Stoole

Wonder why not the mustard or dill pickles????

probably white vingegar which could be made from wheat, although some say it's ok because it is distilled

For what it's worth, I fed my son about 8 oz. of regular semolina pasta over the course of two days. I felt like a bad dad, but the doc wasn't worried that causing a long term problem.

Then again, his views on celiac disease are different from the mainstream. Maybe that is because he is an allergist and not a GI guy?

I have to eat at Joe's Crab Shack next month for work. I just e-mailed them through their website. I will report back and let everybody know if they were helpful.

It's tough, especially since your child is so young. (My son is 4 and has celiac disease, so I know...) The only non-nut protein sources I can think of are

Cold cuts (depending on how long they will be out - try freezing the gluten-free bread if you are worried)

Tofu - You can get it in an aseptic packages (like juice boxes). That depends on whether your kid will eat it raw. Maybe with some wheat-free soy sauce.

gluten-free protein bars

beef jerky

If none of that stuff will work, get soy milk in a small package that looks like a juice box. You can get a three-pack. Just watch out for barley syrup. I used to use those for great traveling pick-me-ups even before I was diagnosed. If your son isn't used to that stuff, you might want to get the chocolate ones. You're going to need to investigate soy milks and rice milks if you need to stay dairy-free.

McDonalds has a poster that lists common allergens in their meals. You might be stuck with french fries though.

Hot dogs are tough because not all are gluten-free and you have to worry about crumbs from buns and tongs getting on those rollers.

I have found that the more emphasis a restaurant puts on service, the more likely you are to be able to get help.

If your kid is like mine, he might skip protein all day anyway.

Good luck.

I don't think of myself as being sick. My physical symptoms were relatively mild for many years, so I didn't even think I was sick when I was sick. Total denial.

I concur. Kefir is great. My wife made some from the grains this summer but then we decided to go dairy free. I spent 10 days on IV antibiotics last year because of a ruptured appendix. My gut was a mess after not eating or drinking for a week. When I came home, I drank a lot of kefir. We didn't make it then; we just bought it at the the health food store. I really liked the raspberry flavor on breakfast cereal. All I can say was that it felt like it was helping.

My first appointment with a GI doc about my gluten intolerance is tomorrow. If he or she says it's OK, we will probably make kefir again. I don't think it was very hard.

If there is a health food store near you, it might be worth buying a quart just to check it out. It's refrigerated so you might not be able to mail order it.

Thanks for the help, everyone.

I was diagnosed as gluten intolerant last week based on three blood tests. I have pretty minor symptoms, so my doctor said I could continue eating wheat but just cut way back. I decided to go completely gluten-free anyway.

I have a phone appointment with my doc for Wednesday to discuss intolerance vs. Celiac and what we should do next. Does anyone have any suggestions for what I should ask her?

I definitely want to know why she thinks it's OK for me to have any gluten. I'm wondering if I'm at risk for Celiac and I'm just lucky we caught it now.

Thanks for the advice.

Killarney, I think you can be a gluten-free vegetarian. In fact, maybe it's a plus in your case. You're already used to eating differently from other people, checking ingredients, etc. If you didn't "cheat" as a vegetarian, I bet you will have an easier time eliminating gluten than some other people. You know how you have to search for vegetarian anchovy sauce? Now you have to find gluten-free mustard. I think gluten-free is harder, but it's kind of the same deal.

I was a vegetarian for 14 years (from college until this summer.) One of my son's doctors thought meat would help my son's epilepsy, otherswise I would still be veggie, even with my diagnosis. The health food stores where I live are really helpful. Find the one near you that boycotts the most products. They probably have a really picky buyer who can help make sure you get what you need. They probably even have a gluten free section.

Oh, if you don't know already, you don't need to worry about pasta. You can get gluten-free pasta that is really good. There are all kinds of yummy things you can make with rice pasta, and the quinoa pasta is very similar to pasta made with semolina. I haven't had great luck with pizza and bread but I'm still new at this. I bet others can advise you in some of the other forums here. I made a pizza crust last month but it turned out really flaky--it would have been an awesome scone, though.

Good luck with it all!