bigbird16

How awesome, Sara!!!! Congratulations!!!!!!

A big hug for you, Molly!

Food is important to us. It not only sustains us but features prominently in celebrations and social gatherings. It's made and given as an expression of caring and love. You've just been told you can never have the same food that you grew up with ever again--no pies, cakes, cookies, macaroni salad, bread. It's normal to grieve the loss of the food. It's happened to most, if not all, of us here to some degree or other. It's ok to cry about it.

It will pass. Things will get better. And you'll discover ways of making delicious baked goods and other old favorites with alternative ingredients. And they won't make you feel like crap. And they could taste even better than they used to.

I deal by focusing on what I can have and by getting creative in the kitchen. I love to bake, and I'll be darned if I'm going to go through life without rich chocolate cake. I make a mean chocolate fudge cake with a base of Namaste cake mix and some extra goodies thrown in, like crystallized ginger and mini chocolate chips or a bit of orange or mint or hazelnut or blackberry.

It's ok. It's normal. And things will get better. Expect it. Treat yourself to things you can have. Enjoy the knowledge that you are on your way to better health.

The friend thing is hard. I think part of it is that people are wrapped up in their own lives, in their own problems and issues and don't necessarily notice or don't know what to do with more than what's right in front of them. It doesn't mean they don't love you. They're just a little clueless or limited in what they feel they can do. Some are only good at expressing in certain ways. I had less than zero support when I was at my sickest. I guess I'm lucky that I didn't actually drive anyone completely away. But it would have been more help than anyone knows to once have been asked, "Are you ok?" I think because of that experience, I try to be more attentive, so that none of my friends ever feels so hurt and alone. But on the flip side, it also solidified that I'm the only one I can count on to be there for me.

Hi, Eric.

Regarding the casein, I don't think there is a test for casein intolerance other than Enterolab (which may not be covered by insurance and is not necessarily recognized, as the doctor hasn't published) and dietary elimination. You can be tested using Enterolab while not consuming gluten or casein. After I got rid of the gluten in my diet, I was still getting some neuro symptoms and belly issues. I ditched dairy, felt tons better, tried to reintroduce it, and the reaction gave me my answer. I did Enterolab testing, as well, and it did show sensitivity to dairy. I can tell within about 10 minutes that I've gotten into something with dairy; a buzzing starts in my head along with dissociation, and I start getting snippy with people and nauseous. Then I go drive the porcelain bus and settle in for a migraine. Fun times.

All the best to you in your journey to wellness!

Katherine

My folks live several states away and were visiting me this past weekend. I had to laugh throughout the weekend. I'm still laughing. Neither is free of any food (though they should be). My dad and I talk about food a lot. He was actually the one who suggested I might have a problem with wheat and started me on my journey to becoming gluten-free. So we were talking about a joint in Pittsburgh that serves the best Reubens. A little wistfully I said it was too bad Reubens are off my menu (gluten and dairy and don't tolerate even Daiya cheese for some reason). "You can just pick it off the bread!" said he.

They wanted so badly to take me to their hotel to eat. I wasn't hungry, as I'd made a huge salad with ham for lunch and only eaten it a couple hours prior. The restaurant and the server made me leary, so I just had tea. My mom kept offering me the meat from her turkey sandwich, and when that didn't work, she said I should have dessert. It was all cheescake and ice cream sorts of things. I said, "Mom, I can't have dairy." "Why not?" "It makes me sick." Just this year we spent a week and a half at my Grandfather's house, and I cooked nearly every meal for her. I made sure to tell her that it was all gluten, dairy, and soy free. She lost 13 pounds on my cooking (a good thing). The one meal we went out for, the restaurant put butter on my veggies and I spent the night violently ill after eating two bites. Sigh. lol It's kinda funny and a little sad that she doesn't get it, and she's a nurse. I've verbally explained over and over, as well as written via e-mail all about gluten and it's evil friends dairy and soy. It seems that if she ignores it long enough, it (my picky eating) will go away.

