Poppi

I bake like a crazy person on days when we are just hanging out at home and then freeze everything in small portions. So at a moments notice I can grab things like banana bread, brownies, blueberry muffins, cornbread, cinnamon buns and cookies. It's handy whether I'm taking the kids to the park or going out of town for a few days.

I also keep a stash of "travel" food in the pantry: almonds, Thai Noodle Cart noodle bowls, Lara bars, juice boxes, Hot Kid Superslim Rice Crisps (they are portioned into 3 sealed pods inside the box), cereal, tea bags (I have a really big thermos which I fill with boiling water), milk in tetra packs so it doesn't go sour en route to the hotel.

Then I add fruit, cheese, butter, peanut butter and a couple of sandwiches and I'm good to go.

I'm actually packing to go out of town today. I'll only be gone for 24 hours and we are going to a place where I know there are a few great restaurants so I don't need to pack a ton of food but I will be prepared.

The other important thing to do is research the place you are going. Look up the restaurants in the area, look for friendly chain restaurants, call local places, see if you can find any local gluten free blogs with restaurant reviews posted. Plan ahead and then pack food anyway.

What I'm nervous about is the 2 trips I am taking this summer that involve airplanes and hotels in cities I have no knowledge of. I'm really nervous about that.

He knows this could lead to misdiagnosis, but he is having a hard time "poisoning" himself intentionally. He says knowing what will happen if he eats gluten filled food makes it too hard to even choke it down. He has "tested" himself with several gluten free days in a row and felt soooo much better we are sure there is a link, even if it is gluten intolerance rather than celiac.

The journey continues! Thanks again for all your support!

Do you have a reason to need testing? I chose to self diagnose with an elimination diet. I knew celiac was a high likelihood because my father has celiac and my mom is gluten intolerant and possibly celiac (no biopsy). I tried to do the gluten challenge twice and both times lasted less than a day before I was in too much pain to continue. The upside for me with no "offical" diagnosis is that I have nothing to declare when applying for life and critical illness insurance. In the states I gather a preexisting illness can be a problem with medical insurance as well.

Since the treatment for celiac and non-celiac gluten intolerance are the same and don't involve a doctor or any medical staff at all then blood work and a biopsy aren't critical. If you hubby feels better off gluten then maybe he should just go off gluten.

It could have been any part of the cake. As wjp said, even if the ingredients are perfect you can be contaminated by the pans, mixer, spoons, kitchen surfaces, cooling racks, gluteny hands, measuring cups, sugar bag that has been contaminated with a scoop also used for flour... the list is endless.

I have told all my friends that I really appreciate their love and care but that it's just easier for both of us if they don't try to cook for me. I'm happy to enjoy their company and have a cup of tea with them but if there is to be food involved that I will provide it or eat ahead of time.

I have always loved to entertain and now I just do it all the time instead of trading off with family. If people want to bring something I usually ask them to bring uncut fruit, bottled beverages, a particular brand of chips or popcorn ... things that are safe. So far all my friends and family have been very understanding.

I could go on and on. There are the obvious ones of course. I have more energy, less pain, brain is clearer etc but what is exciting is what the relief from those symptoms has allowed me to accomplish.

At the beginning of April I could not walk my 5 year old to school 6 blocks away, everything hurt too much and it would take me days to recover. In the last month I have completed 4 10+km hikes and passed my intro level sea kayaking course which was a hard 8 hour day of paying attention including 6 hours paddling in ocean swell with wet exits and rescues. It was incredibly hard work but I did it. That has definitely been my proudest achievement in all this.

I have rediscovered the love of baking. My freezer is full of brownies, cookies, banana bread, muffins and cakes. Not everything is perfect but I am starting to love cooking again, who needs gluten?

I am starting to think about returning to school. I never completed my biochemistry degree because I just felt so stupid all the time. The brain fog was intense, I had no energy and sitting all day was really painful. I transfered into an easier Environmental Technology program and completed that but I'd love to return to the chemistry lab.

I was an avid knitter before I went gluten free and that was mostly because my hands were the only part of me that didn't hurt all the time. I haven't knit a stitch in almost a month because I've been so busy doing all the things I wasn't capable of before. I love knitting and will get back into it when the weather is cold again but I'm thrilled that it's no longer my only option. I'll have to get my spinning wheel out of storage and get back into that too.

