Anyone with Celiac Disease?

Question

My husband was misdiagnosed with IBS, and we believe (after research) that he actually has Celiac's Disease. My question is: How realistic is it to keep this under control with diet alone?? How hard is it going to be for him? He loves food and if anyone has some resources for recipes or diet tips, I would really appreciate it. Thank you.

Oh, and its estimated that millions of Americans have it and are misdiagnosed as having IBS. Something to think about. :)

I am in the U.S.

Answer 1

Oh! This is my area of expertise! My sister, brother, and I all have Celiac disease. Once you get started on the right track, maintaining a gluten-free lifestyle is easy. You have to disinfect all of your utensils and stuff first to get rid of the gluten. Any porous utensil, appliance, pan, etc. that has touched gluten cannot be used for preparing gluten-free food. I'm sure that your husband will have an easy time with a gluten-free diet; my brother can do it and he's still in elementary school. Eating gluten-free keeps Celiac disease under control quite effectively. But you always have to be careful of gluten contamination. I'm gonna give you a few links to Celiac sites. There are so many newsletters that you can subscribe to that include gluten free recipes. This site should give you more info on that. Also, you can convert virtually any recipe that has gluten in it to a gluten-free recipe. Just replace the wheat flour (or whatever other gluten substance there may be) with a corresponding amount of gluten-free replacements (like rice flour or tapioca starch). To any converted recipe (for baked goods), add xanthan gum to make it rise. Large chain supermarkets like Giant Eagle and Heinens are adding gluten-free sections to their selections. A lot of places carry gluten-free beer, too. I recommend your husband trying out the gluten-free lifestyle before going through the diagnosing process (it's pretty brutal) and see if it works. I don't know how much info your doctor gave you about Celiac disease, but just in case, gluten is the protein that Celiacs can't digest. And when shopping gluten-free, once you discover what brands are gluten-free, stick to them and get comfortable with that brand (it saves time). Have your husband meet with a dietician. They will cover all the bases of Celiac disease.

http://www.celiac.com/st_main.html?p_catid=32
http://www.glutenfreemall.com/

Oh yeah, at allrecipes.com, you can customize your search so that only gluten-free recipes show up.

Answer 2

Celiac disease is always inherited. It is a genetic, and is triggered by an event in one's life, such as an illness, stress, pregnancy, divorce, etc. It can kick in at any point in one's life, and can have symptoms, or it can have no noticeable symptoms. With or without symptoms, celiacs does damage to one's small intestine, causing malnutrition and a long list of other problems. There is no known cure at this time other than a gluten free diet, which takes a bit of work, but is very manageable. I have two children with celiacs, and they are happy, healthy and thriving on the GF diet.

Answer 3

My sister has it and controls it easily with diet alone. In England a lot of special foods are available free for celiacs through the National Health Service

Answer 4

Coeliac/Celiac
its pretty expensive to maintain the diet, but if it needs to be done, then its what you need to do.
I waste so much time at the shops ensuring I purchase items without gluten, wheat etc and in the end my food bill is so high for a limited amount of items but if i dont buy them and buy normal food, then i get sick.

Theres a really good book for gluten/wheat etc intolerant people (coeliac disease) which tells you what you can eat without worries. I bought this book and i found it worthwhile.
Good luck =)

Answer 5

Yes, I am a Coeliac, it is something that you must not ignore, you must stay away from any food with gluten or wheat, I will give you the address of a company that delivers good gluten free nosh..... Lifestyle Health care limited, customer care # 01491 570 000 ask for an order form, or, www.gfdiet.com

They do Pie's, pasties, crumpets, cakes, all kind of goodies.

Answer 6

You can control it completely with diet. Have a look at a book called Gut Solutions by Brenda Watson. Its an American book.

Answer 7

my customers with Celiac use herbalife shakes as part of their diet, as shakes are free from gluten, yeast and wheat stuff

Answer 8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeliac_disease