Thinking about cheating

dgshelton · Post by **dgshelton** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:15 pm

You all know my daughter's wedding is on Saturday. We are having a
buffet with heavy hor dourves. There will be fruit, veggie and cheese trays, which I know I can eat the fruit and veggies. There are alot of gluten laden
crackers and breads, but we are having prime rib with little rolls. I know I can do the prime rib sans the roll. There are several things that I am really sad about not eating. One being shrimp and grits, which is loaded with butter and cheese. That is one of my favorite dishes of all time. I am thinking that maybe if I take 3 Entocort instead of 2 for the next couple of days that I may be able to cheat a little. What do you think? OK...let me have it good or bad!

Hugs,

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:27 pm

Any time i have risked contamination by eating out or recently when i did my gluten and dairy test, I planned them so that i was home for the 24-36 hours afterwards.

If you have nothing planned for Sunday, and you can chill out if you are feeling poorly then i say GO FOR IT....

dgshelton · Post by **dgshelton** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:30 pm

Gabes - I am planning to rest on Sunday. I'm sure I'll be exhausted from all of the festivities anyway. Thanks!

Hugs,

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:42 pm

It is a special event and being able to enjoy yourself during the celebration would be worth the slight inconvenience

:party:

and - like myself, seeing what happens when you do have those ingredients, it gives you an indicator of your progress.
I am not a shrimp fan, but have an extra piece of cheese for me

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:25 am

Denise,

The idea of cheating would *add* stress for me - but it sounds as though this plan will actually *relieve* some of the stress for you, and give you some pleasure. Hopefully the Entocort will cover you - if you use Imodium or Pepto for symptom relief, you may want to make sure you're stocked up.

Wishing you all a wonderful celebration!

Love,
Sara

Polly · Post by **Polly** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:40 am

Hi Denise!

The food sound delish - no wonder you are so tempted! I usually follow Gabes' advise about only cheating when you know you'll be safe for a day or two afterwards.

My only concern would be an immediate reaction while you are still at the wedding. This would probably happen to me, especially if I ate dairy of any kind. It usually happens within 2 hours but has also happened immediately. It would be no fun to have to do to the bathroom boogie in the middle of the toasts, for example.

How about this? Load up a big plate of everything you really want to eat and have it put aside by the caterer to take home with you. Then, once home, you can pig out to your heart's content and sample everything. With no fear.

Best wishes for a a wonderful wedding! Please share some photos with us.

Love,

Polly

Post by **tex** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 8:58 am

Denise,

Here's my 2 cents worth:

Personally, I would never intentionally eat gluten, because gluten has the potential to do much longer-term damage than the other food sensitivities. Most antibodies to food-sensitivities have a half-life of only 5 or 6 days, so their antibody level decays fairly rapidly. Gluten antibodies, on the other hand, have a half-life of about 21 days, so that means that higher levels of anti-gliadin antibody production will persist at least several times longer than the antibodies to other foods.

That doesn't mean that you will necessarily react for a significantly longer period of time, though - it simply means that your immune system will be kicked into a higher level of alertness for a much longer period of time, (implying that the T-cells that are the source of most of the inflammation associated with MC may continue to be produced for a much longer period of time).

That said, you will probably never have a better opportunity to "rationalize" a gluten challenge for the purpose of determining just how you might react to a sizable dose of gluten, if you care to check that out.

The other food items, (anything other than gluten), usually produce a much lower risk of intestinal damage, so they are much lower-priority items, IMO. IOW, what I'm saying is that the other food-sensitivities are not a big deal, (in terms of potential intestinal damage), compared with gluten. The immediate reaction might be just as severe, (or even worse), but the longer-term risk of a setback, due to intestinal damage, should be significantly lower with anything other than gluten. As we all know, though, we are all different in the ways that we react, so my opinion is definitely not chiseled in stone - YMMV.

If I were in your shoes, I would probably give a lot of thought to what Polly recommended, depending on my reaction pattern to eating any of my food sensitivities. IOW, if I typically reacted within a few hours of eating, I would probably want to postpone the "punishment phase", until after all the excitement of the occasion was past. If I typically didn't react until the next day, then if I had decided to "indulge", and throw caution to the winds, I would probably dive right in, with everyone else.

Good luck, whatever you choose to do, and enjoy the occasion. If you decide to go through with a challenge, please post a play by play account of how the events unfold.

Hugs,
Tex

Kari · Post by **Kari** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:29 am

Hi Denise,

I read this thread earlier, and was thinking about it, so came back to post. Then I saw Tex's post, which was a bit in line with my thinking. Depending on how you typically react to dairy, it seems like you should be able to indulge a little. However, I would stay far away from anything with gluten.

