kbtoyssni

Please don't pick the breading off the chicken! There's no way you can get all the gluten off. Even if you don't feel sick, you are damaging your intestines.

It will sound like you're obsessing over what has gluten and what doesn't for the first few weeks. It takes a lot of research to get the hang of the diet! For now, I'd just bring your own safe food until you know what to look for when you're eating out.

My first thought was "well, that's a good attitude to have. it really is no big deal". If you have a positive attitude and a good support system I don't think it is too difficult once you learn the diet. If your doctor meant that she ONLY had to give up bread and pasta, then maybe we've got someone who hasn't looked into what gluten is actually in or read about CC. Hard to tell, but hopefully it's the former and your doctor's daughter won't be going gluten-lite and still be sick for years.

I think it's most likely to be a vitamin deficiency or dehydration, but you might also want to consider stretching and what you're doing with your toes. I used to get really bad foot cramps from pointing my feet incorrectly in ballet and gymnastics. Haven't had a problem since I changed the way I point my foot!

I have been following the gluten free diet for 3 days now and have no pain and no bloating. I also feel more energetic. Could it possibly be an allergy without being Celiac? Anyone else have a negative blood test but did have Celiac?

I think of it as a negative blood test means you don't have as much damage and antibodies to gluten yet to get a positive. This is not a bad thing. Why wait for your body to have more damage just to get a positive test when you can start healing now?

Vaseline Intensive Care has recently come out with an SPF 15 body lotion that's gluten-free. I've been using that for the extra sun protection.

Another possible source is french fries or anything fried at restaurants. If they put your naturally gluten-free fries into oil that's used for breaded product, then you're contaminated. I pretty much avoid anything fried when I'm eating out.

If the dog food has gluten in it, it can get tracked around the house and you accidentally touch it. Or the dogs can lick you and gluten you. It's just one more small risk of contamination. There are many brands of dog food that are gluten-free - do a seach and you'll find some. I don't have a dog, so I don't know of any off the top.

They also have seated MRI machines, too. You sit there and there's a wall on either side of you, but it stops even with the front of your body so you can see out and aren't in an enclosed space. They're not very common yet, but you could ask about it.

I've heard of some parents trading for money, too. Like a quarter for each piece of non-gluten-free candy. If I were a kid, I would totally have taken the money. I guess it depends on what motivates your kid!

We weren't allowed to eat any candy while trick-or-treating. That night we'd spend hours sorting and trading, but not eating any. After dinner we were allowed a few pieces, but we always shared with our parents. We got a few pieces every night, but we never ended up eating it all. My brother and I weren't big candy people. We would have been so much more happy with money.

The Activia commercial bugs me, too! Actually any commercial that makes medical claims without evidence or the full story. There are so many things that can cause digestive issues so it's not like Activia's going to help them all, and most people don't do enough research to realize this or try other things.

I'm from Wisconsin and never saw the happy cows ad until I moved across the border to Minnesota It always amuses me a bit because I know I'd NEVER see that ad in Wisconsin.

So what your saying is... (depending on the person)

It is common during the process of switching to "gluten free" to not take in "dairy products". Once "gluten free" you can start taking dairy again?

Is this because dairy acts like gluten and will cause damage or symptoms? or will it just affect the healing process?

I thought it was because lactose is digested by the tips of you villi. If the villi are damaged from celiac, you could have trouble digesting lactose until you heal. I don't think you cause damage by eating lactose, you'll just feel yucky.

I want fries so bad I can taste them!!!! But I am afraid of getting any contamination. I am just to sensitive. It is not worth it. I only eat fries at a fair were all they sell is hand cut fries. One would think that would make me much thinner than I am. But alas, chocolate still is gluten-free and my hips show it!!!

Red Robin has gluten-free fries. And I make Ore Ida brand fries at home. It's been so long since I've had McDonalds that I can't remember how the fries taste, but Ore Ida is delicious to me!

Starbursts aren't gluten-free. I wish, but they aren't. You need to look for anything with Modified food starch... that's flour. Good Luck!

Really? I could have sworn they were. Did this change recently?

Nice job explaining why she doesn't want to be sick like you. I think people don't realize that this more than "oh, I got the flu and couldn't eat for three days and lost five pounds." It might be because most people didn't see how sick we were for so long. I used to stay in when I was very sick and tried to put on a happy face when I was just a little sick. The trade-off for losing weight by eating gluten is cancer, depression, brain fog, Alzheimer's, etc. That's not worth the weight lost, imo.

the ice cube tray and bin in the freezer

contaminate by grabbing ice cubes with hands that have touched gluten, or stray crumbs from breaded items in the freezer

solution: (I just don't use icecubes anymore ) Put your own supply in a covered container or ziplock? Any ideas?

The fridges with the built-in ice makers in the front door help with this. Not that you're going to buy a new fridge right now, but if you eventually need to get one it's something to consider.

When I lived at home, the house was 99% gluten-free (two of use were gluten-free, the other two weren't). We bought naturally gluten-free foods and cooked one naturally gluten-free meal. We did have a few packaged gluten products around like crackers that my dad ate occasionally, but he was very careful about contamination. He had one counter he used for gluten foods and his own cutting board.