Yep, there's a big difference. I don't understand WHY they need to put gluten in some foods made in US but not Canada and vice versa. I see that your list has tomato soup. If I'm ever in Canada I might have to buy some tomato soup because I miss Campbell's tomato soup. Last summer I made my own tomato soup with roasted tomatoes fresh from my garden and it was wonderful! But I still miss Campbell's which was the soup I grew up on. I just console myself by thinking that it probably would taste bad to me now since I haven't eaten canned soup for almost a year (I had some Progresso back when I could do dairy and it was gross. I still have some Progresso soup in my huricane emergency box but my hubby will have to eat it).

I'm at a loss as to why the regular condensed tomato soup has gluten but the condensed tomato soup with herbs added is gluten free. How annoying.

Just wanted to point out for those that are in the US, Campbell's Chicken and Rice is NOT gluten-free here. Poppi is in Canada so she has more options for Campbell's I believe. They don't make any gluten-free soups for the US. Here's the US list of Campbell's products: Open Original Shared Link

The rest of your menu sounds great though Poppi! It's very similar to how we eat. Normal food that just happens to be gluten-free.

Oh wow, I had no idea there was such a difference. Here is the list of Canadian Campbell's gluten-free products. Open Original Shared Link

That is a great example of why it's important to find information on your country or region. I have used US lists for places like Dairy Queen before when I couldn't load the Canadian list on my phone, now I see why that is a very bad idea.

About once every 3 weeks here.

There are 4 restaurants within a 30 minute drive that I trust and a couple more I am planning to try at some point.

One of the restaurants is attached to a spa so it's a special twice a year treat with the hubby and we make a day of it. They were amazing when I went last month, endless tapas and several desserts and I felt great after.

We also have a Cactus Club which has a celiac menu. I always get the same thing, it's a big, lovely salad with chicken and also the only meal on the menu that isn't missing the sauce or the side dish or the bun or something.

There is a restaurant downtown with a fairly extensive celiac menu, burgers and pasta and everything. The problem is that they share their fryers but don't say as much on the menu so I'm nervous about other foods. DH and I had an amazing meal there a couple of months ago. I had some pretty intense brain fog for a few hours afterwards but no other glutening symptoms so I'm not sure what happened, I think I'll give them another chance.

The last restaurant I trust is a locally owned diner in the next town. They have fed me safely before and seem both knowledgeable and caring about the issue.

There are another handful of places in and around town with celiac menus but I haven't tried any of them yet. It's just such a huge gamble, I'm a great cook so I don't mind eating at home.

I am scared about August. I am travelling twice. Once for 4 days, once for 7. Both times in hotels where I don't know the surrounding area at all. I can take some food but won't have a kitchenette or a microwave. Maybe a tiny fridge and a coffee maker (can't drink coffee though). I'm looking forward to the vacations (they were booked pre-celiac diagnosis) but terrified as well.

I buy a few bags of Pamela's Pancake mix every month and although I keep meaning to use it for other things it always gets used up making pancakes. It really does make the best pancakes.

I like Namaste Flour Blend for my AP flour but I've started mixing my own as well.

For what it's worth, 5 bags of flour isn't a lot for a gluten free kitchen. I have several different store bought flour blends/mixes (various varieties of Pamela's, Namaste, Kinnikinnick and Gluten Free Pantry) and at least 15 individual types of flours/starches for mixing my own blends (rice, brown rice, glutinous rice, amaranth, sorghum, corn starch, potato starch, potato flour, tapioca starch, arrowroot starch, corn flour, masa harina, almond meal and I know there are a few more in there).

You will learn what you like and need over time.

I would assume.

I'm guessing that with your son being so sensitive and getting so ill that your home is gluten free anyway? What are the odds that you would be able to complete a 2-4 month gluten challenge while also making sure he doesn't get cross contaminated and having enough energy to do the things you need to do day in and day out?

You can do it. If one of your children had a severe food intolerance and was being kept sick by the food in your home you would not hesitate to make the entire house gluten free for their safety. You deserve no less.

