BlessedMommy

Last year, we had an extremely severe winter in Michigan. I'm pretty much bracing myself for more of the sane and decided that I'm going to enjoy it as much as possible. I plan to get out and go sledding with the kids after it starts snowing here.

^Yes.

No sane doctor would recommend that I ever do a gluten challenge because of my history. Sometime I should write an article about us self-diagnosed people and how diagnosis is not as cut and dried and easy as it seems.

Compared to the FODMAPs diet, the gluten free diet is a breeze! I've looked over some of the things that FODMAPs eliminates and let's just say that FODMAPS would probably eliminate 75% of my current diet!

Would the Ian's work on a green bean casserole?

Does anybody know if these exist commercially at all? I've looked around on Google and Amazon and haven't found any.

I'm kind of too the point where I don't mind what other people think of my diet anymore.

I'm pretty sure that my neurological symptoms are not "all in my head" nor were they caused by poor eating or eating too many carbs. LOL!   Whether I'm actually celiac or have NCGS or gluten ataxia, I know that gluten free is not a fad diet for me. I don't need a label to know that the stuff is bad for me. My husband doesn't want me to be lax on my diet either, because he knows what that could mean to him and our kids, if I had a stroke.

Remember as long as you know what you need to do and are confident in it, it really doesn't matter what others think about you.

But surprisingly I find that there is more backlash about G.F. diets online than there is IRL. Most people IRL don't really question my need to be G.F. much. It probably helps though that I'm ultra strict and never cheat. I think that many people kill the credibility of the diet when they say one thing and do another.

Do the non-celiacs in your house cook? In my house, they don't, so I call the shots. But I don't insist that they go gluten free, I just ask them to avoid eating gluten in the house. They can eat all they want in restaurants, at potlucks, or friends' houses.

Keep in mind that some celiacs don't get obvious symptoms from minor CC, but it is still damaging their gut. So it's important for all celiacs to be careful of CC, whether they are having outward symptoms or not.

After a few weeks of my kids gluten challenging, I started getting severe chronic headaches and some speech difficulty. I got rid of most of it from the house and tried to be more careful and my symptoms subsided. Considering that my symptoms when I went gluten free included chronic severe headaches and a full TIA with numbness and speech difficulties, I doubt that these symptoms were coincidental.

In response to CC issues, I tend to tell people that I got a relapse of neuro symptoms just from bringing bread in my house for my kids. Then they kind of get how serious it is and how important it is to be strict.

Oh yeah, that is frustrating! What I do sometimes especially if it's a potluck setting and somebody brought a "gluten free" dish, is I smile and say, "Okay," and then just don't eat it and I don't mention it to them. That's harder though when somebody tries to make something and send it home specifically for you.

I find that it's best to keep my explanations short and simple. "If I eat gluten, I will risk getting a stroke and dying. So I have to be strict, there's no choice."

Somebody needs to contact TJ's about the labelling error. Oats should not be labelled gluten free unless they are certified!

Aldi's chips are labelled "naturally gluten free" but contain oats. I won't touch them.

I unfortunately can't tolerate dairy, but I do eat eggs. Feel free to message me any of your good recipes.

The article states that it's in vitro. Does that mean that it could be accurate without gluten consumption?

Thanks for sharing! I noticed from your signature that you are also vegetarian. I am, as well!

Nope, I don't eat gluten on purpose.

I had a gluten induced TIA and get neurological symptoms when glutened on accident, so just the thought of being paralyzed or dying is plenty to keep my G.F. diet on course.

Thank you for the condolences. This one is especially hard, as it was my MIL who passed away. DH and his family were very close and I grew very close to her over the years of our marriage as well. She had been fighting cancer for years. 

I normally cook a lot but we just had a death in the family and of course, I cannot eat any of the meals that people send over. So here's what I'm doing:

--Lots of Amy's frozen dinners

--Freshly made carrot juice

--Salads

--Smoothies

--Hard boiled eggs

--Kind bars

--Nut butter/soy cream cheese with apple slices

--Beyond Meat chicken free strips quickly cooked up with potatoes or veggies, with a little gluten free soy sauce

--Udi's granola and soymilk

I'm trying to keep it healthy, but simply and of course, be as careful as ever about staying gluten free. I don't need to be worrying about getting glutened on top of everything else! A friend told me that she was bringing a gluten free pasta dish to the funeral dinner, but I won't be partaking. I'll just whip up a little stir fry and quinoa and carry it along with maybe a KIND bar for dessert.

