Hi, starting gluten-free diet - looking for tips

Hi,

I am not new to Healingwell, I have been posting on the Rheumatoid Arthritis and Bipolar Disorder forums for quite a while.  I have not been diagnosed with Celiac Disease, but I had a Rheumatologist friend send me a book about how gluten sensitivity could be a large contributing factor to the RA as well as contribute to the GI upset that I get from all the medications that I take. After looking at the information in the book, then looking it up online I am convinced that a gluten-free diet might help.  At least it couldn't hurt.  I've gotten my Rheumatologist's permission to begin, but they are not going to hook me up with a nutritionist or dietitian- I am on my own on this.

Bipolar Disorder is what affects my life the most right now.  I am actually in the process of applying for Social Security Disability right now because I have not worked in the last 2 years and it is unlikely that I will be able to be expected to hold a job in the near future.  I have 3 school-age girls and my husband supports us with full-time work and nursing school.

Is there a way to do gluten-free diet on a very low food budget?

Are there glutin-free brands of sandwich bread out there?

Does anyone out there feed their whole family gluten-free, or do you mostly cook regular food for others and eat gluten-free yourself?

Is it easy to tell which foods have gluten by looking for "wheat, rie, oat and barly" foods on ingrediant lables, or is there a $5 word on the lable that hides wheat, rie, oat and barly products that I should look for?

Do you find foods that you can eat at regular grocery food stores (walmart, kroger, aldi) or do you really need to go to specialty food stores to find gluten-free products?

What do you wish someone had told you about all this when you first got started, that I probably havn't thought of yet?

Is there something that your nutritionist or dietitian ahs told you that you took to heart, and remember still?

I probably don't nearly have the symptoms that you probably have- but at this point I will try anything to make some of this discomfort go away.  If eliminating gluten decreases breakthrough pain, or allows me to decrease some of the medications, or allows me to loose some of the rapid weight that I am gaining for no good reason at all, or decreases the GI upset that I seem to have all the time, or even helps me keep more stable with the Bipolar symptoms, I will try it.

Thankyou for your help.

Hello to you both! I am just over eight months since my celiac diagnosis and can honestly say that my family is eating as well as preGF if not better and all of us feel a lot better.

Christina - rest assured there are many people living healthier lives because they are living gluten free - not just those with Celiac Disease.

Is there a way to do gluten-free diet on a very low food budget? This can be tough - the hardest part is the first month - learning curve - I was nearly in tears during a few of those shopping missions while reading every tiny label. Goggle products and ingredients that you are unsure of. Just put "product gluten" and you will have answers in a snap. Of course this doesn't help at the market. At first eat as simply as possible. Meat, vegies, fruit, rice, potato are best. Many other things are naturally GF and you can shop for the best value cheese, corn tortillas, potato chips, peanut butter, most jams and jellies, most french fries and tator tots, many ice creams - label reading is important for all items - I still read chip labels to make sure they didn't change ingredients.

Are there glutin-free brands of sandwich bread out there? Yes, they taste awful except for Udi's which is expensive about $5 a loaf -- if you can find it where you live. I've just recently found a pretty easy recipe to bake bread that we (I have one 16 year old that is Celiac as well) are so thankful for -- I think we did a happy dance last weekend when we tasted it - and 16 year old young men rarely do a happy dance!

Does anyone out there feed their whole family gluten-free, or do you mostly cook regular food for others and eat gluten-free yourself? We transitioned...started with all gluten free dinners -- now the only gluten left in the house is the gluten eater's bread, flour tortillas and gluten eater's cereal. We've successfully changed all our favorite recipes to GF...wasn't hard once we found a good GF all purpose flour.

Is it easy to tell which foods have gluten by looking for "wheat, rie, oat and barly" foods on ingrediant lables, or is there a $5 word on the lable that hides wheat, rie, oat and barly products that I should look for? wheat, rye, barley (I usually see "barley malt" more often) do a pretty good job. The more processed the food, the more likely it will contain gluten -- "seasonings" is one of those that I try to avoid.

