gfp

I experimented for you

Last night I had lamb with a paloise sauce (like a bearnaise but with mint instead of tarragon) and I used a light 100% sunflour oil (I did however pre-fry the shallots in butter) and it turned out great....

I think the trick is to use the Hollandaise variations like bearnaise to substitute the butter part so that the rest of the sauce makes up for the butter flavor.

I've heard that many people gain weight on a gluten free diet, but has anyone lost weight as a result of going gluten free? I am thinking that after my endoscopy I expect to loose weight by sticking mainly to fruits, vegies and lean meats. I may have some gluten free cereal in the mornings for breakfast, but I just can't see myself paying the outragous prices I've seen for the gluten free cookies, brownies, etc. They're so expensive - at least for my budget. I'm hoping that I loose instead of gain. Also, how long does it take for the bloating to subside after going gluten free? I look like I'm about 4 or 5 months pregnant, and I have a wedding dress that I have to fit in to for this September.

Firstly don't worry about weight per-se ... what you want is to look stunning in that wedding dress!

Obviously loosing a few pounds is good but if you are serious then get yourself out doing what exersize you can, be it walking or going to a gym or whatever. This will stimulate your body to start burning excess fat but you might not loose weight on a scale as fast as your body gets toned and that doesn't matter does it?

From what you present as your new diet you should be going fine

Make sure you get loads of veggies and cut out any and all carb snacks except fruit.

I sometimes find I will pig out on fruit if Im not careful, bananas for instance are a little too easy to eat wheras peeling an orange makes you think twice... by my reckoning if I still want it after peeling it I must need some food intake....

Try and make sure you carry some fruit in a handbag ... one trap of going gluten-free is you end up looking for something convenient and can't find anything and end up buying some chips or nuts etc. instead... you can avoid this by having the fruit to hand.

However please keep in mind... yes this is a big day but it is YOUR big day. You are the star and you must be pretty certain your hubby to be loves you as you are.. by all means try and get healthier, its never a bad thing but keep in mind that worrying over this isn't going to make the day go any smoother....

Wishing you all the best for your upcoming union...

Yeah Ursula I know you have it tough in terms of lots and lots of intolerances, and you manage your situation well.

Okay well I knew as soon as I vented "outloud" about this situation I would feel dumb about it . I really don't believe in shying away from life situations because of my food problems, and there are certain situations that do require us to eat with others and go to restaurants whether we like it or not. So I will suck it up and deal with it. Thank you for being an understanding audience.

I honestly think if you pre-arrange all this with the manager of the resto it will be a non-issue.

I have prepared a whole 'fact sheet' which isn't exactly appropriate but you can copy and paste. I think the whole thing is kinda hard to explain in one go because the chef needs time to let it sink in and then think something up.

Here is what I use when approaching resto's for my website

Open Original Shared Link

Feel free to copy and modify etc. and leave it with them for a night.

I find if you just go in and hit-em they tend to panic a bit wheras leaving them with something to read at their leisure gives them more time to think it through and see its not as hard as originally thought so long as they follow the guidlines. Heck, what do chef's learn if not to follow and adapt recipees?

You might consider leaving in the business motivation part ... let them see this as an opportunity as well as a obligation

Because this diet has become sort of a fad, I have added an explantion to my server or in a new place to the manager. I say I cannot eat gluten and I am not on a fad diet, but for me, it is a serious medical diet. They really listen when I say that. Sometimes, I will get a server who asks if I am Celiac. I already have dead brain cells and I don't wish anymore. But, I love eating out. It is such a treat for me that I won't forego it and like I said in an earlier posting on this thread, I have many food allergies and I also have to ask about ingreds. because of those allergies. And I always tip good for the extra care they give me.

I think this is the best way.... somehow WE have to break the idea, not the waiter or the chef but us.

Would life be easier with some sort of medical medallion or an offical Dr's letter. ... ? I dunno but this the problem, you will get some resto's that then refuse to serve you at all on the off-chance.

I really think that the whole issue is completely blown out of persective by the incredible work that vaccines have achieved in the West.

I have spent a large part of my life in Africa and middle and far east and I think a lot of people would change their minds on vaccines if they were to live where I have lived.

It really is a case that vaccines have all but eradicated many serious diseases in the west but one only has to visit Pakistan or anywhere in sub-saharan Africa to see mothers carryng their babies hundreds of miles by foot to get them vaccinated.

The question is a social question... undoubtedly vaccines have side effects and they can be serious but every mother is naturally selfish about their kids. If you can have almost no risk because everyone elses kids take the risk for your kids then the issue of vaccinations becomes not a personal issue but one of society.

