cornbread

It is so expensive to buy special stuff that I almost would just as soon not eat.

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You're right, the gluten-free replacement foods (ie: gluten-free versions of gluten foods) are expensive. What I do is mainly stick to naturally gluten-free stuff - fish, meat, eggs, veggies, fruit (not dairy for me but I used to have that too). Dark chocolate. Wine. Coffee. I will bake some gluten-free bread maybe once a month, but on the whole I eat natural whole foods. This has meant learning to cook a few things!... but really, I don't spend more than 20 mins making my meals, sometimes less. Cooking in olive oil / flax seed oil, I get lots of healthy fats, and with eating so few grains (ie: biggest source of carbs) I have lost weight. I didn't have much to lose either, but often times that's the hardest to lose! But I lose about 5lbs a week when I eat this way. That returns when I go through my gluten-free baking frenzy and have bread and cakes for a few days. Just a thought though, if you are having weight issues and finding the gluten-free diet confusing, this may be a fantastic route to take. I haven't been gluten contaminated by anything I made myself from fresh ingredients. And as a plus I have never felt this good in my life. My skin has cleared up, energy is through the roof, mood is eleveated/stable (no sugar rushes/crashes)...

Anyway, just an idea that is working for me.

One of my female cousin's had hair loss due to "stress" a few years ago... She was only in her 30's. It grew back, but it just backs up my feeling that my entire family is riddled with undiagnosed gluten intolerance.

Hehe - sorry! I was having fantasies of starting the first ever Gluten Intolerant Porsche Owners Club!

Welcome to the site bk. Glad to hear you got a diagnosis - now the recovery can start and you can get on with feeling well. Please let me know if you've got any questions about diet, etc. Most of us on the board felt like you do in the beginning, it's a steep learning curve, but it gets really easy really fast, especially as you start to feel better.

How is the diet going? What are you confused about food-wise?

Good to hear about wasabi - I was never sure on that one. What about pickled ginger? I'm wary of anything pickled incase it's malt vinegar. I expect it's rice vinegar in this case though, right? LOVE ginger.

Joann, sorry to change the subject, but do you drive a Boxster by any chance (jrom987) ? Or am I clutching at straws?!

My buckwheat was actually part of an organic 'live' granola made by 'Go Raw'. Ingredients: Sprouted Organic Buckwheat Groats, Sprouted Organic Flax Seeds, Organic Raisins, Organic Date. The packet said 'No Wheat/Flour' but didn't say gluten-free. They make their products by hand, so the cross-contamination could've happened during mixing/packing even if the buckwheat itself was safe. Silly of me to risk it but I really wanted to try something new.

Feeling much better now though, fortunately it was only a day long one. Probably because I only tried about 3 pieces.

Tiffany, I love your posts! You always have a load of ideas but they make me hungry!

My casein test kit from Enterolab arrived, so I figured now was as good a time as any to risk a caseining and try another 'casein free' whey bar! Ate the bar 45 mins ago. Have a low level headache and shoulder/back ache that came on within 15 mins of eating it. 15 mins after that I got heartburn. Nothing reeeally bad - not enough to take a painkiller or gaviscon - but it's there none the less. It may not be the whey though, the bars are 'gluten-free' but have that 'produced in a facility that also processes.... blah blah blah' disclaimer on them. That could be the reason, or it could simply be that I'm eating the first thing in days that contains non-natural ingredients. I've been eating just fish, meat and veggies and suddenly I throw something in my body with gums and acids and whatnot. Either way, I think the rest of the box will be donated to my husband low-carb snack cupboard!

Oh great, now the headache is really bad. Experiement over!

It's not true. If you have celiac disease and eat gluten, you will be doing your body serious harm. That never changes. Perhaps the confusion lies in cases were people don't have any outward symptoms, so they feel ok after eating gluten - but they still shouldn't do it, it will be damaging them. Or perhaps these people were merely wheat sensitive and could handle a certain amount?

Of course Susan - crab sticks! I forgot about that one...

From experience I have another piece of advice: If dining with others, request that your food is served on it's own plate. I have had a gluten-free meal ruined because all the fish was brought on the same big plate and someone else's eel sauce leaked all around the plate.

Ooh - I've found one!

Open Original Shared Link

They have a load of low-carb gluten-free recipes. They all use their own brand of 'baking aid' though... bit weird. It's gluten-free, but it would be nice if you didn't need it. Maybe just use some xanthan gum and baking powder.

No I'm female, but I still love my Aqua Teens!

That dog is amazing!...

Ahh of course - you're right. I read that here before. Sorry!

The safest bet is sashimi - just straight fish. It's expensive though. Any rolls that just have fish, rice and seaweed are fine. Just make sure there are no sauces. Most of the Japanese sauces contain some soy sauce. I usually just get sashimi but if I'm in the mood for rice, I'll get any plain fish/veggie rolls or nigiri (slice of fish on top of rice).

Word of caution though - tea! I was ordering green tea at my local sushi bar and eventually (having got sick) thought to ask what was in the tea. Turned out it contained barley.

