Sweet Nectar of the Gods

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Some of you may know I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease about two years ago. This means adhering to a strictly wheat gluten-free diet for the rest of my life. No bread (well, there's some expensive stuff based on tapioca flour), no pasta (well, there's rice-based pasta that tastes like ass), no pizza, etc., etc., no anything that uses wheat/barley/spelt/semolina or its byproducts in any way. It's a b!tch. Why? Because this includes beer.

Well, for my 30th birthday (ugh) my lovely wife (God bless her sweet soul) just bought me a case of this: http://www.ramapovalleybrewery.com/glutenfree.htm

Oh. My. God.

I know there's a general guideline against posting while under the influence, but I figured, what the hell. I had to share my joy with all of you folks!

I'm pretty sure expathk is a celiac too, so hey, buddy, you should try to get your hands on some of this stuff if you can. You won't regret it!

[dd74]

Screw the ingredients. How's the buzz?

[BigD9146gt]

Wow, i'm sorry to hear this. My mom has the same thing. She started a diet some years back, keeping wheat out of her diet, and then when she ate some wheat, her throat swelled up making it almost impossible to breath.

i'm at the moment working on Serra Nevada Celebration Ale #6 (started 3 hrs ago).

I'll try that brew you've got there! thanks for the tipsy tip!

[ubiquity0]

Originally posted by BlueSkyJaunte


I know there's a general guideline against posting while under the influence,

There is???? I must have missed that memo.

[azasadny]

That beer seems to be a mead (fermented honey) with hops added. I've brewed beer for over 10 years and I've never made mead with hops, maybe I should brew a batch and see how it turns out?

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Originally posted by dd74
Screw the ingredients. How's the buzz?

It's a decent buzz! Of course, I'm a complete lightweight nowadays. After only one bottle I'm feeling it, even though I'm 180 lbs.

That's OK, though, more buzz per case of beer.

BigD, when I accidentally get wheat into me, the adventures are at the other end. And I don't get better for weeks...

[john70t]

I know neighbors who'll probably die from bee stings, and I myself am a little sensitive to yeasty beer (and snatch).

Kinda sux to have to pick through the supermarket, and hope there are some alternative supermarkets nearbye that sell "organic" foodstuffs and/or soy/rice alternatives.
For a buzz there's 195 proof Everclear, which also doubles as track fuel in a pinch, but as for taste....

[azasadny]

BlueSkyJaunte,
Try this link...

http://www.traderjoes.com/products/brochures/east_gluten.asp?ECID=list_track

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Art,

Thanks for the link...

We shop at Whole Foods most of the time. Their selection is actually better than Trader Joe's for the most part.

The rest of the time we buy stuff in bulk from www.glutenfreemall.com and a few other places.

The biggest problem is that I just can't eat out anymore. But beer definitely makes that problem less troubling!

[M.D. Holloway]

cool to hear that you can enjoy, be tough to have that - do they have a stout pr porter? - in case you go a bit over board, a great cure for a hang over is a table spoon of sugar, a dash of salt and a glass of water - detox's the liver somehow but it works in 10 minutes!

[LeeH]

I still think that you should be able to invoke the ADA and get Dominos to bring you a gluten-free pizza.

Did you know that there's a new Trader Joe's on Chandler a couple of miles west of I-10? I know that don't have the selection that Whole Foods has, but it's a lot closer.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

LOL, the ADA....I was always more of a Pizza Hut kinda guy back in the day. More grease, I guess.

Yeah, I heard about the new TJ's. Haven't checked it out yet. It's so close to the office I should get my butt in gear and pay them a visit.

[azasadny]

BlueSkyJaunte,

I call Whole Foods "Whole Paycheck" because of their outrageous prices. Trader Joe's has a smaller selection but much more reasonable prices. My son has a severe nut allergy and we have to be very careful when buying him any prepared foods and Trader Joe's has a great selection of things he can eat without worry.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Art,

Very true, WF is pricy. We buy only the things I can't get at regular grocery stores. GF cookies, bread, baking mixes, frozen foods, etc.

There's a Fry's (grocery, not the electronics superstore-from-hell) nearby that's actually got a growing organic/health food section.

And, thankfully, a law was passed that would required listing the basic allergens (milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, wheat, and soy) in the ingredients of all foods starting in 2006. So it'll start getting easier to shop at the regular grocery too!

[red ufo]

No pizza, strike 1
no sketty, strike 2
no beer, strike 3.

I'd couldn't live, and would get a life insurance policy, and walk infront of a city bus. Kid will get rich, then sue the city for running me over. Atleast you have a porsche though.

I have a simular condition called Country Diease. I can't listen to country music for the rest of my life. No country bars, hill billy lunch spots, nothing. I'm forced to run as fast as I can from any country music or go beserk and not be responsible for the damage I may cause in the presence of a country western song.

[BlueSkyJaunte]

Thanks for that uplifting post.

[red ufo]

What happens if you don't follow the diet?

When you were a kid what happened when you eat pizza?
After the doctor told you of this, did that impact seem to have more effect pscyhologically because he said so?

Did you quit all that stuff cold turkey? Cause that crap is my life.

With me I go crazy in a country bar like that android in Alien 1 when the milk came out of him

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I didn't become symptomatic until I turned 28. This is typical; some people are symptomatic as soon as they begin eating solid food and one of my coworkers didn't become symptomatic until she turned 58.

Symptoms vary but they all trace back to the small intestine losing its ability to absorb nutrients. Some people gain weight, others lose, others get anemic, etc. I started getting severe, roving abdominal pains that never went away. I personally lost 30 lbs in the 2 months after my symptoms started before I finally got an inkling about what was going on (doctors were clueless and useless--I had an upper GI scan done, an ultrasound, two CT scans, and numerous blood tests for various diseases and cancers). I know a guy who at the age of 2 was back to his birth weight before doctors figured it out. I know another woman who went from 120 lbs to 80 lbs and lost all of her hair before the doctors woke up.

After taking stock of my symptoms and having tried dairy, soy, and nut-free diets, I looked up some information on WebMD and saw that celiac disease matched a lot of what was happening to me. As a last resort I went on a gluten-free diet and immediately felt better. I finally got a doctor to order the correct blood tests (specific antibody counts spike with the onset of celiac disease). Once it was confirmed I was able to get the diet straightened out and stopped losing weight. My constant fatigue and depression/irritability went away too. Now I'm just crotchety.

I had an upper endoscopy done (small intestine biopsy) done to confirm what was going on. For that I had to go back on the gluten diet for a while. The pain and weightloss started up immediately. Now whenever I have the craving for pizza all I have to do is remember the hours in bed, clutching my stomach and being curled up in the fetal position.

[cowtown]

Originally posted by BlueSkyJaunte

After taking stock of my symptoms and having tried dairy, soy, and nut-free diets, I looked up some information on WebMD and saw that celiac disease matched a lot of what was happening to me. As a last resort I went on a gluten-free diet and immediately felt better. I finally got a doctor to order the correct blood tests (specific antibody counts spike with the onset of celiac disease). Once it was confirmed I was able to get the diet straightened out and stopped losing weight. My constant fatigue and depression/irritability went away too. Now I'm just crotchety.

That's amazing, Juan - that you were able to diagnose yourself like that. Good thing you figured it out!

You can still drink wine, right?

[BlueSkyJaunte]

I don't know who Juan is, but yeah, I can drink wine. In moderation. And as long as no additional coloring or flavoring is added (believe it or not, they sometimes add "oak flavors" to the cheaper stuff).