Newbie Needing Help Please

[Realangel]

Hi,

I am trying to cut out bread, rice, pasta and potatoes from my diet as after eating any of these i am in immense pain followed by a rather unpleasant toilet trip!!

Any advice on how to do this and what to replace the above foods with would be greatly appreciated. I am on a VERY tight budget so acnt really afford health food shops etc.

Many thanks

Lisa

[mamaw]

Hello&welcome

I would like to make a suggestion, if you have not already done ! I feel you should get testing done first. I'm a believer that most people can not digest wheat products but on the other hand there are other illness that causes problems that has nothing to do with wheat eating. It is hard to get a proper dx's with anything but I think you need to rule out other things as well as checking for wheat & gluten , dairy intolerances.

I suggest bloodwork, endo, & DNA testing if the first two are negative.

Going gluten-free before testing does not give accurate results so you would never know for sure....

The gluten-free lifestyle can be expensive or not so expensive. Eating basic plain meat, fruits & vegetables ( adding your own spices)is like a regular grocery shopping trip. It is when you get into premade , ready made goodies & extras that make gluten-free expensive....One way to cut these costs down is baking yourself at home & freezing.

There are a lot of things you still can use from the grocery store shelves even when gluten-free....

blessings

mamaw

[FMcGee]

I second the recommendation to get tested. Do you think your problem is gluten (which isn't in rice or potatoes) or fiber, or something else? There could be other things going on besides celiac disease so whether you have that or not, you want to find a good doctor to keep tabs on this.

[Foxfire62]

Before eliminating these products from your diet, you need to confirm with a blood test and biopsy preferrably that you have celiac disease or are gluten-intolerant. In order to do this, you need to stay on a gluten-filled diet (not gluten-free) prior to testing.

As for how to eat on a budget once you've been diagnosed, if you stick with cooking from scratch and not pre-processed foods, it shouldn't be too bad. Only brown rice pasta can be a little more expensive than regular pasta, as are breads, but you can also bake your own bread. At the end of the tax year, you can get a tax break since these foods are, typically, more expensive than regular items.

My local supermarket carries brown rice pasta, although it costs around $2-$3+. Eat a lot of fruit and veggies, and buy meats that are in their rawest forms. (My recommendation). You'll also need to be wary of make-up, hair-spray, hair shampoo, soaps, lotions, or anything else that you could possibly get in or near your mouth, including medications. All these things need to be verified with the distributor whether or not they contain any gluten proteins (wheat, barley, rye, and sometimes oats).

Good luck!