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Making the most of wheat! [coeliacs]
Anarchy Rules!
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I've just received a preliminary diagnosis of coeliacs disease, after my anaemia was picked up when I tried to donate blood.
However to confirm the diagnosis I need to have a biopsy, which is scheduled for a months time. If I test positive, which blood tests indicate I will, I won't/shouldn't eat wheat and gluten for the rest of my life.
Therefore in the period between now and then, I want to make the most of wheat, and was wondering dishes, meals or drinks I should try whilst I have the opportunity.
It should be noted I'm quite a big fan of real ale and cakes!
However to confirm the diagnosis I need to have a biopsy, which is scheduled for a months time. If I test positive, which blood tests indicate I will, I won't/shouldn't eat wheat and gluten for the rest of my life.
Therefore in the period between now and then, I want to make the most of wheat, and was wondering dishes, meals or drinks I should try whilst I have the opportunity.
It should be noted I'm quite a big fan of real ale and cakes!
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One of my best friends cannot eat gluten; it's inconvenient more than anything but you can work around it and find lots of substitute ingredients at health food stores to make your own bread etc.
If you think you'll really miss it, then you can eat it after you've been diagnosed with the same risks as before.
My wife has Celiac disease, and she found out shortly before I met her but was still eating wheat when I met her, so this advice comes from experience...
You may actually want to use this time, instead of gorging yourself on glutenous materials, learning to get used to the ... sometimes alternative... tastes and textures that come with non-glutenous versions of products like bread, pasta, etc. You'll also notice, if you do have celiac disease, that you don't feel sick and irregular all of the time... which apparently is a very good thing.
Kinnikinnick sells fairly good sugary foods (donuts, etc...) that are gluten free, but you'll definitely never have a light and fluffy donut again. These are more like cakes.
P.F. Changs, Uno's, and some other restaurant chains have begun to cater to the celiac crowd and come up with Gluten Fre menus. Try them out, they're really not as bad as you'd think!
Tinkyada makes, by far, the most excellent gluten free pasta. It's the only brand my wife and I have ever come across that doesn't turn into a syrupy goop when cooked, and retains some al dente form.
Beware pre-created gluten free breads. They are, mostly, horrible. EnerG's bread is more like pieces of stiff cardboard... Kinnikinnick sells moderately well tasting but poor textured bread... and GF bread from places like Whole Foods will cost you upwards of 10$/loaf, which is unreasonable. You're better off getting a Kitchenaid mixer capable of dealing with the heavier mixes of GF breads and finding a good recipe.
Lastly, head to The Celiac Forums to get more advice from people.
Better to take this time to try new GF things mixed in with your normal diet if you so desire, just in case. That way you can feel like you have a jump on things.
That's the wrong approach there...
I have celiacs.
I have it so bad that my skin falls off if I so much come in contact with wheat, but I'm not the norm.
The fact is, they don't tell you to stop eating wheat altogether for fun, it's for your own damn good.
Right now, when you eat a sandwich, all the gluten in the bread is causing your intestinal lining to die. You can't absorb any sort of nutrients from your food, and it increases your risk of cancer.
The best diagnosis for celiac disease is to stop eating wheat for awhile and see how you feel. Then go back and eat a giant bowl of something with wheat and see if you want to die after.
If you stop eating wheat now and figure out that it's what is making you anemic, you can head off having a biopsy, which is arguably worse than not eating wheat for the rest of your days.
Amazon.com has a fantastic selection of gluten free food, and free delivery if your order is >$25.
Bob's Red Mill makes delicious amazing pizza crust mix that you can't tell is different from regular bread. I use it for making pizza, breadsticks, bread, cinnamon rolls... anything!
I even found tortellini online.
I can't tell you the last time I had tortellini.
You can get gluten free beer too. Living like a normal person while not eating wheat is very possible, but an adventure sometimes!
They cast a shadow like a sundial in the morning light. It was half past 10.
This.
This is a VERY bad thing.
Almost happened to my wife.
You. do. not. want.
Unless the idea of an entirely liquid diet for the rest of your life appeals to you!
They cast a shadow like a sundial in the morning light. It was half past 10.
The only advertised gluten free beer I've seen was $19.75 for a 6 pack.
Everything that everyone here has said is true. Unfortunately, doctors seem to suffer from a lack of joined up thinking when it comes to biopsies for coeliacs disease, scheduling them far in the future and refusing to acknowledge a problem with that. If the OP cuts out the gluten completely from now, the biopsy result will be inconclusive or negative - because the villi will have recovered, because they're not eating wheat.
So don't cut it out completely, if you feel okay enough to eat it, but definitely ease off on it for all the reasons everyone here has said.
For the record, I'm probably coeliac, but haven't been able to have a biopsy to confirm due to the fact I'm also allergic to it. Not eating wheat is the solution in either case, but I wasn't able to go for the biopsy because I wasn't able to eat gluten at all in the run-up to it.
You're shopping in the wrong place if you're doing it in BC.
Head to Seattle, or even Portland. Oregon is a beer-lover's heaven.
Microbrews everywhere, with a fair number of gluten-free ones and they're damn tasty.
(I live in Richmond BC, lei ho ma)
They cast a shadow like a sundial in the morning light. It was half past 10.
The blood test, while positive, only showed a mild case of the disease. In regards to the topic I was more thinking about substituting say a generic beer like fosters with a new real ale. But nevermind!