Gluten/Wheat allergy Celiac disease

[Carol Watts 67]

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

thank you

[bmbrush413 124]

Just curious' date=' 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.[/quote']

Sorry - tried to reply to this a few times and my phone went crazy and deleted it! I had all the tests for Celiac and they came back pretty much negative - except there was some damage to my small intestine, and I got rashes and stomach aches when I ate gluten containing foods...

[Sydney Susan 333]

We have coeliacs in the family (including my son, diagnosed aged 6 and now 14) and that sounds coeliac to me. It is possible to be "sero-negative" (blood tests negative but damage on endoscopy) and much more common is "silent coeliac"(no obvious symptoms but positive blood test and/or endoscopy), as with both my son and my sister's son.

And a test at one point in your life doesn't rule out you testing positive as little as a year or two later... this happened to my sister. For this latter reason there is a growing school of thought that a positive blood test for antibodies means that you have or are developing coeliac disease - ie: even if endoscopy is clear now it won't stay that way for long.

As I understand it a gluten intolerance is intestinal symptoms on ingesting gluten, but blood test is negative and endoscopy is clear. Personally I'd assume myself to be sero negative coeliac if that happened to me - to be on the safe side.

[lizv123 389]

Thanks for tickling my curious side!

food allergies are the worst :/

[Sydney Susan 333]

"food allergies are the worst"...

As I've been telling my boy for years now, any food allergy that lets you drink coke, eat potato chips and ice cream and (sometimes) gets you out of the washing up can't be all bad.

[lizv123 389]

"food allergies are the worst"...

As I've been telling my boy for years now' date=' any food allergy that lets you drink coke, eat potato chips and ice cream and (sometimes) gets you out of the washing up can't be all bad.[/quote']

Haha good point!

[Blessedfun 89]

How did everyone do during the holiday? I brought my own dishes to add to the feast to ensure a good meal. A taste of this and a taste of that... It worked out.

[7 Bites_Jen 479]

It's a much easier lifestyle than you would think! We are a low-gluten family and there are tons of options out there.

If you're going low-carb, then gluten free is actually a natural effect of that! You can use soy flour in place of white flour in a lot of recipes - George Stella is a great resource for recipes like that!

If you're NOT going low-carb, there are gluten free baking mixes (I prefer Bisquick's version - it has xanthan gum which is a gluten replacement and all-natural), there are some great gluten free pastas out there, and you can use rice, potatoes, and corn for starches. You can use corn instead of wheat tortillas too. I would be sure though that if you use oatmeal to make sure and buy a gluten free version because some oatmeals have wheat gluten added to them!

So, you don't necessarily have to go to any special store to buy stuff, just make sure you read labels and look for anything that says "malt" or "barley" as items to 100% avoid.

[Blessedfun 89]

Great info! Thanks for sharing and reminding.

[moonlitestarbrite 902]

primal and paleo diet recipes are all gluten free too. i find them much healthier than regular old gluten free recipes. i grew up eating gluten free. my mom was diagnosed in 1961. no GF products back then, my husband has been gluten free since the spring. paleo and primal works best for us... no processed carbs. Protein and veggies for the most part.

[hepktty 30]

Try wheatfreemeatfree.com love the recipes. Went gluten free/meat free for the new year and we(the whole family) are loving it!