A few days ago, I was diagnosed with being Celiac. My big problem is I am a freshman in College. I just don't know how to do this. Eating while in College is hard enough as it is, and now that I have extreme diet limitations, I feel like I am going to starve. I don't have a kitchen and all I have to cook with is a microwave. I just feel like crying. I have always been a picky eater and I hate most green vegetables and I love my pasta, bread et cetera. Has anyone had to deal with a situation like this before?

I was diagnosed my senior year of High School. I didn't move out but it was still hard to figure everything out and live with a fmaily stoill eating gluten (my Mother and my brother were diagnosed only a few months ago).
There are many options for you with eating. There are some great tasting pastas! Kinnikinnick (and other brands) have some breads, rolls, and muffins that taste very good. You should talk to yuor school about how they deal with people with Celiacs. Maybe you could get a hot plate?
You can still eat meats and things (unless you don't eat animals). Eggs are still okay to make as well. It will be hard at first but you'll learn and it's really not all that bad.
I am not at home right now so I can't look at the products I use but I know there are a lot of other people on here who are in or went through college with Celiacs.

Good luck!


Kristina

I'm in university now and I have celiac. I was diagnosed in March 2004 with celaic while I was in university. It was tough learning the gluten free diet while being in university but I had no choice!

Maybe you could get a hotplate for your place or a mini stove or a toaster? That way you could cook/toast some things. Maybe your cafeteria could try and accommodate you? I live at home, so it is very easy for me to cook meals and then bring them into the university with me to heat up in a microwave and eat.

Try looking in the health food sections in your local grocery stores for gluten free pastas (I like Tinkyada rice pastas best), cereals, cookies, and other gluten free goodies. Some health food stores/grocery sell gluten free breads, bagels, waffels, hamburger buns, pizza crusts, pies, ect. If you could find a store that sells these things youre all set! You could make sandwiches, pizzas (cooked in the microwave if necessary), hamburgers, and waffels for breakfast!

Also AMY's makes gluten free microwavable dinners and other products which are actually quite good! Here is their website: http://www.amyskitchen.com/
Just click on products and then gluten free on the lower left hand corner to get a list of their gluten-free products.

If you like rice, a rice cooker is a fast and easy way to make yummy rice that can easily be eaten with stir fry veggies and a gluten free sauce!

College and Celiac can be done!

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm right now in the process of contacting my college (it's hard right now 'cause I'm on break) but I'm hoping they can accomodate me.

But really, thanks so, so, so much for the kind words and tips. I feel really lucky to have found this message board.

Caryn

Caryn-

I am also a freshman in college...I was diagnosed two years ago, but still had to make the adjustment with college dining services. It's great that you're contacting your college...I'm certain that they will make efforts to accomodate you. My own university did, and they're very helpful about answering my questions in terms of how things are prepared in the different food areas.

Good luck! Don't be discouraged...it gets easier! And you'll be feeling so much better..it's definitely worth the "struggle."

Good luck! (One thing I had in college - though not gluten-free at the time - was an electric skillet. You can cook just about anything in one of those. A good one can be pricey, but long-lasting and worth every penny.)

You said that you had a microwave, well Amy's instant meals are a life saver, all you have to do is heat it up in t he microwave and you have a whole meal.

If you have space in your room, you might try getting one of the following: toaster oven, george foreman grill, hotplate. If you get a hotplate, you can cook anything you'd cook on a burner at home--that means you can have your gluten-free noodles, etc. The toaster oven is helpful because you can not only toast breads, but make potatoes, Ore Ida french fries, etc. Remember, though, that if a non-gluten-free bread goes into your toaster, it contaminates it.....make sure, if you get one, that a roommate doesn't shove a regular bagel into it or something....George foreman grill = definitely gluten-free meat. Now, if you already have access to a stove, you wouldn't need a hotplate, etc., but these are just suggestions.

Amy's meals are good, but be careful...not all are gluten-free, so you need to make sure it says so on the box and not just assume that all are gluten-free.

