Going gluten free

[SkyDancer]

For the last few months I have been having abdominal/stomach pain issues, beyond anything I have ever really felt belt. It's like stabbing meets nausea and has made me vomit 2x. I've been not only in pain but very fatigued as well to where I was having to take multiple naps in a day due to it.

Speaking to a close friend and telling her what is going on with me Friday, a light bulb went off in her head. She is hypersensitive to gluten and is unable to also eat anything which contains soy. The symptoms I described to her said it reminded her exactly of what she had she was diagnosed over 10 years ago.

Yesterday I made the decision to to try a gluten free diet. In that 24 hour period I feel like a new person, no pain, no headaches, no nausea, it is like I woke up on the right side of the bed for once. It seems my friend with her hunch was correct, so I ventured ti Lucky's Market today and replaced all my bread and bagels with Udi's gluten free.

This is going to be a very big change. Dining out won't be easy. And ordering pizza, something which I absolutely love, is now off the menu sadly. Sub sammiches? Gone. Hamburgers? Gone, unless I go to Carl's for a low carb burger or venture way out of my way to Culver's who uses Udi's gluten free hamburger buns. (You'd THINK other fast food places would do this too but they don't) At least I'll be saving cash.

It's really upending having to Google every single product in your cupboard and fridge to see if it's gluten free. Time consuming.

I'm wondering if anybody else is gluten free and is there any recommendations anybody can give me? Anything really would help. Food, food brands, even blogs to read, whatever.

Thank you all.

[Sanity Claws]

1. Perhaps you should get tested for celiac disease.

You may find that you have an intolerance to wheat, not necessarily gluten. That would be a much easier diet to follow.
If you are a true celiac, you will have do a thorough cleaning of your home and throw out any toaster and bread box you have. A tiny exposure to gluten would have very bad effects on a patient with celiac disease.

[SkyDancer]

4. Ya I forgot to mention that

I have a doctor appointment as it this coming week and will be bringing it.

[marylandblue]

7. You should continue to eat gluten until celiac is confirmed

If you stop before the test, your gluten antibiodies will go down and you could get a false negative.

[thbobby]

2. Many web sites with recipes

[https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/ is one of my favorites. Use google to find others.

For me, when I eat gluten, it takes around six days to feel normal again. Try going about a month gluten free and then eat a piece of bread. When I did this, the effects were dramatic.

Amazon has Tamari, which is gluten free soy sauce. It is excellent, in fact, better than any other soy sauce I have used.

I have almost quit eating out. Just too paranoid. Just a small amount of cross contamination will cause me to react. Sucks, but it is what it is.

[SkyDancer]

5. THANK YOU!

I am adding it to my Amazon wish list now.

[thbobby]

8. You are welcome!

Good luck with going gluten-free. It can seem intimidating, but it is possible. There are many resources on the web for recipes and info. Just testing for Celiac may not be the best action. Many people only have gluten intolerance. Celiac is very specific in that it is mainly about intestinal damage. It is an autoimmune disease and gluten is a large molecule that takes several days to clear from the body.

[Lint Head]

3. Look into the keto diet.

[SkyDancer]

6. Ironically that is what I was on

Gluten is in just about everything, even blue cheeses..... ugh.

[blur256]

9. My wife is gluten free

She figured that out about a year ago. We figured out it was the cause of her headaches and it was making her PCOS worse. I do most of the cooking in the house so I have had to learn to adjust. But it isn't as bad as it first seems.

I think where you live can make a huge difference. We live on the east coast and our local grocery stores have a great selection of gf products. Plus a lot of our local restaurants cater to gf needs - we went out after church today and had gf pizza and gf beer!

I will say that I have started cooking lot more from scratch so that I can use gf flour. It's kinda fun figuring out what works and what doesn't (Bob's Red Mill and King Arthur gf flour are my favorites). Also, believe it or not, Aldi has a great variety of gf products at a pretty good price.

So it was hard at first but we have figured it out. You definitely will too.

[Kali]

10. Get tested by a real doctor.

Too many fads going around and gluten intolerance is one of them. Jumping to conclusions could be worse than whatever is really wrong. Stomach pain is one of the most common symptoms for JUST ABOUT ANYTHING.

Celiac is real, but the numbers of people who actually have it are quite low.

On the plus side, the benefit of the gluten free fad is there are lots of processed food products on the market now for people with problems. Of course processed foods are more likely to be a problem no matter what "healthy" claims are made on the packaging.

Maybe eating healthy in general would do more for you than following some extreme diet. Start with protein at every meal, then try to get 5 servings of colorful vegs and fruits every day. For carbs try whole grains in small portions at each meal and limit processed food like white bread, and most every delicious thing at drive through junk food places. If you fill up on protein and colorful vegs you won't have as much room for the crap, but you can still enjoy small amounts without feeling deprived.

[csziggy]

11. See if there are any Mellow Mushroom Pizza places near you

They make gluten free pizzas. I haven't had one but their regular pizzas are fabulous!

https://mellowmushroom.com/