Gluten Free Cookbook

I was diagnosed a dew days ago with Celiac sprue. I am doing alot of ach on this disease. Does anyone know if I can still drink diet sodas? Are regular eggs ok or do I have to have organic eggs? And are there non-food products that have gluten, such as lipstick, envelopes and stamps?

It really depends on how sensitive you are to the gluten products. I have lived with this since I was 5 (I am 27 now) and have just adapted. Diet soda is fine, regular eggs are fine, and yes, there are non-food products that have gluten – soap, toothpaste, etc, but many people have no problems using these products. Lots of good info and message boards on the web, but don’t believe everything you read – trust your doctor and TRUST YOUR BODY!!!

I’ve been having a lot of well embarrassing problems with constipation for the past two months, and after visiting a GI doctor today she wants to test me for Celiac disease, does anyone know the symptoms?

Gastrointestinal issues of fat malabsorption include diarrhea, funky gas/ flatulence , abdominal bloating, **you look pregnant** and increased amounts of fat in the stool-your pooh will float. The unabsorbed fat is broken down by your intestines bacteria into fatty acids, and these fatty acids promote secretion of water into the intestine, resulting in diarrhea. Big fat floaty stools, excess water swishing sounds in your gut; you sound like a watermelon. Your body isn’t getting enough calcium to the bones; you lose bone density and are prone to more cavities; broken bones & bone breaks as time goes on; osteoporosis.

Anybody actually have a gluten free diet? I know the stuff you can pull off Google, like arrowhead root and stuff but I’d like some practical stuff. Like McD’s Fries I hear are acceptable. Anybody got great meal ideas or anything?

Nope. Macdonalds fries are not edible for celiacs. They are reconstituted with flour.

So far as fast food goes, most of it will be off the menu for your gf. Even the odd bits, like salad without dressing, may well be contaminated by being handled with implements that were previously used for other things.

There are places you can get gluten free food to go, but they are not your regular places, mostly. Though I believe that Wendy’s salad bar has a fairly good selection – but since it’s serve it yourself, it’s very likely somebody will have used the same spoon to pick up croutons and then salad… cross contamination.

Even a hint of gluten will damage your gf’s health. The life exptectancy of celiacs has been shown to be directly related to how well they adhere to a 100% gluten free diet.

Gluten is the protein in wheat, rye, barley, spelt and a few other closely related grains. It’s not in corn, rice, or oats, although oats are mostly contaminated during processing, so you would need to buy ones that are certified gluten free (meaning they were processed in a gluten free environment).

Your girlfriend is going to get a crash course in label reading – unless she wants to go entirely the natural route. Processed food almost always contains gluten for one reason or another, often just as a flavoring (malt), or to thicken, bind, stop stuff sticking together (grated cheese), as a carrier (in blue cheese), and so on. And if you buy a pack of something one time that you checked, and it was gluten free, it doesn’t mean that another pack bought on the same day or on a different day will also be gluten free.

Manufacturers change ingredients without any warning or mention on the front of the pack, depending on price and availability. So the only way to be safe, if you’re buying processed food not specificatlly labeled "gluten free" (and sometimes even if it is), you have to Check the Ingredients Label of Every Pack Every Time You Buy.

Having said that, there are lots of foods that are gluten free. Meat (not meat products), fish, non-blue cheese bought in a block or sliced (not necessarily processed cheese), eggs, fruit, vegetables and nuts are all gluten free, so long as there is no coating or sauce.

There is a set of cereals called Chex, in lots of different varieties that is changing over to a gluten free recipe. Check every pack before you buy as there are still some "normal" ones out there. The gluten free ones have a flash on the front that says "gluten free".

Many pizza places and other restaurants like PF Changs do gluten free menus. It’s impossible to know how thorough they are about avoiding cross-contamination, though. There’s a lways a risk if you have a kitchen that prepares gluten free food alongside the normal stuff that some gluten will get transferred accidentally.

Okay… would somebody with a gluten intolerance or Celiac disease have white, soft, sticky spots on their teeth despite diligent oral hygiene? After being on a gluten free diet, would these spots on the teeth go away?

Yes, you can get spots.

Celiac disease causes you to miss out on many nutrients. This can cause the spots, as well as many other health problems.

Following a gluten free diet should help.

good luck

My wife and 3 children have celiac disease. Can we claim a deduction for having to buy gluten free food? We have not kept receipts. Is there an estimated deduction for this?

No receipts, no deduction.

From publication 502:

You can include the cost of special food in medical expenses only if:

The food does not satisfy normal nutritional needs,

The food alleviates or treats an illness, and

The need for the food is substantiated by a physician.

The amount you can include in medical expenses is limited to the amount by which the cost of the special food exceeds the cost of a normal diet.

That is foods that would normally contain gluten.

Hope this helps:

These sites will help guide u in the beginning:
www.csaceliacs.org
www.celiac.com
www.celiac.org

My Fave shopping sites:
www.glutenfree.com
www.glutensolutions.com (use code word SILLY at checkout for 10% off)
www.amazon.com great for shopping in grocery section for in bulk items once u find u liek something.

My FAVE Gf items (remembering that its often cheaper just to not use GF substitutes and stick to things that are inherently GF like meats, veggies, fruits, etc. But hey, everyone wants some chocolate cake every now and thenr ight??) So here’s my tried and true brands:

Cake, cookie, baking and pancake mixes: Pamela’s Products
Flours: Bob’s Red Mill
Cereals, breakfast bars, pizza (super yummy spinach and feta pizza is at whole foods) "Glutino"
Breads (premade), pastries, pizza crusts: Kinnikinnick
pastas: Tinkyada and Ener-G and Deboles

I am VERY picky and those are my ‘gf staples’. EVen ppl who dont eat gf have no idea they are GF when I serve them, especially Pamela’s Prodcuts Chocoalte Cake Mix and the pasta. YUMMMMMMM.

