Celiac Disease - Strict Diet

Cloudinsane

Hey folks,

I found out quite recently that I have Celiac Disease.

I've already done quite a bit of shopping and found some good foods and so on. I'm also embracing the benefits of having a generally healthy diet.

But it's going to be seriously hard. I am 20 years old, and I really do enjoy a good snack every now and then (ok, every hour or so); a lot of foods, including milk and breakfast cereal are gone.

Does anyone else out there have Celiac disease? If so, can anyone recommend some interesting and varied recipes?

I think I may also log what I've eaten, just to stay on track and not stray, which I've found can be quite dangerous.

OK, so this morning I had 3 Rice crackers with cheese, a carton of Soy milk and a fruit bar, along with multivitamin and cod-liver oil tablets. For dinner I hate two eggs, 3 rice-cakes with cheese, a few GF bread-sticks and tea. I would have had a few fruits, but I'm all out. I'll buy some 2moro.

RentDayBlues

There is no reason that just because you have coeliac disease you cant enjoy a normal diet. All you need to do is find GF substitutes for your previous diet. Remember, just because you are on a GF diet does not mean it is necessarily healthy! Most manufactured GF food is packed full of fat, sugar and salt! Manufacturers must feel that because they remove gluten they need to replace it with sugar! You will notice that any GF bars, cakes and even bread is very high in sugar and fat.

Rice cakes are not the way to go at all!! Try GF muesli or porridge with some honey. Much more filling and you need to have a varied and balanced diet. Lunch can be anything really: soup, baked potato, GF sandwich (Though most of the bread is awful, the livwell pitta breads are good once warmed). Dinner should what you would previosuly have had except withouth the gluten. So chicken with veg and potatoes or whatever you previosuly ate.

I assume you are off milk due to lactose intolerance brought on by CD? If so, this normally subsides after a short period. You can use soya above with the brekafast. There is a huge range of GF cerelas available so you should never feel restricted. Waht I would say is that although you need to avoid gluten the temptation to eat everything else you can is huge! Try to keep the diet balanced and you'll do fine. If you havent already you should become a member of the coeliac society of ireland. Great information

Cloudinsane

Cheers for the response!

I've been reading all of the ingredients, and yep, I'm noticing quite a large amount of sugar and salts with the fruit bars and so on.

As for bread, it's disgusting until it's toasted, then it's not so bad. My mam is actually making me some batches of her own (she's a chef) so I could be in a worse position.

As for rice crackers, I personally love them, and have done for years now. I think the major problem for me right now are things like cans of coke, lollipops and tayto crisps - they're everywhere.

Today I started off with Muesli cereal and a fruit bar. On my lunch break I had a fruit salad and 4 rice cakes. For dinner I had some eggs, brown bread my mam made me and a salad.

juicyjellybabe

Hi cloudinsane,

The best advice I can give you is to join the Coeliac Society of Ireland (if you haven't already done so!)
They will give you a little book (your bible really!) that will list all the foods and brands and drinks you can have.
In fact the 2009 edition is due out in March afaik.

I'm sure you know the dangerous foods are those that have wheat, rye, barley malt and oats. You will become adept at reading labels soon enough, so don't worry. Sometimes a product will just have 'starch' listed among the ingredients- as it doesn't state if the starch is from wheat or not, you should regard this product as unsafe. The motto is if in doubt, leave it out

As regards food brands, if you are tired of museli have you tried Whole Earth corn flakes- they taste practically the same as the Kelloggs version. Even my sister (not a coeliac) eats them!
As I'm sure you know most of the bread tastes awful. Although I have found Dietary Specials the best of them.
As regards lunch, be careful with soups, some aren't gluten free! The same goes for sauces.
Also, clonakilty do nice sausages, no difference in taste to normal ones.

Then there's the whole issue of cross contamination.
I have my own butter dishes / jam pots that no1 else uses. I also have my own toaster, as if you use a toaster that already toasted normal bread, there is a big risk to you of getting gluten on your bread. You could get toasta bags either to protect your bread.

