ShayFL

Fruit will "bloat" me if I am not careful. Small amounts are fine. But a big fruit salad and I look pregnant.

Yes, my dark circles are disappearing too.

Take 1 cup of natural RAW almonds. Cover with water and soak overnight. Then in the morning put them in a blender with 3 cups of water. Add a pinch of salt, vanilla extract and some stevia for sweetness. You can also sweeten with honey if you dont have sugar issues. Blend very well and then strain through a strainer. For pulp free milk, use a jelly strainer (made of clothe). You can find them online.

Enjoy!!

Have him test your iron stores - Ferritin (which should be at least 50) and B12 + MMA. If you are taking any B12 supp. then the serum B12 will be inaccurate. You need the MMA to make sure that you have enough B12

As a former vegetarian, I can tell you that it is hard to stay healthy even if you do it perfectly. B12 and iron are usually the first to plummet. Also, many vegetarians eat A LOT of grains which are hard to digest and in fact deplete the body of nutrients. Grains have anti-nutrients (enzyme inhibitors and phytic acid) which actually prevents calcium and zinc from being utlilized.

Grains can be soaked overnight with a few tsp. of vinegar before cooking to help with this problem.

Also, a lot of vegetarians eat a lot of fruit. The human body can only process so much fructose, so this can cause bloating and D too (not just gluten).

Hope you find some answers soon.

I am just shy of the 3 month mark gluten-free. I have not gotten a migraine since quitting the gluten. And my BM's are down from 5/6 to 2/3 a day. But I still have neuropathy and vertigo/ataxia symptoms. I accept that I have to be patient. It isnt easy. But I accept it.

I am also working on my Ferritin (Iron Stores) to get them up to snuff and my Vitamin D (which was deficient too). Did they check your Ferritin and Vitamin D levels?

Cal/Mag can also be taken 1:1 ratio just fine.

Make sure you buy "wild caught". Farm raised fish are not very healthy anyway.

Oh and use RAW almonds only. Best to soak them in water over night, so that the enzyme inhibitors get broken down. Makes for a very digestible milk. I also make hazelnut milk which I love very much.

The key is to get good quality nuts that are not rancid. I like Jaffe Brothers. I buy in bulk and then refridgerate or freeze depending on when I think I will use them.

So I have been doing A LOT of research on grains. And know gluten is a problem for me. So it is OUT for life. But I have been experimenting with alternative grains. Baking and such and having a good time. But I am still not well and I want to do what I can to help my body get better.

I read that grains are indigestible basically because they have a. enzyme inhibitors that make them hard to break down and b. they have phytic acid that once released into your intestines binds with your calcium, zinc and a few other minerals so you cannot absorb them. This leads to deficiencies. This not good.

What to do?

Well I learned that if you soak the grains with a few tsp of vinegar or lemon juice and water over night it inactivates the enzyme inhibitors and gets rid of that phytic acid.

So I tried it with buckwheat. It didnt affect the taste, but made the consistency softer. Fine. Texture is no big deal. And they cooked A LOT faster. This is a bonus. And easier to digest. All good.

I am soaking rice (started soaking it this am) to cook for dinner tonight.

You have to use less water than normal. Like 1 cup of soaked rice to 1 1/2 cups water instead of 2.

This "soaking" rule also applies to nuts and seeds. So I am soaking them as well. It is VERY hard to digest nuts and seeds in general, especially if hard and roasted.

So the experiment continues........

Yes, you can look at this as an opportunity to learn about new foods that you may not be used to eating. There are a lot of delicious foods out there. Our family loves the buckwheat. I add cracked pepper and sea salt and it is yummy.

If you hate to cook, there is still hope for you. Some pre-cooked meats are gluten-free. You just have to read labels and sometimes call the company. OR you can get to know your oven. Plain chicken breasts with salt pepper and a drizzle of olive oil is easy and tastes great.

Plain meats are gluten-free.

Salads are gluten-free.

Baked potatoes are gluten-free. Pop one in the microwave. Sweet potatoes are good this way too.

Corn on the cob is gluten-free. Boil for 2 or3 minutes and enjoy!

Veggies are gluten-free. You could buy an inexpensive steamer and have fresh steamed veggies.

