What Can I Do To Get Through This?

[revenant]

I can only go 1 week at a time before I cave and eat icecream or crackers. (lactose and gluten sensitive). My family doesn't have enough money to buy many gluten free things, all that I can eat in the house is tuna potatoes and rice. Occasionally my mom buys coconut bliss for me but only once every 2 week kind of thing. I've asked if she would temporarily not bring icecream into the house and she said no (she actually got angry that I asked such a thing), I asked if there could be a gluten free section of the kitchen and she said there's not enough room in the kitchen for that. It's so hard, and I can't get through the cravings without some gluten-free breads and icecreams... so what else can I do to support myself through this and to prevent myself from caving??

[aderifield]

Speak to your doctor about this the next time you go in and ask him for suggestions.

[mushroom]

It is hard to get over the first weeks of craving gluten - it is like quitting smoking and your body is crying out for its fix. You must strengthen your resolve and find other things to eat, like carrot and celery sticks, nuts, seeds (spend your pocket money if you have to) to get you through these first weeks. Once you get over the withdrawal you will start to think of gluten the way we all do, as rat poison for our bodies, rather than something to crave.

Just hang in there - you can get over this hump!!

[T.H.]

Okay, this is a bit silly and totally psychological, but it did help sometimes - I need to be doing it again as cravings have been hitting me!

I got these little notecards/post-its and wrote encouraging things on them and stuck them in the places I was most likely to cheat. Like, "your health is more important than eating this right now" or "remember what this food does to you. Stay safe"

Didn't always help, but it usually made me pause a bit and that sometimes was all I needed to back away from the food, ya know?

Okay, and for the ice cream cravings? How about homemade non-dairy ice cream on a budget? Here's something that might help.

Homemade rice milk (that you can then turn into ice cream)

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice + 8 cups water

Directions:

1. Put water and rice in a pot on the stove. Bring to a boil, then simmer 3 hours. It should be a kind of slurry at that point.

2. Get a blender (hopefully you have one?). Fill it half full with the rice slurry. Fill the other half with water from the faucet (so 1:1 slurry to plain water ratio). Blend that puppy until it's really smooth. Then pour it through a mesh sieve once, and pour it through again, or pour it through cheesecloth layered over a normal sieve.

3. Repeat this with the rest of the slurry and there you go: Rice Milk. You can add a few Tablespoons oil and honey/agave syrup/sugar to make it taste better. It is usually twice as concentrated as purchased rice milk, so you can dilute it by half before drinking.

But after you've got it, you could add some extra sugar and make it into ice cream, hopefully.

Hmmm, and if you don't have any equipment that could make it into ice cream? Maybe freeze it into ice cubes and then blend it up in a blender like a smoothie or milk shake? That might do. Maybe with a little fruit or frozen fruit?

Hopefully, that might help with the cravings a bit and still stay in budget. :-)

[ravenwoodglass]

There is a lot of natually gluten free food. For snacks most Delmonte, if not all, fruit cups and snacks. Raisens, nuts, fresh fruit some candy like Jelly Belly jelly beans, DARK Milky Way bars, and a lot more. Many meals can be made naturally gluten free like chili, rice and beans, chicken breast, fresh meats and fish. Some prepared items like Dinty Moore beef stew, Jimmy Dean breakfast skillets. Ask here for suggestions. I don't know how old you are but if you are old enough to get a part time job that will help you afford stuff like gluten-free pretzels and breads etc. If you don't have room in the kitchen for your gluten-free stuff then do you have room in your bedroom? Some will get an inexpensive box or even a cardboard one will do to seperate out their specialy stuff. Also see if your Mom will get on the board and read some of what mixed families do. Has your family been tested yet? Once one of us is diagnosed all should be tested.

[sb2178]

chocolate. candied ginger. herbal tea. grapes. grapes. cherries. canned pineapple. larabars. and... at one point... straight honey.

you can also order some stuff on amaazon in bulk quantities which makes it cheaper (i.e. 10 lbs corn-quinoa pasta in bulk for 3.20/lb instead of 4.29 for one 8 oz box), but again you have to be old enough to have a credit card. plain popcorn might help too.

i might work on the mom discussion again-- do you have a sympathetic sibling or dad who would listen and act as a moderator?

[Skylark]

In some people gluten and alpha-casein (cows milk casein) have narcotic-like effects. Every time you eat milk or gluten, you maintain the addiction and refesh the cravings. You are basically suffering from a mild narcotic addiction.

The only way to do this is to stay strong until the cravings go away. Come here for support. You might also check for a celiac support group where you live to find some people to talk to. After you go a while off gluten and casein, you will not crave them as badly.

If you're diagnosed, it sounds like you need to drag your mom in for a talk with the doctor. Keeping a house filled with gluten and only offering you potatoes, tuna, and rice to eat is not good parenting. Overpriced gluten-free breads might not be an option on your family's budget but you need other protein (there is too much mercury in tuna for it to be a staple), fruits and vegetables, and some more healthy variety in your diet. Eggs and dried beans are cheap and safer sources of protein than tuna.

Eating better with more variety in your food will help with the cravings for gluten and casein. You should also probably be taking a B-complex.

[deebra]

I can only go 1 week at a time before I cave and eat icecream or crackers. (lactose and gluten sensitive). My family doesn't have enough money to buy many gluten free things, all that I can eat in the house is tuna potatoes and rice. Occasionally my mom buys coconut bliss for me but only once every 2 week kind of thing. I've asked if she would temporarily not bring icecream into the house and she said no (she actually got angry that I asked such a thing), I asked if there could be a gluten free section of the kitchen and she said there's not enough room in the kitchen for that. It's so hard, and I can't get through the cravings without some gluten-free breads and icecreams... so what else can I do to support myself through this and to prevent myself from caving??

im sorry to hear your mother is so insensitive to your needs, im new also to celiac and confused.