First of all, I hope you're really doing fine. I have my own health issues too and it helps to stick on a diet that might improve your very situation. Check out http://wwwMealplans4thefamily.com/ for gluten free meals and meal planning menus helpful to your condition. It never comes to boring but interesting and delicious.
Both DD and I are gluten and dairy free (I have fibro too, though the diet is not for that reason funnily enough). Dire consequences if we eat either. I've been GF and dairy free for coming up ... 30 years All I can tell you is that it definitely gets easier and becomes second nature - although, having said that, like most people outside the US, we prepare and cook almost all our meals at home anyway. Pinterest is a good source of ideas
I am almost Gluten free, (have a bran cereal I hold onto)! I love it so far...lol 3 weeks in! I need the cheese and bran! bhahhwwh...but my biggest change in GF is my nose stopped dripping? coincidencE? maybe, but my joints (especially knees and lower back feel way better too) and I prepare and cook all my meals at home too silly @LynnG, but do know many don't here in my neck of the woods. I am an enigma!
My 12 year old daughter has multiple food allergies including wheat and dairy. First of all, I suggest not thinking of it as "restricting." There are are still plenty of foods other than wheat and dairy products. I avoid dairy too because the 2 years of avoiding it so I could continue breastfeeding my daughter led to my becoming lactose intolerant. I used to love cheese and ice cream. Pizza was the last thing I gave up, years after I determined that I was intolerant and had stopped everything else dairy. Like someone else said, the early weeks are the hardest. Except for the pizza, I didn't miss cheese or ice cream at all after several weeks. Also like someone else said, avoiding restaurants, at least in the beginning is a good idea. Too many temptations. Find recipes and new foods and cooking methods to try. Your tastes will evolve. I can promise that, having experienced it. Edited to add: My daughter's meals are mostly meat, fruit, and veggie. She uses just a little gluten free bread and coconut based dairy alternatives. She dines in restaurants with little trouble too. We just emphasize "just the meat and veggies" and keep it away from bread and dairy stuff. Oh, and she has become quite proficient in cooking eggs, one of her favorite foods, in a variety of ways.
Well I've been semi lactose free for several years and after a discussion with my dr she wants me to cut out refined sugar and try a low fodmap diet to hopefully eliminate some niggling reactions that aren't related to lactose...been doing some reading and boy am I confused, I think it's mainly cause I'm not a confident cook
It's not easy, but you can do it, especially when you find those foods that don't make you feel good. hang in there! I've been gluten, soy, dairy, nut, egg & meat free for over 3 years, and I've never felt better. Thankfully I can eat all the fish and seafood that I want! My body just can't process the proteins. The hardest part is having to find those "hidden" ingredients in packaged foods. It's amazing how soy is in almost everything out there. I eat it, I get sick. Same with gluten. The other things I'm to avoid, so I don't eat eggs, but I'm ok if eggs are in something. The first year was torture. The second was better. Now it doesn't bother me to watch my family eat what I can't because I know how miserable I will be if I eat those foods. I know where to eat and what to avoid. Restaurants are usually very helpful when you ask if menu items can be changed to fit your needs. Sometimes they even have a secret menu that you can order from. And if I can't eat anything? They're fine with it. I just drink a glass of water, then feast when I get home. I usually cook two meals, one for the family and one for me. They shouldn't be restricted by what I can't eat, although they will eat my food without complaining. Besides, "their" food is so much easier to make! The biggest test is when we go to Europe. Thankfully we'll be in Scandinavia, where there's lots and lots of fish. Yay! But I'm bringing along a lot of snacks, just in case.
I've been mostly dairy free for a long time. I can still eat cheese in small amounts but absolutely no milk, yogurt, or ice cream. Our local Cold Stone Creamery stores have a water-based hibiscus sorbet that I love. It's not the same as their yummy ice cream but it is cold and sweet and yummy. Hubby and I were doing gluten free for June to see if it helped some of our tummy issues but that totally went by the wayside when my sister and nephew came to visit. Two days of eating gluten again after just a week without it and I can seriously tell a difference. I want to keep my gluten to very small amounts and rarely. I've tried various forms of "free" eating and I think the most significant thing that makes me feel better has been artificial sweetener free. I love vegan and paleo and gluten free recipes although I am none of those all the time. I just like healthy foods. We mostly eat meat or fish and veggies but I have to have 15g of carb with each meal and snack or I get hypoglycemia. So frustrating! It is much easier to not eat certain foods when they make you miserable. You get used to it quickly. I'm a sweets person so I use Chocolate Covered Katie's recipes and cookbook (she has a blog). No refined sugars has really changed my taste buds. Now if I do eat something with refined sugar it tastes weird and too sweet. I love CCK's black bean brownies!
It takes awhile, but after you are gluten and dairy free you will feel so much better. Now when I look at a sandwich or a big hunk of cheese, I know if I eat it I will suffer for it so I walk away.
