Sticking To gluten-free Diet?

[LittleTee]

Hi there,

I'm self-diagnosed gluten-sensitive, possibly celiac but have not been tested. I've been on the gluten-free diet for 6 months, but have slipped up many times. Usually it's lack of knowledge (took me a while to figure out soy sauce, for example) but once in a while -- as happened last week -- I just got sick of eating gluten-free and wanted the taste of bread or pizza or something. (I think not being DXed lets some weird inner voice say "it's ok, you can eat it, you're not DXed celiac, after all").

At first I could handle it, but the last two times I've gotten quite sick. Flu-like symptoms plus bloating, D, and cramps. I've been in bed two days now this time around. I think my sensitivity is getting worse? Is that possible?

I'm finding it just difficult to stay gluten-free. Eating out is next to impossible. So, so tired of rice and pasta. I feel like the only safe things to eat are bland chicken and salad -- I'm a big foodie-type so I can't just see food-as-fuel. I used to be a baker, so it's killing me not to make bread, cookies, muffins, etc. like I used to. I've tried gluten-free breads but they taste like they are made with sawdust.

I know this is a lot of complaining, I'm just lost and sad about being on this diet right now. I guess I'm looking for some motivation or BTDT advice. Thanks.

[love2travel]

Hi there,

I'm self-diagnosed gluten-sensitive, possibly celiac but have not been tested. I've been on the gluten-free diet for 6 months, but have slipped up many times. Usually it's lack of knowledge (took me a while to figure out soy sauce, for example) but once in a while -- as happened last week -- I just got sick of eating gluten-free and wanted the taste of bread or pizza or something. (I think not being DXed lets some weird inner voice say "it's ok, you can eat it, you're not DXed celiac, after all").

At first I could handle it, but the last two times I've gotten quite sick. Flu-like symptoms plus bloating, D, and cramps. I've been in bed two days now this time around. I think my sensitivity is getting worse? Is that possible?

I'm finding it just difficult to stay gluten-free. Eating out is next to impossible. So, so tired of rice and pasta. I feel like the only safe things to eat are bland chicken and salad -- I'm a big foodie-type so I can't just see food-as-fuel. I used to be a baker, so it's killing me not to make bread, cookies, muffins, etc. like I used to. I've tried gluten-free breads but they taste like they are made with sawdust.

I know this is a lot of complaining, I'm just lost and sad about being on this diet right now. I guess I'm looking for some motivation or BTDT advice. Thanks.

Hi, Little Tee! Many people find that gluten sensitivity becomes increasingly worse the longer they are gluten free. It is common.

I'm a foodie, too, but am continuing to cook awesome gourmet gluten-free stuff. Give me nearly any recipe and I can make it awesome (except am still working on yeast breads and such). Did you know that you can easily make wonderful gluten-free cookies, cakes, muffins, etc. that do not taste gluten-free at all? Very easy to replicate. The trickier things are doughnuts, bagels, good bread...

gluten-free foods should NOT be bland. No reason to be. Why not have duck, lamb, pheasant, bison, fresh fish, seafood? Swing on over to the food and recipe section for ideas on how we make our meals shine!

[GlutenFreeManna]

Hi there,

I'm self-diagnosed gluten-sensitive, possibly celiac but have not been tested. I've been on the gluten-free diet for 6 months, but have slipped up many times. Usually it's lack of knowledge (took me a while to figure out soy sauce, for example) but once in a while -- as happened last week -- I just got sick of eating gluten-free and wanted the taste of bread or pizza or something. (I think not being DXed lets some weird inner voice say "it's ok, you can eat it, you're not DXed celiac, after all").

At first I could handle it, but the last two times I've gotten quite sick. Flu-like symptoms plus bloating, D, and cramps. I've been in bed two days now this time around. I think my sensitivity is getting worse? Is that possible?

I'm finding it just difficult to stay gluten-free. Eating out is next to impossible. So, so tired of rice and pasta. I feel like the only safe things to eat are bland chicken and salad -- I'm a big foodie-type so I can't just see food-as-fuel. I used to be a baker, so it's killing me not to make bread, cookies, muffins, etc. like I used to. I've tried gluten-free breads but they taste like they are made with sawdust.

I know this is a lot of complaining, I'm just lost and sad about being on this diet right now. I guess I'm looking for some motivation or BTDT advice. Thanks.

As you have discovered the hard way gluten sensitivity can be just as serious as celiac. Many of us do become more sensitive after going gluten free. Also if you keep cheating you are more likely to develop other food intolerances.

