Willpower

[NZ Gluten Free Chick]

Hi there,

I was diagnosed about six months ago with gluten intolerancy and I have recently become unable to digest any dairy products.

I am 22 years old and having a hard time coming to terms with my diagnosis. I feel like the odd one out and I go to a lot of parties or BBQs in the weekend where I cannot eat anything. Or my friends will invite me round for tea and I have to say no because they don't realise they can't cook me just a normal meal. I know that it's not the end of the world and a lot of people are far worse off than me but I feel very limited in what I can eat. I quite often get bored with the diet and binge on chocolate and chips or something. I have successfully cut gluten out of my diet and I don't mind this so much as there are a lot of alternative products out there that are gluten free but dairy...I can't seem to cut this out. I LOVE cheese and chocolate! I need to get some willpower and motivation to actually stick to this because it is just making me sicker. I live in a small town in New Zealand too and the gluten free food in supermarkets here is very expense ($8 for a loaf of bread!!).

So I am just wondering how you guys keep yourselves motivated to stick to your diets? I live with my fiance and he eats a fair amount of yummy food which I cannot tolerate which doesn't help.

I am also after some good snack ideas please. I find myself eating just fruit and veges for snacks which gets really boring. What are some good gluten and dairy free snacks? Does anybody have any good sites with recipies? I work full time and am always busy so I need stuff that is easy to make!

Thanks guys

[ahseya]

hi! dont give up! it sucks and is emotionally so hard at first, but you will get used to it fast

what worked for me wasn't trying to replace EVERYTHING with the gluten free "version" (like gluten free bread), but focussing on naturally gluten free foods. i eat a lot of stir fried veggies with rice noodles, indian curries with rice, etc. you dont need to buy special gluten free food, just focus on things that already are gluten free! there are tons of rice noodles for super cheap in asian markets.

when i went to auckland i noticed that celiac is recognized there and a lot of cafes and places offer gluten free things. here in australia it's a lot easier than in canada, where things aren't clearly labeled

you can do it! if it helps, here is an example of what i eat everyday:

breakfast: green smoothie (spinach, lemon juice, ginger, banana, pear, etc)

two hard boiled eggs with sauteed asparagus and black pepper

lunch: stir fry with brocolini, mushrooms, tomato, onions etc and lots of spices with rice noodles (which are super easy to prepare, you soak them for a few minutes and then throw them on the pan/wok and it cooks with your veggies)

almonds for a snack

dinner: red thai curry with beef and brocoli, with a side of rice

dessert: yummy dark chocolate! and if nz is anything like aus in this respect, there are TONS of gluten free desserts for pretty cheap.

to me, since my parents are pakistani, its pretty easy to be gluten free because rice is my most used side dish. i love all types of asian food and i love cooking. learn to love easy recipes! also check out blogs like, marksdailyapple.com. this is a "diet" but all the recipes are gluten free, though its not marketed towards celiacs. people post videos of their recipes and they are really good.

[ahseya]

also, perhaps try goats cheeses? i am sensitive to dairy and can tolerate goats cheeses. a lot of dark chocolate is dairy free as well.

i live with my man too and one thing i miss so much is just plain TOAST with BUTTER! the sound of it! the smell of it every morning! but you move on. the more you stay away from these foods, the more sensitive you will get, and if one day you try to eat some cheese it may make you so uncomfortable that the thought of cheese is no longer appealing eventually. like aversion therapy, know what i mean?

stay connected on these forums and websites for support. there are some GREAT websites

[annegirl]

Hey! Sorry you're having a rough time. I know it can be a bummer.

What I'd recommend doing is learning how to create your own goodies. Google "Elana's Pantry" for some great gluten/dairy free recipes for cookies/cakes/muffins etc. Next time your friends invite you for tea, go and bring a plate of goodies with you!