If you expect to benefit from a society it is a two way process. If everyone takes the stance that so long as everyone else is vaccinated then they don't need to risk vaccinating their child then noone will vaccinate and the need to vaccinate will be real. It really is that simple.

Some vaccines are high risk and others are low risk and some the risk is so neligible as to be almost non existant. At the same time the diseases vaccinated against come in all virulencies.. some will be life threatening and others will be disfiguring and others a temporary inconvenience.

If I can give a deliberatly provoking example imagine that a HIV vaccine were developed but had some side effects. One can say "but I will not be having unprotected sex so I'm not at risk" but unfortunatly women do get raped and people do get blood transfusions etc. etc. its just a unfortunate fact.

Indeed HIV is completely controllable but the social consequences are dire. Cuba has one of the lowest REAL reported HIV rates inthe world, despite its thriving sex industry.

In order to do this it locked away HIV +ve people for quite a few years in 'special villiages' and it licenses protitution to "tested prostitutes" ... its a question of how far the state can go to infringing peoples rights.

Recent outbreaks of bird-flu have shown this, what would you do if your neighbour was under quarantene but you knew they were still leaving the house? Would you call the police or would you respect their individual rights? Who would be responsible if say 50 people died in your town because someone would not accept quarantine? Would you accept the blame yourself for not reporting this? Would you console the mothers of the dead and say sorry its my fault? Would you blame the state for not enforcing the quarantine?

the fact is many of us would baulk at the idea of having armed officers outside the house with orders to shoot anyone leaving and at the same time after the epidemic passes then say how wrong this was BUT if the quarantine is not enforced then we would be equally up in arms about how the authorities had not prevented the deaths!

This is what vaccination is like... do we insist? Do parents at a public school have the right to exclude your unvaccinated child? If their child dies because of your unvaccinated child who is to blame?

I don't claim to have any answers here, hence my use of the question mark..I am just posing questions but questions I think most people will be hard pressed to answer.

400 years ago 25% of the eurpean population died of smallpox, a disease easily vaccinated against and indeed vaccinated against for over 2500 years in India.

The same discussion was put forwards then notable by Voltaire.

Open Original Shared Link

Now the question is was innoculation a mistake, would we be happy to still be accepting smallpox as a common disease and killing and disfiguring billions?

Also, gfp is right - I stopped in the large Monoprix store (almost like a small WM) on the des Champs Elysees and they didn't have any gluten-free stuff at all. Someone else went to another location in Paris and they found a small selection. Italy is without a doubt the best place to be gluten free. But come over here and have a green house tomato...you will spit it out. When we flew out I could see all the farms outside the city - which is where most of your produce is coming from. We gets lots of produce from places as far away as Chile. There is no way something can be transported thousands of miles away and be as good as what you have over there regarding produce. Even the green beans were delicious. Believe me when I tell you we are ruining our food here in the US and it's really sad when you realize that. And all that over processing with chemicals is what I think causes our country to have the most imbalanced number of cancer patients in the world.

Even more than this I will bet you didn't even notice many of the other subtle differences...(I say this because it took me years)

For instance most eggs are farm laid with "organic" being a level above ... you can buy "gaint eggs" but most are actually free range and the same with chicken... at least 80% of supermarket chicken (and butchers even higher) and the giant chickens are not even available here.

The same goes for meat... every butcher will have farms and certificates from those farms for each steer he buys not only for its diet but also for its bloodline. When you buy meat in the butchers you ask for it by the breed...

Many butchers are actually family owned by the same family with the farms... they also sell the eggs from their farm.

Cheese is the same.. although much cheese is unpasturised (noone gets sick) the cheese can be traced back to individual groups in many cases.... foodies will criticise a producer on the basis of "ah they moved the sheep to the summer pasture to early last year" or similar.

As an example my fav resto the owner has a guy come from Italy on a regualr basis delivering his Italian cheeses.

Unfortunately this is inefficient and France is changing due to international pressure. Unfortunately the "we don't wan't artificially produced tomatoes" doesn't hold up in a international trade dispute. the first place these will be found is unfortunatly tourist resto's.

Well, the diet is a restriction, compared to other people who don't have the restriction. And we have to plan accordingly. If you were in a wheelchair because you wouldn't walk, would you plan a family vacation around hiking? Nope. So, in the same way, you have to say no to family vacations that don't allow you to have safe food.

It may require a bit of assertiveness, but you have to do what's right for your body, your mind, and your health.