Check out the "what's for dinner?" thread over in the recipe section of the board and you'll see people eat a lot of different things. Your meals don't have to be bland or boring. Go to your local library and get some gluten-free baking books and start experimenting. It may take some time and some trial and error to learn to bake gluten-free but it can be done.

[LittleTee]

Thank you very much for responding. I think I need to use my imagination a bit more with this diet, and maybe practice with the baking. I will check the forum for sure.

[Skylark]

I've become MORE of a foodie since going gluten-free. Most of my favorite recipes work gluten-free and I certainly don't eat bland food. I make beef Bourgignon (thicken with arrowroot starch), chicken cacciatore, yankee pot roast, or I'll saute chicken with fresh herbs from the garden. Pork chops are good baked with butter and tabasco sauce. I make soy sauce chicken with gluten-free soy sauce too. Veggies don't have to be limited to salad. Didn't you cook vegetables before you went gluten-free? Try making ratatouille. I love to make soups like lentil soup, black bean soup, split pea soup, or chili. I do rice dishes like Cuban black beans and rice or jambalaya. This morning I had friends over and made a crustless spinach quiche.

Rice doesn't have to be boring. I have about five different kinds of rice in the pantry right now including brown short-grain rice, basmati rice, black "forbidden rice", brown jasmine rice, and a small package of wild rice to add to other rices for variety. I have quinoa too, and a couple different kinds of gluten-free pasta. I also eat white and sweet potatoes.

I bake bread occasionally, using a Bob's Red Mill mix. I also like the Betty Crocker mixes and the gluten-free Bisquick makes drop biscuits that I thought were really good. Mostly I make scones and I am working on a cheese puff recipe using Jules' gluten-free flour. There are hundreds of gluten-free baking recipes around the board.

[T.H.]

Thank you very much for responding. I think I need to use my imagination a bit more with this diet, and maybe practice with the baking.

If you're looking for something fun to start with, just to boost your spirits? There are a few versions of gluten-free girl scouts-esque cookie recipes on line that you can google. :-) Some of them looked pretty good! Gluten free thin mints, gluten free samoas, etc...

[Takala]

You will actually have an advantage over some other people if you at least know how to bake with regular flour.... these poor kids didn't suffer thru the required home economics classes and/or they have no restaurant prep experience, and many of them can't grasp the basics and have to be taught how to cook from scratch.

The commercial gluten free breads are mostly going to taste like.... [redacted] until you either find a good decent gluten free bakery and then can get an idea of what it can taste like, or you figure out how to adapt recipes to what sorts of gluten free flour substitutes you can eat. Some people think bean flours taste nasty (this can be fixed by doing quick breads leavened with vinegar and adding spices like cumin) but then others can't taste it but find other flavors unappealing, for example, I don't like flax so I don't use it. Others just won't or can't eat eggs so they need recipes that work with out eggs, others need high protein because they are carb intolerant. It is actually fun to experiment with this, by making microwave mini breads in cups which only take a minute or two to cook. For example, if I needed 2 hot dog buns I'd make a cereal bowl shaped bread, and then cut it in half for two half moon shapes and then slice those sideways for the "bun." Anything I do is going to be at least nutritious because I am likely using almond, amaranth, bean, buckwheat, teff types of flours in the mixtures instead of just a rice/tapioca blend. Other people want to recreate the better version of the gluten free white bread.

Somebody said they should try to accept that gluten free is of itself a nourishing food type, and not try to exactly recreate the alternatives. I think it takes the tastes awhile to adapt. Many other world cuisines and cultures do not use gluten in their cooking unless it is Americanized, and by going back to those basic cuisines, such as Mexican or Asian Indian, we can find many fulfilling foods to eat. Even "Italian" cooking, which is thought of as "pasta pasta pasta tomato pizza" is Americanized, because tomato is a New World vegetable and there were no tomatoes in Europe pre 1500's. Our indigenous cuisine here before Columbus did NOT have wheat, yet we had everything that we needed - meat, potatoes, beans, grains such as corn, quinoa, amaranth, seeds, nuts, vegetables, roots. Now corn/maize is considered an African staple, and yet there was no corn for Africa, before the cross ocean invasion. In return we are discovering teff, which is Ethiopian/Kenyan and which they were making flatbreads out of for centuries. They did have sorghum(Africa) and millet(China) in the old World, and now we are using them here in America for gluten free baking as if they are exotic. Many people obsess over finding gluten-free "breads" that could resemble Wonderbread, but don't consider that freshly made flatbreads are very popular in other parts of the world, besides rice or corn porridge.

We are not successful at this until we get past the mental hangup about expecting to be fed, instead of doing the feeding.