kbtoyssni

I don't eat only products labeled gluten-free. This diet would be super expensive that way! I've learned the safe brands and by reading threads on this site frequently you'll learn if mainstream brands have CC issues. A good example are Quaker rice cakes and Frito Lay products (expect for Stax). It seems that many people have trouble with those two.

I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. You are in my thoughts.

* The wording of the claim clearly indicates that all foods of the same type, not just the brand bearing this labeling claim, are gluten-free (e.g., "milk, a gluten-free food," "all milk is gluten-free"); and

While I understand that the intention is not to lead people to believe it's just this brand of milk that's gluten-free, I do not like the ALL wording. Say you put "All chicken is gluten-free". Well, that's mostly true, except the chicken that's plumped up with chicken broth. Or in the case of yogurt, you have no idea because of different flavorings. I feel like someone who doesn't know enough about the diet to not realize that milk is naturally gluten-free is going to be the type of person misled by this type of statement.

Thank you sooooooo much! I am now fighting with the university as they want to make her pay for a meal plan even though they cant provide a gluten free meal. Your list is so helpful. Again thank you!

I haven't read the whole thread so hopefully this hasn't been mentioned before. Have you considered getting a 504 plan for her? It's typically done for grade schoolers, but it spells out the responsibilities of both parties to keep your daughter safe. I think if you have one and the university is unable to provide gluten-free food, they would not be able to require her to buy a meal plan.

I am a college student and work full time...needless to say I have a super busy life so sometimes it seems impossible to be on the run and eat small meals frequently.

When Opera lost all of her weight she didn't eat a single thing after 7pm...why cant I do that?!!?!?!?

If you're on the run something small like an apple and piece of string cheese is a good snack that's easy to take with you and doesn't require a microwave. (Hoping you're not dairy-free here )

You said you're a college student so not eating after 7pm may not be realistic for you. If you eat dinner around 5 or 6pm and are up studying until midnight or 2am, you will need another "dinner" around 10pm. The guideline is eat every four hours. The 7pm rule works well for people who go to bed around 10pm. The point of the 7pm rule is to eliminate nighttime grazing on junk food. I used to feel guilty making myself a second dinner, but now I know that much more healthy to do that than to snack all night.

Lifting weights can really help drop pounds, too. A pound of muscle burns 50cals/day whereas fat burns nothing. You gain a few pounds of muscle and you'll be burning a lot of extra calories without having to do anything extra.

It'll probably take years before it's approved for children.

Is the approval process for children different from that for adults? Just curious.

I think the issue is more that it's a work function so it's not like the OP has control over the restaurant choice. If OP was going out to dinner with a friend, I'm sure she'd pick an acceptable place. Maybe the issue here is that her work didn't choose a place that is accommodating to all. Of course, it can be difficult to accomodate everyone, especially since OP has multiple allergies and may not feel comfortable eating anywhere.

For me it's mostly that these are social events. I don't want to miss out on socializing just because I have celiac. If it's lunchtime I often can't eat prior due to meetings, and I'm really hungry. I do sometimes eat prior and just get a drink at the restaurant, but if I can't eat prior it's super hard to sit there hungry and miserable while everyone else eats. I mostly do it when I'm with a large group at a very informal/fast food type place. If I made my group of friends go to the same few safe restaurants every week, they'd stop inviting me. I don't want to be excluded from social events because of this.

I do understand the restaurant's point of view in that I'm not a paying customer. I would argue that if I wasn't allowed to eat there, none of my friends would either. There are other restaurants that will allow me to bring my food or can serve me that we would go to. I will note that I do tip as if I ate a meal - the server still brings me drinks, even if it's just water, and for that I am grateful. I also don't think we are entitled to accommodation - I don't think this falls under disability laws. I'm trying to come up with a good example of a similar situation - the best I can come up with is amusement parks not accommodating people in wheelchairs - you can get into the facility, but you may not be able to ride the rides. No one is forcing you to eat in a restaurant. If it's a work function, that's a work issue not a restaurant issue.