I had enterolab's Gluten/Casein Sensitivity Stool and Gene Panel Complete. The gene test showed one celiac marker gene and one gluten sensitive gene. However, I had already gone gluten-free for 5 months prior to the test, and the antibody tests were negative. Enterolab thought this would have more to do with me maybe being IgA deficient than being gluten-free, as their stool test is supposed to be able to detect antibodies for quite a while after a gluten-free diet is introduced. Of course this varies from person to person. What's made me curious though is that that casein part also came back negative and I had been eating that all along. I have only recently (6-8 weeks ago) become casein intolerant and cut it out of my diet, and so I have just ordered a second casein test. If this is negative again I will be very suspicious that I have an IgA deficiency.

In retrospect of course I shouldn't have gone gluten-free before getting tested, but I didn't know about the implications and was just delighted to feel well again after 13 years - same story as a lot of people here I expect.

Thanks, cornbread...interesting site.

Pardon me now, as I cannot help but ask this...

Have you thought of changing your ID to "ricebread" 

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I probably should. Or maybe just Meatwad!

Hi again

I would think the best place to start would be figuring out which gluten-free flours are low carb. I know for one that almond flour is (it's just ground almonds). Flax meal/flour is 0 net carbs as the fibre matches the carbs. So maybe get a good bread recipe and play around with substituting with those flours?

I'm looking for a similar item, so if I do some experimenting and come up with something decent I will let you know.

I don't *think* I reacted... I wanted to give it a few days before I posted as such. It was weird - when I opened the wrapper, before I'd even taken a bite my heart started racing! It was totally psychological, knowing that one bite might make me ill.

I don't think it did, although it's been a little confusing as I managed to gluten myself last night. I think it was contaminated buckwheat. Serves me right for trying to venture back into the land of grains!

I am going to give the protein bar another go anyway. My reactions to stuff is usually fairly immediate so I'm 99% convinced the bar was fine. Also at this stage I still don't know for sure if it's casein or lactose that I'm reacting to - just ordered an enterolab casein test to find out. However, I agree with you in that it's still dairy, and after all the research I've been doing, I really don't want that stuff in my body, allergies or not! Once my low carb needs have been met I will switch back to the Organic Food Bars.

Hi, ALL (George, Tiffany, Clair, and cornbread ;-)  )

Casein...another glue...like gluten

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Keep a careful eye on how you are reacting to the other two 'glues' too - soy and corn. I was amazed to read Open Original Shared Link because I have developed intolerances to those exact foods, one after the other.

It's been suggested that I may be IgA deficient. Does anybody know where I can get tested for this? Ideally an online test that I can do at home and send in, but alternatively what to ask a doctor for.

Thanks.

How about an Enterolab test? I know they test from diaper samples, so presumably the test is reliable for babies. www.enterolab.com

It should do. I used to get waves of nausea out of nowhere - I'd be really hungry, sit down for dinner and then "urgh, I can't eat this!..." As soon as I went gluten-free that stopped. I hope it does for you too, there's not much worse than feeling like that around food.

I think someone already posted about this, but it deserves a second airing! I just made a loaf of gluten (and dairy) free bread from a mix by Breads From Anna. This bread is amazing. The texture is exactly like real bread, it's chewy and stretchy and light. Tastes fantastic. Next time I think I will replace the olive oil with (DF) butter and maybe substitute salt for the sugar (or just add some extra salt) - but that's my English tastebuds. American wheat bread always tasted too sweet to me anyway.

I feel like a whole new world has opened up! Only downside is, I think my Paleo diet just became extinct!

Oh yeah, here's the link: Open Original Shared Link

It's not cheap, but god is it worth it!

Hi Nancy

How annoying!! I know how you feel though - my symptoms started at 18 and I only just found out how to fix them this year, aged 30. Doctors were useless - tried to treat (aka mask) the individual symptoms, rather than find the actual cause - and in the end it was a bit of luck, a lot of research and months of process of elimination until a self-imposed dietary challenge proved beyond all doubt that gluten was the source of ALL my problems! This was backed up by getting tested via Open Original Shared Link. Once the results were in it all fell into place, but I'm still incredibly frustrated that most of my close relatives are still refusing to get tested, even though I have a celiac gene and a gluten intolerant gene, and both sides of the family have generations of celiac-esque history (bowel cancer, depression, excema, asthma, arthritis, short stature on one side and thin as rakes on the other! )

Regardless of being able to say "told you so!", I too hope that your tests are positive, namely because you can then start feeling better. Celiac is actually, to my mind, the best disease one can have. Why? Because with the gluten-free diet you are 'cured'. No pills, no therapy, just watching what you eat. Ok you will always still have it, but stay gluten-free and you can stay healthy. With other diseases it seems more like pot luck whether or not you recover.

I still get asked 'how did you get diagnosed'? by friends, and when I explain it to them (basically a dietry challenge and then an antibody/gene test), they seem confused. It's as if no one can quite believe that ALL these symptoms stemmed just from gluten, something they eat everyday. I'm looking forward to public awareness growing and not having to explain 'gluten-free' to people every single day.

Good luck with it all, and tell your husband to either be supportive or STFU!