Here is the link talking about the products as well.
Showing posts with label celiac. Show all posts
Showing posts with label celiac. Show all posts
June 7, 2009
January 24, 2009
January 21, 2009
What a difference a year makes
It was a year ago today that Gina received the call saying that the bloodwork done on Natalie strongly suggested that she had celiac disease (which was confirmed a few weeks later with an endoscopy).
Since that phone call, Nattie has been gluten free. As you all know, life has changed for us in many ways because of that.
What I want to say with all this though is how blessed both Gina and I feel at this point.
Nattie has gone from surviving to thriving. The joy she had for life returned shortly after the diet change and she has grown so much that by the time May comes around she will likely be taller then the average four year old.
Considering she barely grew for an entire year and actually lost weight in 2007...that alone leaves me speechless.
Since that phone call, Nattie has been gluten free. As you all know, life has changed for us in many ways because of that.
What I want to say with all this though is how blessed both Gina and I feel at this point.
Nattie has gone from surviving to thriving. The joy she had for life returned shortly after the diet change and she has grown so much that by the time May comes around she will likely be taller then the average four year old.
Considering she barely grew for an entire year and actually lost weight in 2007...that alone leaves me speechless.
June 11, 2008
A chip off the old block
"In your eye"
When I got up this morning (at about 4:30) to deal with Nattie, I noticed that my head was not happy. Not only did I have a migraine, but I had the kind that shoots across your forehead and simultaneously throbs in your eye even if you aren't moving your head. At about 4:45 I took some Excedrin (which usually does the trick for me).
Not today. At 5:45 my head was still pounding / eye still throbbing.
Thankfully, by 6:15 it was subsiding and by the time I got to work I was feeling alright. The verdict is still out, however, if it is going to try and attack again today. Pieces of it are definitely still lingering.
Walking the line
Macie continues to show her "everything is going to be on my time" attitude. Last night, Gina and I watched her hold her balance standing up, crouch down part way, stand back up (without touching anything with her hands) and then take about six steps to me with ease.
Yet, she still has no intentions of walking anywhere right now. We can't even get her to walk back and forth between us very often anymore, even though she absolutely loves it when we clap for her afterwords.
Like mother / like daughter
Yesterday morning:
Natalie ends up in bed with up at some point and when I wake up to my alarm clock she is laying perpendicular to us (i.e. Gina and I are both on my side of the bed and Gina's knee is her pillow).
Just before I leave I decide to pick Nattie up and put her head on Gina's pillow in a nomal sleeping position.
After I do that (without outright waking either Gina or Nattie up), both of them simultaneously did the following:
You'd have thought it was choreographed. It was impossible not to laugh.
I'm half way through Prince Caspian and if the book doesn't get going here soon, I can understand why it didn't do that well at the box office. It's easily the most boring book of the four I've read in the Cronicles so far. These books aren't action packed either so that's saying something.
Seeing as I needed a pick me up, I began reading No Country for Old Men this morning. It caught my attention by the end of the first page and when it was time to get off the bus something happened to me for the first time in quite a while...I didn't want to put the book down.
Gluten-Free Grocery Shopping Guide
After no longer wanting to deal with referring to 29 different homemade lists and 44 different websites...along with always scrambling to figure out what is and is not gluten-free at grocery stores / in kitchen cabinets / at gas stations / etc., we finally broke down and bought a gluten-free grocery guide last night. I have high expectations for it since Gluten Free Mall had sixteen reviews for it, all sixteen of which are five stars.
When I got up this morning (at about 4:30) to deal with Nattie, I noticed that my head was not happy. Not only did I have a migraine, but I had the kind that shoots across your forehead and simultaneously throbs in your eye even if you aren't moving your head. At about 4:45 I took some Excedrin (which usually does the trick for me).
Not today. At 5:45 my head was still pounding / eye still throbbing.
Thankfully, by 6:15 it was subsiding and by the time I got to work I was feeling alright. The verdict is still out, however, if it is going to try and attack again today. Pieces of it are definitely still lingering.
Walking the line
Macie continues to show her "everything is going to be on my time" attitude. Last night, Gina and I watched her hold her balance standing up, crouch down part way, stand back up (without touching anything with her hands) and then take about six steps to me with ease.
Yet, she still has no intentions of walking anywhere right now. We can't even get her to walk back and forth between us very often anymore, even though she absolutely loves it when we clap for her afterwords.