This is true but the problem is other peoples conceptions. It is socially inacceptable to ask a person in a wheel chair to "get up and walk" or something like that but celiac disease isn't recognised like that.

Its also difficult because of other people who ask about dietry restrictions they impose on themselves whether that is being vegan/vegetarian or other personal reasons.

Don't get me wrong, if people don't want to eat something for whatever reason they have a perfect right ... but the problem celaics face is being classed as one of the people who "don't like XXXXX"

Its my opinion that if you order a Pizza without olives you should get one regardless of your reasons but the problem is (imagine a non celaic in the case of the pizza) they chef knows he pours a ton of olive oil into the dough anyway so when a "difficult" customer wants to have the whole pizza remade because they don't like olives he is likely to just pick them off...

The problem is the food industry treats gluten like a choice.... not a serious toxin. Hence it is treated like vegetarian or vegan options (and this is the best case usually)

I think a lot of confusion comes from people who are gluten-free by choice or vegan or Atkins etc. etc. all being lumped together. The example someone used of the waiter rolling his eyes is this sort of thing, perhaps the guy had just served a table with an Atkins dieter and another vegetarain and ... well who knows...

Like I say, I think people have every right to have stuff cooked as they want... but I think the people who are gluten-free and then say "oh and vegetarain" are confusing the food industry.

The answer is in our own hands but its not a simple choice ... to my mind it is like any other minority, that is it is full of a whole suite of people.

I happen to know a few Finnish people .... they happen to be associated with the Finnish cultural centre so I have an idea that Finns all write poetry etc. and it is of course not true .. but my experience is my experience even though I know its wrong it still prejudices me.

This is the problem WE face with the food industry... every person in the industry has stereo-types and prejudices that are being constantly being reinforced by US....

People aren't all evil and they seek to justify their prejudices .. hence if a waiter has an association between fad dieters and celaics then every thing we do that confirms that will be remembered and most of the others will not be remembered. All we can do is try and reinforce the posotive image but it takes 10 of those for every negative one.

I have a vivid memory once of being spat on and shouted at by a feminist who I held a door open for. It was just a door to a shopping mall and I would have held it open for man, woman or beast... that is the way I was brought up but I end up with some woman screaming her head off and shouting at me for being patronising and holding open a door! The point is I remember that episode, I don't remember the hundreds of feminists who were in the mall (statistically there must be loads in a mall with 20,000 people) ...

Waiters are just people like you and me and they will have prejudices like everyone else but they will remember the incidents far more than the good times. The common prejudice is that celaics are just fussy eaters and everything we do that reconfirms this will make life more difficult.

Hi broncobux (great nickname you have there ),

You know the stuff that makes restaurant food taste so good? That's basically what I can't tolerate. I don't know if it's the iodized salt or the sulfites that are on the vegetables, or other additives in the seasonings, sauces, etc., or all of the above and then some- but I just can't eat out. I get really, really sick. So for me it's not just a gluten thing. I also don't tolerate dairy, soy, sugar, corn, and a myriad of other foods. I have to freshly prepare everything myself with organic foods in the most natural state possible. But thanks so much for the care and concern!

I think its even more complex.

I don't think you can eat out without risking contamination .. though you can control the risks to an extent

Secondly people seem to have different tolerances for cross contamination and indeed even for myself I find it varies according to some rhythm of its own, how long since the last glutening etc.

However the fact remains going out for a meal with people who do this as a social event can be depressing and feel like its excluding you but I still find that I enjoy going and not eating depending what mood I am in BEFORE ....

If you have had a bad day then it can be most depressing but if you had a good day and made sure you ate something and (add about 20 and's here) then I don't feel bad at all....

I usually find that if the other person is just getting a snack its fine but when its a 5 course meal you are excluded from then its depressing...

these guys are in the hospitality business and its their job to make us happy...

I find the most depressing is basically when you explain and they nod approvingly and then come back and do something competely bizarre like dumping bread next to you and you start thinking "did they understand anything at all?"

I find this can be a problem in bigger resto's where you get a different server to the person who takes the order etc. sometimes you go the whole meal and they bring a dessert you obviously can't eat and panic sets in about what you just did eat.

Just keep in mind that if you make it with olive and/or other vegetable oils, it's going to be mayonnaise, not hollandaise. But on the plus side, if you're not using butter, you won't need to cook it. I suggest looking up a recipe for blender mayonnaise.