What really gets me, is that both of them could stand to do an elimination diet. I suspect that both have problems with dairy and/or gluten. Dad complained about the dermatitis on his skin. I kept thinking, "Get off the dairy, and it'll go away." But I said, "You should let me cook all of your meals for a week and see how you feel." He also kept talking about how when he ate bread, he felt all gummed up and his lap band would protest. Well, that gumminess is gluten! (I told him so.) I left them with Dana Korn's gluten-free dummies book and a bag of Udi's bread. I said to my dad that I could almost guarantee 100% that this bread wouldn't gum him up. With the book, I asked them to read it and apply what it says to dairy and soy for me, too. Dad sees the improvements in my life and gets that I don't eat the same way anymore, but just doesn't understand how he could benefit, too. Mom is simply sweetly oblivious. Love 'em both.

An affair with a crumb would send me to the bathroom floor for at least a day and make me a complete b**** to be around for days after, so no cheating here (nor with dairy and soy). There are plenty of great alternatives for gluten-filled comfort foods--Namaste chocolate cake mix with fudge icing, Dr. Praeger's fish sticks, Ian's chicken nuggets, Bob's Red Mill Mighty Tasty hot cereal, Glutino pretzels, Larabars, and so much more.

Sandsurfgirl, Ian's makes awesome onion rings and tatertots (in the shape of letters! fun!). I've found them at Wegman's and Whole Foods. The onion rings do contain corn, for those who are sensitive to that. Usually I make my own with a little Old Bay seasoning in the batter. Mmmmmmm! But for when I don't feel like slicing and mixing and dipping, the Ian's rings are a yummy quick fix.

I thought she'd most certainly have a violent reaction. She tells me that she plans to do it once, only once. She just wishes to gauge the texture of a normal piece of cake to help with her cooking experiments for gluten free cakes

The coeliac society says it takes three weeks for your gut to heal after consuming gluten. I believe this is for trace amounts only and does not take into account the definition of 'gluten-gorging'.

Any one else able to clarify how long the damage could potentially last? That's mainly what she's interested in I think.

She may have a violent reaction; she may not. This may be the one thing that pushes her body too far; it may not. We're individual in our reactions and the damage done.

As someone who used to bake and decorate cakes a lot (as in I wanted my own bakery and have done wedding and shower cakes), I can almost understand her desire to create something the same or similar or even better. Almost. There's nothing in this universe--reward or aversion--that would make me want to put a piece of regular cake anywhere near my mouth again.

As a baker I say this. The best way to get a great cake is to experiment. Bake and bake and bake. Try different things and test it all on friends. If they like it, she's got a good cake. It doesn't matter if it has the same texture. What matters is that it tastes good at this moment to the people eating it. People like cake, and I swear that if you have a good recipe with a slightly "different" texture, they can't tell. They'll just rave about the taste.

I'm rebuilding my cake repertoire, learning again how to bake. Some of the cakes I've made wouldn't be fit for the birds much less people; with other cakes, no one has been able to tell anything was different. Tell her to focus on the future with her cakes and not worry about what's past with the baking.

Cheers,

Katherine

For awhile after going gluten-free, I would get raging migraines and other gluten reaction symptoms after performances. (I'm a dancer, and the only time I wear makeup is for shows.) What was going on? I knew I was fueling myself appropriately with gluten-free foods and not sharing my goodies with glutenous-handed people. I hadn't thought about changing out my lip products. Once I did, the migraines after shows stopped. Also, even if you have lip products that are gluten-free but you used them before you went gluten-free, those products could be considered contaminated (plus the bacteria issue of old makeup). I don't share my gluten-free lipstick with fellow dancers, either, because I know they've been eating sandwiches and pizza, etc. I keep a regular lipstick in my makeup bag for them. (Yes, I know it's gross to share lipstick, but when someone forgets or loses hers, she can't go onstage with naked lips.)

Moon River - Andy Williamns

Moondance -- Van Morrison

I hate food. It used to be a nice thing to do with friends and family but now it's ruining my life. I never thought that a small thing like food could affect my life this way. I hate this disease. What can I do to be more socially acceptable?