Fruits are gluten-free.

Most nuts are gluten-free. But read the labels to make sure there are no additives or flavorings.

Eggs are gluten-free. Super easy to make for breakfast with pre-chopped veggies thrown in makes a good BF.

Yes. I am taking both of those. Mega B12 - sublingual methylcobalamin and Mag citrate. I am just wondering if my nerves might be "healing" and if others have experienced similar.

I have migraines, neuropathy and vertigo. These are my main symptoms. Migraines are gone. Yeah!!!

The imbalance/vertigo/ataxia are unchanged.

My normal numb/tingly feelings have been replaced with that sensation you get when a foot was asleep but you wake it back up. It is different than my normal tingling. It is exactly like my arms/hands/legs/feet are "waking up". I am soooo hoping this is a good sign.

Try to look at it this way. They caught you early. Your disease requires a change of diet. That's all. Be thankful that your disease does not require, surgery, chemotherapy, dialysis, transplant or such.

I was EXACTLY like you in that I had an amazing appetite and ate like a horse and stayed thin. I was hungry a lot for the first 3-4 weeks and then it evened out.

I eat mostly whole foods now: meats, veggies, fruits, nuts and some alternative grains. I keep a variety of oils and spices to cook with. It is the way we are meant to eat anyway. A period of adjustment. You betcha!!

But doing fine with the food now.

Ive only had 2 periods since gluten-free, but both came late. This last one was 4 days late. I am not on the pill.

I love my homemade almond milk. I have a Vita-Mix blender and honestly if I could only keep one appliance, this would be it! I love it.

I use raw almonds. You can soak them overnight to get rid of the enzyme inhibitors.

I put them in the blender with water, a pinch of sea salt, vanilla and stevia. Then blend until ultra smooth. I then strain. I used to use jelly (clothe) strainers and it made very silky milk. But it is so much faster to just strain with a regular strainer. I have gotten lazy. It has a little more texture to it, but I dont mind.

Taboule made with quinoa, add pre-cooked chicken.

First relax. I also had a baby undiagnosed. If your baby is meant to come into this world at this time he/she will. Start talking to the baby. Tell them that you love them no matter what and that you will do everything you can to make sure they are healthy. And tell yourself what a good Mommy you will be and that celiac is not your fault.

They can test your ferritin, folic acid and calcium. Get Vit. D checked also.

Make sure your pre-natals are gluten free.

Ok....so I tried to make some rum balls. I couldnt find any cookies that didnt have some of my no no's. So I just used walnuts and pecans very finely ground, ground chia, dark rum, honey and spices (cinn, nutmeg, cardamon) and pinch of salt.

It tastes yummy, but not like the rum balls I remember. So I didnt ball them up.

But I baked a sweet potato for lunch and put a dollop of this on top and......ambrosia......absolutely delicious!!!

Thanks!! A lot of sugar, but for a special occasion they would be great.

One of our dogs could not eat wheat (gave her seizures and skin rashes). We had to switch to lamb/rice based food. That got rid of her problems.

Hemmoroids or anal fissures are the best guess when "bright" red. You can also get this if you are constipated and you "push" it out too hard. This happened to my neighbor's 9 year old boy. Bright red blood all in the toilet. She freaked. But he just tore his little self trying to get hard poo out.

And for any young people reading this, sadly, I had a 24 year old cousin die from colon cancer. You are never too young and blood in your stool or urine should always be checked by a doctor. Always.

Did they do a diabetes panel? All that thirst.....

That stuff is nasty. I wouldnt even go near it when I was vegetarian and eating gluten. It just looks like dog turd. It just does.

Your son IgA was 23 and the range starts at 20. Ranges are just that. Ranges. And what is normal for one may not be normal for another. You need to have a good amount of IgA (and your son doesnt have hardly any) to produce the IgA antibodies that they tested all of the others in the first place. He doesnt produce much of those IgA's....so all of those IgA tests are useless.

And Enterolab does not falsify results. I tested with them 2 years ago and everything came up negative. Everything. Some were close, but I was negative. And now positive. If they were on a crusade to just appease patients and get people to go gluten free then I would have tested positive the first time. I didnt.

This seems obvious, but gotta ask. Are you drinking enough fluid throughout the day?