Good luck

I just want to say that I completely understand how you feel. I was diagnosed w/ celiac disease when I was 18 (in college and living on my own as a vegetarian who didn't & still doesn't cook) Here's my survivor list:

Microwave
Electric skillet
Toaster
web address for amys.com (www.amys.com) they have gluten-free foods and all are vegetarian (gluten-free lasagna, mac n cheese, enchilladas, stir fry, etc, all are microwaveable)
crock pot
blender (put frozen strawberries, blueberries and bananas in w/ some ice & apple juice) there's breakfast
George Foreman Grill ( I eat shrimp & started eating turkey bacon recently)
wheat free soy sauce take w/ you when you go for sushi
I also have a "dry supply" These are my ready made ready to eat foods.
Envirokidz nutrition bars (berry, chocolate, peanut butter)
Ener G pretzels
Pam's gluten-free cookies
Envirokidz cereal
Kraft marshmallows
gluten-free Rice Cereal (malt free brand) for rice krispies you can make in crock pot!
potatoes (for baking)
gluten-free Soups (cook in slowcooker)

& a binder of the restraunts that have gluten-free foods, and the list of gluten-free foods.

Hope this list helps, good luck

i think i'm like everybody who got diagnosed in college well 3 mon. ago actually i had a really hard time - i ate like a pig but everybody started asking "brittany are you ok - do you have an eating disorder" and of corse they didn't beleive me when i said no b/c i lost 20 lbs in 2 months - i also had horrible heart burn and was put on prevacid - that and the weight loss were my only symptoms i got really depressed for a while till i got the diagnosis - i felt alot better that i knew what it was but then i fell of a cliff again when i found out what i had to do to fix it - i would try stuff - that was really expensive from whole foods and have to throw it away b/c it tasted so bad - i wasn't gaining weight on rice cakes so my doctor actually baked me bread - it helped that i was crying in her office about it and threatening not to eat - i work at a place called THE PASTA HOUSE for crist sake and i'm on my own so stealing food from work was how i survived! anyway the bread she made was awsome umm......my point is (after all the rambling) it gets better after i realized i could buy the diff flours - follow a recepie and actually eat cake and bread that tasted decent again - but since you are in college i suggest gluten-free pretzles (i got them online) and peanut butter i just dip the pretzles right into the jar - its probly alot of calories but i don't care it fills me up and its fast sorry i talked so much i'm new and i'm just excited b/c i don't know anyone with this disease so i have no one to talk to and my life is completely different than everyone i know now

brittany i know how you feel but its truly not that bad, i was just diag 2 weeks ago and yes it sucks but would you rather continue losing weight and feeling aweful? i thought i was punished enough - having 4 open heart surgeries one not even 2 years ago and then the docs tell me i have this. i felt pretty depressed to say the least. why me? but ill learn to live with it. i'm in college and its pretty rough, especially since beer is now out of the question. all those people who have posted, thanks, didnt know about frozen meals i can buy. that will def be a life saver. good luck...

Hey, thanks for all the suggestions. It's so nice to know that you can survive college as a Celiac. It's been an interesting few weeks but I've been managing. One of my friends actually found a gluten-free rice noodle soup by Thai Kitchen that is really good and instant. It's nice because it even says it's gluten and Egg free on the package.

College Celiacs Unite! LOL

Caryn

"Thai Kitchen" makes 3 or 4 instant rice ramen noodle soups that are gluten-free and awesome!

I have had the Roasted Garlic, Spring Onion an Mushroom --they are all good -- you can get them at Whole Foods, Trader Joes', Henry's and Wild oats. They cost around $1.50 each (they come with a bowl -- just add water).

I just finished college and grad school.

I survived on gluten-free Bread (1-2 loaves a week), Hebrew National and Hillshire Farms Cold cuts (most are ok), Fresh Fruit, Wendys Burgers, Arbys Roast Beef (no bun), Borden Cheese Singles (most are gluten-free), Grey Poupon Mustard and of course, Amy's Frozen Gluten Free mac n Cheese ($2.50 each - but worth it).

This should help you a little bit.

If you live near Whole Foods, Trader Joes or Wild Oats - they have a gluten-free grocery list on their websites (PDF File)

If you "google" Wheaton Gluten Free Grocery List", that will bring up a HUGE grocery list --- it saved me!!!!!!!!!!