Newly Diagnosed

[Anteau25]

Hello. I was diagnosed about a 1 1/2 months ago. My first question is this- is there any gluen free food out there that really tastes good? Something that you could say is delicious? I admit that I've been eating pretty much the same foods because I have accidentally ingested gluten 4-5 times already. I'd rather play it safe for now until I am better educated about gluten free foods and ingredients.

My next question is- does anyone else have diabetes AND celiac disease? I was diagnosed with diabetes 18 years ago (when I was 7). I am having a really hard time with the restrictions from both. I used to eat light breads and lower carb foods. Now I have to look at the nutrition facts for fat, sugar, and carbs along with the ingredients so I don't get sick from wheat, barley, rie, or oats. I thought it was a struggle sometimes to follow a diabetic diet, but this gluten free diet is much more challenging!!! If anyone has any tips, suggestions, links, or ANY helpful information, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[AndreaB]

Hi and Welcome!

I don't know anything about diabetes and the restrictions thereof. I would like to help though. I don't have a loaf of bread in the house right now....but....we like Enjoy Life for store bought bread. My kids love that or Food for Life. How much sugar are you allowed to have per day? Enjoy Life has some good things but I believe everything has sugar in it. Even the homemade bread I make has sugar in it, 2 Tbs per loaf.

I'm sure someone else will jump on board here. There are other celiac/diabetics on this forum.

What types of food are you looking to replace? That may help with trying to brainstorm ideas.

[Anteau25]

Hi and Welcome!

I don't know anything about diabetes and the restrictions thereof. I would like to help though. I don't have a loaf of bread in the house right now....but....we like Enjoy Life for store bought bread. My kids love that or Food for Life. How much sugar are you allowed to have per day? Enjoy Life has some good things but I believe everything has sugar in it. Even the homemade bread I make has sugar in it, 2 Tbs per loaf.

I'm sure someone else will jump on board here. There are other celiac/diabetics on this forum.

What types of food are you looking to replace? That may help with trying to brainstorm ideas.

Well, I can have sugar. It's pretty much in everything. 2 Tbs in a loaf of bread is ok. I have to count carbohydrates to calculate how much insulin I have to take. I used to eat light wheat or white bread which has 18g of carbs for 2 slices. The gluten free bread that I have seen with the least carbs is 22g per slice. Which is 44g for 2 slices, and I'm allowed 60g of carbs per meal. I'm just trying to figure out how to eat healthy, keep my blood sugars under control, and avoid gluten. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. It just might take a looong time! I'll try the bread that you suggested. I've tried a few and they were disgusting. Thanks for the reply!

[Nooner]

Welcome!

I've been doing this about the same amount of time as you. I haven't experimented much with bread yet, but one I've found that I like is Whole Food's gluten free bakery. Look for it in the fresh bakery section.

This message board is great, try doing a search to see if there have been past posts on low carb/gluten free.

I also found a blog a while back that might help you. It's called Diabetes Mine (Google it, it should bring up the address). It's written by a diabetic celiac (or celiac diabetic). Hopefully it will give you some good info, too.

~Li

[kabowman]

I have pre-diabetes (actually I haven't had it checked in a couple of years so it might be actual diabetes now).

Everything that is gluten-free, seems to have a lot more carbs. I think rice is higher in carbs than wheat so what I have had to do is to avoid most of that, which I have to do anyway due to yeast intolerance. My only exceptions are the tikinda (sp?) pasta which tastes like normal pasta but with a lot more carbs per serving, my homemade noodles for chicken soup, and chebe bread mixes (yeast free).

The cookies have more carbs, everything--I eat two of the small, tiny really, cookies at a time, for a day. I eat it all in moderation or I have real problems with passing out and getting too shakey to even type.

I eat my stuff like chicken or egg salad out of a bowl and avoid the sandwhich part. I make breads (chebe) for snacking only. Also, I only use splenda now except I use honey & brown sugar for my homemade sausage (I know, not good for the diabetes but I have to have it) and I eat them in moderation too.

When I make spaghetti, I try to balance it with a lot of protein, not sure if that works but it does make me cut back on the amount of pasta I take.

[Confused in Iowa]

I agree - The gluten free diet is much harder to follow than that of the diet of someone with Diabetes. My son has juvenile diabetes, he was dignosed at the age of 10 and he's 11 1/2 now. At least with diabetes, you can go out and eat meals, etc. With him we also count the carbs vs. the sugar in something. He's so active in sports, that we don't have much of a problem with him having highs, but they also still think he's in his "honeymoon period" of diabetes as we haven't had to adjust his insulin levels since he was diagnosed. Hopefully this honeymoon period lasts a long time. Doesn't make much sense tho when he has to eat a handful of skittles before he does sports because he gets too low......but that's easy to deal with. We are struggling with finding bread also. I'm sure it's going to just take time to get used to the different taste, but I bought this one bread one time that I swear was about like styrofoam.....$5.95 for this loaf of bread that went into the garbage...gave a piece of it to the dog even and she looked at me like why are you feeding me styrofoam.

I've found that evening meals are easy to make gluten free....as we do a lot of grilling of meat, etc. It's the fixing school lunches that gets challenging, because you also have to send enough carb items of some sort so he doesn't experience lows.

