Just New

[lewiss]

I'am just new to your forum, l just started about 8 days ago on gluten-free diet. Since then it has been rough. Some backgroung, l have not been diagnosed, but l have noticed in the past when i use wheat products, l felt terrible, to the point of losing half of my sight in my left eye, to having almost no energy.

The adustment period is not been pleasant, headaches, stomach upset, constipation, not energy, i just feel lousy most of the time. Also l take vitamins

a good omega and multi, vitamin d and vitamin c, and krill oil. My diet now consists of chicken, steak, pork chops, vegetable, fish, lots of fruit, flax

pumpkin seeds, walnuts, organic whey powder, pink himalayan salt, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar. Bread made with gluten-free produces, I also have been doing

resreach on the ingredence in the bread, and the one thing that l found out is that Xanthan gum may contain propleayen glycol, not very healthy, but its

nice to have a bread product, without the wheat, and gluten.

I know there is help from somebody, on how to stay on gluten-free and learn all the in's and outs of this diet, since no one else in my family is doing gluten-free diet. I

also let my wife know that i felt better on this diet, but l got the rolling of the eyes, and the cost of everything is very high.

Please help!!

Thanks Lewiss

[GFinDC]

Hi Lewiss,

Welcome to the forum!

Getting started can be rough, but after a while you get used to eating different foods and it is no problem.

Here are some threads that might help:

FAQ Celiac com

https://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/forum-7/announcement-3-frequently-asked-questions-about-celiac-disease/

Newbie Info 101

What's For Breakfast Today?

What Did You Have For Lunch Today?

What Are You Cooking Tonight?

How bad is cheating?

[lewiss]

Thanks GFinDC

i will look up some of the threads, and thanks for the welcome, some good old fashion chit chat and ideas about what to eat when you're family isn't on the band wagon seems to me to be pretty good medicine.

[Darn210]

It doesn't have to be more expensive. Fruit, veggies, and meat are the same as before. Rice, potatos, eggs, dairy . . . the same. There are main stream cereals . . . rice/corn chex, Kix. The expense comes with the specialty foods like the gluten free bread and gluten free cookies . . . which are not mandatory in your diet (but nice to have). Don't over-indulge in the beginning with the specialty foods to avoid sticker shock. When you've sampled a few items and you are sure that you like them (and they have a decent shelf life) you can save money by buying in bulk on-line.

When my daughter first started gluten free, I bought a lot more specialty items than I do now. Now it's mostly pasta, bread, and pretzels and I stock up when they are on sale. I get other items too but not very often.

[lewiss]

Hi Janet:

You are right fruit and veggies, meat etc, cost the same its the specal foods like bars, and bread, pretzels, etc. I tried some of these, and l like some, but when working on a budget, the wife say spend only so much that's what its come to. Save up and buy what is on sale and go from there.

working on 10 days of being on gluten-free foods, mostly bad days, not one good one yet, l hope it soon improves. Patience not one of my best virtues, so far l like this forum. Lots of info, ideas and places to visit.

[GFinDC]

You are quite welcome Lewiss. Chit-chat we can do. Sometimes overdo in fact. Shoot, we have a whole section of the forum dedicated to gab/chat. The "coping with" forum is also a good place to get ideas about gluten-free and celiac.

Family probably won't understand at first what is going on with your diet. It takes a while to understand the issues. Cross contamination for instance is something people have a hard time getting their head around. Family may not understand that a single crumb of something they eat every day can make you sick. So they may not be as vigilant as needed, or forget things like not sharing the peanut butter and mayo jars, toaster etc. Sometimes they can be trained but sometimes not. You can mark all your gluten-free items with a red sticky dot or a magic marker "gluten-free" on the package. And set up a shelf in the refrigerator and pantry for gluten-free only items.

But many foods are naturally gluten-free and don't cost anything more than they do for other people. Things like fruit and veggies, meats nuts etc. And there are gluten-free Chex on store shelves now and other cereals that are not expensive.

We all started at the beginning also, so we do have some memory of waht it was liek. Can be a rough thing to adjust to but it is mostly getting familiar with new foods and getting used to eating them vs old gluteney foods. And there are plenty of good whole foods to eat. It really does get easier after a while. That may be several months or a year or more. We are all different and heal at our own rate.