Well, I feel your pain. =) I’m 22 and have Celiac disease as well and until recently was lactose intolerant. If you do need to have dairy, because some things just DON’T taste the same without milk (like cereal!) I would suggest Lactaid. It works pretty well.
Now on for the amazing food choices.
My mom is a chef. She has created some wonderful meals for me that are all gluten free. Most of them are using flour mixes and experimenting with frying and breading. It’s a hit-or-miss and you will eventually find things you HAVE to have! Bob’s Red Mill makes a good gluten free flour mix that is great for breading. Just add in spices, dip your meat/cheese/fish/whatever in egg, then dip it in the flour mixture and fry up! You can also use potato flakes to bake chicken in. I can’t remember the exact recipe I used before, but you can search online and come up with some different options.

Here are some of the products we LOVE. (and my non-celiac bro and sis love them too!)

Gluten Free Pantry Angel Food Cake Mix
Gluten Free Pantry Chocolate Truffle Brownie Mix (to die for!)
Gluten Free Pantry Yankee Cornbread Mix
Gluten Free Pantry Muffin & Scone Mix (I always make scones! they can double as the “shortcake” in strawberry shortcake)
Gluten Free Pantry Favorite Sandwich Bread Mix
Gluten Free Pantry Spice Cake Mix

…as well as all the other GF Patry mixes. I’ve never found one I don’t like.

Kinnikinnick donuts are awesome. They taste like the real deal! Their Tapioca Rice Cinnamon Buns are to die for! They also make great muffins and bagels.

I would like to agree with the person who said check out your local health food store. Not everything there is great, it’s a learning experience, and personal taste. BUT it’s a good start! If you live in the south, places like Hannaford/Sweetbay have great gluten free selections as do Publix in their Greenwise section. If you live in the north, Copps, Festival Foods and Pick n Save also have gluten free selections available. If you order and find foods that you like, talk to the manager at your local supermarket or health food store and see if they can order it for you. Most will be happy to oblige!

If you like to go out a lot, try Outback Steakhouse. Their Chocolate Thunder From Down Under is gluten free!! Wendy’s fries are my downfall, I eat them like every day, and their chili and frosties are good too. I am including fast food restaurant links to their gluten free menus as well. You do have to worry about cross-contamination but I have had very good luck with the friendly and helpful staff. I use these menus on a regular basis and I look on most new restaurants websites I see to find a gf menu. I printed them and more and put them in a binder and keep them in my car for quick reference.

I do love cereal too. Kix, Lucky Charms, Chocolate Lucky Charms, Puffins, Honeycombs and Trix are gluten free as are Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles. Watch out for generic brands though! Most of them aren’t GF. Some of these contain Oats, which some celiac people can’t tolerate, but I know I can.

Amy’s makes some great microwave meals. I personally keep my freezer stocked with the lasagna and mac and cheese, but for your lactose intolerance, see what works for you. She makes a gluten free pizza that isn’t probably what you’re used to but it *is* good and with enough extra stuff on it, you won’t remember it’s gluten free. Glutino also makes a good gluten-free pizza.

Many Progresso soups are gluten free also. They will say if they contain wheat, so just read the labels for barley also.

Your lactose intolerance should go away after your body heals itself. The reason your body isn’t processing the lactose and making you sick is because the villi in your stomach are damaged. The sooner you stick to a gf diet, the sooner you can start to digest things properly again! I’m not trying to chide you, just explain the physical process that goes on when you consume gluten and why your body isn’t acting right! When I wasn’t gluten free, it got so bad that I couldn’t have dairy, animal fats or complex carbs. My body simply wouldn’t process them!

I always keep a stack of white corn tortillas on hand. I press them into sandwiches in a frying pan using butter, mayo, ham, salami and swiss cheese or even make my own ham and cheese “sandwiches” with them in the pan and/or oven. You can also make quesadillas (again, once your body heals), tacos, burritos… or fry them with eggs and salsa in the morning. A good treat is also to cut them in “fries”, fry them and add cinnamon and sugar. Nachos are always a good snack.

Finally, check out celiacchicks.com. They are two food-loving ****** that also have celiac disease. They try a lot of foods & restaurants (especially in the NYC area) and review them, and include recipes from time to time.

If you need any more help, message me! =) Good luck!!

Gluten Free Pantry also has delicious ready to bake chocolate chip and buckwheat raisin cookies (it’s frozen cookie dough). They taste better than the Nestle ones!! Glutino and Pamela’s also have a large variety of good cookies. Mi-del Gingersnaps are good for crushing and making “graham cracker” pie crusts. The Mi-del gluten free chocolate chip mini cookies taste like the real thing too. They are best when dipped in milk, but are good without as well!

The best cake mix is Arrowhead Mills GF Vanilla Cake Mix. It is a little grainy so if you have a food processor, run it through there or mash the mix down with a mortar & pestle. If you don’t have either of these things, it still tastes good and you don’t notice the grainyness when you have frosting on it!

(edited 9/7 to add more info =))

Hi. I would say that once you start being strict on the gluten free diet again, u can slowly reintroduce dairy again. Many Celiacs find they can eat dairy after being on the GF diet. I understand how you feel but know there are tONS of yummy GF ‘junk’ foods out there like pizza, bagels, chips, etc that u can eat just like everyone else.
There is a site u may find helpful, for those on the GF and Caesin (dairy) free diet. Perhaps they can help.

Another place worth a visit is an ethnic grocers or the ethnic section of the supermarket. Snack foods from Asia and India are often made from rice or garbanzo bean flour, and are very unlikely to contain lactose (labels are usually in multiple languages including English, so you can check). I’m thinking of things like Japanese rice crackers, tropical mix, Bombay mix and balti mix (though you need to like spicey food to go for the last 2). Personally, i just LOVE balti mix.

I used to manage a health food store, and my suggestion to you is to take a trip into a health food store or a store which has a health food section and ask for some assistance from an employee. there are whole sections devoted to celiac/other intolerances and many many products there to try… there are chips, cookies, cake mixes, cereals, pancake mixes…. lots of options! I know the frozen food sections of most stores of this nature also have premade meals (like lean cuisine type things) that are safe for you to eat. They will be clearly labeled, but an employee should be able to help.