Do Certified Gluten Free foods still bother you?

[FoxPirate]

Hello everyone,

I was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease this past September, but have been on a gluten free diet since the beginning of August. I'm no stranger to a gluten free diet either; my grandmother and two of my uncles have Celiac. I eat foods that are naturally gluten free, and when I do eat processed foods, I am sure to check the label to make sure they are gluten free.

So I would like to ask all of you if any of these foods still agitates you. For example, a few weeks ago I found that Perdue gluten free breaded chicken was giving me horrible stomach pain and yellow and oranged flecked, semi formed stools that followed. Bob's Red Mill gluten free oats did the same thing to me, and I also had very bad anxiety to go along with it. And just recently after eating Van's gluten free blueberry waffles for two mornings at breakfast, I had that bad stomach pain and a nasty stool like the one on Perdue that followed the next day. Now Bob's is not certified gluten free, but they are a very popular name that people trust to be gluten free. Perdue and Vans both are certified gluten free. In this time of pandemic, I feel like I'm going a little crazy. I want to stay healthy and heal my gut, but things keep triggering my Celiac.

I thought it might help if anyone shared similar experiences with me. Maybe it's not Celiac and just my nerves? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I can't call the doctor until tomorrow after all. Thank you very much in advance for your time ?

 

Edited March 29, 2020 by FoxPirate

[GFinDC]

The first thing I'd do is make a list of all the ingredients in those 3 products.  Then compare to see if there are any ingredients common to all of them.  If there are then try eliminating those ingredients for your diet.

[ravenwoodglass]

Welcome to the board. You may want to drop anything with even certified oats for a bit. Some celiacs will react to oats the same as gluten. From personal experience I would suggest to avoid soy protein or flour for a bit. I thought for quite awhile that I was being glutened by gluten free foods and it turned out to be ones with soy.  You can try adding both back in, one at a time for week, after you have been feeling better for a bit.

I hope you feeling better soon.

[cyclinglady]

You have been given great advice.  

I do not consume oats.  That is because “back in the day” it was advised that all celiacs avoid oats because 1) a few celiacs react to them and 2) cross contamination from field and processing was an issue.  Now, some oats are being grown in dedicated fields.  This has allowed the rules to be relaxed a bit.  It is recommended that celiacs still avoid oats for the first six months and then test true gluten free oats (those that are actually tested).   In Australia, no oats can be labeled gluten free period.  They take a very conservative approach.   You may be one of those celiacs who simply can not do oats.  

The other products are processed.  Lots of ingredients that you can not easily pronounce and would not even keep in your pantry.  Best to avoid them until you have healed.  Know that the breaded chicken falls under USDA guidelines and not the FDA.  But they try to follow FDA guidelines. Some manufacturers, like Vans, have made mistakes because they also produce waffles that are not gluten free and were mis-packaged.  

https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/updated-vans-foods-voluntarily-recalls-gluten-free-waffles-due-gluten-undeclared-wheat-undeclared

The point is it is rare for mistakes to be made.  The Gluten Free Watchdog has been testing products.  If I recall some 98% of products she has tested are compliant.  So, I am not trying to discourage you.  

I use some processed foods, but I make sure they do not use oats and do a good job of avoiding cross contamination while manufacturing.  

I have healed (repeat biopsies).  I do my best to avoid processed foods or choose ones that have few ingredients.  I also have identified several food intolerances.  One is Xanthan Gum.  My body does not like it.  

Keep moving forward and research (it is your best defense).  ?

[psawyer]

Oats are a problem for some people with celiac disease. Commercial oats are often contaminated with wheat, so be careful. I am able to eat pure oats without a problem. Pure oats from safe sources will be identified as such, but various regulations may forbid them from claiming to be "gluten-free."

[cristiana]

Couldn't agree more about oats.  I used to eat them for England before my diagnosis.  Now I get a burning sensation that feels like gastritis (my standard reaction to gluten, too) when I eat more than a few grams, but in my case this is true of pure oats.  Apparently some coeliacs react to the avenin which is a protein in oats.  Here's some more info from the Coeliac UK website.  I don't know what percentage of coeliacs are affected this way, trust me to be one of them!

https://www.coeliac.org.uk/information-and-support/living-gluten-free/the-gluten-free-diet/about-gluten/oats/

Some coeliacs have this problem only initially.  You may find after a few months you are OK with pure oats.

For several months after diagnosis, maybe even longer, I could not tolerate lentils. Again, burning sensation that felt like gastritis.  I now have no problem.  It took me too long to get my numbers down to near normal figures so presumably there was still a lot of inflammation going on and that's why it hurt to eat them, they just irritated my gut.

