Mad At The Producers

[chrissy]

how many of you find yourself walking through the grocery store feeling irritated at the food manufacturing companies for putting gluten in everything?

christine

[Guest nini]

Raising hand! Me!!!!

I get so irritated at the companies that put it in products that do not need to be there. It's just cheap FILLER!!!!

[francelajoie]

hahahaha...it is true but I think the disease is getting more and more known to the public. I mean think of like 10 years ago, how many gluten-free items could you find in your local grocery store? With time, I believe it'll change.

[jerseyangel]

how many of you find yourself walking through the grocery store feeling irritated at the food manufacturing companies for putting gluten in everything?

christine

Count me in on this one! I never realized until I had to that wheat was in so many seemingly unrelated things.

[plantime]

>raising hand<

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

I'm not mad at that them for making a business decision (it allows them to sell their product at a cheaper price and increase their profit)...good ol American capitalism!

I only get upset when there is not a gluten-free alternative brand (then my entrepreunerial brain starts kicking in I start thinking about if I could market something like that... haha)

But mad? nope, getting upset allows celiac disease to get the best of me...I refuse to think that way anymore...not worth it.

JMO

[TinkerbellSwt]

I wasnt mad at it until recently. I have been buying my sons baby food.. usually Gerber brand (I know I should make my own, but the conveinence wins most days) and most of it is gluten free, except for the obvious, chicken noodle etc. I got rid of all the gluten filled baby food in the house, he is to be gluten free until he can be tested correctly, maybe forever. I went shopping the other day to buy his food, a million jars it seems like and I bought one Turkey Rice by Gerber. I heated it last nite for him and then glanced at the label! I must not have read it in the store like I always do... there was wheat in it! grrrrr... was I mad!

just venting a bit.. thanks!

Tinkerbell

[Nancym]

Yeah, it makes me mad. I don't think they have any clue how many people can't eat wheat. I doubt any of them want to eliminate a 1 out of 100 people that have celiac disease (or the possible 30/100 that have gluten sensitivity) as customers so it is just a matter of time and more folks getting diagnosed and they'll cut it out.

[minibabe]

I am so in on this one. It makes me so ......

+1 vote for me

[Lollie]

i wouldn't say I was mad......but......frustrated might be the better term for me! I keep trying to find the gluten-free alernitives that I can buy at the store. So more often I am getting frustrated! But I think I 'm getting better at the shopping thing!!!! And I know that I'm healthier and my family is too!

Just a side bar for those of you with daughters, my husband read an article linking all the harmones they feed cows and then produce milk from those cows to the earlier "blossoming" of girls....by like 3 years! I'm sooooo glad I have switched all of my food to organic, all natural foods!

Lollie

[2Boys4Me]

It doesn't make me mad or even frustrated about most manufacturers, because as mentioned, there are usually gluten-free alternatives. My son for now at least, couldn't care less if he ever had bread again, but he's six, so ask me when he's 15 and the kids are going out for pizza and burgers.

The manufacturer that bothers me most is Kellogg's. The Rice Krispies, Special K, Corn Flakes, Frosted Flakes, Corn Pops would all be gluten-free if not for the malt extract. So find an artificial malt extract or find something else to use. I hate most of all the response from the consumer affairs department.

We will always use malt, we love malt, malt is good and tasty and we will never ever ever not use malt. Too bad for you.

[debmidge]

My reaction of mad, frustrated, annoyed depends on how desperately I need the item and if a gluten-free subsititute is available and if that sub item is of the same like and quality.

When I was doing Atkins I noticed the amount of "filler" in products only because I was avoiding carbs. So when my husband had to go gluten-free I knew what to avoid basically.

Part of the push for fillers is it cuts costs for the manufacturers and it lowers the calories of those foods (additionally it's the thickener). When you are dieting low fat, you want the food to have a non fat carb in it.

I feel if the product doesn't need a filler, then it shouldn't have one. For instance, in some restaurants and diners did you know that they add bread crumbs to their tuna salad to stretch it out? I learned that while on Atkins - from the daughter of a diner owner. It's a sneaky way to lower their costs and increase profit (can't blame them, but unless you ask, how would you know to avoid that food?).

