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Supper--Thai Kitchen packaged meals. There are several brands that produce instant gluten free soup (though I'm drawing a blank right now).

I was going to suggest these as a Lipton's substitute, too! They are delicious and hardly weight anything. It's called Thai Kitchen Instant Rice Noodle Soup. They've got about 190 calories each.

I have also read some where that the difference between the cost of our foods vs normal diets can be deducted on your tax return. It doesn't help much now, but maybe it will at the end of the year. I haven't actually checked into it but I did read it some where on here.

The tricky part is this amount has to be more than 7% (or is it 12% - can't quite remember) to take a medical deduction. For most people, it would be hard to spend this much.

I do all my shopping at the regular grocery store, not a gluten-free specialty store, which really keeps costs down. I buy in bulk and shop the sale rack. I have also found rice flour for $2 for four pounds in the asian section of my store. The "ethnic" foods are much cheaper than buying the ones that say gluten-free on the package.

I was reading the October 2007 issue of Runner's World last night, and there was an article about tri-athlete Desiree Ficker, and it mentioned she was gluten-free! She has a website where people can ask her questions, and there's a few questions about what to eat on long workouts (this question comes up here all the time!) Open Original Shared Link

The magazine gives a sample of her diet.

Pre-workout breakfast: 2 pieces rice bread with butter or honey, banana, coffee

Post-workout breakfast: berry smoothie with soy milk

Lunch: chicken breast on spinach, tortilla chips

Snack: banana or grapefruit

Dinner: brown rice, fish or chicken, broccoli, carrots, zucchini

Dessert: vanilla soy ice cream

There are three sections of muscle in your abs, and you should work them all. The first section runs right down the middle of your stomach and can be worked by traditional situps. The next section is on either side of your middle abs, and you can hit these by doing side situps or "bicycle" situps (there's a video of them here: Open Original Shared Link

The third section is the sides of your body (the obliques). You can hit these by standing and holding a weight in one hand, leaning to the side and back to the other side like the weighted bend in this link: Open Original Shared Link Any of these exercises would be good.

Abs are hard muscles to work because they're slow twitch and designed for stamina. To increase muscle, you want to push the muscle to the point of fatigue, but it's hard to do that with abs. I like doing ab work on an exercise ball because I can get ab fatigue much faster than with plain situps. Another option is to hold a weight on your chest as you do situps. Do some googling - you'll find plenty of good ideas.

As with all muscles, when you workout the muscles get micro tears in them. The actual building of muscle happens after the workout as these micro tears heal. But you need to give the muscle time to heal - 48 hours is the recommended time between workouts.

I'm also a fan of pilates. You'll get a good core (abs and back) workout at the same time as you work your legs and arms.

I crush gluten-free corn flakes and use those as a chicken nugget coating.

If you want to do an endoscopy, you do need to keep the little guy on gluten (since your appointment is Monday, this might not be so bad). If the blood test was positive, I don't think I'd do a scope unless there's something in addition to celiac a GI wants to look for. You've already got your diagnosis.

Yes, celiac can cause speech delays.

Some people also have problems with nightshades - it seems like the most common symptoms are joint pain. I wouldn't jump to the conclusion that your children have problems with nightshades until they are 100% gluten-free. If they still have problems I'd try eliminating dairy and soy before I'd try nightshades just because dairy and soy intolerances are much more common than nightshades.

I was in grad school for electrical engineering when I got sick. I ended up starting to hate it - I was way too sick to be effective which didn't work well at the top notch research institution I was at. I ended up dropping out and getting diagnosed a month later. I interviewed for a job in electrical engineering three months later and started working five months after that. In my time off, I coached high school gymnastics (I loved coaching little kids and I never would have had the opportunity to coach at a higher level without taking time off) and was an assistant girl scout leader (also something I wanted to be more involved in but hadn't gotten around to it).

Now I love my life. I'm still an electrical engineer, but in a completely different environment than before. I'm working on finishing my masters part-time at a different school (no way did I want to go back to my old school - too many bad memories). I'm also starting to judge high school gymnastics this year and want to get involved with girl scouts again next year when I'm done with my degree.

You've got to figure out what you need to get past the hurt of how you were treated. You might need a break from your current job and can spend the time doing things you really love and had never gotten around to. At that point you may be re-energized enough to go back to the same industry (but different company!) Or just getting a different job at a different style company (like a small company if you work at a large one now) might be enough. Good luck!

Sorry, I'm a Badger fan!

It sounds like you're doing ok right now which I'm happy about. But I am still concerned. 5% of the time still doesn't make things ok. Financial problems make life stressful, but it is not an excuse for abuse. My worry is 5% will turn into 10% which will turn into 25%, etc. It sounds a little bit like you are trying to justify his behavior. The fact that you no longer auto-logon to this site worries me, too. It seems like deep down you are worried. Sorry if I've gotten this wrong, I'm just trying to state my impression of the situation.

