New to group & lifestyle

KDM1971
KDM1971 Posts: 2 Member
Hi Everyone, I just wanted to take a sec to introduce myself & say hi. After suffering for years with several auto-immune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritus, severe We discovered that I have several food intolerances, including wheat, dairy and egg. I'm making the switch to living gluten & dairy free and would love any advice, motivation, recipes...basically anything you think would help me continue on my new dietary path. Thanks in advance & I look forward to getting to know you all. Kerri

Replies

  • C1131
    C1131 Posts: 25 Member
    Hi Kerri,

    I'm also new to this group but I've been doing the funky diet thing for about 8 years. Congratulations on finding some reasons to change your diet and improve your health. This is a good time to be a 'special ed' eater. There are an amazing number of products and recipes to help you keep your goals. Let me know if there is anything in particular you are trying to replace. Here are a few of my favorites:

    Almond Breeze Coconut Milk Almond Milk blend (for my money this is the best milk replacement since I don't do soy) Get the sweetened version at 60 calories per 8 oz.
    Daiya products: this cheese-like substance is gluten free and melts!!! You can do pizza and grilled cheese with this stuff.
    Applegate farms makes some great pepperoni, salami and lunch meats that don't have traces of dairy.

    Udi's Gluten Free bread products. They have a wide variety and all except some of the cookies/desserts are dairy free. Good pizza crusts!!!
    Bob's Red Mill mixes. There are many options but I like these as they are typically cheaper and often lower fat & sugar

    AMAZON!!! There are tons of great allergen free foods available there. Orgran, Scharr, Zing, etc. So if you don't live in an area where specialty foods are readily available, order on line.

    Beware:
    I'm not sure how sensitive you are at this time, but as you decrease exposure, you are likely to become more sensitive to things gluten and dairy. If you are or become very sensitive: watch out for things like salami (lactic acid starter culture is typically from milk), chocolate made in the US almost always has diary protein in it (and I don't mean just the the milk chocolate, either).
    Also, keep checking ingredients. Manufacturers change their ingredients so even if it was OK last month, it might not be OK today. Worse, when a manufacturer changes their ingredients they have 6 months to update their packaging. If you have a bad reaction to something, it might not be your imagination.

    Retest!
    Not sure how you were diagnosed and if you feel better without gluten & dairy it doesn't matter. However, do consider retesting every once in a while. I avoid gluten dairy & soy. However, on my first time through an elimination diet I only discovered dairy & soy. Eventually I was good enough at keeping them out of my food that I realized I had symptoms from something else. Retested and had an outrageously positive reaction to gluten. I think initially I just had test burnout and didn't figure it out.

    Good luck! I know that for me figuring out my food sensitivities has been the most astonishingly positive thing I've done in my adult life. Gail
  • Hi Kerri and Gail,

    When I found out about all of my food allergies and sensitivities, it was a difficult transition because I didn't want to change how and what I was eating. I kept looking for replacements. Which were processed and full of hidden gluten sources, preservatives, "natural flavoring", and hidden dairy.

    READ Labels carefully. If you can, go whole food and make it yourself. After I had allergy testing done I kept having symptoms and found out I had a whole list of food sensitivities as well. When that didn't work I discovered that I had an histamine intolerance which I would have never figured out if I didn't keep a food and symptom journal while doing my elimation diet.

    Start and elimiation diet and keep a journal that tracks foods and symptoms.

    Here are a few links that helped me identify hidden sources of my food allergies and sensitivites:

    http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/hidden-sources-of-gluten

    http://www.godairyfree.org/food-and-grocery/food-label-info/hidden-dairy

    Also, educate yourself. The more you know about food allergies and intolerance symptoms the less pitfalls you will have.

    http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=diet&dbid=7

    http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=faq&dbid=30#how

    http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=diet&dbid=7

    It can be very overwhelming sorting this stuff out. Take your time. Do what you can as you can and just keep plugging away.