I went to a bday party last weekend, and needless to say there were a lot of yummy cakes and desserts (my weakness). We were sitting around a large table, so I couldn't get away from watching people indulge :(. However, it has become my habit in social situations to focus my attention whole heartedly on socializing (and off the food), and believe it or not, it has helped me a lot, and as a bonus, I have gotten to know some interesting people better :). I've also learned to keep very low key about my lack of participation in the food feast, so often people are not aware of my issues. I believe it was Harma who mentioned this technique a while back, and I find it to be very powerful, as well as enjoyable.

Lots of luck with the wedding - hope you have a wonderful time.

Love,
Kari

Zizzle · Post by **Zizzle** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 10:51 am

Denise,
I too would stay far away from gluten, but I might try those shrimp and grits that are cooked in butter, if I can skip the cheese. Shrimp are often a safe bet as far as the possible marinades used, and butter has less casein than cheese. Then again, my dairy reaction is MASSIVE bloating, so you may pop out of your fancy dress! Think "I want to look good in the pictures, not pregnant!"

coryhub · Post by **coryhub** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 11:50 am

If you can resist do it. Think of it this way - you'll still be eating some good stuff you don't get everyday. You'll have such a variety to chose from at the wedding that it should be an easy eatin' day. If you were not on the Entocort you probably would not even consider this. I hate it when my gut hurts. When I am on Entocort I take a lot more "intentional" risks than I normally would. Now that I'm off Entocort I am being really careful what I eat. The pills are expensive.

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 12:41 pm

Denise,

One last thought... I don't think this is "cheating." There are no rules, really - and you're not doing anything wrong. You're attempting to make a decision, balancing all the various emotions and needs of this occasion. If you don't like the outcome, it won't be because you "cheated" - it will be because you were missing some information at the time you needed to decide. And if it turns out well (I truly hope so!), then it won't be exactly a guilty pleasure - but you'll have had a lovely experience and learned a little about what does and does not work, under the challenging circumstances of a wedding. I went to a wedding in July, and found it a bit of a project - and I wasn't the mother of the bride! (I think I had some inadvertent butter in there, probably very little, and had a pretty minor reaction, not long-lasting.)

On the other hand, if the idea of cheating makes it taste better - don't let me take that away from you

But whatever you decide, you're not a cheater, in my book.

Love,
Sara

JLH · Post by **JLH** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 1:09 pm

The only time I plan to "cheat" is before I have my next colonoscopy.......

Good luck.

dgshelton · Post by **dgshelton** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 2:28 pm

Thanks, everyone! I'm still pondering.... I'm thinking I will stay away from gluten. Wedding cakes aren't usually my thing anyways, but hearing my daughter describe each layer (all of which are different and each with a different filling) sure had me salivating. Maybe I'll just stay on the dance floor...we have a fantastic band playing...and avoid eating altogether!

Hugs,

nancyl · Post by **nancyl** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 2:48 pm

Hi Denise,
You may just be far too busy socializing, dancing, etc. to eat much at all. I went to my granddaughter's wedding in July. They had a gluten free dinner for me and she had ordered gluten free cupcakes from the bakery that did her cake as there were others there who were GF. Of course I couldn't eat the cupcakes because of the eggs and dairy. I have to say it wan't a problem at all. We were very busy with the photographer, I had a glass of wine and visited with everyone until dinner. Didn't touch the hor dourves as they went around, just kept talking. I find if you talk a lot you don't have time to eat.

After dinner there were the speeches, and plenty of dancing. Food didn't turn out to be a big issue at all, being the grandmother (a very important position) I was too busy to bother.

My suggestion would be to take 9 mg of Entocort a few days ahead of time, don't stress about it and just see what happens. Perhaps a little bite here and there may be enought to satisfy you.

Hope the wedding is wonderful and you have a great time.

Hugs
Nancy

jmayk8 · Post by **jmayk8** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 7:16 pm

Denise,
I have celiac and no matter how good pizza, cake or anything else looks to me, I just can't do it. Like Tex said, it's the long term side effects...Also whenever I eat dairy I literally have to run to the bathroom within an hour! I feel like if you stay to your diet you will be happy you did at the end of the night, if you cheat you may feel good for the few seconds your chewing and tasting the food but def not later when your lying in bed hearing those ungodly stomach growns! ;)
Good luck with the decision you make, I hope you have a great time!
Jenny