Gluten/Wheat allergy Celiac disease

[Carol Watts 67]

I tested positive for cleiac disease which is gluten/wheat allergy. I need to go on Gluten free diet. Anyone here know anything about this type diet ? I am so lost right now on what to eat and what not to. I am almost 8 months post op.

[lizv123 389]

There is TONS of info out there dealing with gluten free diets, luckily it's becoming very popular and is low carb

[Sydney Susan 333]

My son was diagnosed coeliac at age 6, 8 years ago. It's as big a deal as you want it to be - don't worry too much. Takes a little while to get used to it, but you will. In Australia GF foods are increasingly available in supermarkets and GF bread an option in cafes - hope its the same where you are.

We eat GF "by ingredient", rather than just foods labelled GF. Reading the ingredients list and avoiding foods with wheat, oats, rye or barley opens up many more choices. A tip though - "glucose Syrup from wheat" is GF as it is so heavily processed all gluten is removed. This is an ingredient in an awful lot of things, so v helpful to know this.

Join your local Coeliac Society and get an "ingredients list" book. Bread is the toughest thing to find a fast GF version of, but explore and you'll find something you can live with. Good luck.

[Carol Watts 67]

Thanks, Luckily I can live without bread more especially since surgery

[mtchick 29]

I have Celiac also, going on 2 years now. I buy most of my gluten free foods from the health food store. It gets easier and easier. Some stuff is pricey, happy to tell you what I have found that is good and bad. Just holler!

[Sydney Susan 333]

We rarely buy from a health food store and find heaps of stuff in supermarkets these days. Perhaps we're luckier in Sydney than most... don't know. Even so it is dearer for anything labelled GF.

If you can tolerate being GF by ingredient (rather than only having stuff labelled as GF) - and in my experience most coeliacs can - then reading the ingredients list will be well worth the effort. While there's wheat, oats or barley in an astonishing number of things (including many vanilla ice creams!), there are lots of products that don't include these things either. We've come across some great cook-in sauces and gravy mixes this way, at a fraction of the labelled GF product costs.

"May contain gluten" means a product hasn't been made in an environment that is kept stringently free of gluten and regularly tested as such. It doesn't mean the product has been in contact with gluten, only that it can't be proved not to have been. Like any food that enters the house of any coeliac sufferer who lives with non coeliacs who occasionally eat wheat, oats, rye or barley.

Of course some coeliacs can't tolerate even the teensiest bit of gluten, so you will have to see how you go.

[bmbrush413 124]

I don't have celiac, but I am gluten intolerant - get really sick and have rashes when I eat it. I've found my post op diet really excludes most gluten containing foods already. I focus on my Proteins, fruits, and veggies and don't eat starches.

[lizv123 389]

I don't have celiac' date=' but I am gluten intolerant - get really sick and have rashes when I eat it. I've found my post op diet really excludes most gluten containing foods already. I focus on my Proteins, fruits, and veggies and don't eat starches.[/quote']

Just curious, how do they differentiate between Celiac and an allergy/intolerance? I started researching when my best friend was temporarily diagnosed, but then they switched her diagnosis to cancer and I switched research gears entirely.

[Carol Watts 67]

I have Celiac also, going on 2 years now. I buy most of my gluten free foods from the health food store. It gets easier and easier. Some stuff is pricey, happy to tell you what I have found that is good and bad. Just holler! Please do share what is good and what isnt good thanks

[Carol Watts 67]

We rarely buy from a health food store and find heaps of stuff in supermarkets these days. Perhaps we're luckier in Sydney than most... don't know. Even so it is dearer for anything labelled GF.

If you can tolerate being GF by ingredient (rather than only having stuff labelled as GF) - and in my experience most coeliacs can - then reading the ingredients list will be well worth the effort. While there's wheat, oats or barley in an astonishing number of things (including many vanilla ice creams!), there are lots of products that don't include these things either. We've come across some great cook-in sauces and gravy mixes this way, at a fraction of the labelled GF product costs.

"May contain gluten" means a product hasn't been made in an environment that is kept stringently free of gluten and regularly tested as such. It doesn't mean the product has been in contact with gluten, only that it can't be proved not to have been. Like any food that enters the house of any coeliac sufferer who lives with non coeliacs who occasionally eat wheat, oats, rye or barley.

Of course some coeliacs can't tolerate even the teensiest bit of gluten, so you will have to see how you go.

Please do share the cooking sauces and gravy mixes you have found. Here in the south my husband like his gravy, even though I just eat the meat out of it.

[mtchick 29]

I make my gravy from scratch with cornstarch. My husband loves it! (he is not celiac).

[Carol Watts 67]

I make my gravy from scratch with cornstarch. My husband loves it! (he is not celiac).

so you make brown gravy by browning the cornstarch

[mtchick 29]

With the drippings, then I use potato Water (from the mashed potatoes) thickened with cornstarch.

[Blessedfun 89]

Bisquick makes a GF mix and it is sold in the local grocery stores and Walmart. It is in a smaller box. It is totally my go-to item. I use it everyplace I used to use flour. I take it with me when I travel. Zataran's has a fish fry mix that is gluten free. I use it to fry anything I would fry. Whole Foods and Trader Joes has a ton of GF items. Most restaurants have a Allergy menu and or the chef will cook a item to your needs. I also have apps on my phone that specify which restaurants have GF items and some have the complete menus. (Is that Gluten Free & ITGF Eating Out & GF Card). The whole food app has recipes, menus and grocery lists. I felt totally limited when I was first diagnosed but I feel totally good with it now. Blessings

[SerendipityHappens 1,594]

Discovering I am wheat intolerant has been a blessing in disguise. (I am wheat intolerant but not GLUTEN intolerant.. I DON'T have celiacs and I can have other grains containing gluten.. weird huh?) Cutting out the wheat has left SO MUCH room for so many more nutritious foods! Now for someone who is Celiac, it's a bit more complicated since you have to be careful of even the tiny amount of gluten sneaking in .. you'll have to learn to read labels all over again, and be careful of cross-contamination, etc...

My recommendation would be not to fall into the trap of buying a bunch of "gluten free" processed foods and rely on them for your daily intake. They're typically very high in sugars and they're very refined (potato starch, rice starch, tapioca starch) Fine for a treat, but maybe not high in nutritive value.

There are MANY resources out there now for learning to eat wheat free or gluten free (NOT the same thing by the way) I would recommend joining an online community for celiacs so that you can really learn how to get a handle on it.