Yes, I haven't tried the olive/grapeseed mix... I am just guessing it will be very heavy with olive oil... mostly my mayo I make thick and 'olivy' but people who are used to commerical "mayo" perhaps find it over powering.

Its all a question of taste but in many cases I use a more vinegary or lemon mayo to serve with asparagus and parma for instance ... in these cases they are somewhat interchangable... and its really just a hot/cold question

The thing with mayo and hollandaise it they are actually really easy once you have the knack.... you just need to know when to add more oil/butter by feel. I wonder who first discovered this ... what were they trying to make at the time? I imagine some caveman with a egg yolk and some oil or butter thinking hmm... that would be nice...

I have the exact same problem

I would say the best thing is to pop over the the resto in advance and make it all clear and leave then the card to read, that way when you go back with colleages the awkward moments are already done

Italy is supposed to be just about the best country in the world for people with celiac, and Europe in general is far ahead of the U.S. But the U.S. is improving.

richard

Seriously, I think there is a large dose of greener grass on the other side

For instance the dextrines and malto-dextrines in Europe are often wheat based and in the US nearly always corn based. Its lots of small differences ... some negative and others positive in both directions.

Some things are just knowledge, for instance in Italy I beleive the pharmacies all carry gluten-free stuff wheras in france its health-food shops... you just need to know where to look. In the UK pharmacies can carry it or order it specially but the large supermarkets all carry gluten-free bread and pasta.

What impressed me with Italy was people knew about it, ice-cream shops had labels and different spoons wheras in Paris you can ask but you would be advised to stick to Haagen Daaz or American brands ...

I honestly get the impression that gluten-free is easier in the US but doubtless I would find it different in reality...

Also I think a big thing is many people who live somewhere start-off by checking everything out and get comfortable in our neighbourhoods so we don't keep checking for potential new places but when you visit somewhere you have to get active searching out new places, which is also all part of the fun of travelling of course.

WELCOME BACK-- WHAT A GREAT POST. LOVED THESE PARTS ESP.---

1.. I am rather disgusted (with the US) that I could pop into any cafe, bistro or nice restaurant in Paris and eat safely for a week, without ever getting sick once.

2. Even the tiniest markets in Paris had gluten-free cookies, crackers, pasta, bread and things I can't remember now (mostly from Italy so delish) and the prices for them were very cheap too compared to here but since they didn't have far to travel that made sense.

3.I'm too jet lagged to list the places we ate at, but I'll get to it later this week.

I'M PRAYING I HEAL ENOUGH TO GO BACK TO ITALY AND HOPE IT IS AS POSITIVE AS PARIS.

THIS WAS SO GREAT TO HEAR.

LOOKING FORWARD TO YOUR RESTURANTS POST...

JUDY IN PHILLY

Italy is way ahead of Paris! Seriously though I think the nmajor difference is when you go somewhere new you make a lot of effort that you have given up with at home in terms of seeking out new places etc.

Its very true about the difference in how food is considered in Europe and France and Italy inparticular and buying fresh produce is the norm even in big cities... but on the otherside recognition of the disease in France is way behind the US and UK and I think Italy leads the world on diagnosis.... testing all children ...

Paris is wonderful, I love living here but I have to say its much easier in Italy and people know what celiac disease is wheras in France it is not wll known and you are breaking the ground yourself...

Anyone coming to Paris should check out

Open Original Shared Link my attempt at helping the situation and PLEASE write in your experiences both good and bad....

Unfortunately rumours about French service attitude are at least partially true... see the part on my site called "cultural tips" for how to work round this and use it to your advantage.

floridanative: please get back woith your experiences and help others. I have been REALLY busy and in it up to my neck for 2 weeks so the site hasn't seen much work but it will soon and all peoples experiences are wanted and needed.

I don't have any corn problems, in fact, eating corn seems to HELP my digestion. I feel really good digestively after eating popcorn, etc.

Personally I find popped corn much easier to digest than the non popped fresh variety .. can't think of a better way to put it than I can always see when I have eaten corn that isn't popped but the actually popping part seems to break the hard parts off and make the rest digestible at least in me...

I've eaten roast that way 6000000 times, even since being gluten-free, and I've been fine.

Yes but that is the problem with something with lots of ingredients, each one is potential for contamination or just their supplier supplying one type of say maltodextrine vs a wheat based one just because its what's available...

I'm feeling much better today, since I actually got sleep. Sometimes my stomach goes wierd on me anyway.

