Eating Gluten/Dairy after being Gluten/Dairy Free

Our family has been almost 100% gluten/dairy/soy free for almost 2 months now and we have been doing very well. Isaac has lost 10lbs and feels more energized. I have lost 2lbs and generally feel well with no stomach aches like I used to have. The kids stopped having regular diarrhea and are gaining weight quickly, whereas they used to struggle to put on/keep on the pounds. The eczema has also disappeared, with the exception of a small patch on John that surfaced during our very cold spell a couple weeks ago.

Well tonight we went to our annual church Valentine's banquet for dinner and fun fellowship and entertainment with friends and the menu was: pasta with red sauce, chicken and cheese on top, corn, garlic bread, and salad. Dessert was a delicious cheesecake or chocolate cake. I ate my fill (but couldn't finish the pasta because it was so unappetizing to my gluten free body) and now I sit, several hours after finishing dinner, sick as a dog on the bathroom floor, afraid to leave this room again. Oi! I didn't realize exactly how good our diet has been for our family until I ate so much of something that was bad for me! In a way it's a good realization; now I know what NOT to do. But also, it makes me sad to know that we simply cannot eat out without feeling this way. It's going to take a lot to get me to go out for food again.

wow! sounds like you guys must really have an issue with gluten because that's pretty severe for 1 meal after just a bit of GF living. i hope you feel better today 

Sorry you are feeling so miserable! It must be so hard to avoid those foods unless you are eating at home all the time. I have a hard enough time just trying to avoid processed foods in public! I find when we go to the IL's for a visit and get away from eating our healthy diet we are all miserable.

The problem with all those things is what they were cooked IN. Butter, soy sauce, etx are very common additives and cooking ingredients and we would never know ;) OTOH, it only matters on that extreme level if the kids are eating it. Isaac and I can handle it minimally.

Jess, I just want to put it out there that lots of sensitivies that aren't real allergies are tricky in that if you keep tiny amounts in the diet it doesnt get too bad, but if you don't you can develop a much worse one. a friend used to be able to eat small amounts of dairy- like butter in baked goods or a tiny bit of milk in things but she could never just eat a bunch of yogurt or drink milk. she cut it out completely for awhile- not sure exactly how long, maybe a year? then now she absolutely cannot tolerate even a bit of it she says she feels awful and sick. you might want to keep allowing butter in small amounts and other things minimally so when kids are at a birthday party, out to eat, etc they can order dairy free food but not worry about cross contamination because that would be sooo minimal.