Same goes for snacks. Try: fruit leather, nuts, raisins, dried cranberries, chips, chocolate, gluten free pepperoni sticks if you can find them, homemade cookies and cake. Honestly, the processed gluten-free stuff is fairly yucky and expensive. It's better to learn how to make it yourself. As you can see from my signature I'm fairly limited, so I know how hard it can be!

Honestly, we just have to learn to keep our chin up and make lemonade out of these life lemons. I know it's hard, I was in training on a military facility all last week and ended up eating nothing but little packets of tuna and wilted lettuce because the kitchen didn't realize that white flour came from wheat. Yeah, I was near tears some days just because I was so hungry and frustrated. But you know, we have the opportunity to be healthy!

And another thing, this might just be my bad attitude.....but I figure I'm limited enough in what I eat. So if I want to have something like chips, I eat them. I've lost 55 pounds since Feb so it's not like I have a weight issue. I figure I'm restricted enough as it is. If all else fails, go out and buy yourself a big juicy ribeye and some shrimp. Grill the rib eye, sautee the shrimp in a bit of olive oil/garlic/fresh lemon juice and serve with fresh broccoli and a baked potato. That's my go to meal when I feel sorry for myself.

Good luck!

[beebs]

Hi there,

I was diagnosed about six months ago with gluten intolerancy and I have recently become unable to digest any dairy products.

I am 22 years old and having a hard time coming to terms with my diagnosis. I feel like the odd one out and I go to a lot of parties or BBQs in the weekend where I cannot eat anything. Or my friends will invite me round for tea and I have to say no because they don't realise they can't cook me just a normal meal. I know that it's not the end of the world and a lot of people are far worse off than me but I feel very limited in what I can eat. I quite often get bored with the diet and binge on chocolate and chips or something. I have successfully cut gluten out of my diet and I don't mind this so much as there are a lot of alternative products out there that are gluten free but dairy...I can't seem to cut this out. I LOVE cheese and chocolate! I need to get some willpower and motivation to actually stick to this because it is just making me sicker. I live in a small town in New Zealand too and the gluten free food in supermarkets here is very expense ($8 for a loaf of bread!!).

So I am just wondering how you guys keep yourselves motivated to stick to your diets? I live with my fiance and he eats a fair amount of yummy food which I cannot tolerate which doesn't help.

I am also after some good snack ideas please. I find myself eating just fruit and veges for snacks which gets really boring. What are some good gluten and dairy free snacks? Does anybody have any good sites with recipies? I work full time and am always busy so I need stuff that is easy to make!

Thanks guys

I bought a bread maker and make my own gluten-free bread now - its cheaper to do it that way.

Also - piklets are great for a snack and you can freeze them for later. I make savoury and sweet.

[mushroom]

Gluten free in EnZed is not too bad, although small town makes it harder Make a shopping expedition to your nearest big town after doing some research first - I find that some New Worlds, and some Fresh Choices carry good selections of gluten free flours, and lots of Orgran and Freedom From and Simple foods. Stock up on Orgran all purpose and Self Raising gluten free flour, or if you can find a Binn Inn near you you can buy the individual flours in bulk much cheaper, or at an Asian market. Where do you live???

Anyway, you should be able to find cereals, pastas, flours, cookies, breads (yeah, I know - expensive). Try Lisa's Hummus and Feta and Basil dips, SaKaTa crackers to dip them in (also good with Verkerk's ham and salamis which are gluten free.. Try Pacific or Pure Harvest almond milk, or any Rice Milk except Rice Dream; also experiment with curries and coconut milk (all these can be used in baking). Also for baking, Olivani is good, and I use a lot of grapeseed oil in baking (made these yum muffins this morning Open Original Shared Link using Orgran self-raising flour and grapeseed oil

Try goat's and sheep's cheeses (a little pricey, some of them, but stronger tasting so you don't need so much), try Pecorino or Grana Padano (from New World) as a grating on pasta (you may find that you are mostly lactose intolerant --mostly everone is at first because the lactose is digested in the part of the small intestine that is damaged by gluten and takes a while to regenerate) and that you can eat the low lactose products like hard cheeses - I could. I was even able to eat yogurt.

