camprunner

Thanks for all the suggestions, keep them coming if you can think of more. Unfortunately due to lactose intolerance Nutella is out

How about gluten-free soups and there are some Indian meals that are not refrigerated. Also, Annie's gluten-free mac and cheese with a dairy replacement.

I like those suggestions. I just remember that I got some Thai meals at Whole Foods when I went out of town for a week on business and I don't know if they will eat those but I'll bet maybe there are similar type meals that can be microwaved for them. The friend that is keeping them knows that fresh fruit and veggies are ok and is pretty familiar with their diet but I also don't want to intimidate and I also have some back ups that aren't as familiar with the diet so I want to make sure they are covered. Like I said, it is possible that they will leave at 8 or 9 pm one night and be back by breakfast the next morning...it is also possible they will have to eat a meal or two with this family so I want to be prepared.

Can you make some stuff and freeze it so you can grab a bag out of the freezer when it's time? Chili freezes really well, as do muffins.

I'll need to think about that one... DH will probably be responsible for getting them there so I was hoping that I could do something in just one spot. I'm also not sure how much freezer space the family I'm sending them to would have. On top of that, even though we do have things at our house that freeze well, they are generally not the things that the kids will eat. I would love to be able to send them the kind of hotdogs they can eat (not healthy, but they will eat them), a vegetable they would eat. Then the stuff listed above. I'm just thinking hotdogs and frozen veggies aren't going to make the 30 minute trip well and I can totally see dh driving off without them where as a box beside the door he'd probably remember.

In a few months, our family is expecting a new baby. I will be sending my kids to a friends house during the (home)birth and need to have a food box packed for them that could sit by our door for as long as 5 weeks while we wait. I'm at a loss as to what I could pack to provide them with meals while they are gone (especially since there is no way to know which ones they will need!). DD (8yo) is gluten intolerant and lactose intolerant. She wets the bed as one of her reactions (to both) so this is definately not a reaction I want her to have at someone else's house and after she get's back to our house as there will be enough laundry at our house.

So far, I'm thinking I can pack

-Almond milk

-Cereal

-Lara Bars for snack

-maybe some peanutbutter and gluten free crackers?

What else? We don't do a lot of convenience foods around here and it seems that this is exactly what she will need. I'd like for her to feel like she has plenty to eat when the family sits down to eat a meal. Any suggestions?

My labors really haven't been that long so it's possible that it will only be for one meal or no meals.

May I make snother suggestion??

Valentine's Day will be very busy for nice restaurants... I would choose an odd hour to eat out. like 3:00 in the afternoon. If the staff is rushed they will not be as careful or pay as close attention. I would choose someone with a gluten free menu and that seems to be trusted. either some place you have successfully eaten at before or you have read good reviews from others celiacs. best of luck!!!

Thanks for the tip. We are definately going to go fairly early. Maybe leaving even earlier would be a good idea!

Agreed. This is so sad because either 1. she actually believes this, then she is terribly misinformed from someone who doesn't know what they are talking about or 2. she just isn't following the diet and making excuses.

The bigger problem than just your friend and her health is that either way, she's passing on bad information. Those uninformed/unaware of the severe effects of gluten are likely to actually believe something like this and wonder if anyone really has to stick to the gluten free diet. Then the rest of us who are breaking our backs to stay gluten free have to explain to (or take criticism from) people that there are not shortcuts, there is NO cheating, and YES any little tiny bit really does matter. This is flawed in so many ways it is just so sad. I think you should set her straight.

I had something similar happen to me last summer, although I was not in direct contact with the person. We were at a bbq at my uncle's and I was reading the ingredients on some burgers he was grilling before giving them to my daughter. My uncle noticed me and then he goes into this spiel about "his friend" who he goes fishing with having issues with gluten but "as long as he takes his medication before/after he can eat whatever he wants". I asked for the man's name and phone number but never got it; same type of thing though. Like I said, the bad part is that my uncle actually believed there was some such medication and wondered why I didn't just have my daughter on that rather than worry about the ingredients in everything she eats. So much education and awareness is needed.

My mother just informed me that she always figured I had a sensitivity to some type of food but "figured I'd be ok with lots of vitamins". Uh yeah so 20 years later, here I am with serious health issues. Thanks Mom.

Thansk guys. I can't have soy at all right now. I might call and ask about some things or we may just pick some place that has a gluten free menu. It's just that with all I have to avoid, I didn't want to have to draw it all out for the waitress.