Yes, very good explaination cyclinglady.

My cat is on grain free food and my two goldfish would be too, if I could find any standard goldfish food that was gluten free.

I've had a TIA in the past (ministroke) due to gluten and more recently had a relapse of some neuro symptoms (dehabilitating headaches and trouble talking correctly) after my kids were eating gluten in the house. For me, it's a matter of staying alive and not risking getting disabled.

Yes, for a celiac (or any other person with a medical issue around gluten, such as gluten ataxia or non-celiac gluten sensitivity), even crumbs can make you sick.

For me, it's nearly impossible to keep my kids from contaminating me, so it's easier to keep a gluten free house for all and let them get their gluten elsewhere.

If you have more questions, there is a newbie 101 thread in the Coping With Celiac Disease section that has more info on cross contamination and avoiding it.

I had been gluten free for several months prior to the gluten challenge and I was gluten light for at least a year prior to that.

My daughter had been mostly off gluten with some cross contamination and occasional non-compliance since she was 3 years old and she recently did her gluten challenge at 8 years old. I had her stay on gluten for a full 3 months, so that I could be confident her results would be accurate.

She did her gluten challenge from July 21 to October 21. 

I've gone back to a gluten free kitchen now that my daughter's gluten challenge is done and boy, is it ever a stress reliever! 

Here's some pointers on cooking gluten free for a whole family, when only one person needs to be gluten free. I'm the only G.F. person in my house at present.

First of all, focus on basics. Nuts, fruits, veggies, eggs, dried beans, plain soy products, plain meats, etc.

For grains, find some basic versatile inexpensive grain/starch options that everybody enjoys. White basmati rice (we buy in a 20 lb bag at Sam's Club for $21), white rice noodles, corn pasta, corn/quinoa pasta, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and gluten free rolled oats (we buy them in bulk for $1.63 a pound) are popular choices in our house. The corn pasta is available at Aldi for $1.29 a pound or at our regular grocery for $1.99 a pound. 

Focus on basic meals that are easy to make gluten free. A favorite at our house is stir fry. We love the certified G.F. San-J options for sauces and soy sauce. Other crowd pleasing options are really easy to make gluten free, like tater tot casserole. Scrambled eggs and oven roasted potatoes is a favorite breakfast. My gluten eaters and I also regularly eat homemade whole grain gluten free waffles. (super easy to whip up!)

Bread is probably too expensive to make the center of your diet, but you don't necessarily have to go without, either. I have a scratch made recipe that pleases my gluten eaters or I whip up a loaf of Pamela's bread mix. Pamela's bread mix also makes great bagels. 

For treats, gluten free baking is pretty easy to figure out and often you can make treats that can't be distinguished from their glutenous counterparts. There are also many gluten free premade options like ice cream, fruit sorbet, popsicles, potato chips, etc.

I've also had good luck buying gluten free foods for cheaper at our Amish salvage stores.

Keep in mind that you're not actually telling anybody that they must go gluten free, but only that they need to eat their gluten at restaurants, friends' houses, potlucks, etc. instead of home.

I did a gluten challenge and wound up in the ER with neurological complications  (after experiencing severe daily headaches) 10 days into it. I do want to stress that my situation is relatively rare though. Most people will not experience those complications and doing a challenge can be beneficial for many people. I put my daughter on a gluten challenge and she did fine with it--but she ultimately tested negative for celiac though, so I suspect that we never should have had her try to go gluten free in the first place.

As soon as I quit the gluten, my headaches started to go away and I felt completely normal in a few days. I decided from that point on to be gluten free for life. 

I tried the crab cakes and we liked them. 

I'd be interested to find where they're sourcing them from.

It's probably not much of an issue for me, though, because I get certified gluten-free oats in bulk for $1.63 per pound anyway.