I'm gluten, dairy, and soy free, and, yes, it has impacted my social life. I don't go out to eat with friends or family as much, but when I do, I either go to a place I know I can get something safe or bring something with me. For parties I bring my own party pack. Friends don't bat an eyelash now when I pull out my little meal. Sometimes they're a little jealous. Family still doesn't understand, but they're not around much as they're in other states. With friends I go do things that don't revolve around food. When work requires a meal at a particular place that may or may not have something safe, I bring my own or eat beforehand. If I look weird not eating, who cares. The boss likes that my hands are usually free to take notes at working meals (what a brownnoser ) .

What about having friends and/or family over to your place for dinner or a party? That way you know everything is safe for you to eat. I recently threw a party at home. Every single dish was safe for me, and there was enough food to feed 15 hungry dancers fresh out of a 3 1/2 hour rehearsal--Vietnamese summer rolls, Thai-style pizza, sherried beef, frittatas, barbeque chicken, Thai chicken, cashew cheese with rice crackers, jicama cole slaw, olive tapenade, hummus and toasted Udi's bagel slices, peppermint fudge, raspberry almond bars, green tea mochi, and so much more. (No, dancers don't eat bird seed; we really can pack away.) They raved about the food, went back for seconds and thirds, and were amazed when they realized it was all gluten, dairy, and soy free. One lady who hates coconut couldn't believe I got her to eat and love coconut. Free food doesn't have to taste strange. Make your home happy with the warmth of friends! Invite them to be guinea pigs for culinary experimentation, whether at home, in the office, or just at random times while hanging out. Even if you're introverted (as I am) be the instigator for social situations rather than the hanger-on. Make food and life fun.

Cheers,

Katherine

Dip his in the kitty litter box and tell him he can just wipe of the coating.

Love it! LOL

I'm late to the conversation, but I'll tell you that when I switched my cockatiel to my own mix (got various choice seeds from an online pet store) without wheat or oats, my little girl was so happy. Her feathers were healthier; her poops were of a better consistency; and her mood improved. I also felt much better. (The puppy went grain free the day he came home; he has the sleekest shiniest fur and a trim waistline.) I guess gluten free was good for all of us!

I travel several times per year for work, often to places where there is no grocery store nearby, no fridge, no microwave, and no choice. For the trip I just got back from, we were away for four days. I recently discovered Tasty Bite foods. They're non-perishable Indian dishes. A lot of the Tasty Bite dishes are gluten, dairy, and soy free, but some are not. They have pre-cooked basmati rice, potatoes, eggplant, lentils, chickpeas, etc. that are beautifully flavored. I added pre-cooked chicken (in pouches) that I found at the grocery store next to the tuna to make the meals more substantial. They made my tummy happy for the whole trip! Pouched tuna and chicken are good sources of protein for those physical days. Have fun! Sounds like a great trip!

Maybe that Damian Cardone character should pay attention to this.

I've only been to one wedding, as a bridesmaid for my best friend, since going gluten-, dairy-, and soy-free. I just brought my own little tucker bag filled a Larabar for a snack before the wedding, an extra for the bride if she needed food, Hormel chili for dinner, and a homemade me-friendly muffin with a travel packet of honey for dessert. I just opened up my food and enjoyed along with everyone else. (That was a pretty picture--all decked out like a movie star in a red gown in a fancy room, crackin' open a can of chili. lol) The smell of the muffin made some others jealous, though I heard the cake was divine. It was a destination wedding, so my suitcase was stuffed with good food. That worked out great--since I ate the food, I had rom to take clothes and shoes home for the bride and groom.

My 20th high school reunion is this summer, and if I go, I plan to do the same--simply bring my own and enjoy the night. For lunches during work meetings when we're out of town, I bring my own and set up my little meal like it's nothing. For recption/party sorts of things, I usually either eat before and keep my glass of water or juice full or bring a few me-friendly snacks. I'm going to eat if I'm hungry, by gum. Oh, we're going to Bismarck, ND in a few weeks for work, and I hear that the food at the Civic Center is atrocious. I just laughed during our staff meeting when this was mentioned, because I knew I would be getting fabulous food from home. I may even bring my electric skillet for this trip to make hot breakfasts and dinners.

