Gluten Free Girls (and Guys!)

Hi, I have known about being celiac since October, but I have only 'officially' gone gluten free about 2 1/2 weeks ago (I was weak. I like pizza) Anyway, I was wondering if when any of you starting eating gluten free did you drop weight rapidly? I have been losing about a lb a day for the past 10 days. I've read this is normal cause my body no longer thinks I am starving (aka I am finally getting all those pesky nutrients and vitamins) but this hasn't happened to any other celaics that I know. Not that I am complaining or anything! Just curious. And wondering when its going to suddenly stop! Hopefully after 30 lbs or so!!!

I lost about 10lbs somewhere from 3days to a week (I'm not a regular weigher), but my jeans fit me nicely after being very tight, once I detoxed from the gluten. It's water weight from the inflammation - to the best as I understand.

Like cutmd said, there are pizza items in available, I found Kinnikinnick premade crusts in the frozen organic section are really good. There are tons of recipes out there to make your own crusts. Also, I've seen premade pizzas (the only one I've tried was Gluten Free & Fabulous). You don't have to be pizza free either. I'm a pizza addict, so that's been the hardest thing to sort out, but I think I got it down!

I also think my body is happy that it can finally use the nutrients I'm feeding it, so I'm not as hungry. And I think that helps with losing weight (I've got like oh a whole person to lose!), because I'm not inclined to binge as much on carbs (funny notion out there that you end up craving the foods you are allergic to) and my body is getting what it needs now. It's crazy how your body changes when you get rid of something that was irritating it.

Thanks guys! I actually have a lot of family who are celiac, so I grew up around it. The pizza thing was more laziness and the ease of take out! I've read though that with some celiacs who are overweight before they are diagnosed, because their bodies are not absorbing any vitamins or nutrients the body goes into starvation mode and stores everything as fat. Then once the gluten is out of the system and your body starts getting everything it should have been getting all along, the fat stores deplete pretty quickly. Not sure if this is true or not though!

So I figured I'd post a couple easy GF dinner recipes, my hubby asked me the other day if I wrote these things down so that they could cook if something ever happened where I couldn't, and I thought, no, because I'm just a throw it together kind of gal, but I guess it's a good idea, and figured I'd share as long as I'm writing.

Chili stuff
2 cans hormel chili
6 or so corn tortillas
about a cup of corn
fat free darigold cottage cheese
grated cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400F (this is for heating purposes only, as the food in this recipe needs heated only to your liking). Put thin layer of chili on the bottom of the casserole dish. Top with a layer of tortillas. Spread cottage cheese as desired on tortillas, spread on more chili. Add another layer of tortillas, you can tear them to make them fit more easily. Add remaining chili, corn (or any veggie you want to really) and top with desired amount of cheddar cheese. Make sure you shred it yourself so as to not get glutened by the bagged shredded cheese. I used a lot for my family, but really, just make sure that you cover the top in a thin layer at least, so that the other stuff doesn't burn or dry out while cooking. I baked it for abour 35 minutes until the top was nice and bubbly, but heating times may vary.

Lasagna-ish stuff
I do something very similar to the chili with a lasagna flavor to it
* *Classico Fire Roasted Tomato and Garlic pasta sauce, 2 cup
* *Corn tortillas (Mission brand, White Corn, super size), 6
* *cottage cheese fat free (darigold), 3 serving
* Kraft Parmesan Cheese, 9 tsp
* 1 C corn
* Olive Oil, 2 tbsp
* Ground beef, extra lean, 16 oz
brown ground beef and add spaghetti sauce to it
in casserole dish spread a little of the sauce mix,
tear 3 tortillas into large strips and lay on top of sauce,
spread cottage cheese on tortillas,
spread corn
spread some more sauce on that,
tear other 3 tortillas and layer on that,
spread last of sauce on top
sprinkle with parmesan cheese and drizzle with olive oil
bake at 425F for 35 minutes
Cut into 8 servings and enjoy.

I don't use the olive oil if I spread it with grated cheddar instead. Also, I bet it would taste great with ground turkey. Both of these are pretty easy to do, and depending on family size could be set aside for to go lunches or whatever.

Since I am lazy to cook, I have continued trying out the gluten free world. Had some Van's blueberry waffles - yum! Nice and crispy, cant the the difference!

This is going to sound nuts, but I feel sometimes like whole foods loves me. They have so much delicious gluten free food that I swear I am going to react to but I don't. They also have so much organic stuff, and everything is clearly labeled so I feel really safe there. My life is saved!

