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What Does Gluten Free Mean?

discodiver

By discodiver
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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discodiver Rookie
discodiver
Posted

Does "Gluten Free" mean "Wheat Free" and does "Wheat Free" mean "Gluten Free." I'ver read a few articles stating just because a food item declares itself to be gluten free it may still contain wheat.

Last night I decided to try the "Gluten free Moo Goo Gai Pan" from PF Changs...2 hours later I was in horrible pain which lasted all night. That was the only thing I had to eat yesterday. Is this ever frustrating.

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ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

Something that is gluten free is going to be wheat free but something that is wheat free may not be gluten free. Gluten is in wheat, rye, barley and some of us react to oats. Many 'wheat free' items still contain another gluten source. The PF Changs could have been CC'd or something in it may have just been too much for your system if you are still healing.

scarlett77 Apprentice
scarlett77
Posted

When I read "Gluten Free" I'm under the impression that a product with such a label is advertising that the product is free of wheat, barley, rye, and oats. Of course I still read the label because there really is no regulation set on labeling something as "Gluten Free". "Wheat free" means just that...there is no wheat but there could very well be barley, rye, and/or oats.

Like Raven said you may have been CC'd or maybe you are still healing and something else bothered you. Even if there is a gluten free menu, you still need to be careful and vigilant and express to your server and the manager about your special dietary needs. Some restaurants are better than others. We go to our local PF Chang's occasionally and they so far have been very helpful and accommodating. Not everyone has that experience I've heard.

psawyer Proficient
psawyer
Posted

In the US, there is still no regulated definition of gluten-free, despite FALCPA having set a time line to have at least a proposal in place by 2008.

As RWG said, gluten-free means wheat-free, but the reverse is not true. Wheat is not the only source of gluten, as it is also contained in rye and barley. Oats are subject to debate, but most commercial oats in North America are contaminated with wheat and thus unsafe for celiacs.

butterfl8 Rookie
butterfl8
Posted

Do you react to soy? I can only have "Philip's better Lemon Chicken" from PF Chang's because I can't tolerate soy. You may want to try eliminating soy and see if that helps your system at all. It did mine, but I can't really enjoy PF Changs anymore. . . Sorry! Or it could be CC, as other posters have suggested. <_<

-Daisy

sandsurfgirl Collaborator
sandsurfgirl
Posted

You probably got CC'd.

At restaurants with a gluten free menu I tell the waitress or manager that I'm very sensitive. I request that they speak personally to the chef and let him know I'm sensitive to cross contamination and can he please be extra careful with my order.

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    • trents
      Burning Sensation in the small intestine

      By trents · Posted

      @pilber309, as knittykitty pointed out, lactose intolerance is not the only issue with dairy in celiac community. Lactose intolerance has to do with the sugar component of dairy, lactose. However, some celiacs react to a protein fraction in dairy, namely, casein, like they do gluten.
    • pilber309
      Burning Sensation in the small intestine

      By pilber309 · Posted

      Stop eating oats as it did give me irritation.The only diffrent thing i have been consuming are a new probitics which seem to have a fruit ive never heard of as a prebiotic
    • cristiana
      Burning Sensation in the small intestine

      By cristiana · Posted

      It could well be a new intolerance developing.  Does your diet incorporate pure oats i.e. those safe for coeliac consumption?  I find I can only tolerate a certain amount, same goes for dairy in fact, then I start to get gastric symptoms.   Or have you started consuming a new type of gluten-free bread, or more gluten-free bread than normal, that might contain oats?  I remember reading a post on this forum from a woman who had started to eat a lot of loaves made with oat flour and her coeliac symptoms kicked off again.  I am sure you know this, but some coeliacs cannot tolerate pure oats.
    • pilber309
      Burning Sensation in the small intestine

      By pilber309 · Posted

      I eat a lot of dairy but its intermittent is this burning so I would assume it would happen all the time. Plus I have been tested for lactose intolerance  etc and I am fine and the other symptoms of that I don't get. As a aside  my dad died last month after a long illness so I wonder if the stress of that might be a influence as a bodily reaction to stress.
    • pilber309
      Burning Sensation in the small intestine

      By pilber309 · Posted

      not as much
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