My wife is Gluten Intolerant as well as Dairy Intolerant. It didn't show up until our son was born. She was having severe Gall Bladder pain during pregnancy and it became so severe that our son was born 9 weeks early. The Doctors at that point were simply going to remove her Gall Bladder. We didn't accept that and instead went to the naturalist. It was there where we discovered the Gluten thing. That was 9 years ago. By the way our son is happy and healthy.

To clear the Gall Bladder problems she does a Cleanse twice a year that includes straight olive oil, epsom salts and lemon juice. Since she has been doing this and staying away from Gluten and dairy her problems have vanished. She managed to work, train for a marathon and finish her docotrate without any problems.

We were living in San Diego and it was really easy to stay Gluten Free. Simply shopping at Trader Joes and Jimbos was the key. The typical meals include a lean meat or fish and vegtables. For breakfast we don't stick to breakfast only foods. Stir Fry in the morning is great.

Recently we moved to Germany and that's a totally different story. They live on bread here. So it hasn't been as easy and the vegatbles are not as plentiful or the meat as lean or good but we are managing o.k. The nice thing is our grocery store has lots of Gluten free things and the Pretzels are better than the regular ones.

I am not Gluten Intolerant nor is our son to our knowledge but we manage to stay wheat free. It just makes life easier. I do the majority of the Grocery shopping and I don't have to think, it's just natural to stay away from the wheat.

The best thing is my wife has learned how to make corn tortillas (which you can't buy here). So we make up our own mexican food from time to time just to remember home.

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Dave Jewell
Free Run Speed

Is anyone else gluten free AND vegeterian?

yep.

And we both know, that is an entirely different ball game isn't it. :-X

I find some good info on this site: www.vegiac.com.
I am also a member of a Yahoo list for celiac + veg. PM me for the details if you'd want to join. it's not a super busy list -- probably a bit quieter than this women's forum, actually.

It is only recently that I have been looking at the more mainstream GF sites and blogs and revising the meat dishes.

For a couple of weeks now I've been checking out Brendan Braziers book: http://www.brendanbrazier.com/

He's a triathlete and a Vegan, and none of the recipes (that I know of) include wheat or dairy. So far the smoothies have been great, the crackers outstanding, and the pancakes - although tasty - are a work in progress. I got the book because I know Brendan from years ago and was looking for something other than white chemicals in tins to ingests while training. He's got a section on home-made sports drinks, gels etc...

I'm not a Vegan or Gluten intolerant but my wife and I (and our two small hostages) have really been enjoying expanding our diet with some of his recipes, and foods like amaranth, buckwheat, barley and hemp that we were not familiar with. He also makes a line of smoothie mix and sports bars based on recipes in the book but I haven't found a store in Denver that sells them.

Bob

I spent $10, yes TEN DOLLARS on a loaf of gluten free bread this week from a gluten free bakery in my area. I about died when they rung it up as I had no idea what the price was. It's bread for pete's sake... I got it home and was SO hopeful, but it was terrible! Dry, dry, dry. I barely choked down a little slice. I was pissed so I ended up sending a semi-nasty e-mail to the bakery. They e-mailed back and said they would refund. I think I'll just get the gluten free snickerdoodles that I sampled, I'd like the shop to stay in business, but will steer clear of the bread from now on.

Kinnikinnick products seem to be really popular: http://www.kinnikinnick.com/

i used Pamela's mixes whenever I make muffins, etc. I use the pancake mix for everything, but they have a bread mix: http://www.pamelasproducts.com/Products_frames.html

One of the celiac book I have says that you can deduct the difference between the cost of your GF food and its regular equivalent on your taxes as a medical expense. I haven't really investigated this, but I think that is really really interesting and worth looking into. I spend a crapload on food. But, I avoid most of the 'specialty' stuff like bread because of the cost....

Yeah, maybe I can marry an accountant and then he can figure out how to deduct my food...

Have you ever done any bread machine breads?