Thanks,I think I will talk to my husband about this but my kids are very picky eaters and isn't it pretty expensive that way?

It's a little bit more expensive but it's worth it. We have made changes. Those cheap fillers like bread, pasta and pancakes rarely make it to our table anymore because the gluten free alternatives are very expensive.

They miss their Campbell's Chicken noodle but I make them a similar soup with gluten-free chicken bouillon and broken up corn spaghetti, we also buy Campbell's chicken and rice.

I love to bake and have done a ton of experimenting with gluten-free flour mixes. My favourite gluten-free flour mix sells for $14 for 1.36 kg (I'm in Canada so we pay more for everything) but I've been able to make an almost identical mix at home for $4 a kg. I keep the freezer stocked up with muffins, cookies, brownies and banana bread. We eat a lot of fruit, potatoes, rice and meat.

A typical week for us for dinner would look something like this:

~ Tacos (corn shells are gluten-free, I make my own taco seasoning and the toppings are just lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, cheese, sour cream etc)

~ Turkey chili with cornbread (I like Bob's red mill cornbread mix but I'll make it from scratch too)

~ Breakfast casserole, fruit and pancakes (I use Pamela's, the little kids get 2 pancakes each because they don't like eggs and everyone else has 1)

~ Baked potatoes topped with Campbell's Homestyle Chili and big salads

~ Some sort of chicken dish with rice and veggies

~ Some sort of soup or stew in the crock pot

~ Grilled salmon, rice and veggies

It's just normal food. The little kids can be picky so I cook a pot of steel cut oats (Bob's Red Mill gluten-free) every other day and keep it in the fridge. If they don't like dinner they are free to have a bowl of oats or a hot dog and some fruit. Lily likes her hot dog naked and Logan likes his on a bun so I buy the Udi's buns. They are expensive but we buy a bag a week or so.

On the last Wednesday of every month a local store has 20% off everything and I go in and buy a whole month's worth of gluten free oats, steel cut oats, flours, crackers, graham crackers, graham cracker crumbs, panko crumbs, granola etc.

I also watch the sales obsessively as we don't get coupons in Canada. If something I know is gluten free goes on sale I stock up. The other day I bought a case of Bush's baked beans, a case of campbell's homestyle chili, 6 boxes of Honey Nut Rice chex, 14 450g packages of corn spaghetti and 8 boxes of Chapman's gluten free cookie's and cream ice cream. All of them were at least 50% off and now they are happily waiting in my pantry to be eaten.

It takes a lot of planning and compromise. Before my diagnosis I baked and/or bought up to 10 loaves of bread/buns a week. Now we make do with 1 loaf of bread and 1 package of hot dog buns. Pancakes used to be a biweekly meal and now they are a treat. The kids used to eat grilled cheese or chicken noodle soup for lunch every day and now they have hot dogs, fruit, cheese, banana bread, muffins or chicken and rice soup. We all adjusted because the health of one of our loved ones is at stake. It's what families do.

I also have a 2 year old (as well as 5, 15, 17 and 20 year olds) and she is absolutely the number 1 cause of cross contamination and sickness. Because of her (and to a lesser extent the 5 year old) we have gone 100% gluten free in the top of the house. We own an up/down duplex with a connecting interior door which we have removed to make it more like a single dwelling. The three oldest kids live downstairs and they are allowed to cook and eat gluten down there as long as they never bring it upstairs and they wash their hands before coming up. They have very little in the way of gluten food down there (I don't even like to put loaves of bread in my shopping cart so they have to go to the store for it themselves which they usually can't be bothered to do) but they all like their noodle bowls and regular soy sauce.

My 2 year old was touching everything with gluteny hands, wanting kisses and cuddles and touching my food. It just wasn't working for me any more. My 5 year old is better but even he would reach into the marshmallow bag after touching his gluten graham crackers. I can finally relax in my own home now that we are totally gluten free. The only gluten I come into contact with on a daily basis is the chicken feed and I am religious about scrubbing my hands after any contact with the birds or their food.

Give some consideration to at least doing a trial of a completely gluten free home.