Like mother / like daughter
Yesterday morning:
Natalie ends up in bed with up at some point and when I wake up to my alarm clock she is laying perpendicular to us (i.e. Gina and I are both on my side of the bed and Gina's knee is her pillow).
Just before I leave I decide to pick Nattie up and put her head on Gina's pillow in a nomal sleeping position.
After I do that (without outright waking either Gina or Nattie up), both of them simultaneously did the following:
~ turn their heads slightly to the left
~ pull up on the covers
~ try to snuggle into the pillow and get comfortable
~ realize that they aren’t comfortable
~ roll over onto their right side
~ snuggle in
~ fall back asleep
Prince Caspian / No Country for Old Men
Seeing as I needed a pick me up, I began reading No Country for Old Men this morning. It caught my attention by the end of the first page and when it was time to get off the bus something happened to me for the first time in quite a while...I didn't want to put the book down.
Gluten-Free Grocery Shopping Guide
After no longer wanting to deal with referring to 29 different homemade lists and 44 different websites...along with always scrambling to figure out what is and is not gluten-free at grocery stores / in kitchen cabinets / at gas stations / etc., we finally broke down and bought a gluten-free grocery guide last night. I have high expectations for it since Gluten Free Mall had sixteen reviews for it, all sixteen of which are five stars.
May 26, 2008
Having fun with gluten
On Tuesday, I started eating gluten free. I want to try it for 30 days to see if it helps my stomach issues or not. Even though my bloodwork results came back negative, I have yet to do an endoscopy to confirm if I have Celiac or not. The bloodwork is only so accurate. If I feel better (which so far I have), I am just going to make the assumption I am. There no need to have an expensive procedure done on my stomach to prove it. The main reason we did it with Natalie was so we could show her if she questions why she needs to eat gluten free when she gets older.
I can tell you this though, finding enough variety in gluten free foods is much easier for a two year old then a 30 year old. My change will force Gina and I to start exploring our recipes more which is probably a good thing. There is plenty out there, we just need to get more adventurous with it.
However, this is not the main reason I am writing.
Has anyone happened to look at food labels closer since everything happened with Natalie? If not, I wanted to show you how things are changing. It's still a difficult process to know what is and isn't OK to eat, but things are slowly getting easier. Here's an article from the Mayo Clinic last year about how labels are changing in 2008. The top eight allergens are/will soon be spelled out on almost all foods regulated by the FDA.
The food allergens
While food labels don't include every possible allergen, they do list the top eight, which account for 90 percent of all documented food allergies:
If you read the article you will see that the FDA is still trying to do things to help us read labels for gluten as well. You wouldn't believe all the products with natural flavor, artificial flavor and modified food starch alone that we need to question (by calling, e-mailing, visiting websites, etc.).
Here is a sample of the new labeling scheme. See the "contains" section at the bottom of the label. It's very nice.
As I was saying above, if you also look closely at the ingredients in Baked Cheetos you will see that natural flavor and artificial flavor are listed meaning that we would still need to question this product if we did not already know it was OK.
Gina and I (with help from Molly) will be maintaining a list ourselves of all the items we have looking into and the answers we get for those products. Here is the link. We haven't done much work with it yet. To this point we have mainly referred to lists others have built already since Nattie's diet is not that diverse right now. We will definitely be looking into things more in the near future though.
Nattie's tranformation continues to amaze us. We are grateful to have found out when we did without her having to suffer any longer. The fact that she accepts when she can't eat something without too much questioning has been a blessing as well.
I just wanted to give an update on how things are going.
I can tell you this though, finding enough variety in gluten free foods is much easier for a two year old then a 30 year old. My change will force Gina and I to start exploring our recipes more which is probably a good thing. There is plenty out there, we just need to get more adventurous with it.
However, this is not the main reason I am writing.
Has anyone happened to look at food labels closer since everything happened with Natalie? If not, I wanted to show you how things are changing. It's still a difficult process to know what is and isn't OK to eat, but things are slowly getting easier. Here's an article from the Mayo Clinic last year about how labels are changing in 2008. The top eight allergens are/will soon be spelled out on almost all foods regulated by the FDA.