That's the main thing, I was racking my brains all day as to what poisioned me and wondering why I didn't get brain fog after spending the night in the smallest room in the house. Then I realised I had a very stressfull week (like you wouldn't beleive and hadn't actually eaten for 2 days ... Well 2 bananas and a yogourt) because of the stress ... personally I think that can be enough but not eating and the worry easily explains a bad tummy and the reason I didn't get brainfog is because I wasn't glutened!

So are the Triumph dining cards really worth it? I ate out at a thai restaurant yesterday and despite my specific instructions and getting the (supposedly) exact ingredients in the penang curry sauce, I was still sick right away (stomach pains/heartburn/D). I love to eat out and can't imagine not being social anymore

Yes but if they don't read English well it won't help and besides the point is regardless you always take a risk eating it, you can only seek to minimise it. (someone else pointed this out earlier saying yuou make your own luck)..

As for being worth it you can't knock FREE

try 37 different languages from folks who love to travel ...

Open Original Shared Link

I'd vote that either you're sick, or a dairy thing. (BTW, you can have one person able to fight off a food poisoning bug and another unable, though that's less common. Particularly if you're doing this bad. It's worth talking to your doc with D for this long, however.)

Also one person can have a very delayed reaction compared to another with the same poisioning.

On the lipton soup stuff I don't know it but even here in France I use Kallo stock cubes amnd i never use packet soup mixes for bases no matter ... its half food snobbery and half just not taking the risk and the more ingredients the more chance any one of them is contaminated or switched to a possible gluten derivative.

I only use pure corn starch as well and its a case of keeping everything as basic as possible.

I honestly don't think the packets really even save time or very little if you get used to using basics. What I find is changing the order of cooking means you use the time inbetween to do prep (like mixing cornflour) and having it ready and boiling an electric kettle for the stock or making my own while doing something else, indeed I tend to keep stock on the go as I chop vegetables etc. I just wash them and add them to the ongoing stock. instead of binning them .... timewise it might take a tiny bit longer in prep but you also save at the supermarket by missing whole rows out....

I was curious if any of you order chicken when you are at a restaurant. How do you know if the chicken is injected with chicken broth or not???? I haven't had the nerve to ask the manager or waiter yet. And if I did, could they honestly give me the right answer. I'm sick of bunless burgers.....

I don't go to the type of resto that would use a non farm reared chicken in the first place is the short anwer.

Basically anyone using the 'inflated' chickens isn't serious about food and if they are not serious then I am not risking them.

However, since the whole Mc Donald's thing, I am pretty afraid of the gluten free menus on principle.

I think that sums it up. McDo's are not serious about food, they are not a resto IMHO they take money and give out packages and McDo's wouldn't mind what those packages contained so long as they made money.

To me a resto is someone interested in the actual food. If you take your average McDo manager or server they would be just as happy (or not) selling more or less anything, its not a career decision for someone who likes food. Take the average McDo worker and offer them a position on 5% more selling something else and they will jump at it but if you take a trainee chef on minimum wage in a starred establishment you can offer them 50% more and they won't take it because they want to work with food.

I thought buckwheat was in the rice family - not a fruit - learn something new everyday.

Technically its part of the same family as rhubarb's and may weeds, sorrel etc.

The green parts of the plant are poisionous like uncooked rhubarb but it is also quite a heavy ingredient .. many people tend to find it sits heavy on the stomach.

For me its a backup I use making crepes etc for a quick snack... but it has a strong taste and doesn't usually replace wheat well unless the nutty taste is wanted.

You don't need to be a teen to have this... some people just can't accept something as basic as wheat is a problem ... it goes against everything we have been brought up to think of as staple and even in bad diets its the lettuce and bun on a burger that people make the excuse and say "well its not completely unhealthy" ...

I found when I was going gluten-free some friends were onboard and others not ... and you just can't dismiss some friends as bad friends if they don't get it... I had one really good friend who helped me through depression, when I saw a shrink I confided and he was really supportive and apologetic for nbot being there but when I started my gluten-free he just didn't get it and it took probably 2-3 years until he did. On the other hand I had not so good friends who go to all lengths to help with the diet... and they tend to be those who have experienced crippling illness themselves or someone in their family has.

Your experience is fairly common and it is just an extension of the whole world, like some waiters will be far more serious than others.

I can't tolerate butter (too much casein) or margarine (corn, safflower etc intolerance). Can you make hollandaise with olive oil instead? It's my favourite sauch for fish and I really miss it.

