Thinking Of College.

[Guest Stepha]

I am 16 and was diagnosed with celiac disease about a year and a half ago. I am not there yet but I am curious about how you go about eating correctly in college. I also need to know if there are any killer cookies you like, the kind I loved are not carried by my health food store anymore. Thanks.

[angel-jd1]

I have my own house so it really makes things easy as far as food goes. I don't have roomates to contaminate anything. I am a great cook so cooking is a breeze, the only trouble I have is finding the time to cook. I have a SUPER busy semester right now and hardly any time to cook. What I attempt to do is cook on sunday and monday and then eat leftovers the rest of the week. I also have meals in the freezer that I can just pull out and heat up (put leftovers in glad or ziploc containers, label, date and freeze).

If you are thinking of living in the dorms, go and talk to the person in charge of the food program and explain to them your situation. They MUST work with you. Celiac disease is covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act. They have to provide adequate food for you.

You have pleanty of time to figure out all your questions. Great idea to get a head start on them now so you aren't rushing around to find answers later.

Best of luck.

-Jessica

[Guest Stepha]

Those are some really informative tips thank you! I just want to have an idea what to do. Since I have been diagnosed I have become a pretty good cook myself and cookbooks help me with that. The freezing idea is great!

[dustina]

I've been dealing with the gluten-free diet in college for about a month now. I no longer live on campus but I've found there are options. I usually have a salad and fruit for lunch when I dine on campus. I'm at a larger university, so there are a number of cafeteria options. Be sure to consider your proximity to gluten-free food when you choose a dorm if you decide to live on campus. I say this because on my campus there is only 1 cafeteria style restaurant that serves fresh vegetables and meats that are gluten-free. On the other areas of campus you have your greasy spoons which don't have many options. If you live off-campus, even if you aren't the best cook, life goes on. I'm a guy, so I get by with my George Foreman and the ability to boil pasta and still manage to have a decent variety.

[Guest rejacobs]

I was diagnosed with celiac disease when I was 18 months old. Coming to college having to deal with different eating habits made me a little nervous. Now I am a sohomore and it hasnt been a huge change for me. Last year I lived in the dorms and I just lived on salads and baked potatoes for about a year and never got sick of them. Now I live off campus in an apartment, I just learned how to cook and I am still experimenting with different foods to see what I like and dislike.

If anyone has any questions about dealing with celiac disease while in college, please ask me. I love to talk about this with anyone

[shanmac]

Where do you all go to college? Do any of you go to college on the west coast and have had successes with food options? I'm starting to seriously think about colleges and I'm more than a little concerned about the food situation. Thanks!

[travelthomas]

Shanmac,

You will find that most college towns have terrific health food stores. I

[AntiGluten]

You're going to A&M? That's cool, I live in the Woodlands, about 2 hours away from College Station. I'm actually going to a community college right now because of my disease so i can live at home and watch what I eat. I was diagnosed as a senior in high school, so going off to college in my condition would have been extremely difficult. I'm going to apply to UT and A&M for the spring of 2005 semester. Hopefully I'll get into one of them, I've got a lot of the basic classes out of the way. I want to major in Nutrition and be a dietician, for obvious reasons. How long have you been in College Station? and do you like it?

[albapsyche]

Just a piece of advice. Don't go to a small college. I'm in Kenosha, WI and their idea of health food is whole wheat. Thankfully the grocery store has started carrying more gluten-free products, but half the time I have to drive home every two weeks to get food that is microwaveable. Just make sure that when looking at schools see if there is somewhere to cook. And if you have to go to the cafe, make sure that they understand your needs because the place that I went doesn't get the whole gluten-free thing and half the time I ended up sick. Thank God I'm graduating in May.

Raven