Austin, I do not have a bread machine.

sidebar ~~~~I do have a very good friend that I met thru celiac support, who is a GF baking GENIUS of Einstein-like proportion. Her website is www.thesillyak.com . If you are in the Central MA area, you might be able to find her products at a local restaurant. The owner has helped me sooooo immensely with transitioning to a GF lifestyle, she really took pity on me in my worst hour and patiently helped me learn. I felt like the biggest incompetent boob ever b/c I suck so much at GF cooking, loathe it, wondered what could I ever offer her in return. :-/ Well, guess what??? Turns out there was a hidden triathlete lurking inside that baker!!! So I am helping her to train for her first tri, isn't that a great story???? :-)))))) ~~~~~ end sidebar

Well, anyway, back the point, this genius Yak person says that for GF baking she recommends a good stand mixer rather than a bread machine. if you think about it, it makes sense. Since GF breads don't have the elasticity (you may have umm noticed that LOL) of regular breads, they also don't have the kneading and rising needs that a bread machine provides. But you DO need to whip 'em good for a few minutes usually. I just do it by hand, but a smarter person would probably get the mixer.

Ok I quit trying to post using quotes. I think I said above, to try making Chebe pizza, and also to check out the ready made pizza crusts from island GF Bakery in Sarasota FLA (they ship anywhere).

In repsonse to your question about improvement and symptoms.

~My Dh is alive and would have been dead if not DX'd. He was 120 lbs at 6'2", and dropping. He is now a healthy weight.

~My older son had no obvious symptoms except skinniess. He reluctantly went GF and in a matter of just a few months, he's sprouted tree trunk thighs and a solid chest and shoulders. PLus he's never stuck being "it" at tag anymore. I never thought my underweight fussy baby, skinny toddler, low energy grade schooler would wind up having thighs like a bobsledder and have to be dragged off the hockey rink or the ski slope "just one more run mom!" . He was...."OK" before, decent...now he is awesome, thriving. I have never seen him happier.

~My younger son had the classic GI symptoms. Going GF has alleviated those. He continues to struggle with the diet, the adjustment, weight gain, and illness.

~I am not gluten sensitive or celiac, and I feel no different whether I'm GF or not, I keep experimenting.

~I totally get it with the 'weirder and weirder" symptoms. I do a lot of reading and research about celiac, and I see those stories a lot. Good that you are on the right track.

re Tortillas

I have no interest in making my own corn tortillas, the ready made ones are fine with me. But to make a subsitute for salad wraps stuff like that -- that would be great. (IMO corn ones don't cut it)

My GF Genius friend gave me a recipe for making tortillas using Chebe -- you add a little Pamela's pancake mix to the dough, and some shredded parmesan cheese , roll them out thin and pan fry.

That is in fact too much work for me. I have about a 20% success rate with peeling them off the counter once they are rolled out. Plus, they are grueling to make, but disappear in minutes once they are done. I wonder if there is a more do-able way to get tortillas. I have seen tortilla presses advertised. Wonder how these are.

Access to tortillas would improve quality of life around here significantly.

It would be great to buy ready made corn tortillas but we live in Germany and not really close to any of the bigger cities. So the only way we eat tortillas is if we make them ourselves. It's actually not that hard and our 9 year old son is an expert at it.

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Dave Jewell
Free Run Speed

OMG, I was just checking out this forum and saw this post. I had no idea there were so many products to help with my casein and gluten intolerance. Thank you for all the great information.

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When it's good, it's good. When it's bad, you suffer.
Dan

bump for someone on main forum

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Gluten-containing grains: wheat, rye, barley and even oats (unless specifically gluten-free) can be problematic for nearly everyone. There are really very few dietary reasons to eat them - and they terrifying thing is that they are ubiquitous in our food supply. Fillers and thickeners, soy sauce and dressings, condiments and dairy products.

The most important dietary shift to to eat things they way appear when plucked from the earth: fresh, whole fruits and veggies, beans, rice, animal proteins. If it comes in a box or a can or a frozen package or a wrapper, or processed in any way, back away slowly and no one gets hurt. Not only does gluten lurk in these items, so does high fructose corn syrup (complete with mercury), damaged fats, and genetically-modified organisms.

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MirZ

Triathlon Lifestyle Expert and Licensed Sports Nutritionist

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