I usually use a cup inside a saucepan and keep an oven glove on and regulate the temp by taking it in/out of the just below boiling water... and I use the same trick as eKatherine with using 2 rings .... and I have to say its easier to watch someone than describe it, you don't need to whisk anywhere as hard as making mayo or aioli but you do need to keep it constantly moving... a proper pint glass (heat treated) is also a easy way becasue it sticks out making it easy to take it out of the water if it starts going too fast.

If it goes wrong ... you can put aside the mix and take another egg yolk and start again and then slowly add the stuff you put aside... its really not hard, just like riding a bike its just a knack but it is very practice/experience based.

The hollandaise is also a base for bearnaise and palaise ... for beef and lamb

I got glutened by a face full of cat food dust a while back and switched to Eukanuba to avoid the problem. I still wash my hands because it smells gross, but I'm not worried about opening the bag anymore. The cats seem to like it better anyway, so its working for everyone. You have to switch them slowly though, or they won't adjust.

-Elonwy

I'm surprised noone has mentioned giving the cats a natural diet. However you do have to switch slowly ...

Of course doormice and things are a bit gross but my cat used to eat fish and meat exclusively except on the odd occaision he went to the cattery when he got the Eukanuba stuff and had D for ages afterwards.

Most of the time, especially in summer he didn't really need much feeding at all and on occaision even brought me food back (gross) usually at barbecues and the like when other people were bringing food he'd pop off and come back with a mouse or bird ... the only real problem with the natural diet was he had a thing for biting off birds heads and then damaging his digestive tract with the beak but he always pulled through. We always supplimented his natural diet with chicken or duck (he loved duck and rabbit and would bring them home) or just some raw beef. Many times you could just put down a roast chicken carcass and he would pick it clean if he felt like chicken ... convenience wise if he was locked indoors we would usually just give him chicken or tuna in water .. with the price of 'decent' cat food it isn't really any cheaper to give them real food... and for instance if you are preparing meat I used to throw him the offcuts and he would just leave the fat ...

The only real things I cooked were chicken (even I thought buying free range was to expensive) and offal, especially chicken livers etc. from battery hens.

Rather interestingly he collected decapited squirrels which he used to bring back and leave cruxiform on the doorstep but never ate them (when it first happened we thought it was some kids or something it was laid out so perfect), luckily my neighbour also had cat's and was less grossed out by it than otherwise.

In retrospect I think it was a macho thing with the cat next door since squiirels must be one of the hardest things to catch...

Another thing that helps is finding a friend to cook with. Believe me, it's a lot funnier when your experimental cake explodes when you've got a friend in the kitchen with you. When you're making your own birthday cake and it doesn't work out, however, it feels like the end of the world.

I think its good to have a friend for everything from shopping to cooking and most importantly for motivation.

However, I have found and others on forums etc. have also remarked that not all friends are equal in this respect.

The first thing to realise is many dear friends and relatives just don't get it. As GFBetsy just pointed out the process is a bit like grieving but in this case many people just don't know what to say or do. It doesn't mean they are not still your friends it just means they can't imagine being in your position.

I have seen a number of threads on boards like this with "My parter can't cope" or "my best friend is being a real problem" and have lost track of how many people seem to have fallings out over this ... please just realise, everyone has to cope with mortaility and loved ones dying and its easy to put yourself in that position but don't ruin a friendship/relationship over this. Look at it like this most doctors don't get it, why would your friend realise straight away.

It seems common for people to say things like "a bit won't hurt" please just try and gently correct them ...

The biggest problem many face is depression and exhaustion and the two go hand in hand to make a trap.

While you don't have the energy to do the shopping, made all the harder by the new limitations you don't have anything to cook. It can be a vicious cycle.

What I think is best is try out different friends helping out, don't be embarassed to ask and don't be offended if some can't cope because you will find someone who can.

Enlist in a local support group if you can and plan shopping trips with someone else, its much harder to cop out when you have arranged it with someone.

The ame goes for exersize, not only will it release endorphins but it will stimulate your appetite and take your mind off things. My mum walks 10 miles a day but it took her 6 months of gluten free to even start going further than the end ofg the field with her dog...

Eventually those who couldn't cope will and do come round and the depression lifts.

The problem with all this advice is its easy to say and harder to do.... but the greatest journey in the world start with a single step ...

The good thing is that even though it seems everything is conspiring to make life difficult (and in a way it is) its like a carefully constructed house of cards .. once you break one of the things binding you the whole thing comes tumbling down .. not instantly but its not linear... you will have setbacks and wonder what the heck but then you will look back and see how far you have come. Remember the gluten built up over years so you won't feel better immediately but then you didn't feel ill immediately ... its easy not to notice the constant progression, its like getitng older and you don't notice like meeting a friend who you haven't seen for 5 yrs... but when you do stop and look back you suddenly realise how far you progress.

edits...