Here is the story of my rash:

When I was pregnant with my daughter (who is now 2) I developed a rash that was all over my belly. It was only mildly itchy but annoying. Since it was a very high risk pregnancy (I have a blood clotting disorder that has cost us 3 babies and I also had Hyperemesis Gravadarium and suffered 2 placental abruptions) nobody cared about the rash on my belly. Just a weird pregnancy thing, right?

Baby is born and rash spreads even further, down my hips, up under my arms... gets brushed off as a breastfeeding hormone thing.

Baby is 6 months old, rash is still there and now I have a patch on my forehead ... must be heatrash!

Baby is 2 and rash is still there! Doctor thinks it's tinea versicolor and prescribes a medication. I take a look a the side effects and then include liver damage and since I've had some dodgy liver function tests in the past I'm a big wary of taking this medication. So I put it off.

A few months later I go gluten free ... rash is completely gone within 10 days. Not a trace!

Now I don't know if this was anything related to DH or if it would have progressed to DH but it was obviously gluten related.

It looked like this but was spread all over my abdomen, around my sides to my back, down my hips, on the insides of my arms and across my forehead.

I get glutened from touching gluten foods too. I wash my hands but somehow it still gets me. Our home is now gluten free. That includes guests. I also insist (as politely as possible) that nobody brings anything over to add to the meal. If they really, really want to contribute then I'll suggest they bring over some uncut fruit or pop. To cut down on costs we will sometimes tell people that we are providing everything but the meat and they can bring over their own meat to throw on the BBQ. I have Grill Buddies (disposable grill trays) that they can use to protect my grill from gluten marinades if necessary.

Coconut milk rice pudding. The only rice pudding my kids will eat!

15 oz can coconut milk

1 cup of water

1/3 cup uncooked rice (short grain works best)

1/4 cup of sugar (or more or less to taste)

1 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Combine coconut milk, water and rice in saucepan

Bring to a boi

Stir

Cover and simmer on low heat for 45-55 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed. Stir occasionally.

Remove from heat and stir in sugar, vanilla and nutmeg.

I can't eat raw coconut but coconut milk seems to be fine, must be really, really processed.

The maltodextrin is supposed to be safe but it can be wheat sourced. More likely CLIF is just admitting that they are prone to contamination from other foods. Sorry you are feeling icky.

And yes, you will be more sensitive now.

Yep, you aren't lying. Food testing proved gluten intolerance.

I wouldn't even give as much detail to people. Just say "Yes, I tested positive for celiac".

I never had any testing because I went gluten free before I knew you had to be on gluten to get tested. After 6 weeks I decided that it would be good to get tested. My gluten challenge lasted half a day and I was miserable. It took almost 3 weeks to feel great again. So I know for sure I have a gluten intolerance, in fact I have been glutened by such trace amounts that I know I have a very severe gluten intolerance. I won't ever know for sure if I have actual Celiac but I tell people I do because they take celiac more seriously than an intolerance.

For my lunches I usually have:

hot dog on an Udi's bun and some raw veggies

Leftovers

Quesedilla on corn tortillas

Baked potato topped with Campbell's Chunky Homestyle Chili and sour cream

Pizza on a kinnikinnick crust (I make my own pizza sauce and always have cheese in the fridge as well as things like ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, olives etc)

Fruit and a protein shake (Apparently I'm not allowed to mention the brand, it changes to "lame Advertisement")

Absolutely, I feel better. My life's changed dramatically!

There's your positive test results then.

I feel for you. I chose not to get the testing done at all for a couple of reasons. The first one was that I simply could not put myself and my family through a 3-4 month gluten challenge. If I have a tiny crumb wind up in my food I am bedridden for a week and not much use for another week after that. The second reason was that I do not yet have life insurance or critical illness insurance and do not want a celiac diagnosis on my medical records. If it's not "official" then nobody has to know and with the possible long term health problems associated with celiac we should all have good critical illness insurance.

I also have 5 kids at home and a week ago we made the switch to 100% gluten free. We are lucky enough to have 2 kitchens. For the summer when everyone is home there will be no gluten in the house. None. Upstairs kitchen or downstairs. Once school starts again we will allow our three teenagers who share the downstairs kitchen to prepare themselves gluten lunches for school but they have to clean up after themselves really well and eat their food outside the house. I don't ever prepare food downstairs so cc shouldn't be an issue. If I start getting sick again once they are making gluten lunches then the gluten will go bye-bye again.