I'm fascinated that this thread has caused so much controversy! I'm super stubborn about not letting this disease get in the way of leading a normal life so to me it only seemed natural to bring my own food when I can't eat what's being served. It hadn't even occured to me that others would have such a strong opposite viewpoint.

Since we seem to be all over the map here, I'd be interested in what everyone thinks about the following questions: How much accommodation in regards to food can one expect from a work function? What about from friends who you go out with frequently (and thus would tire of our limited restaurant choices)? If you are someone who will not bring your own food to restaurants, has this affected your social life in any way?

Hmmm. Regular M&Ms are gluten-free - only the crispy kind aren't. And grain alcohol should be ok, too, due to the distillation. Although some very sensitive folks on this board have reported reacting.

I buy some of mine from Cub Foods. They've got a great international section where I can get flour. The rest of my flour I get at a health-food type store that sells lots of gluten-free products.

Wow, Ursa, that's a nice, upbeat pep talk from you! When you put it like that, I don't know why anyone would want to go anywhere near gluten after that

I'd recommend the book "Guns, Germs and Steel". It's super super long, but there's a great chapter about the beginnings of agriculture and which grains were "chosen" to domesticate. It gives a lot of insight into gluten and which ethnic groups are most affected by celiac even though gluten is never specifically mentioned.

Agriculture began in the fertile crescent/Mesopotamia region. The people who are descended from this area have less issues with gluten because they've had more generations to develop the ability to digest gluten. Places where these grains were more recently introduced like Ireland have higher incidences of celiac.

Grains with bigger seeds were the ones that were developed for agriculture. There's some interesting stuff about genetics here - in the wild a desirable trait is grains that drop off the stalk so the seeds disperse. In agriculture, seeds that remain on the stalk are the ones that are picked and planted the next year so domestic grain is not dramatically different than the stuff found in the wild. Wild wheat is also much lower in gluten content, so the recent high-gluten wheats may have added to the incidence of celiac.

Oh, and I'm English by the way

Ditto what Momma Goose said. You may not feel symptoms, but continuing to eat gluten will set you up for a lifetime of serious health problems.

I've even asked restaurants to heat things up for me! When I go to buffets I'll make myself a cheese sandwich in one of those toaster bags and ask them to heat it up so I have a grilled cheese. Not sure I'd recommend that if you're worried about getting kicked out for bringing your own food though I'm a restaurant's worst nightmare!

I bring meals with me to restaurants all the time. I don't ask beforehand, I just do what I want. Usually the waitress is mostly confused by why I'm not ordering anything, but never says anything about it. If she did, I'd pull a "if I can't eat this here, I'm taking all my friends with me to a different place" .

i am sure wrigleys contains gum arabic or thickener which is not allowed for a gluten free diet?

Gum arabic is ok. Thickener I guess would depend on what it's made out of.

What are Christmas nuts?

best regards, lm

I think she means brazil nuts, hazel nuts, almonds, walnuts, etc in their shells so you crack them yourself. They're often in bulk bins in grocery stores around Christmas time, but they are in a shell so no worries about CC.

So how do I go about getting an official test for this? I am NOT willing to eat gluten again for the sake of a lab test! Should I talk to the pediatrician about testing my kids before making any dietary changes for them? I'm not at this point restricting what they eat away from home, although I do plan to make my kitchen gluten-free (or close to it) for my own health and sanity.

The two traditional medical tests are the blood test and the scope - both of which will only be positive if you've been eating gluten and have a lot of damage. Some people here go through enterolab (enterolab.com). They test for gluten intolerance and will get a positive result much sooner than traditional testing so you don't need to have as much damage to get a positive. If you search on enterolab, you can read tons of discussions on this. Besides that, dietary response may be your only method of diagnosis at this point.

I went by dietary response myself. I'd done an elimination diet because that's what a few FMS books recommended and it was very obvious to me that gluten was an issue when I added it back in. I'd been (mostly) gluten-free for two weeks at that point and didn't get a positive blood test. I didn't care. I felt so much better I just wanted to get on with getting healthy and go back to living my life! If you are ok with not having an "official" diagnosis and can stay gluten-free without it, I don't see why it's necessary. Some people do need that piece of paper to force themselves to remain gluten-free, though.

