Newly diagnosed coeliac. Final hurrah?

[ilovefrenchfancies]

I’m going to be waiting quite a while to see a gastro doc to discuss and I imagine I’ll be waiting a long time to see a dietician. A “normal” diet doesn’t cause me any serious symptoms ie I can eat gluten and not suffer significant gastro symptoms etc. But, I know I need to go GF now the diagnosis has been confirmed.

I’m now thinking, obviously, about all the things I love that I’ll no longer be able to eat. So I want to have a few weeks as a “final hurrah” to my old food life. Things like French Fancies, as per my user name. Maltesers, fish and chips from the chippy, sweet and sour chicken balls, tempura, HP sauce. Yes my diet is going to be crap for a while, but I’m not quite ready to say goodbye to this stuff yet. I’m really sad today about it all.
Did anyone else do this when you got your diagnosis?

Some chippies have GF days when they change the oil, this is definitely still on the menu. I hope one near you does this!

Why kill your gut?

The earlier you to move to accepting that your food eating life has changed for ever the easier it will be.

If you want to splash out spend the time and money working out how you can cook nice tasting food with no gluten.

And begin asking around for food places which understand gluten free
Eg our local chippie has a gluten free cook area eg so chips are the same just out of a GF oil fryer and where they can do GF batter etc they do.

My DP did this and I hate to say it he still regrets it 16 years later!
there are a lot of chippies round here that offer gluten free options and they’re actually better than the gluten containing ones. We have a Chinese that offers GF as well.
not all GF substitutes are terrible the warburtons soft pittas are very nice and I actually can’t really tell the difference plus they’re pretty versatile
morrisons and Tesco GF frozen pizzas are good for a quick tea.
it really depends on what you like to eat but when I’m with him we just eat GF options and I really don’t mind. The GF lasagne sheets are nicer that the gluten ones in my opinion so I use them all the time. Rumo also do a very good pasta if you like that.
supermarkets are getting much better at having their own ranges and there’s a couple of apps to use when shopping to make things a bit easier too.

Dont.

You might be kicking yourself in 30 years.
Osteoarthritis etc is no joke

There are fantastic GF options put there. Really good ones. Warburton GF bread shocked me.

Why does he regret it? What did that last couple of weeks of “normality” do? Up to today, I’ve eaten anything and everything.
Right now it feels like a “last supper” gluten filled meal or two will help me mentally. I know that sounds dramatic, but I’m genuinely struggling today.

Oh bless you, I'm sorry you're struggling - I think it's perfectly normal to do so - it's a big life change. 🤗

Having said that, don't worry too much - as PPs said, the supermarkets are much more geared up to GF alternatives now - I find their pastas are fine, and less bloating that the wheat alternative! Wraps can be good too, and I eat rice, quinoa, potatoes of all kinds... GF cakes can be pretty good, and biscuits, if you shop carefully... oat cakes are lovely and easy...

If you're looking for a farewell binge on anything, I'd say bread, especially white - that's the only thing that isn't the same GF... you'll probably find you eat less bready things after a while... GF bread is to real bread as AF red wine is to real wine... they ain't got it right yet! 😄

Supermarkets can have lots of things like sausages or curries or crisps that aren't marketed as GF but are. Conversely, I have found eating out to be a ball ache, they put wheat in stupid things that don't need it... When you think that wheat is often used as a cheap filler, it becomes less appealing...

But you may find you feel so much better than before, in ways that you didn't realise, that you're happy to go without!

Good luck! There's a lot of us living happily GF! 🙂

I get it, the idea of missing out on so many things can easily fill us with dread but, honestly, nearly all things can be bought or made GF and you will be surprised.

Monty and Vito's Diner (currently orders are via social media but she's setting up a proper website) does the most excellent pastries and she does french fancies.

The trouble is, I don't think it will help you mentally. I've been gf for nearly 30 years and it still sucks. I won't tell you any bollocks about not being able to tell the difference between gf bread/pasta and normal because it just isn't true (cakes are a different matter) - they are hugely better than they were, but in no way the same.
But the hard bit is staring at a menu and trying to work out the least worst option between the uninteresting gf options. Your friends suggesting going to a naice italian restaurant and knowing you'll have risotto again. Staring at a buffet thinking about it being green salad again.
Don't get me wrong, I felt a million times better once I was gf, and accidental glutening makes me sick as a dog, but you don't forget what it was like to go into a shop and just buy what you want.
Instead, use the time to get the hang of asking the boring and embarrassing questions about shared fryers, connect with other local gf people so when you want to go to an event you can crowd source the information on what you can eat (like the NEC say there is gf food at the arena, but no one has actually ever found it), and find which things you want to substitute and which are just not worth it for you

Thanks! To be honest I don’t each much bread, I never have. That’s one thing I’m not too worried about.
Eating out is something that I definitely am worried about. I love good food, going to restaurants, food stalls, local food on a city break. I live in an area where you’d expect there to be decent GF dining options but it seems like I’d have to stick to the few chains we have that I’m not that on. Bloody hell

Im going to check out your French fancy lady though!