My wife however loves bread and loves kit kat's, etc. Just last night when she found out she would never be able to have a kit kat again, I dealt with a very upset young lady and promptly drove to the nearest gas station to buy as many different candies that I could that were gluten free, to console my crying wife.

OMG, Kit Kats were my absolute FAVORITE candy bar before going gluten free (and dairy and soy free). When I lived in Northern Ireland during grad school, they even had mint and orange Kit Kats. Heaven! Not having them has been sad. Very very sad. I also used to bake and decorate cakes on the side. After going gluten free I finally realized why I felt so crappy after a day in the kitchen doing something I absolutely loved.

I've had so much fun trying different chocolates that have none of the forbidden ingredients and fun experimenting with new cake and bread and cookie recipes and using my non-gluten free friends as guinea pigs. For an absolutely decadent chocolate treat, I recommend Equal Exchange chocolate with almonds or Theo chocolate with orange. Namaste cake mixes are divine; their frosting is give-me-the-darn-bowl-I'm-gonna-eat-the-whole-thing-by-myself good. There are some great websites with tried and true recipes, like Elana's Pantry (elanaspantry.com) and Gluten Free Girl (glutenfreegirl). I haven't tried any of her recipes yet, but the Cake Doctor came out with a gluten free cake mix cookbook; reviews look good; she takes gluten free cake mixes, like Betty Crocker' gluten-free yellow cake, as the base for simple with easy to get ingredients but supposedly amazing desserts.

Funny enough,too, is that I used to love to eat all of the cakes and candies, especially those Kit Kats. Now, a tiny piece of gluten-free cake or a tiny square of chocolate or one cookie is satisfying, and I don't crave them so much. It's not that they don't taste as good, because I'll be gosh darned if I'll be denied my decadence in desserts. It's simply that I don't really want or need them as much. Very surprising change for me.

I wish your wife well in her healing!

I took Topamax for several years and my migraines just got worse. My Dr has been very good about insisting I need to learn about my own health. Years ago when he started treating me for Migraines he gave me a reading list. He didn't give me nearly enough info when he suggested I might be gluten intolerant, unfortunately that visit was rushed. He did send me to check out the gluten free mall which in turn lead me here.

I'm not taking extra B vitamins, I probably need to look into them.

LOL Topamax=Dopeymax. I lasted about three weeks on Topamax. Kept falling asleep at traffic lights and at work, worse than when I was on a fully glutenous diet. Then one day I got lost going home from work. There are a total of four turns on my route home, and the main part of the trip is DC's Beltway, which is one big circle. Later that day I had a major hysterical meltdown at my dance company's rehearsal for no reason whatsoever and had to have someone drive me home, because I was afraid I'd get lost again. I stopped the Topamax immediately. The drug didn't do anything for the migraines, but it did reduce the auras.

It was my dad who suggested that I might be gluten intolerant. I was talking to him after a killer three-day migraine (as I munched on a piece of buttered whole wheat toast) and said there seemed to be a connection between pizza and headaches; he said my birth mother had some kind of wheat allergy and I had problems as a baby. I didn't know anything about gluten but decided to give up wheat to see if I felt better, looked at the toast, tossed it in the trash, and made a bowl of rice. It's awesome that your doctor is so encouraging!

My migraines have been much better since going gluten free November 2nd. I had been having around 16 days of migraine per month. In December I had 1, in January I had 3. I've now had 3 days of migraine in February. Usually I can track down a possible CC but not on the day in question. Maybe it was a wayward crumb. The thing that really bothered me was that since going gluten free the head pain had started arriving very quickly (an hour or so) after consuming gluten, but the migraine Sunday started with hours of feeling blah before the pain finally started.

I too take Imitrex. My Doctor was very worried I was taking too many last time I went in. The package says they have never studied taking more than 4 pills in a month and I was taking at least 9. Imitrex is the only thing I found to relieve the pain.

Yeah, for me they've changed so much from what they were that's it's hard to tell sometimes if it's really a migraine or just feeling plain cruddy.

