Gf Foods

[mstrain]

I have been gluten-free since the middle of July and as long as I stick to fresh meats, fish, fruits and veggies, I am fine. My very supportive husband bought a bread machine and tons of cook books and we've been trying new recipes each weekend. I am finding that my stomach is upset after consuming food with the new flours; pancakes, pizza, Bette Hagman's featherlight bread. I'm finding the taste OK but I have quite a bit of gas and indigestion after eating them. Does it take time for the body to adjust to these new flours? I'm having a hard time because I am asymptomatic - I actually feel worse eating these items than I did before my diagnosis. Could I be allergic to something else?

This leads me to another question - anybody else out there start out asympomatic? How much time went by before you developed symptoms? I am terrified of the damage I may be doing due to being glutenized without knowing it. I'm pretty sure I am being contaminated by the simple fact that I have a 5, 3 and 1 year old - my 1 year old is always sticking his hands in my face, grabbing my food, etc. My five year old makes her own PB&J and may not be careful, plus we are all new to this celiac-thing! Teaching sharing used to be a big topic in our house, and now I can't share and the kids are having a tough time with this (especially my three year old who doesn't understand "gluten allergy!)

[tarnalberry]

You could certainly be sensitive to other grains. I would try making something simple out of a single grain to try to work through the options. (Pancakes or tortillas work fairly well for this for most flours though taste may not be optimal.) Just make the exact same recipe, the same way, with differing flours, and see how you respond. Alternatively, you can try the grains whole, and rinsed, as it could be a cross-contamination problem in the manufacturing plant, depending on the manufacturer.

[Merika]

Some celiacs initially have trouble with ALL grains. If your villi are messed up, you may not digest any of them well, and have just built up a certain tolerance level for wheat, the one you are most accustomed to.

Go with what your belly is telling you and try again in 6-9 months with the exotic flours. You may have better luck then.

I don't mean to be confusing - the other grains don't have gluten and won't cause damage, you'll just not feel very good eating them. I have trouble digesting a lot of the non-gluten grains too.

Merika

[WLJOHNSON]

Hi,

I'm glad you're now on a gluten-free diet. I am 60 years old and have been having symptoms (Asthma) since I was 8, but no one knew what was causing it or what to do. Many elimination diets of certain foods finally convinced me that I must be allergic to all grains, all milk and dairy products, egg whites and yeast. This process took 30 years, but finally I was eventually told that I have Celiac Disease, which gave me a name for my illness and got me to this board.

Now I read labels religiously and avoid maltodextrin, casein, and whey in addition to those things I listed above. Even I, after struggling with this for so long, am finding new and better products to eat, especially within the last year. In addition, my new grandson had Celiac also, and I have been able to help him as well. My sister and cousin were recently diagnosed, and I hope to be of some help there too, so everything seems to be falling into place.

I am still amazed that I can walk into a Burger King and ask for a hamburger with no bun, only to learn that the mayo has eggs in it and they lose patience during the process of my orderding something different than that to which they are accustomed. However, I can usually go to Carl's Jr. and get a Six Dollar Burger, no cheese, low carb, and have very little trouble, so there IS HOPE!

I hope your time of grieving your losses will quickly pass, and you will find that you are a pioneer of sorts, leading the way for others just learning that they have Celiac. Estimates are that 1 of every 133 Americans has it.

I just found Van's Wheat Free waffles, Soy Delicious Ice Cream, and Ener-G Wheat Free, Yeast Free Bread. I almost took the bread back, but instead I melted some vanilla soy ice cream, dipped the bread in it and made french toast, something I haven't had for YEARS. I added maple syrup and powdered sugar, and I was in Heaven.

Good luck to you in your quest for good health. Welda Lou

[printmaker81]

I'm wondering if maybe it's not just the grains in the new breads but the other ingredients. Do you use milk and eggs in your breads? Either of these could possibly be making your stomach hurt. I had the same reaction to new breads, gas and cramps. A few weeks ago, I made just an omlet and had the same reaction as I was having to the breads. Now I make my bread using Ener-G's egg replacer which is gluten, soy, and dairy free, and I haven't had any more problems with the breads. Sometimes even if you're not intolerent of dairy, soy and eggs they can upset your stomach while you're still in your healing period.

As far as the kids go, is there anyway you could make their foods gluten free, too? If they're young, they might be more likely to join in on the gluten-free snacks.

[nettiebeads]

This leads me to another question - anybody else out there start out asympomatic?  How much time went by before you developed symptoms?  I am terrified of the damage I may be doing due to being glutenized without knowing it.  I'm pretty sure I am being contaminated by the simple fact that I have a 5, 3 and 1 year old - my 1 year old is always sticking his hands in my face, grabbing my food, etc.  My five year old makes her own PB&J and may not be careful, plus we are all new to this celiac-thing!  Teaching sharing used to be a big topic in our house, and now I can't share and the kids are having a tough time with this (especially my three year old who doesn't understand "gluten allergy!) 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I went gluten-free nine years ago, but just recently joined this forum. I'm finding out that I may have been glutenized without knowing it many times. Sometimes I'm darned sure where the contamination came from - I would count back 24 hours from an episode of diarhhea and realize what I ate. Others here seem to get sick right away. Other times I wouldn't have the diarhhea so bad, but would get that crushing fatigue. And still other times I wouldn't get either one of those two, but get extremely irritable for no apparent reason, and would really have to fight that one. One of the "fun" peculiarities of celiac disease I suppose. But since I've been reading other posts and realized that I may have been contaminated, I've been very religous about washing my hands, surface areas, thrown away the wooden spoons, and it has made a difference. I never thought about kids sharing their food, but I do remember that with my daughter, but that was before celiac disease. Can they "share" with a doll or stuffed animal instead of you? Maybe you're not "hungry right now, but Lovey would love to have a piece" would work. Gloves, I can see you doing the housework with latex gloves. Or better yet, have your husband do it! Right. It does get so tiring of having to be on your toes. Oh yeah, we don't have little kids, but sometimes friends and relatives bring theirs. So I have Play-Doh on hand. And just found out from this forum that it is a gluten source. Something my husband did know and I didn't, but who cleaned it up when the guests were gone? Alway something

[laurelfla]

This leads me to another question - anybody else out there start out asympomatic?  How much time went by before you developed symptoms?  I am terrified of the damage I may be doing due to being glutenized without knowing it. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

if the disease is something you are born with, then i was asymptomatic for about 24 years. i never considered myself as someone who had stomach/digestive problems, or really anything in the way of health problems. in may i woke up one morning and had diarrhea. it continued in the mornings, sometimes every few days and sometimes everyday. i felt pretty awful and couldn't figure out what foods were causing it. about a month later my doctor ordered a celiac blood panel and it came back positive. a few weeks later it was confirmed by biopsy. now that i look and feel so much better, family and friends are telling me that i actually looked pretty bad for a while there. it just seems to have come out of nowhere; no one in my family had ever heard of it, and i think the sheer fact of its sudden "appearance" is one reason i'm having a hard time dealing with it.

i'm also afraid of being accidentally glutened, but not because i live with others who aren't gluten-free, but because of my own ignorance! i'm trying as hard as i can to learn fast.

good luck to you.