Found these, knew they were about somewhere

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

J Psychopharmacol. 2005 Jan;19(1):59-65.

Treatment of depression: time to consider folic acid and vitamin B12.

Coppen A, Bolander-Gouaille C.

MRC Neuropsychiatric Research Laboratory, Epsom, Surrey, UK. acoppen@globalnet.co.uk

We review the findings in major depression of a low plasma and particularly red cell folate, but also of low vitamin B12 status. Both low folate and low vitamin B12 status have been found in studies of depressive patients, and an association between depression and low levels of the two vitamins is found in studies of the general population. Low plasma or serum folate has also been found in patients with recurrent mood disorders treated by lithium. A link between depression and low folate has similarly been found in patients with alcoholism. It is interesting to note that Hong Kong and Taiwan populations with traditional Chinese diets (rich in folate), including patients with major depression, have high serum folate concentrations. However, these countries have very low life time rates of major depression. Low folate levels are furthermore linked to a poor response to antidepressants, and treatment with folic acid is shown to improve response to antidepressants. A recent study also suggests that high vitamin B12 status may be associated with better treatment outcome. Folate and vitamin B12 are major determinants of one-carbon metabolism, in which S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) is formed. SAM donates methyl groups that are crucial for neurological function. Increased plasma homocysteine is a functional marker of both folate and vitamin B12 deficiency. Increased homocysteine levels are found in depressive patients. In a large population study from Norway increased plasma homocysteine was associated with increased risk of depression but not anxiety. There is now substantial evidence of a common decrease in serum/red blood cell folate, serum vitamin B12 and an increase in plasma homocysteine in depression. Furthermore, the MTHFR C677T polymorphism that impairs the homocysteine metabolism is shown to be overrepresented among depressive patients, which strengthens the association. On the basis of current data, we suggest that oral doses of both folic acid (800 microg daily) and vitamin B12 (1 mg daily) should be tried to improve treatment outcome in depression.

It will get better!

It's been mentioned here before, but if you don't already, do take a vitamin B complex. If you have absorbtion problems due to a lot of damage, a sublingual works better though. Lots of celiacs have a vit. B deficiency and that will really affect your mood.

Pauliina

Its been mentioned before but always worth repeating....

It is also quite normal to be depressed while breaking an addiction, especially one which is physical as well as psychological and there is a clear medical reason for this. Whether you choose to beleive it or not is up to you. You could also just try the remedy without having to believe in science.

{Gluten binds to the endorphin receptors which are necassary for the body to regulate its own mood. In the same way opiates like heroine work in the same way however they work somewhat more efficiently than gluten which fits badly and can damage the receptors.

When you break the cycle of gluten the receptors are no longer being fed this external endorphin (which is what gluten is classed as in the group exorphin with casein) but the body now needs to produce more and also the receptors are damaged and therefore the bodies own release of endorphins may not bind well. Exersize releases more endorphins, the classic example being Jane Fonda and her hooked on exersize and endorphin saga so more exersize will facilitiate more endorphins and a better mood... studies have shown vitamin B doses can help the recovery of the receptors although it seems both B6 and B12 are variously mentioned there is little harm in taking a full vitamin B suite suppliment. Vitamin 'D' also regulates moods and the way to get more is exposure to sunlight, direct or indirect }

So whether you choose to believe the above or not you can try and exersize, take vit B complex and get some sun and if it works then it works.

I think most of us that eat out know there is a risk when we do so (in response to the poster who said we were fooling ourselves) but some of us don't have a choice if we eat out or not. I travel often and I do business over meals so I really don't have much of a choice when it comes to "if" I eat out. However I'm lucky in that I get to choose the restaurant almost all of the time. (I also travel with my boyfriend a lot for vacations)

I've been lucky too but a lot of prep goes into my "luck" with the type of place I choose to eat at, the phone calls ahead of time, and the emphsis I place on my "allergy" to the maitre d, waiter and chef when I'm there. I don't have any qualms about telling everyone how my food must be prepared and I make a point of telling them I WILL get ill, probably right in the restaurant, if they goof up. I have not been glutened in a restaurant in exactly one year (last time was May 2005 in northern Florida).

I had a endo. in January and there were NO signs of celiac at all so I guess I'm doing something right.

Susan

Yes, you definately have to make your own luck... and there are many things you can do to push the odds in your direction. I eat out reasonably often, I just need to accept the risk and then seek to minimalise it but I still get caught out from time to time.

