Hope This Helps Someone

[christa]

I have been gluten free for a year now and am feeling sooooo much better. I want to let you all know hang in there it WILL get better. There is definetly a learning curve when trying to figure out what you can and can't eat and it takes some time and patience, but with perserverence you will get there. I remember not being able to eat anything without getting sick. Vegetables, fuit, meat, juice, etc. etc. etc. It took a while of being gluten free and dairy free before I could eat many of these other things without feeling sick but now I can. I recently started drinking coffee again. I guess what I want to get across is even though some things besides gluten are making you sick now and it seems at times there is nothing you can eat, they are NOT all intolerances, many you will be able to eat again once your body starts to heal. I noticed a significant difference after about a month and a half. So stick in there, you will get your life back. I know I needed to hear these things when I was struggling, hope it helps someone!

[SchnauzerMom]

Thank you for this post. I have been gluten free for about 1 month. I have been getting discouraged lately wondering if gluten is the problem or something else. I really need to give it more time. Thanks again!

[Sophiekins]

I've been gluten free for six years now. There are literally thousands of foods I can eat (and grain-wise, I eat nothing but rice and potatoes as I have had serious reactions to so many other grains, I'm tired of trying). Every time I get a craving for a food I can no longer have, (my real weakness is bagels. . .mmmm real chewy boiled bagels. . .) I focus on the fact that I can do so many other things now besides eat. I have a list in my diary, that I add to every time I get a food craving. For example: I can run a mile without collapsing. I can climb a flight of stairs without getting dizzy. I can go skiing. When the alarm goes off each morning, I can get out of bed rested to experience another wonderful day (and believe me, these days are wonderful). I can sleep. I have learned to cook. I have beautiful curves (instead of bulges and bones). I am happy. I eat wonderful, freshly prepared meals and savour my food.

The other thing I do when going gluten free gets me down is to visit the most wonderful gluten-free blog I've come across: www.glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com - this woman LOVES food, and she loves it gluten free to. Plus her recipes are mouthwatering. . .

I honestly could not have told you that I felt so horrible all the time before I went gluten free, and after the first couple of months, I felt so good that I didn't think it could possibly get any better. The best part is that it does. I choose not to be limited by my disease - after all, it will probably not kill me, it doesn't require expensive drugs to keep me alive, I don't have to stick myself regularly with a needle, and I feel great most of the time. . .is this the world's best chronic illness or what? Some days just walking to work makes me laugh because it feels so good to be wholly inside a body (this body! my body!) which works. Is all that really worth a bagel?

[2kids4me]

Is all that really worth a bagel?

Kinnickinnick makes yummy bagels - daughter loves them! I had one and I really cant tell the difference. She likes the plain variety

you CAN have your bagel and EAT it too

Sandy

[dragonmom]

It is great to feel so much better- I couldn't lift a 3 pound weight , I barely made it through a day of work and then just sat down and did nothing when I got home. My family had had a big enough scare with my health that going gluten free seemed to be minor . When you put things in perspective life could be a whole lot worse. My numbers seem to be reflecting my lack of reading some lables and those damn lindt chocolates I just called all my flavored coffee companies and was assured they were gluten-free. I keep trying!

[almostnrn]

I think its amazing to look back on before I was diagnosed. I never "felt sick". I never had the typical symptoms but once I quit eating gluten I realized just how crappy I really felt. I still have those days from time to time but they are spacing out and I find myself with so much more energy again.

[Sophiekins]

Hi Sandy,

Yes, Kinnickinick makes yummy bagels. . .but sadly they contain corn and soy and are therefore off limits for me - I am one of those unfortunate 30% whose bodies can't tell the difference between corn and wheat. Sigh. I will continue to dream. . .

[ajay]

Hi Sandy,

Yes, Kinnickinick makes yummy bagels. . .but sadly they contain corn and soy and are therefore off limits for me - I am one of those unfortunate 30% whose bodies can't tell the difference between corn and wheat. Sigh. I will continue to dream. . .

Sophie! I react to corn, too. And darned if half the yummy gluten-free versions of stuff out there have corn in them. So I end up making most of my pseudo-gluten foods from scratch. Now I have a problem getting a batch of brownies to last longer than a day... I literally do polish off the whole batch within 24 hours... I know there's a recipe for bagels in one of Bette Hagman's cookbooks... are there CC concerns with bean flours and soy?

Maybe it's just as well that I still can't get a loaf of gluten-free bread to come out right. I'd probably eat the whole thing before it cooled down!

[Sophiekins]

Sophie! I react to corn, too. And darned if half the yummy gluten-free versions of stuff out there have corn in them. So I end up making most of my pseudo-gluten foods from scratch. Now I have a problem getting a batch of brownies to last longer than a day... I literally do polish off the whole batch within 24 hours... I know there's a recipe for bagels in one of Bette Hagman's cookbooks... are there CC concerns with bean flours and soy?

Maybe it's just as well that I still can't get a loaf of gluten-free bread to come out right. I'd probably eat the whole thing before it cooled down!

Hey Ajay,

Sadly, corn, soy, millet, buckwheat, beans, chickpeas, maize, oats, amaranth and quinoa are off limits for me. . .waaaaah. I've pretty much given up on trying new flours because they cost soooo much and then just make me sick (though one of my new coworkers has given me a recipe for chesnut flour cake which I'm planning to try. . .just as soon as I can track down some chesnut flour). And yes, CC is a big concern with me - there's enough cornstarch in an extra-strength tylenol to make me uncomfortable. . .until I moved to Britain and found a corn-free, gluten-free painkiller, I used to take a tylenol and a sleeping pill and go to bed for eight hours. Or suffer. Or maybe I meant to say "and suffer"? I'm sure you can relate to the hellishness of finding prescription drugs that are gluten AND corn free. . .

I tried Bette Hagman's bagels once, back when I first went gluten free. . .they weren't bad, but I didn't think they were much like bagels either.

As for gluten-free bread, I cheat and make it in muffin pans (or inside english muffin moulds - also those little itty bitty bread tins) - I also preheat my oven to 50 (celsius. . .I bake in Britain), turn it off and let the dough rise inside the oven. But mostly I make muffins or scones (sweet and savoury. . .after six years gluten free I'm gungho enough to try any "regular" recipie). I've found the key to flavour and texture without corn is nut flour - I use almond flour/finely ground almonds in my regular flour mix (1 cup rice flour, 1/3 cup each potato starch, tapioca starch and ground almonds) and once made a layer cake for a birthday that was so convincing my family tried to stop me from eating it. . . My real weakness though is peanut butter cookies. . .though fortunately the recipe I have makes 12 massive cookies, rich enough that one leaves me purring contentedly. . .

And (while we're in confession mode) I've been known to eat the whole loaf of bread before it cools down. . .which I believe falls under the category "please don't try this at home". . .