My husband wants to take me here for Valentines Day:

Open Original Shared Link

We've been there before in my pre gluten free days. On the window it says "Great for Food Allergies and Special Diets"

You pick out the raw ingredients that you want, take them to the cook who cooks it right in front of you on one of those big round grills like they have in the Japenese restaurants.

Are there any special instructions I need to give them? Do they need to clean it first? They do have a soy sauce that can be put on the food. I'm not sure how sensitive I am to soy...just know that I can't eat it in my food without pain.

How long until I start absorbing vitamins from foods instead of taking a handful of them every day?

How long until I can reintroduce the other foods that my body seems to be sensitive to?

i just received my lab results and need help figuring out a couple of things -

IGA 13 <10 normal

HLA-DQB1 Molecular analysis, Allele 1: 0302

HLA-DQB1 Molecular analysis, Allele 2: 0202

Serologic equivalent: HLA-DQ 3,2 (Subtype 8,2)

i know i've already responded positively to a gluten free diet but these numbers are confusing! thank you so much!

Looks like you have the DQ2 and DQ8 genes for Celiac disease and have high antibody levels. I'd say that you have it.

This happened to me, too. I used to work for the school district, and had to be fingerprinted as part of my background check. I had to do the fingerprint part twice, since they couldn't get a good reading the first time.

I had no idea there could be some kind of link.

This is me. I don't actually live in the state I work in. I had to drive 2 1/2 hours each way to get them electronically done in that state because the the ink ones done at my local police department weren't readable I also didn't realize it could be linked

This happened to me, too. I used to work for the school district, and had to be fingerprinted as part of my background check. I had to do the fingerprint part twice, since they couldn't get a good reading the first time.

I had no idea there could be some kind of link.

This is me. I don't actually live in the state I work in. I had to drive 2 1/2 hours each way to get them electronically done in that state because the the ink ones done at my local police department weren't readable I also didn't realize it could be linked

Thanks for the posts! I am definitely going to use some of these ideas!

Thanks so much. I really appreciate the replies and there are lots of good suggestions. I will stock up on the gluten free pasta and I've been eying the Better Batter but I'm having a tiny problem with night shades at the moment. If I'm able to add them back into my diet, I will order it for sure. I have learned to make a lot from scratch and it pretty much comes second nature to us by now (been working on it since September of 09) but that's probably why it's frustrating and I'm not understanding others.

As for my mom, she admits she messed up so we may go back as long as it's clear that I will be bringing my own food. She is very money consious and feels that us bringing food is not good manners on her part. She also knows I like her vegetable soup that has noodles in it and she really wanted to please us (with the soup) and at the same time apparently set boundaries that I would not be "getting my way" with everything hence only offering me broccoli for Thanksgiving dinner when we'd offered to purchase the turkey. By the time we left, I'm sure she wished she hadn't.

My husband was really good about the gluten until about a week ago when I realized the pain I was in was probably from nightshades. It was his suggestion that the nightshades were causing the problem, but we were eating them at every meal and he's a little miffed that my diet is losing foods. I have talked with him about giving me a little warning about the gluten and nightshades but he's suddenly inistent that I shouldn't need time to mentally prepare for everyone else eating a food that I would like to be sharing.

On Thursday, we are invited to an italian covered dish LOL. That one is going to be fun but I have time to figure out what to bring and bring something that I can eat! Hopefully all will be fine. I know there will be gluten and nightshade filled food there by default but I've had time to think about that.

But that's my point. I am having a difficult time preplanning when I ask about the menu and I'm told "I don't know". It's hard to take a frozen lasagna four hours justs incase they decide that's what they want to have. It's hard to have something we wouldn't normally eat on hand "just in case" someone decides they want us to bring it to a party.

The friends asked me to bring chicken nuggets and they expected me to be the ones to fix them at their house. That's what threw me for the loop. I can most definately take something gluten free. It's when they specify that I bring something that's difficult to find gluten free on the fly.

At MIL's, I thought we were going to be able to find a local grocery store that would sell things I could eat. In order to find something I could eat, I ended up with rice cakes and salsa (before I realized I couldn't have nightshades). The stove is occupied at their house when dinner is being prepared. However, since then they have been good about allowing us to stay in a vacant house of theirs where we have our own kitchen should we need it. This is fine.