You are lucky your mum bakes, as I have found baking my own bread, cakes and buns really handy, as I know they are safe for me and won't have as much sugar and fat as mass produced ones.

It is really hard to adjust to this diet at the start but you will get used to it.
Another thing I must add, kepp all the receipts for your gf food! you can claim back tax on gf food using the med1 form.

Oh, and coke cola and some brands of lollipops are gf. Taytos are def not.

poppy08

Hey Cloudinsane,

Your just like me 20yr old, who's had coeliacs disease (plus lactose intolerence) for about a year now. At first its horrible, and you have to eat loads of horrible food, then you find nice food, then you read the fat/sugar/salt contents and are horrified! not to mention the pitied looks you get as your friends scoff pizza in your face!

IMO i tend to steer well clear of all gluten substitues, (they will never compare to real bread!), except as RentDayBlues said, Livewell their bread is delicious but expensive and the odd thing from the "free from" range. a Brand called "tru free" do really good crackers that you can make into little pizzas or just about anything you want.

The best thing ever is home baked cakes/breads/etc. you know they won't make you sick and they taste amazing! (despite the common myth they're really easy to make too, if you have the right flour)

I usually go with something that can't possibily have gluten/milk in it like soya yoghurts, they taste amazing!,baked potatoes, all kinds of meats, fruit,veg,rice,fish (tunafish) i've always been pretty healthy and love salads and whatnot but i do love chocolate. You can get chocolate that is completely gluten/lactose free but i generally risk dark chocolate when ever i want a snack. If your a crisps fan Walkers crisp are gluten free (not the new crazy flavours though so becareful!)

From past experience read all packaging carefully, things that you wouldn't expect will have gluten and milk in them, manufacturers use it to beef up food and what not.

*cough* also be aware of cafes/restaurants telling you its gluten free, you soon learn its not........

hope you learn to love the disease ( it saves you from eating so much crap!):rolleyes:

nellie07

Hi there,

are you lactose intolerant aswell? Milk is gluten free naturally,

nellie07

sorry doh! just realised you are.

Cloudinsane

Thanks a bunch for the replies, sorry it has taken this long to answer back.

I'm finding that I am adjusting rather well; I've learned to just have an apple or some other fruit if I'm peckish instead of a bag of crisps, and on the whole, my energy levels have impoved!

I've also noticed my appetite has gotten a hell of a lot better. Maybe it's because I appreciate the food I can eat :P

Yeah, a few days back we all went out to eat and I couldn't really have anything, which sucked.

I'll certainly check out that SCoI, thanks for that. Hope all of you are doing well.

El_Dangeroso

You can get lactose free milk in Tesco, it's called 'lactofree'. I'm not lactose intolerant but I drink it in preference to the normal stuff..

Second the GF clonakilty sausages, never know the difference.

I eat low carb and gluten free and I eat a real variety of different delicious food, so there's life after gluten!

jdivision

I see you eat/drink soy? Most coeliacs aren't allowed it? Watch out for the rice cakes, very low gi so you'll be hungry again really quickly. Also a liver tonic could be advisable to begin with, gets rids of a lot of the crap in your system.

gas_ticket

You know, there are LOADs of coeliacs in Ireland, and the number is growing all the time.

You will find it easier than you think. More and more restaurants are catering for coeliacs. I was in Captain Americas last night and they have a coeliac menu, you only have to ask for it.

You don't even have to give up crisps. There are lots of brands with Gluten Free on them, and they are safe for you. They can't put Gluten Free on the pack if it isn't gluten free!

Don't let anyone fool you into thinking that spelt is gluten free, cost it does have gluten in it.

Join the coeliac society, or at least check out their website at coeliac.ie.

There are special coeliac shops out there, like ecodirect in Park West in Dublin (off the Nangor Road). They sell incredible cakes and bread that you don't have to toast, it tastes great just from the pack. I go there every week or two as they have new stuff all the time.

Don't despair, get to enjoy it and you'll feel better in no time.

ScouseMouse

My wife has just been diagnosed as coeliac and is only starting to learn what she can and carnt eat.

Any links or tips and tricks you can give us would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.