our new brownie recipe. I certainly could use some food recommendations so no problem throwing those in there. I think I'll wait 3 more weeks until I see the GI and get more answers before I give anything away.

I have no idea what will happen to me at the GI doctor appointment. I'm doing this throught he military system. I saw my regular doctor and she ordered blood work and another test and before she knew anything concrete also had me get a consult to the GI doctor. The nurse who called me with my lab results just said I was celiac - active and rattled off those numbers listed above and told me to change to a gluten-free diet. I called her back the next day and asked what exactly that meant and she said that if I want to I can eliminate all of it or just moderately. It depended on how good I wanted to feel. What I gather is that she really did not know a whole lot about celiacs. Like I said, it's the military system I'm dealing with so I will just continue to go gluten-free until I see the GI Dr. and see what he has to tell me.

Does anyone know what the numbers I listed above mean in trems of..... Well, what do they mean? Can you tell the severity of the gluten intollerance from them?

Thanks so much!

Karen

[Darn210]

Karen,

The GI will most likely want to do an endoscopy . . . you should really keep eating gluten until you have that done. The blood test would be enough for some docs but most will want to do an endoscopy. If you think you will go ahead and do this, KEEP EATING GLUTEN. If you know that you don't want to . . . then go ahead and go gluten free. If you go gluten free and have the endoscopy, they may end up with a negative biopsy and then tell you that you don't have Celiac when in fact you've just been healing all this time.

You can use the time in between to try some recipes, read labels, educate yourself.

Everybody covered the kitchen stuff pretty well. I kept my same pots and pans, even one with teflon because it was practically brand new with no scratches (I did ditch a couple that were a little scratched). I got new bakeware . . . I just could not clean those baked-on oil spots that brown your cookie sheets . . .do you know what I mean?? I did keep a pan for misc gluten cooking. We have a mixed household and I just wanted to keep a pan for "just in case". I also got a new can opener. I used my daughter's diagnosis as an opportunity to upgrade to the KitchenAid mixer

Don't stop eating gluten until you are done with all your testing.

. . . and welcome to the board . . . oodles and oodles of info here.

[N.Justine]

parchment paper is a great product in a mix-used kitchen (one where its not gluten free all the time).

you can save a lot of your baking sheets by using parchment paper for each and every use

[ang1e0251]

The only thing I replaced was my small teflon egg skillet, it was a mess & we were wanting to replace it anyway. Everything else I washed. I didn't even buy my own toaster till recently. That was a mistake but funds were a problem.

Other posters have told you to keep eating gluten till your GI does an endoscopy. Exactly right. If you're planning to have the test you must be eating continuously with gluten to test correctly. If you're not having the test, I'm not sure why you would see a GI. You might want to call and ask the GI's nurse that question.