Upstairs is now and forever 100% gluten free. That's where I cook for everyone. It's also where my 2 younger kids (2 and 5) eat and spread their mess and touch everything. I was constantly getting glutened. I'd just get to the point where I was feeling awesome for a couple days and BAM! right back at the bottom again with a 2-3 week climb back to feeling good. Not worth it.

I won't lie, my little kids are a bit whiny and miss their sandwiches and Campbell's chicken noodle soup but they'll get over it. My health is more important than them wanting PB&J on squishy bread. Now that they are gluten free I can kiss them and cuddle them and not worry about what they have eaten.

You can do this and it sounds like you are lucky to have a supportive and loving husband. That will make all the difference in the world. Good luck and feel free to message me if you want some tips on feeding a family of 7 gluten free. I've only been at this for a few months myself but I've done a heck of a lot of research and learned quickly.

OH YA!!! I couldnt believe it!! I feel so defeated in this battle. He just laughed like it was funny as he apologized!!! so disrespectful. I do all the shopping and most of the cooking so I told him I wouldnt buy any more bread until he learned to clean up after himself. And I did groceries today and didnt buy it just like I said. I know it seems mean but I dont know what else to do.

It's not mean. You are protecting yourself. I cannot believe he laughed! I'm so angry on your behalf.

Today I came down to the kitchen and my husband left a half eaten piece of bread on the counter surrounded by crumbs!!!! POISON. And that was the counter I asked to be gluten free!!! He knows better but I can't get him to comply. He just doesn't think of it when he does these things, I guess.

I will try to get further testing done if the dr with go for it

Hell no. This is no different than blowing cigarette smoke in your face or taking the seatbelts out of your car. You have positive blood and biopsy results. Continual gluten exposure will likely shorten your life span, his carelessness won't kill you today or tomorrow but the long term effects are nothing to mess around with. This disease can kill you, it just takes a long time and cripples you first.

I would be raising hell if I were you. If he can't be meticulous about his preparation and clean up of gluten foods then you have every right to ban them from your home.

I am generally not one for being passive aggressive or nasty but if I were in your situation I would just clean out the kitchen when he was at work and toss every single gluten food. If he bought more I'd toss that too. This is important and if he can't understand that and make this a team effort then I'd be prepared to stand up and fight for your health and safety.

It may seem like I'm over reacting here but for me a single crumb in my peanut butter jar can make me sick for 2 weeks. With your severe damage I suspect you are the same.

I am sooo going to do an ice cream bar! That idea just solved my other problem.....cake! I'm loving these ideas!!! Thank you!

If you really want a cake you can do a DQ cake. We get them to replace the fudge/cookie filling with cold fudge and then write the message in cold fudge as well (food colouring allergy) and we decorate it ourselves. We get ice cream cakes, sundaes and blizzards from DQ all the time and I have never been glutened there. I know every location has different staff but ours have been amazing about allergies.

I'm only 3 months in but thanks to my 2 year old daughter I've been glutened a few times. I find that in the week right after a glutening (even a really mild one) I have a hard time digesting protein. Any meal with much protein in it makes me feel sleepy and nauseated and sluggish for a few hours.

SO I stick to light things like berries, yogurt, tabouleh salad made with quinoa and lots of tea. Even though it hurts a lot I try to get to the gym anyway and do some light cardio and core work. I also spend a lot of time on the couch with a heating pad and sleep whenever possible.

Another idea-my daughter gets sooooo sick of cakes (bc I have a cake business out of my home and they eat all the shavings ), she prefers to have an ice cream sundae 'bar' at her parties for dessert. We buy 2 different ice cream flavors and then set out bowls of all kinds of gluten-free toppings for the kids to make their own sundaes. It's always a hit!

We do that a lot too.

vanilla and chocolate ice cream

mini marshmallows

chocolate sauce

caramel sauce

strawberry sauce

chocolate chips

whipped cream in a can

smashed up gluten-free cookies

Gummy worms

We have to avoid food colour too so it makes kid parties tricky but we always have great food and great fun.