Symptoms From Gluten Free Baking Mix?

[answerseeker]

I made chocolate chip cookies last night using Betty Crocker gluten free mix. I know I shouldn't have tried to eat them so soon but I made them for my kids and I ate 2.

Within 20 min I had all my symptoms back: gurgling belly, heartburn, foot cramps, headache, and bloating. I also experienced a new symptom, I got incredibly thirsty and my mouth felt so dry

Is it possible to get sick from gluten free foods? I looked it up and it does state it has 20ppm in it. Has anyone had problems with this mix? I'm still having symptoms :-(

[GottaSki]

These mixes are safe for those that can tolerate processed food.  A couple ideas:

 

1) You are intolerant of something besides gluten.

 

2) The equipment you used to prepare and bake the cookies - is it possible these were used prior to removing gluten?

[anti-soprano]

Excellent points Lisa!  A mixer with those tiny tines- I can't imagine being able to clean those well enough.  I think I got slightly sick when my husband prepared a cookie mix using our pre-gluten mixer.

[AlwaysLearning]

If I were to compare it to my own gluten reactions, I'd say yes, that was caused by gluten. I do get irritability kicking in after the gurgling but before the headache, and I skip the foot pain, but otherwise, that is pretty spot on.

The thirst is new to me, but some of the ingredients they add to mixes to add fiber could be the problem? When I researched guar gum, it said that it was such a concentrated fiber, that you should drink lots of water along with it. Perhaps the thirst is related to something like that?

When I've been glutened by something in a contaminated kitchen (restaurant) where I don't really know how much contact my gluten-free food has had with contaminated kitchen utensils but is otherwise supposedly gluten free, I get the gurgling. When I react to the trace amounts in products that are sold as gluten free but may have a few parts per million, I'll get a lesser reaction without the gurgling but still get the irritability, headache, and brain fog, and a faster recovery before putting the product on my "don't buy again" list. 

But that is me.

In addition to the mixer, I'd be suspicious of any spatulas which may be made of a porous plastic, and the baking sheets if they had any sort of non-stick coating. As far as I know, only smooth metal, glass, and glazed ceramics can be cleaned well enough to make the transition from a gluten kitchen to a non-gluten kitchen. 

[kareng]

I made chocolate chip cookies last night using Betty Crocker gluten free mix. I know I shouldn't have tried to eat them so soon but I made them for my kids and I ate 2.

Within 20 min I had all my symptoms back: gurgling belly, heartburn, foot cramps, headache, and bloating. I also experienced a new symptom, I got incredibly thirsty and my mouth felt so dry

Is it possible to get sick from gluten free foods? I looked it up and it does state it has 20ppm in it. Has anyone had problems with this mix? I'm still having symptoms :-(

It's not saying there is 20 ppm in them. They don't add gluten to get to an amount. The test is less than 20 ppm. It could be 19 or 1 or 0. I didn't see anything about what level they test, but its at least 20 as they are made in Canada.

There are a lot of ingredients, they have Xantham gum. This can be a problem for some people - Celiac or not. It is in a lot of gluten-free baked goods and a few non gluten-free foods.

Also, I think its likely that older cookie sheets might contribute to the issue. Looking at my box, you just stir them, so probably not a mixer.

[notme]

i have a secondary sensitivity to soy <mimics a gluten reaction but not as severe and doesn't last long)  i probably wouldn't eat these (especially if i was pretty new and still not healed much yet) because of the chocolate chips.  even now, i only eat a tiny bit of chocolate at a time if it contains soy.  i'm hoping to 'outgrow' the soy thing because it's hard to avoid - i started making my own salad dressings because it used to take me an hour in the store to find one without soybean oil.  dah.  and regular vegetable oil?  soybean oil.  did not occur to me and it drove me nuts trying to figure out what was 'glutening' me.  switched to canola, viola!  

 

it's all little adjustments figuring out what works for *you*  

[notme]

oopsies - answered twice - lolz - that's annoying  

[answerseeker]

I am thinking its the chocolate. My daughter reminded me that I was not feeling well a few weeks ago after eating some chocolate covered nuts.

I had a little gurgling after eating some French toast made with Udis bread so I'm confused. For now I'm just not eating any grains except rice until I heal completely.

[notme]

also i used to have a bit of a hard time with egg in the beginning - i always recommend using a food journal and write down EVERYTHING (i used to have 'suspects' lolz)  sometimes, at the end of the day (or the next day) i forgot what i had eaten  - the journal made me say "oh, yeah, i *did* eat that yesterday"  

 

good luck