Tried those waffles this week and liked them a lot! I have been gf for about a month and 1/2 now. I keep leaning toward organic whole foods also when given the choice. I feel so much better and don't have cravings like I did before.

This was week was my first week back at work since being gf and no one knew so they expected me to be ready to order chinese and subs for lunch. I passed on chinese but had a salad from the sub shop. Everyone's reaction when they find out is "I'm sorry. Wow that's a lot of food you can't have" I always respond that I am the healthiest I have ever been and I am not sorry, my stomach troubles are gone and I am enjoying exploring all the new foods I can have.

No but Pamela's brownies are to die for. And not bad in the health department, with brown rice flours and other good ingredients.

I like the Betty Crocker brownies, haven't tried any others. They're super easy to make too, which is a huge plus for me, since I'm always looking for shortcuts to cooking. I like to say it's because I'm busy though, and not just because I'm lazy and don't like spending bunches of time in the kitchen when there is soooo much other stuff to do.

Just wondering, anyone have something to do for cream of mushroom soup? I used to cook with campbells cream soups all the time, and that is something we've really been missing. Wondered if anyone has any alternatives or recipes that can get me that result, so I can add it to things and make some of the stuff I used to be able to. So far haven't found anything at stores here that is a gluten free cream of mushroom or chicken.

Check this out.

http://www.glutenfreecookingschool.com/archives/how-to-make-gluten-free-cream-of-mushroom-soup/

Hey..I am wanting to go Gluten free because of some stomach issues I have. I have not been properly diagnosed but can tell you some symptoms for me are stomach/left side pain after certain foods. and I will also get a headache on the backside of my head if I eat some wheat products. Does this sound like a Gluten problem? i had some major pain about a month ago in my upper ab...like my intestines were being squeezed. The doc ran a ultra sound and it showed nothing so she ignored it and told me if it comes abck we will do more test....thing is... I dont want it to EVER come back. It was painful! So What CAN you eat and what should I avoid? I think this will help me. thanks.

Heys!

***First, for MFP newbies, we're just about at 500 posts, so don't lose us! We'll be popping over to Gluten Free - part 2 shortly. If you can't find us when that happens just go back into the Food and Nutrition section of the forum and look.

2nd - Holly thanks for the cream of mush soup recipe. I too have been missing cream of X soups!

Crys - did you have any gallbladder issues? You'll get abdominal pains in the same area you mentioned usually following ingestion of really fatty meals for gall bladder issues (since you didn't say what foods you ate). If you think it's gluten, watch out for products that contain wheat, rye, and barley. Make sure you read labels dillegently, as wheat is found in some funny places! In some cases, oats can be offending too. There are a bunch of gluten free foods out there - I generally find them in the organic section. Try it out for a week or so and see how you feel. I ate a bagel after about a week of being gf and I felt icky again, so I knew I had some gluten issues.

Painted - OOOH! Thanks for the mention of the bob's bread. I'm German and I miss my breads! I'll have to look for the pumpernickle! And I'm so glad you said you used the breadmachine. I have been afraid that mine will just gather dust.

Braunschweiger and salami I'm coming for you! And a nice Red Bridge...holy hell my life is finally starting to feel normal again.

So much for losing weight! hahahaha

EDIT - Found a line of GF cream of soups: http://www.healthvalley.com/products/soupschilis.php#specialty in case you can find them or don't have time to cook.

Hey everyone, I'm tagging this for later.

I don't have any stomach issues but the family is going Gluten Free and Casein Free to see if it helps our Autistic son. Luckily, they really like the brown rice bread and don't mind having french fries or mashed potatoes in lieu of couscous or macaroni (though they still ask for Chef Boyardee ravioli every now and then).

What do you do about candy? They don't eat it too often but it's nice to have every once in a while (especially at gatherings when everyone else is having some).

Here's a nice list of gluten free snacks from the celiac society. It's nice cause if you can't have cake you can comfort yourself with ice cream or a snickers bar
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:skd_AR_6--UJ:www.celiaccentral.org/SiteData/docs/Gluten-Free-Candy-List/370e802df5a4b099ad419d940cf8fe22/Gluten-Free-Candy-List.pdf+gluten+free+candy&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESixXUHcPK_9vGsaePr43v3LtzlxlUdKw1xhNdiU_wEn9f9DpA45TuCwNX2cWfUdKTXUrRvxxIqXxReAq_HjGk_y41jrnYfQXTw4XLFSa4STgUP2_tENm4S0L9w57LvryaaB_QXz&sig=AHIEtbQMXGzb3wrGojtD5rx5M4K3vYedkg