Just realised I quoted the wrong post re French fancies! Thanks so much for the tip.

Sorry to butt in... I have coeliac disease and recently diagnosed with osteoarthritis. All I read says there is no connection. Am I.missing something? Or did you mean osteoporosis?

Sorry OP. Between my blood test and endoscopy I made a list and ate all the foods I thought I would never be able to eat again - favourite biscuits, Krispy kreme donoughts, Chinese duck and pancakes, baguettes etc...

Two years on, I happily walk past the biscuits cakes bread and snacks aisles in the supermarket without any thought. With regards crap snacky foods there's always something I can buy that's safe if I want it.

What I miss is cake in a cafe with a coffee or cup of tea. Ordering coffee without having to ask about oat milk cross contamination. Eating from street food stalls at an event or on holidays. Spontaneous eating out. Eating out with friends and family and not feeling awkward and weird. It's rubbish. It's manageable but still rubbish.

I was a silent coeliac too but when I gave up gluten, lots of niggley things disappeared like headaches and frozen shoulder, acid indigestion, bloating and I now feel energetic. I would often have to flop on the sofa after a day out. So, for me, it's enough of a motivation to keep myself gluten free and well.

Thanks for your post, I really appreciate it. I’m getting more and more stressed at the thought of starting GF, which I’m likely to do in the next cup of weeks. There’s a post in AIBU at the moment which isn’t helping.
The friends and family I tell don’t really seem to get the enormity of it. Yes I’ll need to stop eating bread and cakes (or rather normal ones). But it’s the wider challenge of eating out, eating at friend’s houses and cross contamination that they don’t get. So many have basically said that a little bit won’t do me any harm, implying I’m catastrophising when I say I will only be able to go to “safe” restaurants. One suggested our local vegan restaurant will be fine. No it won’t, vegan food does not automatically mean GF, far from it!
It feels like I’m making a big deal out of nothing. But it’s not nothing. It’s really bloody horrible.

It's a tough thing to face OP and you have my sympathy, but no, I wouldn't have two more weeks of eating gluten.

If I got cancer in the future, I wouldn't want to know I'd knowingly done anything that might have contributed. (That's my feelings). I've been diagnosed coeliac for 46 years.

Can I also ask you one more thing? As a “silent coeliac” do you now get symptoms of you’re accidentally glutened? If so, how much does it take? This seems to be the experience of many people of blogs / FB groups that I’ve looked at.

Make sure you read the lables on everything. Gluten gets into all sorts of things you don't expect. Soy sauce, chocolate etc can be unfortunate hiding places. Things that are naturally gluten free are often nicer, such a rice noodles instead of wheat substitute spaghetti. If you have a Pho restaurant near you, most of their menu is gf.

I'd go out for a meal without worrying what's in it, I miss that a lot. And some really nice flaky pastry - that's something that I find the hardest to replicate gluten free
Completely understand wanting a last hurrah. While I was waiting for my gastroscopy I ate weetabix every day for about two weeks - i don't even like weetabix, it was just the thought that I'd never be able to eat it again.

Since being off gluten I've been very tuned into my body - if that makes sense. Now I feel good on the food I eat, I noticed when I feel less than 100%. I realised I was lactose intolerant too.

I believe I've only been glutened through 'may contains' items. Which I avoid but have been caught out a few times. I don't vomit or anything drastic or immediate but end up with vertigo,for like a hangover that doesn't go away for a day or two or three. I get a headache and bloating and sore joints.

It is difficult to make family understand. I'd send them as many videos and official information you can find in the coeliac UK site. There's a video that does the rounds on Instagram which likens gluten to raw chicken to help people understand how even a tiny spec matters.

Sorry you're going through this. On the upside, for me at least, I get great pleasure from food I can eat and if something is thoughtful and carers for me or In eat out somewhere safe, I don't take it for granted. When something is deprived, you appreciate it more when you have it. Not that I'd rather have coeliac disease than not, just pointing out I'm not spending all my time pinning or thinking about what I'm not having.

Sorry for typos. I'm using a swipey keyboard on my phone. Hope that made sense.

Croissants!! Coeliac here and these are the only things I really miss. Eat all of the croissants now

Don't do it. The problems from eating gluten are not always instant but you are storing up long term risks from eating it as it is damaging your body even if it doesn't give you symptoms.