The food allergens
While food labels don't include every possible allergen, they do list the top eight, which account for 90 percent of all documented food allergies:
- Milk
- Eggs
- Peanuts
- Tree nuts (such as almonds, cashews, walnuts)
- Fish (such as bass, cod, flounder)
- Shellfish (such as crab, lobster, shrimp)
- Soy
- Wheat
If you read the article you will see that the FDA is still trying to do things to help us read labels for gluten as well. You wouldn't believe all the products with natural flavor, artificial flavor and modified food starch alone that we need to question (by calling, e-mailing, visiting websites, etc.).
Here is a sample of the new labeling scheme. See the "contains" section at the bottom of the label. It's very nice.
Gina and I (with help from Molly) will be maintaining a list ourselves of all the items we have looking into and the answers we get for those products. Here is the link. We haven't done much work with it yet. To this point we have mainly referred to lists others have built already since Nattie's diet is not that diverse right now. We will definitely be looking into things more in the near future though.
Nattie's tranformation continues to amaze us. We are grateful to have found out when we did without her having to suffer any longer. The fact that she accepts when she can't eat something without too much questioning has been a blessing as well.
I just wanted to give an update on how things are going.
May 7, 2008
House's Celiac Episode
My buddy Matt from work informed me this morning that he had just watched a House M.D. episode about celiac disease.
The episode does not appear to be uplifting by any means (especially because an infant is involved) but it is also a much more extreme case then the average celiac situation at the same time.
It's interesting that the condition was worthy of making the show.
The episode does not appear to be uplifting by any means (especially because an infant is involved) but it is also a much more extreme case then the average celiac situation at the same time.
It's interesting that the condition was worthy of making the show.
February 10, 2008
Let me see you shake your tailfeather
On Thursday, Nattie had an upper endoscopy (i.e. minor outpatient surgery) which confirmed that she has celiac disease. In regards to that, either Gina or I will go into more details in the near future. For now I'll just say that we made the switch to a gluten free diet on 1/21 and over time our girl has definitely returned.
With all the (bleep) we've been through the last couple of months, I can't put into words how happy filming these two videos made me tonight...
With all the (bleep) we've been through the last couple of months, I can't put into words how happy filming these two videos made me tonight...
January 22, 2008
We're starting a revolution!
Before I start, I'd like to say that for more background on the situation, see Gina's last two posts: Puke-O-Rama! and Three Days and Counting.
A couple of tests are still pending, but it looks overwhelming like Natalie has celiac disease (pronounced sē′ lē ak′).
Never heard of it before? Me either. Though, I have read that up to 1% of the U.S. population has it (3 million) and that approximately 97% of those cases are undiagnosed.
What does this mean? Nattie has a gluten intolerance (which is found in all wheats, ryes, barleys and usually oats).
Her doctor has asked us to start her on a gluten free diet immediately.
After looking into things, I'd compare having a gluten intolerance to having a peanut allergy (but thankfully without the epi pen or 911 on speed dial). The attention to detail and investment in time to read labels and understand the background of companies making the products is critical.
Is celiac life altering? Absolutely. Is it life threatening? Not likely.
The main organ at risk is the small intestine. Over time, considerable damage can be done to it if the proper changes aren't made. The good news is that the small intestine does heal completely if a gluten free lifestyle is attained (and then continued).
The list of foods that she is no longer allowed the have is quite extensive. Around 75%+ of the food in our house is unavailable to her. Here's the list of ingredients she needs to avoid, etc.
Which of these items do you think contains (or may contain) gluten:
*most milks, aged cheeses, seafood, poultry, peanut butter, eggs, fruits, vegetables, butter, jello, tea, wines, black coffee, ketchup, salt, pepper, cinnamon, etc.
*yogurt, chocolate milk, hot dog, bologna, hamburger, salad dressings, mayonnaise, baked beans, pickles, chocolate, chewing gum, tomato sauce, maple syrup, flavored coffee, canned soups, any type of medicine, etc.
*beer, meatloaf, pizza, ravioli, bread, buns, most cereals, licorice, pasta, waffles/pancakes, mac 'n cheese, speghetti o's, pretzels, gravy, ice cream cones, etc.
The answer is that the first list does not contain gluten, the second may contain gluten (see label reading statement above) and the last list definitely contains gluten.
After doing some research, a gluten free diet is spendy but is much easier to deal with today then it was even a couple of years ago. Not only are there places like Trader Joe's which make gluten free food reasonably priced (though terribly inaccessible to a south metro resident), but it's even being put on labels of food now (though not FDA approved yet). We will be buying a breadmaker and will be making much of the food we eat from scratch. I am looking into what books we will be adding to our library as well. I've already decided that Shelley Case's Gluten Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide will be for sure.
