Open main menu ☰
HealingWell
Search Close Search
Health Conditions
Allergies Alzheimer's Disease Anxiety & Panic Disorders Arthritis Breast Cancer Chronic Illness Crohn's Disease Depression Diabetes
Fibromyalgia GERD & Acid Reflux Irritable Bowel Syndrome Lupus Lyme Disease Migraine Headache Multiple Sclerosis Prostate Cancer Ulcerative Colitis

View Conditions A to Z »
Support Forums
Anxiety & Panic Disorders Bipolar Disorder Breast Cancer Chronic Pain Crohn's Disease Depression Diabetes Fibromyalgia GERD & Acid Reflux
Hepatitis Irritable Bowel Syndrome Lupus Lyme Disease Multiple Sclerosis Ostomies Prostate Cancer Rheumatoid Arthritis Ulcerative Colitis

View Forums A to Z »
Log In
Join Us
Close main menu ×
  • Home
  • Health Conditions
    • All Conditions
    • Allergies
    • Alzheimer's Disease
    • Anxiety & Panic Disorders
    • Arthritis
    • Breast Cancer
    • Chronic Illness
    • Crohn's Disease
    • Depression
    • Diabetes
    • Fibromyalgia
    • GERD & Acid Reflux
    • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
    • Lupus
    • Lyme Disease
    • Migraine Headache
    • Multiple Sclerosis
    • Prostate Cancer
    • Ulcerative Colitis
  • Support Forums
    • All Forums
    • Anxiety & Panic Disorders
    • Bipolar Disorder
    • Breast Cancer
    • Chronic Pain
    • Crohn's Disease
    • Depression
    • Diabetes
    • Fibromyalgia
    • GERD & Acid Reflux
    • Hepatitis
    • Irritable Bowel Syndrome
    • Lupus
    • Lyme Disease
    • Multiple Sclerosis
    • Ostomies
    • Prostate Cancer
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • Ulcerative Colitis
  • Log In
  • Join Us
Join Us
☰
Forum Home| Forum Rules| Moderators| Active Topics| Help| Log In

Hi, starting gluten-free diet - looking for tips

Support Forums
>
Celiac Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
profile picture
_Christina
Veteran Member
Joined : Feb 2007
Posts : 553
Posted 12/4/2009 6:44 AM (GMT -8)
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.

profile picture
Nor_TX
Regular Member
Joined : Nov 2008
Posts : 360
Posted 12/4/2009 7:58 AM (GMT -8)
I am on a gluten free diet and I am also trying to figure out this whole concept. I have done hours and hours of research and purchased magazines and books and still have trouble figuring out what to eat. I am also lactose intolerant and have IBS and severe Colitis. I have been shopping at a specialty store called Sprouts. I live in Texas and we do have Whole Foods and Central Market. They unfortunately are quite expensive. Sprouts is smaller but more affordable. There are lots of items you can purchase that are gluten free. Because of all my diet restrictions though, I tend to buy "prepared" items rather than baking. There is a corn bread by a company called Glutino. It is in the freezer section. I keep it in the freezer at home and take out one or two slices as needed. It is better toasted than plain. I eat it with sunbutter. They also have personal pizzas, and different types of rice pasta frozen entrees.

They have a gluten free noodle soup that I bring to work for lunch. I find that simple foods are best for me. I eat plain steamed shrimp, this soup, toasted "bread" and cheese or plain baked chicken for lunch. You can find gluten free crackers and I pair them with goat cheese for a "munchy" type of meal. When others are eating snacks, I pull out my gluten free cassava chips and snack of them.

It is difficult and I am plodding through the gluten free maze myself. My cravings occasionally cause me to slip (Nothing like a greasy bacon cheeseburger from Wataburger). But after I get sick I remember why I can't eat that food and go back to my diet.

There are lots of good cookbooks and even a gluten free magazine with lots of recipes but with all the restrictions I have, I don't cook involved recipes very often. I sometimes make a thick soup with gluten free broth, sweet potatoes that I cook and grind and then add some cooked veggies.

Most of the time I eat small, plain items... a slice of goat cheese, an orange, some tea.

Hmmm... re-reading this post and I realize I have a boring diet...
profile picture
GottaSki
Regular Member
Joined : Nov 2009
Posts : 47
Posted 12/4/2009 9:29 PM (GMT -8)
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
profile picture
gfpamela
New Member
Joined : Dec 2009
Posts : 8
Posted 12/5/2009 7:57 PM (GMT -8)
 

     Hello,  I was gluten-free for 2 yrs, am doing a 'gluten challenge' just for another week and then will be gluten-free again for life.  I do not have celiac disease, but it's in my family and I'm definitely gluten sensitive.  The food I missed the most when I started the diet was bread.  But I quickly found a very good recipe, Garbanzo Bean Buttermilk Bread, and make it in a bread maker from a thrift store.  There are extra knead cycles that are not necessary with gf bread but they don't seem to affect the quality and I just find it easier.  The recipe can be found in 'The Gluten-free Gourmet Bakes Bread'.  The last post had a lot of great info and I agree that the best approach is to eat fresh foods, especially fresh vegetables, as much as possible.  I make my own granola with gf oatmeal.  Am experimenting with some other grains like amaranth.  I began to cook more (lots more) and gradually began to find a lot of joy in testing recipes.  To keep food costs down I do make lots of rice and potato dishes.  And a little cheese goes a long way in dressing up simple dishes (love cheese!).  Your local library may have a good selection of cookbooks with gluten-free recipes.  When I can't find something in my cookbooks I just go online.  Google 'gluten free pie crust' for example and you'll get some good options.

profile picture
_Christina
Veteran Member
Joined : Feb 2007
Posts : 553
Posted 12/6/2009 5:52 PM (GMT -8)

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...

profile picture
nasalady
Veteran Member
Joined : Sep 2009
Posts : 1176
Posted 12/7/2009 12:20 AM (GMT -8)
Hi Christina,

I do understand what you're going through! But the whole gluten free thing doesn't have to be that tough.

