BlessedMommy

Oooh, kosher! I have to watch out for lard in pie shells, so thanks for the heads up. I'll look for it if we ever get over to Kroger's. 

Yeah, I knew a guy once who was DX'ed celiac (biopsy proven) and he would gladly go eat peanut butter and such after gluten eaters had dipped into them, because he "wasn't that sensitive."

I think that a lot of it is lack of education--they assume that it's like an allergy or something and therefore think that if they aren't having symptoms they're okay.

It always amazes me when DX'ed celiacs cheat. Cheating isn't an option for me and I'm not even DX'ed. I can't imagine actually knowing for 100% certain that my intestines were getting damaged and going ahead and cheating. 

I wouldn't worry too much about what his parents think. I imagine that they'll come around in time. My MIL had concerns about me before I married my husband and now after 9 years of marriage, she treats me like a daughter and jokes about adopting me.

If you get a chance to talk to his Dad, you could give him some educational nuggets about celiac. Explain that you can be healthy as long as you follow a strict diet. 

As far as parties and occasions out of the house, I just cook something up that's safe and yummy and pack it in my Pyrex portable dishes. Then I heat it at my destination. It's really not much extra work and the containers make it so easy.

I tend to steer away from ConAgra products, because they don't really disclose barley, only wheat, and they were less than helpful when I called them on the phone to ask.

I'm sorry that you're sick!

I also use the rice cooker. It's a fast way to cook grains and I don't have to babysit it while it's cooking. I cook white basmati rice, quinoa, millet, oatmeal, etc. in it. 

Yes, San-J sauces are awesome! Stir fry is a staple easy meal in our house! 

^Yes! What Laura said. 

Hummus and veggies is a great fast snack.

This thread has some great ideas. 

I went and looked and found the small cans of Bush's baked beans with the pop off top. Now I have another option for my road kit!

Another couple of things I got there today was their big jug of fresh salsa and their package of single serve Sabra hummus cups. We're hitting the road to go to a wedding on Sunday, so I'll for sure pack a couple of hummus cups.

We tried having a Costco membership for awhile, but it didn't work out for us distance wise. The Costco we went to is about 78 miles from our house and about 100 miles from the town where we pick up our produce box. We had to buy at least $150-200 worth at a time to make it worth the extra 2 1/2 hours of driving.

Costco is better and does have more than Sam's, but being that I have a free Sam's membership and it's right on my normal grocery route, I tend to pick up what I can there. I'm thankful that Sam's options have improved, they have much more than they used to.

There's a new Costco opening up though that isn't completely in the opposite direction of our grocery shopping, though, so I may revisit the idea of renewing my Costco membership....

I have recently gotten into more Sam's shopping and boy, do they have some great products now!

Certified gluten free coconut flour and coconut sugar, dates, quinoa, white basmati rice, big jugs of olive oil, pure maple syrup, etc. I also bought a big bag of Boulder olive oil potato chips for a treat from there. They were also certified G.F.!

Do you shop at Sam's? If so, what do you get from there?

It's common to not see damage visibly during the endsocopy, but the samples may show damage. 

If he does have celiac, then not being 100% gluten free will hurt him. If your daughter is celiac, then it is very likely that he does have celiac, since it's genetic.

Finding a good doctor makes a great deal of difference! My daughter's new doctor didn't hesitate to order the celiac tests.

That's great!

This forum has been so helpful. I don't think that I would've had the courage to switch doctors, put my daughter on a gluten challenge, and finally get the bloodwork done without their help.

I don't have a definitive diagnosis and if someone offered me a million dollars to eat gluten for 3 months I would refuse. LOL!

Seriously, you know your own body best. As an adult, you can choose what goes in your own mouth. People who really love you and care about you will support you.

Lots of people don't even understand what celiac is or don't care about what I do or don't have anyway. They just know that gluten gives me serious complications and makes me miserable.

If you had a negative test and had all your symptoms resolve gluten free, just have the doctor diagnose you with non-celiac gluten sensitivity. That's still a diagnosis. 

Not yet, but thanks for the suggestion! We see the doctor on 11/4 for follow up and I will ask her.

My daughters RBC, hemoglobin, and hematocrit were all elevated higher than the normal range. 

Thanks. That's what I hope for as well.

It really doesn't matter if it's positive or negative, I just want it to be clearly positive or clearly negative. No ambiguity!

This was long and hard fought for! After researching like crazy, switching doctors, and doing a 13 week gluten challenge, my 8 year old daughter got her celiac bloodwork (and a few other tests) done today!

I'm so glad that we've made it this far and it'll be wonderful to be out of limboland, no matter which way things go. I'll just be glad for an answer finally!

I got some of the other blood results back already, but the celiac tests are done in a different lab and will take a few days to come back. My daughter's white blood cell count is abnormally low and her hemoglobin, hematocrit, and red blood cell count are abnormally high. 

We have a doctor's appointment in a couple of weeks to discuss all the bloodwork. So we'll see what happens then!

Thanks, I posted a link to the article on my Facebook. So many people use rice as a substitute for everything wheat based and that can be problematic.

https://www.google.com/search?q=coconut+oil+cooking+spray&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS595US595&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=rVdEVNewHY6uyASgnIHQCw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=1366&bih=643#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=QwDrHM-E-BiegM%253A%3ByzNx3UANI7DYUM%3Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.kelapo.com%252Fstore%252Fsecure%252Fimages%252Fproducts%252F244.webp%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.kelapo.com%252Fstore%252Fcart.php%253Fm%253Dproduct_detail%2526p%253D34%3B299%3B299

It is my understanding that a non stick waffle iron surface will stay nice for a long time if you never wash or spray it.

Recently, I did get some cooking spray that was gluten and soy free. (I don't use it on my waffle iron, but use it in other cooking) It was coconut oil based. I got it at the Amish discount store for 99 cents. I think that the original retail price was over $7 though!