Can I Eat Anything?

[fnord 0]

I've spent these early morning hours reading through the forum and I see a number of people with Celiac/GI also having intolerance to other foods; namely dairy, soy, and nuts. I imagine process of elimination is the simplest way to determine which food items are causing problems...but there's almost nothing left for me and I'm feeling overwhelmed.

I self-diagnosed myself with gluten intolerance last year, after 4 years of suffering and denial. The occasional times when I slip off the gluten-free wagon the results are painfully obvious, so I don't do it often. A couple of beers is usually OK, but a slice of bread can shut down my intestinal system for an entire day or two.

I'm finding that when I'm on long kicks of eating gluten-free, I will occasionally get hit with what feels like I've been glutened: the "block of cement in my stomach" feeling (or the GLUE of gluten), the bloating, the tummy rumbles, loose stools, the mental fog, depression, etc. I can be sure when I'm gluten-free because I make all my food from scratch, so there is little possibility of gluten contamination. Being vegan I already avoid all dairy products & eggs. More and more, I'm pinpointing these gluten-like symptoms to nuts. Now that SUCKS big time. To those who avoid nuts: all nuts? Is one kind worse than another? Another possibility is soy, eaten in the form of tofu and edamame (soybeans). Another blow to the vegan diet! To those who avoid soy: what were your symptoms? What other foods might be triggering tummy troubles like this? Some days I just don't want to eat anything period, and I've been losing weight. If nuts & soy end up being no-nos then I'm just not going to thrive on a vegan diet and it'll have to come to an end.

[jackay 21]

Do you eat corn? I had corn last night and feeling bad today. It could be that the corn was contaminated but from the strong reaction I got, I figure it was the corn itself.

[bethlany88 0]

If you have a gluten issue then the occasional beer unfortunately is not really ok, though you dont feel horrible. Your bowels will never heal from that exposure to gluten and your tolerance for other foods will then never be optimal.

On a good note: ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC makes gluten free Redbridge Beer and let me tell ya its Great! Man did I miss beer! You can usually find it at Wal-mart for $7-8 a 6 pack

Also I thought I was gluten free and feeding my autistic daughter gluten free, yet we were still sick. Little did I know that many items that contain no gluten but that are made on the same product lines often contain 300-3000 or more ppm of gluten and it only takes 50 ppm to get a celiac sick, or keep a gluten intolerant from healing the bowels.

I never loved walmart till now, but they are now labeling all of their great value products with either a wheat warning or if its truly gluten free it is labeled gluten free. Whole Foods Store also has a wealth of gluten-free products but you often have to have wealth yourself to shop there lol. Im using my Celiac as a tax write off for the extra cost of food so if you can ever get a bowel endoscopy to truly rule in celiac that would be helpful in dealing with the cost of gluten-free foods.

Also Nearly 1/2 of Celiacs are lactose intolerant as Im sure you know and soy is also a big problem for alot of us, especially since soy interfeers with optimal thyroid function which causes some similar symptoms such as brain fog etc and alot of people with celiac also have low, or lower than optimal thyroid.

I notice that peanuts are worse for me than any other and I seem to tolerate almonds well. You can still eat well, trust me I LOVE to eat and eat any typical meal others do, even pizza. Udi's is the new bread that is gluten, dairy, nut, and soy free and MAN is it good! I will never eat another gluten-free bread! You can order it online too at http://www.udisfood.com/glutenfree.php and their blueberry muffins are to die for.

If you need some meal suggestions just let me know and I can surely give you some. my email, since i dont check on here alot for anyone needing some meal ideas or just an ear is bntburris@yahoo.com

Take good care! Tracy

[fnord 0]

Do you eat corn? I had corn last night and feeling bad today. It could be that the corn was contaminated but from the strong reaction I got, I figure it was the corn itself.

Odd - and no, haven't had corn lately in any form. I tend to avoid any product with high fructose corn syrup anyway, and eating natural corn or corn tortillas never seems to bother me.

If you have a gluten issue then the occasional beer unfortunately is not really ok, though you dont feel horrible. Your bowels will never heal from that exposure to gluten and your tolerance for other foods will then never be optimal.

I notice that peanuts are worse for me than any other and I seem to tolerate almonds well.

Thanks for a helpful post, bethlany. You do make a good point of the potential damage I do by having a few beers thinking I can "get away with it", but the continued exposure to gluten could be whacking out my whole system. As a former homebrewer, the loss of beer in my life has been especially disappointing and sometimes I cheat because I stop caring.

Interesting about peanuts because that seems to be what triggers the tummy trouble for me. Usually I snack on mixed nuts, so I'll have to do some elimination experiments.

[yolo 62]

I had to give up being a vegetarian twice since it wrecked havoc with my health. It turned out I was too allergic to too many things, including all nuts and beans...!! so now I eat meat but still eat lots of vegetables. I also now have yogurt--but the home made 24 hour variety since that way it gets rid of all the lactose.

[Ahorsesoul 54]

Thanks for a helpful post, bethlany. You do make a good point of the potential damage I do by having a few beers thinking I can "get away with it", but the continued exposure to gluten could be whacking out my whole system. As a former homebrewer, the loss of beer in my life has been especially disappointing and sometimes I cheat because I stop caring.

Looks to be that you do not need to give up your homebrewing! I only did a fast search so I'm sure there are other places with gluten free beer info.

http://www.gfhomebrewing.com.au/

[GFinDC 695]

I don't do soy because I think it is bad for people. You can decide for yourself though. Just a do a little searching and read up on "soy infant formula" or "soy intestine damage".