Another interesting factor in this all is that either Gina or I passed the gene to her and it's possible Macie has the same condition.
Let's see, Gina has a good stomach and I definitely don't. Neither does my dad. His dad, bad stomach too. Who do you think is carrying the gene? Gina's family has some of the traits associated to this disease but they're not resigned specially to one side of her family making me think that it's not her.
Based on the list of symptoms, I'm fully expecting to be diagnosed with it as well and will need to follow the same guidelines as Nattie does.
If this holds true, I can't tell you how much it will break me heart to look at Nattie and know that I caused this.
Once we confirm who the carrier is we will need to go back through their family tree and suggest that those who may be at risk be tested.
We will also be seeing a nutritionist in early February to help us make the conversion as smooth as possible.
While all this is very unfortunate, it could be a lot worse. The first couple of months are going to be quite an adjustment but after that it will just be a way of life.
And...
I am glad that we potentially have answers to many of Nattie's recent issues.
A couple of tests are still pending, but it looks overwhelming like Natalie has celiac disease (pronounced sē′ lē ak′).
Never heard of it before? Me either. Though, I have read that up to 1% of the U.S. population has it (3 million) and that approximately 97% of those cases are undiagnosed.
What does this mean? Nattie has a gluten intolerance (which is found in all wheats, ryes, barleys and usually oats).
Her doctor has asked us to start her on a gluten free diet immediately.
After looking into things, I'd compare having a gluten intolerance to having a peanut allergy (but thankfully without the epi pen or 911 on speed dial). The attention to detail and investment in time to read labels and understand the background of companies making the products is critical.
Is celiac life altering? Absolutely. Is it life threatening? Not likely.
The main organ at risk is the small intestine. Over time, considerable damage can be done to it if the proper changes aren't made. The good news is that the small intestine does heal completely if a gluten free lifestyle is attained (and then continued).
The list of foods that she is no longer allowed the have is quite extensive. Around 75%+ of the food in our house is unavailable to her. Here's the list of ingredients she needs to avoid, etc.
Which of these items do you think contains (or may contain) gluten:
*most milks, aged cheeses, seafood, poultry, peanut butter, eggs, fruits, vegetables, butter, jello, tea, wines, black coffee, ketchup, salt, pepper, cinnamon, etc.
*yogurt, chocolate milk, hot dog, bologna, hamburger, salad dressings, mayonnaise, baked beans, pickles, chocolate, chewing gum, tomato sauce, maple syrup, flavored coffee, canned soups, any type of medicine, etc.
*beer, meatloaf, pizza, ravioli, bread, buns, most cereals, licorice, pasta, waffles/pancakes, mac 'n cheese, speghetti o's, pretzels, gravy, ice cream cones, etc.
The answer is that the first list does not contain gluten, the second may contain gluten (see label reading statement above) and the last list definitely contains gluten.
After doing some research, a gluten free diet is spendy but is much easier to deal with today then it was even a couple of years ago. Not only are there places like Trader Joe's which make gluten free food reasonably priced (though terribly inaccessible to a south metro resident), but it's even being put on labels of food now (though not FDA approved yet). We will be buying a breadmaker and will be making much of the food we eat from scratch. I am looking into what books we will be adding to our library as well. I've already decided that Shelley Case's Gluten Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide will be for sure.
Another interesting factor in this all is that either Gina or I passed the gene to her and it's possible Macie has the same condition.
Let's see, Gina has a good stomach and I definitely don't. Neither does my dad. His dad, bad stomach too. Who do you think is carrying the gene? Gina's family has some of the traits associated to this disease but they're not resigned specially to one side of her family making me think that it's not her.
Based on the list of symptoms, I'm fully expecting to be diagnosed with it as well and will need to follow the same guidelines as Nattie does.
If this holds true, I can't tell you how much it will break me heart to look at Nattie and know that I caused this.
Once we confirm who the carrier is we will need to go back through their family tree and suggest that those who may be at risk be tested.
We will also be seeing a nutritionist in early February to help us make the conversion as smooth as possible.
While all this is very unfortunate, it could be a lot worse. The first couple of months are going to be quite an adjustment but after that it will just be a way of life.
And...
I am glad that we potentially have answers to many of Nattie's recent issues.
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