BlessedMommy

LOL! 

A restaurant once told me that tofu contains gluten, because it's a soy product. *bangs head against wall*

Some tofu does contain gluten (if it's flavored tofu and that gluten usually comes from the soy sauce) but plain tofu is fine. Not sure where they think that soy beans would get gluten from..... (barring any cross contamination of course, and there are a number of brands of tofu that are made in dedicated facilities anyway, like Nasoya, Azumaya, Mori Nu, Small Planets Organics.)

My kids are homeschooled, so most of our lunches are hot meals like stir fry, beans and rice, baked sweet potatoes, etc. but for portable stuff, hummus and veggies are awesome! Costco carries individual size cups of hummus.

I very rarely eat breakfast cereal, but when I want something convenient for travelling, I get KIND granola.

Welcome!

With your symptoms, it sounds like celiac could be a possibility.

Have you talked to your doctor about celiac testing? It's always a good idea to test for celiac first before doing any diet changes.

They have milk, but from my reading it sounds like they will make them without yogurt on request.

And I don't have an severe milk allergy, I'm just dairy free, because it seems to bother my sinuses, so if it gets slightly CC'ed with dairy, it's no biggie.

I'm going to WOW without Wheat this Sunday after the Lansing Hall of Fame Race!

I'm so excited to try out a sub there! 

All of McDonald's ones are gluten free, so that seems like a safe bet. I live in a rural area, so I don't have a lot of restaurant choices. I will have to look up some of those other restaurants and become familiar with them though for when we travel.

Whole Foods is a good 2 hour drive away. 

And a smoothie would be very unlikely to get CC'ed, correct? 

Hmmm....looking like McDonald's ones would be okay if made without yogurt.

It seems that more places are getting smoothies lately. Does anybody know if any of them are gluten and dairy free?

^Exactly!

My CSA produce has no confusing labels on it.

If you go over to dinner at their house, just bring a safe dish that they can eat and don't touch anything that they offer you unless it's a single ingredient food (like watermelon or something).

If they have that type of attitude when gluten causes you obvious health issues, then I doubt that a celiac DX would change their mind.

I'm a stay at home mom, so nope, no vacation days for my gluten challenge.

Were your prior symptoms very debilitating? Have you become symptom free since going gluten-free?

^I agree with the above. 

Look at it this way, I know a young lady who has a serious peanut allergy. I'm sure that no guy worth having would reject her just because she can't eat peanuts.

Good job, I hope that you can make it through. You either have celiac or NCGS, it's clear that gluten doesn't help you out any!

That's great that they are strengthening the standards!

I wonder, though, how are they going to enforce that?

It seems that there wouldn't be enough man power to go investigate every food that carries a gluten free label.

Having temporary stroke symptoms that last 24 hours or less and don't produce permanent impairment is the definition of a TIA. 

I'm glad that you're not getting migraines anymore!

I did, as you know from the other thread. 

I was 27 years old with no neurological problem history of any kind. I didn't have a history of migraines either. During my gluten challenge, my chronic headaches lead to neurological impairment. I believe that mine was a left brained TIA, since it affected my speech and numbed my right side.

The doctors just ran a CT scan which showed nothing abnormal. I went to my family doctor and he said that he absolutely believed that it was gluten connected and that the best thing I could do was to "not eat gluten."

My husband was absolutely adamant that I would never eat gluten again. I think that the whole thing scared him to death!

At that point, it didn't matter what celiac tests said, even if they were negative or inconclusive, I wasn't going near the stuff!

When I stopped the gluten, it took awhile for it to get out of my system, but right away I started feeling better. The headaches started to go away. I didn't have any further TIA symptoms. In about 5 days, I was completely recovered and back to normal and I committed to being gluten free for life. 

No problem! I totally understand that, Stephanie.

Yes, I agree that my experience was probably more the exception rather than the rule. 

Oh yeah, if you can cook for her, that would be really neat!

When I was dating my husband, I know that I would've been super impressed if he went and put together a nice meal or a picnic.

BlessedMommy, a TIA is celiac related?!?

It can be, yes. https://www.celiac.com/forums/topic/68665-strokes-and-tias-transient-ischemic-attacks/

In many case, I had many days of headaches on gluten before I developed speech problems and then numbness on my right side. I went to the ER and the doctors ran a CT scan which came back normal and diagnosed my problems as a TIA. I quit the gluten immediately and the headaches started going away. In a few days, I felt totally normal and I've never had anything like that happen since. I wouldn't do another gluten trial for a million dollars, it's just not worth it to me. I still remember the utter terror of not being able to form words correctly, even though I knew in my head what I wanted to say.

The cake sounds awesome!

I had very severe issues during my gluten challenge (neurological) and I've had to accept the fact that although I have obvious gluten issues, I will never be diagnosed and for my own safety can never attempt another gluten challenge, because of the risk of going on to have another TIA or worse yet, having a full blown stroke. That is hard for me, because I would've preferred the certainty of a DX, but I'm having to accept that it will never happen.

You will be surprised though at how well you can do without a DX. Those close to me understand why I'm as strict as a Dx'ed celiac on my diet and my inlaws went so far as to buy a brand new grill for gluten free only items.

If you're certain of what you need to do, then you've got the most important thing right there.

Good luck on whatever you decide to do!