Buy a crockpot if you don't already have one and you can toss the food in there in the morning and set it to low and it will all be cooked and gluten free when you get home. Google "gluten free crockpot recipes" and you will come up with hundreds of ideas.

This is all very doable. You just have to get used to it and be committed, knowing that every "cheat" does hurt. Before long you will be feeling like an old pro, taking food with you into dodgy situations like Christmas dinners (some people cook Christmas the day before at home and then have leftovers to take with them to microwave and eat with the family). Check out Fresh Choice if you have one near your small town for things like Kind Bars and portable snacks you can take with you for emergency situations where you are away from home and miles from gluten free food. You should always have emergency rations, in your purse, in your car because you never know when you will be caught foodless. By the way, crockpot leftovers are great for microwaving at work for lunch.

While I personally do not recommend soy (intolerant of that too, and they put a lot of soy in gluten free products to replace the gluten), you can find soy ice cream, and someone makes a nice line of sherbets that are a good ice cream replacement (Again, found at New World).

There are lots of gluten free recipe blogs on the net - glutenfreegoddess is my favourite - and they have recipes for absolutely anything you can think of. Also, the recipe thread on the forum has some fabulous creations if you are into baking.

Getting your fiance to be considerate of your gluten free needs is very important. He must clean up his crumbs after himself and you shouldn't share spreads, jams, peanut butter, etc., and he must brush his teeth before kissing or you will get glutened. Better still, he could eat gluten free at home, and load up on gluten when he is out

Good luck and good health in your gluten free living. Fire away with any questions.

[DanielleR]

Hi there,

I was diagnosed about six months ago with gluten intolerancy and I have recently become unable to digest any dairy products.

I am 22 years old and having a hard time coming to terms with my diagnosis. I feel like the odd one out and I go to a lot of parties or BBQs in the weekend where I cannot eat anything. Or my friends will invite me round for tea and I have to say no because they don't realise they can't cook me just a normal meal. I know that it's not the end of the world and a lot of people are far worse off than me but I feel very limited in what I can eat. I quite often get bored with the diet and binge on chocolate and chips or something. I have successfully cut gluten out of my diet and I don't mind this so much as there are a lot of alternative products out there that are gluten free but dairy...I can't seem to cut this out. I LOVE cheese and chocolate! I need to get some willpower and motivation to actually stick to this because it is just making me sicker. I live in a small town in New Zealand too and the gluten free food in supermarkets here is very expense ($8 for a loaf of bread!!).

So I am just wondering how you guys keep yourselves motivated to stick to your diets? I live with my fiance and he eats a fair amount of yummy food which I cannot tolerate which doesn't help.

I am also after some good snack ideas please. I find myself eating just fruit and veges for snacks which gets really boring. What are some good gluten and dairy free snacks? Does anybody have any good sites with recipies? I work full time and am always busy so I need stuff that is easy to make!

Thanks guys

Hi there, I too am new to Gluten free living. I have been totally Gluten free and dairy free since March of this year. At 1st I was very upset and I wasn't sure how I was going to handle this. My 1st test was at a BBQ. I didn't know if I would be able to eat anything, and I certainly did not want to be an "outcast". I found out that many items are Gluten free, for example Bushs baked beans, Hormel chili with beans, and Lays potato chips. I also searched and found Gluten free recipes for potato salad and pasta salad. As far as snacks go there is a Gluten free brownie recipe, that I sub in rice milk since I can't have dairy. Also there is a kettle korn popcorn that Wal-mart and Sams club sell that is Gluten and Dairy free. I think it is amazing :)For the most part, I find that I host a lot of the family and friend get togethers, just so I am 100% sure that it if food friendly. I am the only one in my family that is Gluten free, however my family doesn't mind eating it with me for breakfast every once in i while. So maybe your guy might try to go Gluten free once a week?? Most stuff you can't tell there is a difference. One more thing I found out that ALL Boars head deli products are Gluten free. They have wonderful meats and sauces.