I have no idea since gluten isn't altered by cooking. It could be more about what you ate with the gluten (like a malt shake would be much harder on the stomach with all the dairy and fat than a bit of gluten in a veggie dish)? And I am a huge fan of dietary response - why delay feeling better just for a piece of paper that makes it "official"? I don't need a piece of paper to tell me what I can and cannot eat - I make those decisions for myself.

He's right that he needs to keep eating gluten if he wants to pursue traditional testing.

Gluten is very addicting to celiacs so his irritability when going off gluten is likely to be withdrawal. It certainly sounds like his symptoms could be gluten-related, especially with the wheat allergy as a kid.

I had a negative blood test after being gluten-free for two weeks and didn't want to go back on gluten. I felt good enough off it to never want to eat the stuff again so my experience with testing isn't that great. There's plenty of people here who will have better advise in that area.

Good luck! Your boyfriend is lucky to have you.

I have mild symptoms for about three weeks. Each week is different: week one is stomach problems, week two is fatigue and joint pain, week three is depression. It's fantastic! I'm sure this is not the kind of answer you want to hear, but hang in there!

Add her to the list of doctors that don't have a clue! Luckily you've done your research so you don't trust your health to her and her limited knowledge of celiac.

I have no problem talking about it. There are some people who will continuously ask you stupid questions about wheat, but for the most part I find people are genuinely interested. They ask questions about what I'm eating and what I can and cannot eat, but I see it more as an educational thing. My close friends are very good at buying gluten-free and ask questions but that's so they can make sure they have safe things for me to eat. In the end, you are going to be a little different, but I've gotten used to it and I haven't been made to feel like I'm some sort of freak.

I see no reason why you shouldn't be able to have a career in law enforcement. Or a career in anything. Yes, you may need to take sick days, but you'd have to do that in any job. Once you get the diet down, you shouldn't need to take off too often. The only thing I can think is that if you are just a bit sick, you might be able to make an arrangement to do more paperwork those days rather than being out in the field.

Very cool! It's nice to meet someone else who's part of the celiac family

This isn't the most scientific perspective, but when I think about the brain fog I get when glutened - the inability to focus on anything, the inability to construct a logical sentence - if I were a kid in school I'm sure my teachers would think I had a learning disability. Hopefully going gluten-free will help.

I'm so glad that your doctor was willing to write a note to the school without official testing! I also agree with everyone about the bipolor - many celiacs on gluten sure as heck seem bipolor but are just fine after going gluten-free. I'd be very surprised if it actually were bipolor. And if it is bipolor, Ezra's in a good situation - he's got a mother who's willing to look at non-traditional treatments and do her research. If it does come to that, there are many non-drug things you can do to ease symptoms (like sticking to a consistent schedule, having a consistent bedtime, eating frequently and healthily - really it's all about consistency with bipolor).

I'm looking forward to hearing how the little guy does now that he'll be going gluten-free.

I was recently diagonised with celiac disease,I had this as a child but thought i had grown out of it.

6 months ago I began having severe stomach pain , enough to require pain meds. the doctors began testing for divertilosis, IBS etc , after the colonoscopy and bioposy celiac was confirmed. Now my insurance is saying this was pre-exting and are tryingto stick me with bills totaling more than 6 grand, any advice?

If there was a way you can prove a doctor told you that you could go back to eating gluten, that might help. It might have been a verbal thing, though. I imagine that unless you're still seeing the doctor you had as a kid, though, those records might be destroyed. Although, if your insurance knows that you were diagnosed as a kid, how did they find that out? How was diagnosis preformed as a kid? Biopsy? Blood test?

I've never heard of celiacs not being able to donate blood. It's not a disease transmittable by blood, so I don't see why you can't.

I use corn tortillas to make wrap sandwiches. Or I eat egg salad in lettuce wraps.

Gosh, I have no idea. Sometimes I just call my doc to ask if it's something serious and come in if she says so - maybe you could do that?

This is absolutely an abusive situation. You have to do what's best for you and your daughter. Do you really want her growing up in this environment? I agree with the other posters - you need to do something like going to counseling or getting out of the house.

Ditto what everyone else said - I'm disappointed/disgusted, but not surprised.

I think a lecture to the class is a good idea. If you have medical studies to back up your data, I don't see why they shouldn't take you seriously.

And I was also going to say a letter to the publisher is in order. Celiac should absolutely be mentioned in the next revision of this book.

I am not a member of a support group. I haven't needed one because I'm perfectly happy with my diagnosis, doing just fine finding food (mostly shopping in a normal grocery, plus I live in a city with lots of options), and have done plenty of successful experimentation with baking gluten-free on my own. I don't feel isolated or "different" than everyone else because of my diagnosis. However, many people do not have the same experience as me. If you want help with local restaurants or food stores, feel you need a little extra in-person support because you're not getting it from friends and family, or have kids and think it would be helpful for them to meet other celiac kids, a support group could be very valuable. It's a very individual decision.