My mom, was a lone of Christmas because we told her we couldn't come back.

I think these people need to clue me in on their plans ahead of time. I truthfully think that if you know we are coming to your house, you can surely plan a menu for three days and tell me what it is rather than pulling something I can't have out of your freezer at the last minute. You can surely allow me to go to the grocery store (in the case of my mom) and purchase food that I can eat. If I earn more money, then my money should go towards things that I can eat. If I work all day, school the kids, do the laundry, do the dishes and the only thing he does is cook, I think it can be gluten free but my point is that I had a 15 minute warning and we don't currently have those kinds of meals in our freezer because like I said, we don't have grocery stores around here that sell them. I would have to drive an hour and fifteen minutes to get to one. I found the time to do that exactly once in the 3 months.

My point is not, that they can't have these things. My point is that there really isn't anything "quick" that I can have. It puts me in an awkward position. I want to say "NO, I'm not going to touch chicken nuggets and want to bring something that I CAN EAT!" but obviously that's not appropriate so I took the chicken nuggest, put them on the baking sheet, and washed my hands really good. At my mom's I just flat out gave up and ate gluten and paid dearly for it. By the time I go to my inlaws on that same break, I quite honestly didn't care what came out of my mouth (one of the effects of being glutened for me) so they did get a mouthful (and hey they made changes!). I told my husband what I thought. Maybe I shouldn't have but he is at home all day and I had been asking him what the plan was for dinner for HOURS while he was playing on the computer. A planned day out for pizza with the kids is different too. Eating it infront of me with no warning right now is NOT ok for me. It's just not.

I do not necessarily expect the world to revolve around my diet, however I do expect people to consider my feelings.

--Tonight my husband (who usually cooks because of the way our responsibilities are split) calls me from the grocery store and informs me that the rest of the house will be having pizza tonight (which will be cooked in our oven at home as soon as he gets home and he is leaving right then). He did say he would fix me something else...but I'd rather have had time to duplicate the pizza and have something similar to everyone else. He also brought home store bought chocolate chips that I can't verify the ingredients of so no sharing in that either

--My inlaws (who live an hour from any store that sells rice noodles) suddenly decided that during the time we are visiting they must have lasagna. There is no offer for me to even be able to cook anything that I can eat at all.

--My mother refuses to allow me to bring my own food to her house but then I'm starving because there might be a side of vegetables that I can have at each meal. We live for hours away so this is for several days.

--My "friends" who invite me for dinner and then call me that afternoon and ask me to bring a dish that must contain gluten (unless I want to make a 2 1/2 hour round trip to get alternate versions and there really hasn't been time). I was hoping they would allow me to bring something that I could eat and share the rest but this has not been the case.

I feel great off of gluten and night shades. You wouldn't believe the changes. More energy, mystery acne gone, joint pain gone, lost lots of weight and not just because I didn't know what to eat, thyroid anitbodies are going down. Those are just a few things! I don't want to go back on gluten. The times when I've had it accidentally have not been good.

So in the above situations, what I am supposed to do besides have a pity party. I would like to be able to handle these things smoothly afterall living off vegetables for days on end or worse just not eating is not something that makes me happy. The other things I'm super disappointed about as well. Mostly just hurt that these are all people who are supposed to love me and don't understand.

I have the same thing. I cut out night shades and things are way better but it still happens occasionally and I can't figure it out. Oddly enough, I seem to be fine on dairy for now.

You sound like me Anyway, I too have severe burning that seems to somewhat be aleviated by nightshades. I would like to ask - did you also eliminate potatoes? I have eliminated all nightshades but potatoes as I thought maybe it was the acid in nightshades and not the nightshades themselves. I am just curious on that.

Back to your question, I can't say if what you are feeling is normal, but I do believe that it is extremely hard for celiacs to get proper nutrients to keep your body going. You may have cut out the nightshades, but you may have been getting nutrients from those foods that you needed. When I first went gluten free, I felt like I was starving all of the time and eventually it went away as I was able to adjust.

Yes. Potatoes are completely gone too . We have been eating a lot of "new" foods lately and I am feeling better after sleeping ALL weekend. I am still on dairy and I have a feeling it will be gone next and I guess I just want to know what to expect.