I would get the kids tested soon. Even restricting gluten at home can alter test results. Also, if you kids do have it, they may not test positive because they're too young to have a lot of damage. Also realize that if your kids that don't have it now, they may still develop it later in life - something to look out for as they grow up.

I've only got gluten and peanut restrictions, but I still say "oh, I have a ton of food allergies". With strangers or casual acquaintances I don't go into details unless they ask.

Weird, because I have this bean salsa that I used to make all the time and the last few times it's made me sick. I *know* it's gluten-free. Maybe Ursa's onto something with the combo-intolerances.

I was originally diagnosed with FMS. 99% of my symptoms went away when I went gluten-free.

I realize you're going on dietary response, but if you do have any form of gluten intolerance, you will not grow out of it. Once you heal, you may be able to eat gluten without many symptoms, but you will still be doing damage and be setting yourself up for bigger health issues in the future. Note that this is an autoimmune disease, not an allergy.

As for the kids, if you have celiac, I would watch them very carefully for symptoms as this is genetic. I would lean towards making your whole house as gluten-free as you can, mostly for CC issues. I don't think it's a big deal if you buy gluten-free mainstream products like gluten-free yogurt and pasta sauce and salsa and corn tortillas. It will certainly make you life easier. As for the expense, try not to use a lot of gluten-replacement products like bread and crackers and cookies. Start baking on your own. I do nearly all of my shopping at a regular grocery store, being careful of the brands I purchase.

So, about the Jewish bread laws. I have no idea. I've seen similar discussions relating to Christian traditions and the communion bread - you might want to do a search on that. I think it generally depends on the church you go to and how strictly they interpret the Bible. I think you'd have to talk to your Rabbi about this one.

I'm afraid that just having gluten in your stomach isn't going to do a thing. The general guideline is around 4 servings of gluten a day for 3-6 months to even hope to have intestinal damage. If you've been gluten-free for a while, you've probably started healing, and I don't think you have any chance of creating enough damage in your intestines by the end of the week. It seems pretty obvious to me that you have problems when you consume gluten. Why not use the dietary response as your diagnosis and not bother with trying to make yourself sick for a positive biopsy? Do you really want to eat gluten for six months? Will you keep eating gluten if the biopsy comes back negative? If the answer to these are no, I'd skip the scope and just go gluten-free now. Scopes are also notorious for false negatives, even if you do have damage.

I'm really not sure, but I *think* companies generally provide food for employees while on business trips. Since you can't eat the food that they purchase, I would think they'd have to accomodate and reimburse your food expenses. Do you have an HR policy on travel and what expenses are reimbursed? There might be something in there about food, and they deal with it by ordering something that everyone eats rather than letting people get what they want an having to deal with all that. My company I know has a reimbursement limit for lunch and dinner for business travel (it's something ridiculously high like $50 for lunch and $100 for dinner).

On a side note, pizza is really not at all healthy. You'd think they could find something better for lunches so all their employees don't drop dead from heart attacks. Not ripping on your company specifically here, mine would do the same. It's more of a general pet peeve of mine

This site Open Original Shared Link says that vanillin *could* contain gluten if it's made from a grain-based alcohol. Is this like all grain-based alcohols; if it's distilled it's most likely ok, but very, very sensitive celiacs may react?

It is a shame. I hate to think of what will happen to that kid as he grows up, starts becoming symptomatic again and spends ten years getting re-diagnosed. The odd part about the story is they get a blood test every year, presumably so that when he finally tests negative they can say he no longer has celiac. So has the blood test been positive for the last four years? Sounds like that kid isn't really gluten-free for that to happen.

Just curious why you had her tested if she doesn't have any symptoms? She may be just barely gluten intolerant. I feel that most people start out just a little intolerant and get worse until they finally have so much damage they have celiac. Maybe that's the case here?