Update on my husbands IBS

Removing gluten from our lives is going relatively well. We found several types of gluten free baking mixes at Woods and at Aldi, the Aldi mixes were a lot better than the ones we found at Woods, I felt, and gluten free brownies are AMAZING!! Woods does sell a good gluten free bread in their frozen section, though, at a whopping $5 for half a loaf. Wal-mart has a small section of gluten free items, including pasta, organic macaroni and cheese, cereal, and a few more baking mixes. The pasta, made from rice, cooks faster than wheat noodles and faster even than what the box said so they turned out kind of mushy but other than that they were edible. Those are the stores that are closest to us, but they have more choices in bigger stores like Hy-Vee and Price Cutter.

When you have IBS, it really is hard to tell what is going on. You could be having problems with an ulcer, a gluten allergy that affects your intestines, a lactose allergy, or a combination of the three. My husband has, we believe, a gluten allergy and an ulcer.  For anyone that has HAD to change their lifestyle for a gluten allergy, they know it can be difficult. First, you pretty much can’t eat ANYTHING. EVERYTHING has gluten in it. Then you start figuring it out, networking and learning where the best places around are to get gluten free items. But they still don’t taste the same as gluten items. And it’s hard when everyone else around you is eating gluten. Boss brought donuts to work? Too bad, you can’t have any. Your favorite taco truck is in town and everyone is raving about the blueberry empanadas, but you have to have a taco on a corn tortilla. Maybe you even look for ways to try to get out of it, like discovering that peptic ulcers can mimic gluten and lactose intolerance. Peptic ulcer treatment excludes acidy foods, alcohol, caffeine, soda, pretty much anything that can irritate your stomach. But like I said before, it could be a combination of things, not one thing specifically. With all the terrible things we eat these days, it is very likely that we all have a least a small ulcer. But if you are one of the people who think you may have a peptic ulcer instead of being gluten free, please don’t just switch back to gluten. Do your things to treat the ulcer and when you have that under control, THEN you can test with small amounts of gluten.  Remember, just because you don’t have reaction the next day, or even two days later, gluten builds up in the intestines and can sometimes take a few days for it start affecting you again. Take it slow and don’t just jump back onto the gluten train. You’re body will thank you. :)

Using flour alternatives for thickening

Finding foods we can all eat without gluten is difficult. But it becomes exceedingly more difficult with all the hidden sources of gluten.  I went to make one of my sisters recipes, Rice-a-weanies, which calls for cheddar cheese soup, milk, rice, and hot dogs. Seems pretty simple right? And everybody loves it.  We’ve had it before, but not since we went gluten free.  I get all of the stuff together and then check the labels just in case... A good thing too because right at the top of the ingredient list on the cheddar cheese soup is... you guessed it!  Wheat flour!  Ugh.  So my whole dinner plan is ruined. So I google homemade cheddar cheese soup and find a good recipe at busymominthekitchen.com. Only one problem: still calls for all purpose WHEAT flour. So BACK to google.  How to use corn starch to replace flour as a thickener, which brought me to Celiacdisease.about.com.  It said to substitute ½ as much corn starch as the recipe calls for flour. So if it calls for 2 tablespoons, only use one tablespoon. Also, don’t add the cornstarch directly, dilute it with water to make a sort of slurry and then add it in. Well, now we are back in business. Too bad it’s too late for me to go back to the store today.  Curse you gluten! Get out of my food!

Gluten Free to Combat IBS

My husband has been suffering from IBS for about three years now. He's been to the doctor, to the ER, and all they ever wanted to do (besides unnecessary diagnostic tests) was throw medicine at the problem. But it never helped and he would just end up at the ER again. This last time, they took a CT, which showed nothing, and gave him double the medication and a pain medication. After talking to friends on Facebook and finding a few friends who reported the same symptoms finding relief from a gluten free diet. I did a bunch of research and found out that gluten can cause A LOT of issues that can be disguised by other diagnosis. After much resistance, I FINALLY convinced him to try it. It's been 6 weeks now since he went COMPLETELY gluten free and went from vomiting every morning, having severe intestinal issues, and not even being able to work to waking up every morning with little to no symptoms and not missing a single day of work. I say little symptoms because gluten is tricky. You never know where you are going to find it. But for the most part, his symptoms are gone. Now the fun part, finding foods that he actually likes. Small sacrifice for having my husband back. :-)

How we did it:

1. Of course, the first thing you have to do is identify all the foods that contain gluten. Food packaging is usually (though not always) pretty good about indicating possible allergens in the food. Wheat gluten is what you want to watch out for, it will be listed as Wheat on the label under the ingredients. It can be in ANYTHING, even corn meal and soy sauce can contain wheat. Read labels CAREFULLY.
2. Go gluten free. It takes about 2-4 weeks to see improvement, so don't get discouraged. Your body has to get rid of the gluten still in your body before it can start to heal. And it is very easy to contaminate yourself with gluten. All it takes it being cooked in the same pan as gluten for you to get sick. The best way is for the whole household to go gluten free together to avoid cross-contamination. (We are still working on this, finding the best kind of flour to use instead of wheat and where to find it. We live in a small town with only one grocery store and it is limited.)
3.  At this point, if you are on any medications for IBS, slowly wean yourself off of them. With any medication, stopping suddenly may cause adverse reactions, so slower is better.
4. Identify hidden sources of gluten. Possible sources of contamination could be salad dressings, soup mixes, lipstick, certain vitamins, some preservatives, medications, envelope glue, stamps, Play-Doh. There may be more, but this is all I've found so far.
5. Find ways to enjoy being gluten free. A big problem my husband has is not having very many options of things to eat. With all bread off limits, your chooses narrow greatly. Fruits and vegetables are great of course, meat and fish and other proteins are still ok. We are still experimenting with ways to make the bread items with another type of flour. I've been told that you can usually replace all-purpose flour with almond flour and it act just about the same. We've tried mixes with rice flour but I didn't really care for it. It's really sticky and harder to get cooked all the way.

Easy Immune System Health has some good information, even symptom checklist, so check them out if you have more questions. Or ask me and I'll see what I can find out for you. Going gluten free is a huge life changing journey that you don't want to go at alone. Having a good support system is very important. If your family isn't behind you 100%, it will be more difficult. Good luck!!




Sources from this post include:
www.mindbodygreen.com
www.naturalnews.com