I suggest you join some support groups also bc u will get tons of ideas from them:

Online support at www.celiac.com
Yahoo Health Groups, "SillyYaks" and "USA_SillyYaks"

In person support groups are all over the country. Go to www.csaceliacs.org Click "Local Support" and see if theres a group in your area.

Best of luck! Feel free to email me with further questions.

I just got diagnosed. It’s basically a wheat/barley/rye intolerance. This makes it so there’s a very good chance I couldn’t serve in the military. However, though it’s probably not the smartest thing to do, could I just avoid mentioning it and get in? Probably a stupid question >.>
bkc99xx – Ahh..good point. That isn’t the best thing to hear but probably necessary. Kind of a wake up call. Thanks.

Although I don’t have Celiac disease, I’m very familiar with it. I asked some recruiters last year about the possibility of a friend of mine getting a waiver to join the military with Celiac disease. They said it was impossible due to the potential health hazards. When stationed in places that don’t offer a wide variety of food choices, (BMT, in the field, bases overseas) the chow halls only serve generic food that the majority of the population will eat. This is just for convenience sake and to save money. So, at BMT, vegetarians might not be able to find a salad on the lunch line, and unfortunately for people with Celiac disease, a lot of the meats are probably processed. When you’re in the field, you’ll only have MREs to eat. Sadly enough, it’s all gluten. I’ve tried many different ones, and I don’t recall ever seeing one that didn’t have some form of wheat/flour in it.

In BMT, you should only have to eat MREs for a week, so it’s up to your discretion if you’d want to try to put yourself through that. Now try to imagine eating MREs for much longer, say, if you were on an exercise in the field for weeks at a time.

I guess theoretically, you could pick a job that wouldn’t require you to ever be in the field, and when it came time for BMT, you’d just have to stick with baked chicken and rice the entire time… except when it came time for Warrior Week/Hell Week/etc where all you get is MREs. Then you’ll just have to tough it out. Note that this also depends on how badly you’re allergic. The typical "non-gluten" food, such as baked chicken, rice, canned vegetables, etc. that the chow halls serve might have some slight gluten contamination just from being around the other food.

So, yeah. I guess it’s possible. But you’d be in a hell of a lot of trouble if you got really sick, got sent to the hospital, and they found out you had Celiac and KNEW about it… lol.

Edit: And I don’t think wanting to get in while hiding it has anything to do with your character or maturity level. The fact that you want to serve and are well aware that it will be difficult for you says a lot about your character. In fact, a large percentage of the military serves in secret because there’s a regulation that could kick them out… but that’s another debate.

The Celiac Disease is when the body is sensitive to Gluten which is found in Rye, Wheat. When the Gluten molecule combines with antibodies in the small intestine. It then causes the lining of the intestine to flatten, which then means that its unable to digest and absorb foods.
A Heart Murmur is when you have an irregular heart beat (like me) and it can be fatal.

Heart murmurs are fairly common and I wouldn’t worry about it unless your doctor thinks there is a reason to be concerned. Diabetes could be more likely if you don’t ever exercise because of the heart murmur, but the murmur will not directly cause it. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease and I don’t think it is related to heart murmurs. Heart murmurs are actually not just irregular beating-it’s hearing an extra or unusual sound during the heart beat. The irregular beating is an heart arrhythmia, which definitely can be a concern. Again, the risk is it is harder to exercise because you don’t want your heart rate to get to high because of the risks and you are more likely to have diabetes if you don’t exercise and eat right.

I’m watching my carbs, and the restaurant we’re going to this weekend offers a gluten free menu – are those foods lower in carbs?

Not necessarily. Gluten free foods are just absent of the gluten that posses an allergy threat for many Pol. Carbs are not just found in gluten as gluten is actually a protein. The body needs a certain amount of carbs to burn energy so I would take a good look at the menu and see if it offers any additional info. But it really depends on the food you are eating w/o gluten as to whether it will be lower in carbs.

If you are a busy mom with 9-5 job plus additional responsibilities; sometimes it is very hard to find gf food on the run. You may have to carry homemade dish with you all the time…It can be also very much frustrating to explain to the waiter while everybody else is waiting to order.

Hi, I am fine with it now that I pretty much know what I am doing. You can always order a salad w/o croutons and bring those Kraft packets with safe salad dressing in them as a safe meal. There is also a gf guide to eating out that I carry so it makes it easy if you go to any of the big food chains. Go here (I got mine from the gf mall on celiac.com)

http://www.triumphdining.com/

and then there is this:

http://www.celiachandbook.com/restaurant-guide.html

and this to help:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/850639/2008_guide_to_gluten_free_restaurant.html?cat=22

As for lunches, I eat a lot of Thai Kitchen, Taste of Thai, Amy’s and Annie’s frozen stuff, or just a salad with egg or some meat left over from dinner (I eat fish, eggs, chicken only though) when I need something quickly. Otherwise it is just bread from this bakery as a sandwich:

http://www.legardenbakery.com/

EVERYTHING from here is awesome and worth every penny. You will get addicted, just to warn you…..

Hope this helps and hang in there. I promise it WILL get easier. The better you feel the more you will want to stick with the diet, I promise!
Happy Healing and welcome to the club!