Question, how did you find out you had Celiac disease? My son has no symptoms whatsoever of the disease, he lived on pizza/breads/and everything with gluten in it. The only reason they found it was by routine blood screenings that they do for him yearly. Had the scope into the small intestine and they said that he had some inflammation, but his villae were just droppy, but not flattened out any. Only thing that I've noticed about him since we have gone gluten free, was that his attitude and personality are totally different, he's so happy now and easy to get along with where before, he was always cranky and would get angry at the drop of a hat. So maybe he's never really felt good, but didn't know any different.

We've been doing this just for a few weeks, and it does take a lot of trial and error on food..especially bread. Thank goodness he can still have alot of the chips he's always liked. I'm just struggling with the cross contamination issue...for instance, regular Kelloggs rice krispies do not say they have wheat in them, and neither does Captain Crunch, but our dietician said he couldn't have them because of cross contamination. Does anybody else eat Kelloggs rice krispies or Captain Crunch.

Good luck! It's a challenge, but after you get going, it isn't too bad.

[AndreaB]

I thought the Rice Krispes had malt in them.

[eKatherine]

I thought the Rice Krispes had malt in them.

They do.

[CarlaB]

regular Kelloggs rice krispies do not say they have wheat in them, and neither does Captain Crunch, but our dietician said he couldn't have them because of cross contamination.

The problem isn't cross contamination, the problem is barley malt for the Rice Crispies and Oat flour for the Captain Crunch. The only mainstream cereals are Cocoa Pebbles, Fruity Pebbles, and Dora the Explorer. Other than that, you need to go to the health food section and read boxes!

You are not only looking for wheat, but also barley (also malt), oats (because of contamination issues), and rye.

[CarlaB]

Anteau, the previous post is spam, ignore it!!

[abc]

I have found enviro kids cereals to be tasty gluten-free options (the ones listed gluten free of course!). I especially like the Panda puffs (a captn crunch knock-off), and actually ate the whole box of cereal myself even though I bought it for my daughter! The koala cocoa rice cereal is okay as well! I find them at Whole foods and some mainstream grocery stores...

[Anteau25]

I agree - The gluten free diet is much harder to follow than that of the diet of someone with Diabetes. My son has juvenile diabetes, he was dignosed at the age of 10 and he's 11 1/2 now. At least with diabetes, you can go out and eat meals, etc. With him we also count the carbs vs. the sugar in something. He's so active in sports, that we don't have much of a problem with him having highs, but they also still think he's in his "honeymoon period" of diabetes as we haven't had to adjust his insulin levels since he was diagnosed. Hopefully this honeymoon period lasts a long time. Doesn't make much sense tho when he has to eat a handful of skittles before he does sports because he gets too low......but that's easy to deal with. We are struggling with finding bread also. I'm sure it's going to just take time to get used to the different taste, but I bought this one bread one time that I swear was about like styrofoam.....$5.95 for this loaf of bread that went into the garbage...gave a piece of it to the dog even and she looked at me like why are you feeding me styrofoam.

I've found that evening meals are easy to make gluten free....as we do a lot of grilling of meat, etc. It's the fixing school lunches that gets challenging, because you also have to send enough carb items of some sort so he doesn't experience lows.

Question, how did you find out you had Celiac disease? My son has no symptoms whatsoever of the disease, he lived on pizza/breads/and everything with gluten in it. The only reason they found it was by routine blood screenings that they do for him yearly. Had the scope into the small intestine and they said that he had some inflammation, but his villae were just droppy, but not flattened out any. Only thing that I've noticed about him since we have gone gluten free, was that his attitude and personality are totally different, he's so happy now and easy to get along with where before, he was always cranky and would get angry at the drop of a hat. So maybe he's never really felt good, but didn't know any different.

We've been doing this just for a few weeks, and it does take a lot of trial and error on food..especially bread. Thank goodness he can still have alot of the chips he's always liked. I'm just struggling with the cross contamination issue...for instance, regular Kelloggs rice krispies do not say they have wheat in them, and neither does Captain Crunch, but our dietician said he couldn't have them because of cross contamination. Does anybody else eat Kelloggs rice krispies or Captain Crunch.

Good luck! It's a challenge, but after you get going, it isn't too bad.

I had boodwork then a biopsy. My doctor said there was mild damage. I eventually got very sick. I was throwing up after eating almost every time. Lots of low blood sugars. I have read that with children, they might show behavioral changes, irritability, etc. as symptoms, but what parent would think the cause would be celiac disease. Oh well, I guess looking back you can see a difference, and your son is happier now!

[WaterBoy]

Well, I can have sugar. It's pretty much in everything. 2 Tbs in a loaf of bread is ok. I have to count carbohydrates to calculate how much insulin I have to take. I used to eat light wheat or white bread which has 18g of carbs for 2 slices. The gluten free bread that I have seen with the least carbs is 22g per slice. Which is 44g for 2 slices, and I'm allowed 60g of carbs per meal. I'm just trying to figure out how to eat healthy, keep my blood sugars under control, and avoid gluten. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it. It just might take a looong time! I'll try the bread that you suggested. I've tried a few and they were disgusting. Thanks for the reply!

I too have severe issues with these foods. Who doesn't? Not only did I have the gluten issues, but extreme dehydration was not helping matters. I found something that helped significantly.... You may want to look into extreme x2o for the blood sugar control. There is a movie about this amazing stuff at Open Original Shared Link that you should watch first. There have been quite a few folks that have written testimonies about the blood sugar control.