blankiefinder wrote: »

How careful you need to be depends on if you have Celiac disease. I always recommend that no one go gluten free without getting a blood test for celiac disease markers first.

Personally, I have to be extremely careful.

I agree- I did the Celiac blood test long before I gave up gluten. Best thing ever. If you don't and you find that gluten is causing you issues, you have to go back on it for 6 weeks before being able to take it. I don't have Celiac disease. I do have Hashimotos thyroiditis which causes some fun reactions with gluten but the main reason I'm gluten free is I'm allergic to wheat. Now because I already did the blood testing, my dr said no point in doing it again. She also figured my eczema & dermititis was definitive of an allergy so why waste money, time, and pain when I already know that something makes me feel like ****? And honestly, I couldn't bare to go back on gluten/wheat for 6 weeks when it makes me feel so awful.

Although I don't have to be extremely careful, I am. I like the me that has energy, that doesn't have joint pain, that doesn't have sores on my scalp, eczema on every inch of my skin, and that has so so so much less digestion issues. So, I look for the tick, I often double check online, and unless I've verified with the manufacturers I don't touch anything that could have wheat in it.

Now if you have a LOT of digestion issues I really suggest you look into the FODMAP diet en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FODMAP and maybe ask your gp for some help with it if you need it. My dietitian put me on to it and it's just helped me so much. Like 90% of my issue was wheat, but the other 10% isn't. I'm still figuring out other issues but I've found that onions, possibly garlic, inulin, and possibly high fructose foods may cause me IBS symptoms. I'm not sure what kind of "issues" you're dealing with but if they're similar to IBS, it could be worth it.

Risking cross contamination while going out to eat is as far as I go. I used to never even risk that, but now my work involves a fair amount of vendor wining and dining and out of town training so it gets old eating salad and fruit when they're trying to buy you something more substantive. I never cheat (as in eating something that contains gluten) though.

I greatly prefer eating at home where my bride and I can control everything in the kitchen.

I have a rare opportunity to see how compliant I have been: because of increasing non-cardiac chest pain, I had an EGD yesterday. They even biopsied the esophagus and the small bowel. Everything was normal in appearance, so the biopsy results are something I am nervously anticipating. If those come back normal, then I will know I really am as careful as I should be when I go out to eat.

If they show damage, then I will have to return to the days of salads only when I go out.

I was never tested for Celiac's. I had such a marked improvement upon going GF it seemed unnecessary to do more testing. I am very careful. I get quite sick if I eat things made on shared equipment. I also try to make all my baked goods as I've found they don't make me feel bloat-y the way the items with xantham gum do.

When you're doing the elimination diet you won't get an accurate answer if you aren't incredibly strict. Just FYI

I don't have Celiac's but my aunt does. She is meticulous and must to be to maintain her health. I'm only gluten intolerant, so shared facilities isn't a big deal for me. However, if I have a whole piece of regular bread everything *ahem* rushes out the other end for the next 24 hours after it hits my stomach.

If you're doing an elimination diet to see if gluten is bugging your stomach, be meticulous. If it helps you after those 4 weeks of elimination, get yourself to a doctor to get checked out to ensure it's not Celiac's or some other issue. For me, my body just doesn't like gluten anymore for some unknown reason which sucks because I used to love baking my own bread and pastries. SIGH.

Canadjineh I concur. Screw the elimination diet, just get tested. Or just decide to cut it out and keep it out. Going back on is murder if you are intolerant.

On another note, my biopsy results came back negative in the small bowel, meaning I am eating a compliant GF diet (yay!). On the other hand, my esophagus biopsy showed tissue eosephinols, which may mean a food allergy. Guess which foods are the primary cause of eosephinols in esophogeal tissue? Dairy, eggs, soy, and wheat. For years I avoided all of those but recently started eating eggs soy and dairy again. Looks like I may have to eliminate one or all of them permanently.

Celiac causes so many other conditions to manifest themselves. Makes me sick (pun intended).

So I tested positive for most markers... one was negative. I've found that over time I can be less careful than before... however, recently found that I gain with "cheating", even a small amount causes bloating, actual weight gain and fluid retention, although less violent pain than before. I have also noticed a couple of other problems, including soy, and bananas causing abdominal distress and severe itching in mouth more like a true allergy... so alas, I'm back to square one, trying over again to be much more cautious, and considering further allergy testing - although common sense says if I eat and it hurts me, I should avoid it...

Canadjineh you're probably right about trying organic dairy and eggs..