The first time I went off gluten (doing the Maker's Diet), I was physically ill for a couple of months. I could barely get out of bed and did so only for a few hours a week. This is my second time off of gluten and I'm off permanently this time. I have been away from gluten for 2 months now and realize that I'm having severe burning in my digestive organs. I have cut out nightshades and the burning is gone but now I am extremely fatigued again. Is this normal? Is my body just detoxing all over again?

Thanks. I look forward to seeing more improvements. I've been sick to some extent for the last 19 years so this is very exciting.

Yes it sucks. Tough. Sounds like you've been glutened and are down in the dumps. Next time go, make it an enjoyable time for everyone. Too bad you can not eat the pizza/sub/poisoned salad bar. Enjoy the smell but make it a good memory for your children/dh/relatives instead of making the memory of how grumpy you can be.

You children might one day need to eat gluten free. Set the example that food is not the most important thing in life. Call ahead next time to see if they can make something gluten free. If not, eat before you go, eat something you really like or make something special for yourself when you return home.

I'm off for coffee and fresh-out-of-the oven gluten free chocolate chip cookies.

I think this post is very insensitive. It appears that the OP did try to suck it up. When I get glutened, I get quite irritable and it sounds like this is what happened. Criticism is NOT what the OP needs right now.

My husband has not given up gluten but does not eat it as often in support of me. For example, he doesn't have gluten regularly at home any more but will when we go to a restaurant and occasionally fixes himself a sandwich. He now has painful consiptation after eating gluten and says this is norma for anyone who stops eating gluten regularlyl?? Has anyone found this to be the case for non gluten sensitive people to suddenly have a hard time with gluten digestion?

I'm concerned not only because he is having this problem but also has the psoriasis on the scalp problem I'm hearing a lot of about around here and a slight family history of suspicious illnesses and characteristics (although not nearly as much of one as I do).

I've never had positive test results to Celiac and my doctor said that I "probably have a gluten intolerance". Anyway, I eliminated gluten from my diet (for the second time in my life) a little over three months ago. I've lost a grand total of 7 pounds this time because I know how to eat on the diet so my eating habits didn't change as much as one might think this time.

I was just looking at my facebook profile pictures and it's amazing to me. I have four.

1. Taken when I thought I was ADHD (quit medicine before seeing a more natural doctor and symptoms disappear everytime gluten is eliminated). You can tell I don't weigh much but there is obvious swelling in my face.

2. Taken this summer when not on a gluten free diet. My face is very swollen.

3. Taken 3 weeks into gluten free diet. Swelling in face has obviously gone down but still there.

4. Taken 3 months into gluten free diet, I don't even look like the same person! The swelling in my face has gone down significantly. I don't know if there is more swelling or not as I have not been well for the last 19 years so it's possible....

Also I am able to wear my contacts that started bothering me 3 years ago. For three years, I've only been able to wear them on special occaions until now. My night vision is also better.

There is more, but honestly, I forget about the other symptoms unless I'm looking at a list because they've been gone so long!

I know that everyone has these stories but I am truly amazed how one food might be doing this to me! I truthfully think I also need to eliminate chocolate for a little while and that will be happening very soon!

On the down side, in the event that I accidentally consume gluten I am showing the gastrointestinal symptoms that have never shown themselves before such as feeling like the whole middle part of my body is on fire and painful constipation. This however, is only reinforcing my need to stay off of gluten.

I think I will keep referring back to my facebook pictures everytime I think that it might be ok to consume gluten.

With friends, I worry more about offending them or getting uninvited when I mention my special diet (and thus the need to possibly bring my own food). With family, I am more frustrated. My mother wouldn't allow me to bring my own food for Thanksgiving and offered me only Turkey (which I'm thinking wasn't safe) and brocoli. Great Thanksgiving meal! Not..

My in laws don't have a menu plan and at the last minute decided to serve lasagne. Let me tell you, there is no place to get rice lasagne noodles anywhere near there house . Infact, I went out to get food and there wasn't a lot of easy to cook stuff at the grocery store. I ended up with rice cakes and fresh salsa.

I'm not asking people to cook it for me, just help me by allowing me to plan a little. For Christmas, we are not returning to my Mom's house and she knows why. We may go to MIL's soon but will be taking our own food. There will be a party that we are nervous about. Unfortunately, it is a pot luck in which MIL and her sisters are the only ones bringing food. MIL was asked to bring stuff for grilled cheese sandwiches . She did at our prodding find out that the soup does not have flour or barley in it and so far, I'm not sensitive to cc so we're crossing our fingers that I will be able to eat.