Dealing With Ups And Downs Of The Disease.

[Nettie]

I sometimes get rather frustrated. I love food and well, as we all know, it doesn't love us. I have issues with not being able to eat normally and sometimes I get overwhelmed with it all. I have symptoms on a daily basis and afraid to eat anything because of the horrible symptoms I have. Please someone help me....

[tarnalberry]

It seems like there are two issues here:

1) the emotional/psychological challenge of what it takes to eat gluten-free in a gluten-eating culture

2) you still don't feel well

Starting with 2)...

Are you completely gluten free? If not, that's probably why (but that's also something you already know). If you think you are, it's worth double checking EVERYTHING that makes contact with your mouth - that includes lipstick if you wear it or are every kissed by someone who does. If you've done that, it's worth checking into secondary food intolerances, like dairy or soy (or many others), that you may find you need to eliminate, or just reduce or avoid for a short time before reintroducing in smaller quantities.

Can you give us a little more information on what you eat, how confident you feel in the foods you're picking and in avoiding cross contamination, and your symptoms?

As for 1)

You don't have to give up your love for food just because you're on this diet. If you're just gluten free, there are only four items you have to avoid - wheat, barley, rye, and (depending on you) oats. Rather than thinking of it as what we are taking out, look at all the options you have! Out of every edible food on the planet, that leaves us with a lot of choices! There are still an awful lot of grains we can eat (amaranth, quinoa, rice, corn, buckwheat, millet, teff, sorgum - more that I'm sure I'm forgetting). There isn't a single fruit or vegetable denied to us (until you start talking about other food intolerances, but there is a MYRIAD of edible fruits and vegetables). And fruits and vegetables can make a huge variety of dishes - from root vegetables to leafy vegetables to tree fruits to berries... There is a wide variety of meat if you eat it. (I can get chicken, turkey, (other birds), pork, beef, buffalo, and lamb fresh at Whole Foods - ostrich and venison frozen, then there's specialty places that can get you other things as well). There's a cornucopia of fish, depending on where you live more or less of it available fresh. And then there are beans and legumes (so many varieties of beans and lentils) and nuts and seeds. And oils and herbs and seasonings and teas... (I could go on, but I think you get the idea. )

It's really a change in mindset, but there's nothing wrong with that! Since this is something you need to do for your body, figure out the way to do it BEST! And TASTIEST! That may mean more cooking, or it might just mean getting really creative with using whole ingredients really easily so there isn't a lot of cooking to be done. Yes, eating out at random isn't the same. But that doesn't mean you can't explore food; you just are now exploring a different part of the gastronomic world! (And we're all here to help. And, yes, commiserate that sometimes, it really is overwhelming and annoying and aggravating to be "different". But - *shhhh* - we're all different from everyone else. )