Yenni

As for relatives, with six kids, they usually come over here if we get together for a holiday. I went to an uncle's house for a cookout and brought my own brats and foil so they could be safely cooked on the grill (regular charcoal is not gluten-free, btw, you have to get natural charcoal). I ate potato chips with my brats.

My gosh! I had no idea charcoals could have gluten in them. The things you learn.

(That can explain things for me actually. I have felt weird after eating grilled hamburger meat. I couldn't get why. Now I know why.)

My problem is that we actually live with my husband's family right now. There are bread crums and yellow cheese everywhere. No one has any food allergy or any intolerance in the family really (one can't have diary but it doesn't seem to help with understanding still) so they just seem to think I am weird. Makes me frustrated. (I make my own food, but they think it is just "not eating bread" kinda.)

We had a birthday here a couple of weeks ago and my sister in law got asked not to bring pie. I was just so tired of watching them all eat it infront of me. I have to watch them eat desert like at least once a week. I had bought some gluten free brownie I was gonna make. Well, she bought the pie anyways and no body tasted my brownies. Well, my husband did. He was actually really mad at his sister. Hehe

We are hopefully moving out of here within the year. So I will not have to deal with them any more. If I go for a vistit I'll just bring my own stuff. But for now, it is hard. It's not making things easier that is for sure.

It must be hard for you to stick to gluten-free w/out a diagnosis, but praise be to you for sticking with it none-the-less!

Lastly - does anyone know how to tell if Rice has been produced in a factory with wheat?? My god, I've been devouring rice as it seems the only carb hope left to me... (I'm starting to freak out about phantam gluten everywhere!)

I have felt such a big difference and the fact that I had so many symptoms...Well it made me feel like "this is it!!" when I read about it and stopped eating Gluten. I still have doubts some days. The recovery has been slow. But if you have such a nasty heartburn as I used to have (it used to make me sweat and I got sores in my throat) and nothing anyone did would make it better...and now I have days I don't have any at all. Weeks even. I wake up without a sore throat in the morning. Well, it isn't that hard to keep on even if a doctor hasn't officially given me a diagnose. My husband always keeps on telling me it doesn't matter what they say or if I get that biopsy. This is proof enough.

I think I got cross contaminated by the Nabisco brand (orange box). They make both Crème of wheat and rice. I kept on having heartburn and stuff while I ate it and once I stopped eating it, it went away.

Maybe I am paranoid but I like to buy thinks that say stuff like "Has been produced in factory with no gluten".. and stuff. I am very new at this though.

Hello and thank you all for the warm welcome!

AndreaB: Yep, Washington is the closest state.

CarlaB; They don't have any of the places you mentioned up here.

I was looking at the Outback gluten free menu yesterday for the first time. I am a little nervous about eating out still. I feel like I have gotten "cross contaminated" so easily doing this. Even with stuff that is suppoesed to be gluten free (like rice that is made in the same factory as creme of weat). I am afraid people will not realize how easy it is to get glutens in the food.

My husband has been really good with all of this but his family is pretty dreadfull about it all. No understanding at all really and they like cross crontaminating things. Well, so I am worried about eating out where I can't see what is happening with my food.

How do you all do it? Eating out I mean.

And how do you all cope with non-understanding relatives?

I guess I do not feel so comfortable with this Gluten free eating yet, so I am feeling aquard telling others to be careful with my food. If you know what I mean.

Any books you guys think I should read? I have been looking around some and got The Gluten Free Bible. Haven't read it all yet though. So much to think of. Most people seem to think it is easy to avoid the stuff but I feel like it is almost science.

I have had problems with hunger like that too. But I had it before AND after I stopped with Gluten. The last year before I stopped it got really bad with the hunger. It seems like it has gotten a little bit better lately. I have been gluten free since early april.

I know wthat the stomach can "feel hungry" if it is unhappy in general. It's like the brain misstakes the unhappiness for hunger.

I am not an expert though.

Hello! I just wanted to say hello. I have been lurking around here for a couple of months and became a member yesterday.

I have had LOTS of problems with my stomach the last 4 years. Pain, gas, constant diarrhea, nausea and 24/7 heartburn that wouldn't go away even on double dose of Protonix and other additional acid reducer. I started reading about Gluten Intolerance a couple of months ago and I realized I had like 75% of all the symptoms in a long list of them. Well, so I decided to stop eating Gluten (April this year) just to see what would happen. The bloating and pain got much better only after a couple of days and I have gotten gradually much better over all. I have more energy, my heartburn is almost not there at all and I rarely have bloating at all.

It has gone slowly but there is a MASSIVE difference in how my stomach is today in compared to what it has been like the last 4 years.

I had a blood test taken and it was negative. The doctor seemed to think I might have Gluten Intolerance even if it was negative when I have become so much better. I hadn’t been eating Gluten for 3 weeks when the test was taken, so I am not sure if that could be a factor.

I am pretty happy with how much better I have become so I intend to keep on doing this even if it is hard. I miss eating out really bad and I hate watching the rest of the family eat good stuff I can't have. But it is all worth it to get out of the hell I have been through with my stomach the last 4 years. I am almost happy I seem to have gluten intolerance. At least I know what it is (probably) and I can do something about it. For the longest time I just went from doctor to doctor not getting any help at all. They gave me pills and told me I had IBS (which my symptoms never really seemed to match up with).

Well, I wanted to say hello. I am glad I have found this place.

Oh, and I live in Anchorage Alaska. It would be great to talk to someone that lives up here too. Get some tips on where to get food and stuff.

Jenny

I am glad to read that Bananas are so good for you. It is one of the few fruits I am not allegic to and I eat LOTS of them.