However its equally worth mentioning that some people inadvertantly turn this against us. The symptoms are not the most pleasant thing to describe so for instance last night I got caught out and on some level if I don't go back and tell the resto then they will presume I was OK...

There are also non-celiacs on voluntary gluten-free diets (not self diagnosed people but just people who choose to not eat gluten, just as some choose to be vegan etc.) and obviously if they have different 'requirments' human nature tends to mean the resto will see us as being over demanding when another person claims the odd breadcrumb won't hurt them.

The problem is there is little enough information disseminated to resto's in general and it is hard for them to judge who is finiky and who is not....

To this end I think many of us will find one place and tend to stick with it, its at least easier to being up a slip with a owner or maitre d' who you already have a rapport with...

I think that the best way to deal with this is on a local level which is why I started a local website for people living or visiting my city. I get lots of emails frompeope saying how good it is of me to provide this service but in reality my motives are not entirely alturistic, I know that by sending people to the same places we will as a group receive better service and lower risk. I realise that the resto's will notice the business opportunity and do more and that other resto's will look at them and copy giving me more choice, this is just another way I am trying to shape my luck

Indeed I think the message is we need to do everything we can to put the odds in our favor and hopefully help others in the same situation.

Not exactly. I was days away from losing my job because I was incapable of doing anything. I was such a basket case that I would not have even been able to do the most menial of tasks. I lost my marriage but that turned out to be a good thing.

Yes I can identifiy with both of those ....and yes the marriage breaking up turned out to be a good thing

Workwise things were a bit more complex with a whole load of celiac disease related issues and my job involved a bizarre mix of boring repetitive project work that brain fog would make impossible to concentrate on with time in 3rd world cesspits where lack of concentration could get me or a colleage killed. The irony being when you get stuck on a series of flights to some far flung place at short notice and can't get anything safe to eat was the most frequent cause of glutening and hence brain fog and the total lack of acceptance of my condition by my heirachy excepting a beurocratic acceptance that I mightest well have told them I was allergic to moon dust ...

I think a defining moment was a departmental conference at some hotel in the middle of nowhere where the 'organizer' asked beforehand if anyone had any dietry requirements and I thought I would give the system a try.

Basically on the day of departure I received an mass eMail (along with everyone else who had any dietry requirements) saying I would be able to bring up my needs to the hotel once we arrived...

Luckily I had packed enough self made gluten-free ration packs to survive the weekend but the real kicker came when the department paid for free beer at the hotel. I of course asked if I could get something else, afterall a good quarter of the conference had religious reasons for not drinking beer and were given alternatives but I was relegated to "If you don't want to drink what we provide then that is your problem!"

At the same time I had cautiously mentioned my diagnosis to the departmental doctor hoping to get some support and perhaps even be distributed gluten-free ration packs when in the field, this was at a post field posting medical we all had to have because of the nature of the work and the Dr. was luckily a bit pushed for time and discussed briefly "assesing my suitability for field postings".....which is basically a euphenism for being laid off and suggested I made another appointment to 'deal' with this issue. Needless to say I 'forgot to make the appointment' but I suspect things went on behind my back which pushed me into me being sidelined and then offered an extremely dangerous job which no one else would take or taking a severance package to go peacefully.

Of course the infrequent but notable outbursts of honesty also contributed to this ...as I say its raher complex

99 % of beer is made with malted barley.

I used to work in a brewery...

<Sniff Sniff>

Yes but then 99% of 'beer' is also not made of corn and rice. It rather depends on your definition of beer. Several countries have strict laws as to what can be called beer (Austria and Bavaria not technically a country spring to mind)

I would rather suspect that rolling rock doesn't actually know the source of the malt and its likely to be barley but they might also not have considered that they have a huge market if they simply make sure they buy corn or other gluten-free malt. Someone mentioned it tasting like 1/3 Heinekin in water to start with and considering Heinkin is a pretty poor beer to start off with and then the stuff exported to the US is already adjusted to the US mass market is already diluted they have to be dealing with a specialist market to start off...

Its a long time (a few years) since I tasted real beer and probably close on 20 yrs since I had rollingrock but I don't remember it being particuarly bad ... (in terms of commerical beer) and I would certainly jump at it in a flash if available and gluten-free.

Its rather curious that I was never a big fan of beer until I couldn't have it and enjoyed the odd cider in the summer. Now Im relegated to cider I really detest the stuff, I can't drink enough to actually have a night out with the guys without seriously messing up my guts the next day.