My doc was concerned with me taking more than the 4 pills per month, too. He doesn't want to hear about dietary fixes or how the migraines have morphed, and says food has nothing to do with what's going on in my head. He thinks daily drugs like topamax or verapamil are the best way. (Need a new doc.)

I've also seen some improvement since starting sublingual B complex.

Yes, most definitely. I used to have very vivid dreams every night and could remember them. I would tell my friends about them, and they told me they were so strange, that they'd never had dreams like these, and they could never remember so many details. I could feel the coldness of water, the roughness and dampness of mossy rocks, the slippery warmth of silk, the pain of being torn apart by a beast. The sicker I got, the more nightmarish they became. Within a week or two of going gluten free, they were gone. I only get vivd dreams if I've been cc'd. I don't remember anything about my dreams anymore. In a way it's a bit sad, because some of the places I went in those dreams were amazing; but I'd much rather be healthy and nightmare free. I feel much more rested after sleeping now; I guess that's since I'm not galavanting around jungles and mountains and deserts, etc. all night. Hmm, I'll have to see if I can find one of the e-mails I wrote to a friend about my dreams....

After I went gluten free (and eventually dairy and soy free) my migraines not only decreased drastically (20+ days/month to 2-4 per month) but the warning signs changed as well. I went from a buzz at the left side base of my skull, Alice in Wonderland feelings, extreme clumsiness (dropping things, falling), and numbness on my left side to just feeling blah, a little queasy, irritable, fatigued, and a bit of tightness in the old buzz spot. I can also wait longer before popping my pill to make sure it's a migraine and not just the blahs or being overly hungry or tired. I take Imitrex for my migraines. The doctor told me that Imitrex won't work for anything other than a migraine, so if it works and one feels great after taking it, it was a migraine. Extreme stress, cc, and a few particular foods (like anchovies and avocados) seem to be the only triggers for me now. If I'm cc'd with gluten or dairy, the reaction is pretty quick--under a half hour before I know I've been bit.

Woohoo! Awesome! Thanks for the tip-off. Giant has been good about bringing at least a handful of gluten-free goods to their freezer section. I've found Kinnikinnick doughnuts, bagels, and breads at the one on Duke in Alexandria. I'll have to check the one closer to home for Udis. Yum!!

Honey Baked Hams are gluten free. They changed their recipe I think about two years ago. Here you can find all of the nutritional information on their hams: Open Original Shared Link . I'm very sensitive, and I've never had a problem with their hams. Happy eating!

I miss quiche. I want it so much sometimes. The pie crust I can make without a problem. The cream can be subbed with mimicreme. But the cheese...I don't tolerate soy or, for whatever reason, the other non-dairy cheeses (Rice Vegan, Daiya, etc.). That's sad, because Daiya tastes wonderful.

Pretty much everything that I get a hankering for I've been able to figure a safe alternative for--sweet and sour chicken, onion rings, coconut shrimp, samosas, profiteroles, etc. I found a recipe for a cashew-based "ricotta" the other day. I'm going to try gluten-free lasagna with this "cheese" next time I get that craving. Maybe it would be good on pizza, too. Or straight out of the bowl. Maybe it would work in quiche. lol Never know 'til ya try!

Hi, Melissa.

How are you eating now? What is your diet like? That can help us with ideas for you, too. Every body is different, but for me, dropping almost all refined carbs (with the very occasional gluten-free cookie, piece of gluten-free cake, or slice of gluten-free bread), reducing other grains and startches (rice, potatoes, tapioca, etc.), getting most of my carbs from veggies, and increasing my protein intake helped a lot with maintaining a steady blood sugar, increasing my energy, and elevating my mood. I've never been much of a fruit person (makes me feel sick) but I eat blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries for treats sometimes. Never been much of a veggie person, either, but I sure do love me a lot of broccoli and fresh brussel sprouts!

Cheers,

K

Before going dairy free I used plain yogurt in place of sour cream in cooking and baking and in dips. So Delicious makes a plain yogurt that's coconut based. It's yummy. It does have a slight coconut taste to it but works well for sour cream in dishes where that's not important. If you look for it, make sure you get the plain coconut-based yogurt, as they also make a soy-based one.