Do you find foods that you can eat at regular grocery food stores (walmart, kroger, aldi) or do you really need to go to specialty food stores to find gluten-free products? You can shop from any store. I started with Trader Joes and Henry's Market when diagnosed, but now am back to regular grocery store and am even able to use Smart & Final (discount store) for many items. I do utilize Amazon.com to purchase our GF pasta and flours -- these items are expensive in the stores so I buy in bulk from amazon with free delivery :) they also have this subscribe and save option (15% savings every time) that you can click on...it signs you up for those items, but you can cancel if you dont want that item again.

Hope that helps....oh advise not on your list of great ?s

hmmm....take it easy on yourself....the learning curve isn't easy but WILL pass...if you are anywhere close to my age 44 - do yourself a favor and take reading glasses to the market...I don't need them for anything else, but some of those food labels are tiny so I stole a pair of my husband's glasses :)

Good Luck!

-Lisa

Thank you for your replies, it really encouraged me.

Nor_TX- you're right, I should have asked for personal advice as well.  Thank you for offering it anyway.

I have learned a lot from reading here.  I am on day4 of a gluten-free diet, and I already felt better.  A stomachache that I didn't know I had till it went away is gone. 

The thing is, I had a communion wafer at church without thinking, and it has gluten in it.  Minutes after my stomach started tossing. I made lunch for the kids, but the thought of eating just didn't appeal to me.  Within an hour I was in the restroom and now I have gas/bloating stomach pains.  This is enough evidence for me and I am convinced I have a sensitivity to gluten.

I went to a health food store and found a large gluten-free aisle.  I bought a box of baking mix (kind of like Bisquick), a box of cookies (comfort food), some flour to try making bread, a cookbook, a bag of rice spaghetti, and a loaf of frozen rice bread until I am successful in making my own loaf of bread.  Just that much cost me $50 (nearly 1/2 of our food budget for a family of 5).  I was shocked that it would come to so much.  I'm glad that I won't have to do that again for quite a while. I will just have to go with cheaper meals and make them stretch this payday.

One thing I'm having trouble with is feeling sorry for myself because I can't have any of the Christmas cookies and treats that I love so much.  I am one of those women that will make  cookies and candies and wrap them up to give away as gifts.  This year I won't be able to sample them as I make them.  (I am sooo glad that chocolate is gluten-free!)  I went to church and a friend had brought doughnuts and I had to turn one down from 3 diffrent people.  How do you get past feeling so sorry for yourself?

Tonight I cooked chicken stirfry.  A skillet for my family with the added noodles and sauce and a small pot for me with veggies picked from the frozen package and seprate soy sauce that I was lucky enough to find was gluten-free.  Not sure what I will cook tomorrow...

P.S. Another blogger I follow just posted "100 Gluten Free Foods" list:

glutenfree4goofs.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/100-random-gluten-free-foods/

There are times that I, too feel sorry for myself. I feel like, "Sheesh, at 60 I should be able to live my life like I want to but in fact I can't. With colitis, IBS, lactose intolerant, gastro-paresis, reflux and now a gluten intolerance everything I put in my mouth has to be a pre-thought out decision. It's not only this time of the year, but all year that presents problems. For instance we are having a lunch brought in next week at the office and I had to pare down the only problem free item I could find on the menu. When people offer cookies, treats... I can only take a deep breath and say, "No thanks."

This is difficult to be sure... but I have a very understanding husband and luckily he is there to keep me motivated. Yesterday, driving home from work with my stomach growling because I didn't have anything safe to eat in the afternoon... I felt pretty sorry for myself. :(

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Are there glutin-free brands of sandwich bread out there? Yes, they taste awful except for Udi's which is expensive about $5 a loaf -- if you can find it where you live. I've just recently found a pretty easy recipe to bake bread that we (I have one 16 year old that is Celiac as well) are so thankful for -- I think we did a happy dance last weekend when we tasted it - and 16 year old young men rarely do a happy dance!

Can I have that recipe please? (I also just found Udi's gluten free bagels, which are actually like bagels! But, you are right they are expensive$$$)

gfpamela,  I am also interested in the bread recipe if you could please post it for us.

Thanks, KO