I tried cooking gluten free just for me and "regular" food for everyone else and it didn't work....to much cross-contamination from crumbs. I was always getting sick. Also, you have to realize that your children are very likely to have inherited the tendency towards gluten intolerance from you, and even if they are not having problems now doesn't mean that it's good for them to eat gluten!

I'll bet there are a lot of gluten free meals that you already eat, or that would be easy to make gluten free....at least, I know I was able to figure out that there were gluten free meals that I made on a regular basis for my family. For example, a simple breakfast of bacon, eggs, and fruit is naturally gluten free, as is a dinner of steak, baked potatoes, and a green salad, or roasted chicken, rice pilaf, and steamed broccoli. Even beans and rice makes a wonderful (and gluten free) meal!

Some manufacturers have recently become more sensitive to the needs of celiacs and others who are gluten intolerant, such as the makers of Chex cereals and Betty Crocker: Rice Chex has always been gluten free, but some of the Chex cereals are now being made gluten free as well, while Betty Crocker now has two cake mixes, a cookie mix and a brownie mix that are all gluten free. Kraft is very good about listing allergens such as gluten and soy on their labels (not everyone is!).

Mexican food is frequently gluten free because they use corn tortillas in many recipes, such as enchiladas and tacos. You just need to either find or make gluten free enchilada sauce and taco seasonings (McCormicks makes a lot of gluten free spice mixes).

Below are links to several websites with tons of wonderful (some even inexpensive) gluten free recipes, plus lists of safe and unsafe foods:

Gluten free recipes for the Crockpot by Stephanie (Steph is Scottish and very frugal):crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Wonderful, gourmet recipes by Karina: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

Karina's "How to go gluten free" primer: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2006/01/morning-after-diagnosis-that-is.html

Homey southern cooking by Carrie (look at her older recipes because she's currently vegan):
www.gingerlemongirl.blogspot.com/

My current favorite gluten free blogger, Elana (she's totally grain free, cooks with almond and coconut flours):www.elanaspantry.com/

Unsafe foods (from celiac.com): www.celiac.com/articles/182/1/Unsafe-Gluten-Free-Food-List-Unsafe-Ingredients/Page1.html

Safe foods (from celiac.com): www.celiac.com/articles/181/1/Safe-Gluten-Free-Food-List-Safe-Ingredients/Page1.html

Some of my favorite gluten-free recipes, archived on the Internet: joannsgfrecipes.blogspot.com

Take care and good luck with everything! Keep us posted!
(((hugs)))
JoAnn
profile picture
nasalady
Veteran Member
Joined : Sep 2009
Posts : 1176
Posted 12/7/2009 8:33 AM (GMT -8)
P.S. Another blogger I follow just posted "100 Gluten Free Foods" list:

glutenfree4goofs.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/100-random-gluten-free-foods/
profile picture
klsygal
Regular Member
Joined : Jun 2006
Posts : 115
Posted 12/9/2009 9:50 AM (GMT -8)

Hi Christina:

My boyfriend has Celiac and Crohn's!  Yeah, it's a challenge, but he's worth it.  I eat very low carb in order to control my weight and I found a soy pasta that is wonderful.  It is gluten free, low carb, and low calorie.  You can find it in many stores either with the tofu or refrigerated pasta selections.  It is called Shiritaki and offered precooked in a fluid filled bag.  Each bag offers 1 main dish serving.  It can also be found on line.  Please check it out and consult your doctor.

Good Luck!

klsygal

profile picture
Nor_TX
Regular Member
Joined : Nov 2008
Posts : 360
Posted 12/11/2009 6:48 AM (GMT -8)
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. :(
profile picture
Jestjoan
Regular Member
Joined : Feb 2010
Posts : 27
Posted 3/3/2010 9:00 AM (GMT -8)
I carry some GF bars in my purse at all times.

I am GF, DF and, worst of all, soy(a) free.

profile picture
lero3645
Regular Member
Joined : Feb 2010
Posts : 21
Posted 3/8/2010 1:24 PM (GMT -8)

.

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$$$)
profile picture
Nor_TX
Regular Member
Joined : Nov 2008
Posts : 360
Posted 3/12/2010 6:43 AM (GMT -8)
The Udi bagels are deeeeelicious!!!. Here in north Texas they are 6.59 for 4, but they are large and "meaty", so I slice each half in half again and toast them. With a little goat cheese and smoked salmon, they make a great meal. Bagels are one of the foods I have missed most and finding this brand has been a miracle. Also, if you purchase Boar's Head deli meats (which are gluten free) and French's mustard it is a perfect meal to take anywhere. Looks normal, tastes delicious and doesn't make me sick... what could be better?
profile picture
KO-LD
Veteran Member
Joined : Aug 2007
Posts : 887
Posted 12/7/2010 10:21 AM (GMT -8)
gfpamela,  I am also interested in the bread recipe if you could please post it for us.

Thanks, KO

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply


More On Chronic Illness

Seizure-Free : From Epilepsy To Brain Surgery, I Survived And You Can, Too!

Seizure-Free : From Epilepsy To Brain Surgery, I Survived And You Can, Too!

10 Steps For Healing Well With Chronic Illness

10 Steps For Healing Well With Chronic Illness


HealingWell

About Us  |   Advertise  |   Subscribe  |   Privacy & Disclaimer
Connect With Us
Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest LinkedIn
© 1997-2023 HealingWell.com LLC All Rights Reserved. Our website is for informational purposes only. HealingWell.com LLC does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.