Celiac Disease (Read 908 times)

My grandmother has been diagnosed with celiac disease. It took so long for her to diagnose that it is very advanced and they think she might have cancer as a result of the lack of treatment (her doctor had diagnosed as acid reflux ) Does anyone else have this? Any recommended foods? Her doctor recommended that all blood relatives get tested, so my mom has asked that I do so whenever I get blood drawn again, although I understand the chances of relatives having it aren't good. However, they'd rather find it on an asymptomatic person than someone like my grandmother who has been absolutely miserable sick.

Yes, do have yourself checked too. Celiac disease is underdiagnosed and reasonably common. It can be lowly symptomatic. There are several blood tests. Discuss these with your doctor. You may need more than one test run. That said, if you do not have celiac disease, there is no need for you to eliminate gluten for your diet.

4 Feet Running is a podcast I subscribe to. Nic, two of the four feet running, has this and talked about it the past couple months. She cut out gluten and if I remember correctly, this has helped her. I found it on itunes if anyone is interested.

No problem--its nice to be able to help people the way I was helped when I first was diagnosed and discovered my celiac father had no idea what he was doing. It is hard to change, but she'll be feeling great soon. I'll keep her in my thoughts as they do the cancer testing. A few other things that may help her: 1. Don't try the pre-made breads. If you are used to toast, you'll be miserable. After 2 years on the diet, I'm adjusting, but someone I teach band with (also celiac) recommended buying a breadmaker and making it--it comes out much better according to her. 2. That being siad, a lot of the "gluten free" versions of favorite foods actually come out very close to real foods, and can be bought at your grocery store or a health foods store. I love Bob's red mill gluten free flour (as long as she does not have a peanut allergy--it contains garbanzo, which can cause a cross sensitivity). I use it like normal flour in recipes and usually have to add an extra tablespoon or so per cup, and things come out great. For cake mixes, look for the GLUTEN FREE cherrybrook farms brand (they have nut free as well, so the boxes are easily confused). Whole foods brand is pretty good as well. I order my muffins, cinnamon rolls, donuts, and other treats from a canadian website: http://kinnikinnick.com/ They ship to the US and Canada, and the foods are great. Keep an eye out for gluten free pizza, we have 3 places where I live that serve it. For beer (if she drinks), redbridge is my favorite gluten free version. Woodchuck cider is also great. Pasta: I'm italian, so this was the worst transition, and I often make mine from scratch. Tinkyada is one of the better "rice" pastas, but use the "soak method", where you boil the pasta for 5 mins or so, then turn off and let it soak for another 20 in the hot water. You get a more al dente flavor rather than mush. I prefer corn elbows for mac n' cheese, and quinoa pasta is good, albeit a bit heavy. Yoplait yogurt and stonyfield farms yogurts are gluten free. Hope these recommendations help. Most of the time I stick with proteins, veggies, and other starches, but it is nice to have a "normal person" treat once in a while.

Awesome! I'm sharing this info with my mom. This is a super help!

I am not a celiac but strive for gluten free. Strive is the key word. I admit I don't watch every morsel like celiacs must. But I try to!! I got Gluten Free for Dummies from the library. Very helpful. They say there are 250 symptoms gluten can cause. Gluten for me leads to emotional issues. I can see depression signs in less than 24 hours after consuming a healthy plate of it. For my husband, he gets dizzy spells that are relentless. So... I have several Gluten Free Gourmet cookbooks but my favorite is Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts. The bread in there is better than the GF Gourmet's (imo). Also agree with the recommendation of kinnikinnick. Yummy pizza crust there! Kinnikinnick is in our local grocery store - a few items. Frozen foods section. With the pizza (and K's burger/dog buns too, I think), pop the crust in the mic for15 sec first before you do anything else to it. Makes a huge difference.

Why would you avoid gluten if you don't have celiac?

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Hey, great news, Kerry! What a huge relief for you.