I do miss my oats though!

[AuntieE]

Gluten Frieda do under 5ppm gluten free oats. I can't eat oats, but if you want to try them, that might be an option.

I can't eat any processed food (apart from one brand of chocolate) , even years of being strictly gluten free. I truly hope you don't have the same issues.

 

[notme]

i couldn't eat oats for, like, 10 years.  I kept trying them every 6 months or so.  processed foods, same thing.  I was undiagnosed for 25 years, I can imagine, when I started on the gluten free diet, there was plenty of healing to be done!  keep yourself a food journal - include alllllll ingredients and your body's reactions.  adjust accordingly, until you have some good 'safe' foods.  I had to avoid (first) lactose for about 6 months, soy for about a year, raw veggies for like, 2 years (or be aware that if I ate them, they weren't going to digest well!)  etc, you see where i'm going.  also, I can't eat the same thing two days in a row.  the first day, all is well, the second day I eat the same thing, body is like, nope.  I think it has to do with histamine overload.  it works for me, now I am eating tons of different foods I couldn't eat in the beginning.  some stuff I still hafta limit (fruits, chocolate <ok, chocolate, I will take the hit, lolz)   I used to notice that (if you are female) hormones will add to discomfort once a month  

just pay attention to your body, keep dat journal, you'll adjust to your 'new normal'.  good luck!  welcome to the club you never wanted to join lolz  

[cristiana]

Notme!  That's great news, much needed at the moment.  You have given me hope that one day oats will be back on the menu again.  I really miss them!

[notme]

I really thought I would never be able to eat them again, but the nature's path brand is the one I can eat.  I stopped trying different brands when I could eat this brand, like finding something in the last place you look   i can eat them once or twice per week, even adding (nuts dot com) mesquite maple walnuts and craisins!!  yum o, I hear you, Cristiana!!  I did miss them a lot!!  there's hope for oats!!    (just might take 10 years, though, lolz)

[TCampbell]

On 3/29/2020 at 9:22 AM, FoxPirate said:

Hello everyone,

I was recently diagnosed with Celiac Disease this past September, but have been on a gluten free diet since the beginning of August. I'm no stranger to a gluten free diet either; my grandmother and two of my uncles have Celiac. I eat foods that are naturally gluten free, and when I do eat processed foods, I am sure to check the label to make sure they are gluten free.

So I would like to ask all of you if any of these foods still agitates you. For example, a few weeks ago I found that Perdue gluten free breaded chicken was giving me horrible stomach pain and yellow and oranged flecked, semi formed stools that followed. Bob's Red Mill gluten free oats did the same thing to me, and I also had very bad anxiety to go along with it. And just recently after eating Van's gluten free blueberry waffles for two mornings at breakfast, I had that bad stomach pain and a nasty stool like the one on Perdue that followed the next day. Now Bob's is not certified gluten free, but they are a very popular name that people trust to be gluten free. Perdue and Vans both are certified gluten free. In this time of pandemic, I feel like I'm going a little crazy. I want to stay healthy and heal my gut, but things keep triggering my Celiac.

I thought it might help if anyone shared similar experiences with me. Maybe it's not Celiac and just my nerves? Any insight would be greatly appreciated. I can't call the doctor until tomorrow after all. Thank you very much in advance for your time ?

 

I ate Bob's Gluten Free Steel Cut Oats for six months with no problem.  Recently, though, I found myself nauseous after eating them.  After a week of that, I decided to change my breakfast.  No more nausea.  I wonder if something has changed in their production.

[cyclinglady]

4 hours ago, TCampbell said:

I ate Bob's Gluten Free Steel Cut Oats for six months with no problem.  Recently, though, I found myself nauseous after eating them.  After a week of that, I decided to change my breakfast.  No more nausea.  I wonder if something has changed in their production.

I wonder if those oats are grown in dedicated fields or are mechanically sorted regular oats?  I do know that Bob’s does a good testing, but mechanically sorted oats have been controversial over the last few years.

Maybe just a bad batch?  You should let the manufacturer know.  

 

[cristiana]

8 hours ago, cyclinglady said:

I wonder if those oats are grown in dedicated fields or are mechanically sorted regular oats?  I do know that Bob’s does a good testing, but mechanically sorted oats have been controversial over the last few years.

Maybe just a bad batch?  You should let the manufacturer know.  

 

I agree.. always worth letting the manufacturer know.  I bought some gluten-free soup which in my own mind was cc'd - typical reactions each time I ate it from the same container.  The manufacturers did look into it and although on this occasion they couldn't find any proof mistakes can happen, as evidenced in my own country by Coeliac UK's food alert page on their website, which shows products are recalled from time to time.