[GlutenDude]

So frustrating I know. Hang in there...it does get easier and it eventually becomes a part of who you are.

I think ahseya nailed it. Don't try to replace all of the foods you loved with the gluten free equivalent, because it will just lead you down the road to disappointment. A lot of foods taste/feel the way they do because of the gluten. Without that, the results sometimes are not pretty.

Find new things to eat that you haven't tried before. Eat naked. Not literally of course (up to you) but just fresh meats, fish and veggies, with a bit of olive oil. The things I used to eat I can't even imagine eating now.

Life gets better...I promise.

[Strawberry-Jam]

The way to build up willpower is to exercise it, just like with muscles. Give things up for 24 hours at a time--not food necessarily, but things like internet or television, maybe. Sleep on the floor one night. That kind of thing. It was fasting during Lent and so forth that made the diet easier for me to transition into... it was weird to switch from not eating meat on Fridays etc. to eating pretty much only meat all the time, but the willpower is the same in both cases.

I'm not fully there with the willpower either, but that is what has helped me.

[Skylark]

I find the willpower because I hate, hate, hate being sick! I KNOW how miserable I'll be if I eat the doughnut or slice of pizza and it just isn't worth it.

I can't help much with snacks because I don't get bored with fruit and veggies. Maybe have some hummus and corn chips or rice crackers, corn chips and salsa or guacamole, or peanut butter on rice cakes? Popcorn is good, and I love apples or celery with peanut butter. I also love nuts and seeds so I snack on cashews, sunflower seeds, and pistachios when I can find them on sale.

As far as friends, I have a few who take great delight in cooking gluten-free for me and they're great at it. For the others who don't "get" the diet, I offer to bring something I can eat and share with everyone else. In this country we tend to have dinner with friends rather than tea, so I'll make a gluten-free pot of rice and beans or some homemade curry. I always make something substantial enough that I can eat it for my whole meal if there is nothing else safe. My friends understand and they encourage me to do what it takes to stay healthy, even if they're not up to cooking gluten-free. (And I wouldn't want to put them to the trouble if they don't volunteer.)

You need to get your fiance to understand that he is making you miserable. The guy I date ALWAYS eats gluten-free around me. I don't even care that much, but he isn't happy eating something I can't have in front of me.

[sariesue]

If going over to friend's houses is currently too hard for you, why not host tea at your house? that way you have control over what the menu is and how it's prepared.

[aeraen]

If going over to friend's houses is currently too hard for you, why not host tea at your house? that way you have control over what the menu is and how it's prepared.

Sariesu beat me to it. I love to invite people over for dinner, and guests have commented after the meal that they had completly forgotten about my diet limitations while they were eating... there was nothing "different" about the dinner they were served. I just chose naturally gluten-free foods.

Or bring something to tea that you CAN eat. I don't know about the traditions in NZ, but in my area it is common to contribute to a function with a dish you bring yourself. I always make sure I bring something that I can eat, and tell my host or hostess to please not worry about me at all.

Which takes me to another point... and I mean this in the nicest way... get over yourself. This is something I had to say to myself over and over until I finally got it. It isn't always about me. The wedding where all I could eat were the green beans? Well, it wasn't about me, and I can live for a couple of hours on green beans. The donut that my husband ate in front of me? If I were in a wheelchair, would I insist that he don't walk around me? It isn't anyone else's fault, no one should have to stop what they are doing, or do something special just for me. I can bring my own food, eat before I go, keep a lara bar in my purse and, most of all, deal.

Honestly, as far as illnesses go, isn't something that you CAN do something about far preferable to those that you can't?

[NZ Gluten Free Chick]

Thanks for all your tips and support guys. I think I'm gunna do a bit of baking this weekend and see what I can make And yeah I think it will just take a bit of adjusting and I probably won't even notice it anymore. I'm gunna try be more positive from now on. Actually looking forward to the grocery trip tomorrow