My crazy celiac solution...I put a baby face cloth with soap and water on it in a bag and then another cloth with just water in another baggie and am able to wash and rinse my hands

That's what I do, too! Although I do it for environmental reasons. This way I'm not throwing away wipes all the time. I always do this for picnics because it's hard to wash juice off my hands when I'm in the middle of nowhere.

I guess there's two ways to add food back in: in the order that's most likely to make you sick (so milk first) or the order that's least likely to make you sick! It might be easier on the body and on you to add them in the least likely order. If you add rice back, it's unlikely that's the problem so it's not like you'd have a week or two of "recovering" which you might have if you added a bad food back in. Plus you'll have more food options if you do the least likely foods first.

I could see an official diagnosis being helpful if friends and family are doubtful of self-diagnosis. It can also sometimes help children with schools - some schools insist on an official diagnosis and a self-diagnosed child might have trouble getting a doctor's note depending on the doctor. It could also help if you're the type of person who needs medical proof to stay on the diet.

I am self-diagnosed and do not regret it at all. My life has changed so dramatically for the better that there's no way I'm questioning my diagnosis. And I'm old enough to be able to stay on the diet with no problems.

Have you considered enterolab? Even though you're gluten-lite you could still get a gluten-intolerant diagnosis from enterolab.

I also use FloraJen probiotics. There's a whole list on the back of the bottle of stuff they don't contain so they're good for people with allergies.

There isn't much a GI can do for you. They might want to do further testing, but you have to be eating gluten for testing to be accurate. If you've already decided to go gluten-free (which is very reasonable - no reason to make yourself sick for another few months just to get an doctor's ok) I don't think they can do much at all.

Here's one of the first threads on the new labeling laws: Open Original Shared Link

If you search for "codex" you'll find plenty of threads in which people voice their concerns over the new law.

For now, I guess I'll keep making double copies of the recipes that she likes. I have thought that one day she will need "her" own cookbook to accomodate all of her allergies.

Giving her her own cookbook is a great idea for an 18th birthday or high school graduation!

Luckily there are colleges out there that can accommodate a gluten-free diet. It's definitely something to look into when choosing a college. I'd also recommend the 504 plan so that legally they have to accommodate you.

With apologies to Girl Scouts, I think we should all boycott the cookie sales.

We all know that gluten affects far more of us than those who have been diagnosed with celiac. Anybody with a diagnosis of IBS, autoimmune thyroid disease, diabetes, lupus, MS, fibromyalgia, lymphoma, psoriasis--all of these people will be sicker as a result of eating Girl Scout cookies.

What are we teaching our daughters by having them sell addictive poison to raise money?????

While I agree that not eating wheat and sugar will help people who have been diagnosed with many different illnesses, the Girl Scouts selling or not selling cookies isn't going change a thing. People are going to eat products with wheat and sugar whether it's GS cookies or something else they get at a grocery store.

With all the recent research about kids eating too much sugar and junk food and the obesity rates, it does seem like cookies might not be the best thing to sell. But again, cookies can be eaten as part of a healthy diet in moderation. The Girl Scouts have no control over how many cookies people eat.

I was a Girl Scout and have been an assistant leader a few years ago and this fundraiser does teach girls a lot of valuable skills - money skills, goal setting, confidence to talk to people they don't know (in supervised situations!), team work.

If I'm asked to buy cookies, I usually do and give them to my gluten-eating friends and family. Or I just give a donation. That way all my money goes to the troop rather than part of it going to the cookie manufacturer. But I can see why you wouldn't want to be the cookie sale organizer. Booth sales are an excellent way to get it out of the way quickly. I don't think I'd mind being involved in cookie sales again because at least the cookies are all packaged, and I wouldn't have to touch the gluten.

I don't know for sure, but going gluten-free at this point is really, really going to decrease your chances of getting cancer int he future. You might have a slightly higher risk than the general population, but the average length of time it takes to diagnose celiac is 11 years so I'm thinking you're doing better than most of us I wish I could give you a better answer, but you're doing everything right now, and it's not like you were knowingly harming your body the past few years. You can't change the past, so focus on the future and keeping yourself healthy.

Welcome! It is a common misconception that celiacs are underweight due to malnutrition, but recent studies have shown that it's quite common for celiacs to be overweight as well. And neurological symptoms like the irritability can be caused by celiac. It's also common for blood tests to have false negatives, especially if you've been gluten-free on-and-off.

I'd recommend just trying the diet for an extended period of time. You probably want to wait until after the GI appointment though in case the GI wants to do further testing. Dietary response is a perfectly valid diagnosis, though. I'm not sure what your health insurance situation is, but you always have to option of just going gluten-free without a doctor telling you to.

There have been several threads recently on the high cost of the diet - do a search for some of those. If you want to keep the diet cheap, it will take getting creative, but you'll figure out how to do it quickly. These is no need to buy expensive gluten-free substitutes, there are plenty of ways to eat well without them. This also means you can shop in your regular grocery store so the transportation shouldn't be an issue. A lot of people here also shop online.

In the USA, you can get a tax break, but it's a bit of a pain. You can claim the difference between the cost of "regular" food and the gluten-free substitute (so if gluten-free bread is $5 and wheat bread is $3, you can claim $2). I think all medical claims also have to amount to greater than 7% of your income to be able to make these claims.