I guess they also justify it because the filler is a natural ingredient. So far wheat/oats/barley/rye isn't the "new" poison like transfats are.

[Ashley]

I could slap Kelloggs for putting malt in Rice Krispes.

[4missinwheat]

Just a side bar for those of you with daughters, my husband read an article linking all the harmones they feed cows and then produce milk from those cows to the earlier "blossoming" of girls....by like 3 years! I'm sooooo glad I have switched all of my food to organic, all natural foods!

Lollie

[debmidge]

Lollie, I also have heard that in addition to hormone in foods, it's also use of plastics, esp. heating up foods , cooking foods in plastics that contributes to this lowering of the age of "blossoming."

[teankerbell]

Frustrated, yes. Sometimes bewildered. Angry, no.

[chrissy]

Lollie, I also have heard that in addition to hormone in foods, it's also use of plastics, esp. heating up foods , cooking foods in plastics that contributes to this lowering of the age of "blossoming."

i've heard the use of soy in so many products is also a problem because of the phytoestrogens in soy.

christine

[MallysMama]

I so very much agree with this subject! It makes me almost emotional to think of the cereal aisle in the grocery store!! I could eat cereal all day long - my favorite food!!! When my hubby and I go grocery shopping that is the one aisle I never ever miss! I could spend forever on that aisle reading every lable - hoping to find one new cereal that I can eat (without cheating...I mostly ignore it when it says malt... I know... very bad - I can't help it!). Since I eat cereal so often, I get sick of certain favorites and have to rotate them. Just once - I would so love to eat all the flake cereals - Special K, Honey Bunches of Oats, etc. When they finally decided that Oats were okay for us to eat - you can't even know how much easier that made my cereal shopping! Even just by adding one more cereal to my list made it so much better! I don't get upset about gluten being in so many other products - it's just cereal that irks me! (If ya can't tell! haha!) However, now that I'm trying my hardest to be 100% gluten-free and not cheat any more - I better re-read all the cereal boxes in my house and re-read all my old favorites.....and then be even sadder when I have to give up so many! *sigh*

[chrissy]

i hate to burst your bubble---but the oats in cold cereals are NOT considered safe. oats are only safe if they can be guaranteed to be gluten free. some people are eating mcaans oats without a problem, and there is a company making oats for celiacs Open Original Shared Link we have tried any oats yet, but our ped gi says we can if they say "gluten free"

christine

[Lollie]

i've heard the use of soy in so many products is also a problem because of the phytoestrogens in soy.

christine

Yeah, my entire family now eats only whole natural foods. No chemicals in my house!!!! And luckily, soy doesn't sit with me very well so we don't have that in the house any more either!!!! I hope I can keep my girls "girls" (rather than women), for as long as what should be natural!

Lollie

[MallysMama]

No way!!! It had been soo long before I even dared try Oats after they were "okay'd"....and now I'm finally eating them and you tell me that they're not safe?! It's never bothered me before? I don't understand. How can you know if Anything is truely Gluten-free? Grrr...so frustrating!! I might as well plant my own garden and only eat my own veggies!!! (Too bad I'm in stinkin hot vegas...and have a "brown" thumb...) Okay, so I'm being sarcastic - but it's so frustrating. Is there a list somewhere that lists EVERYTHING that we can't eat?? It's been so long (and that "list" was told to my mom since I was a baby)....I guess I don't even have a clue what I shouldn't be eating! I guess I just feel guilty cause I knowingly cheated again today. Help!

[chrissy]

mallysmamma----have you had your antibody levels checked periodically over the years?

christine

[MallysMama]

mallysmamma----have you had your antibody levels checked periodically over the years?

christine

Nope - never to my knowledge have I been back to a doctor because of Celiac. (Except one time when I was probably around 3-4 when my parents decided to see if I could handle any bread yet... not a whole lot of knowledge back then about if it was a permanent thing or not...) I barely even mention it to any doctor I see. I wouldn't even know who to go to to get my antibody levels checked or to have another biopsy to see how much I've damaged my villi. Any suggestions?

[aikiducky]

No suggestions about who to see, but I think it would be very interesting to know what a biopsy would show.

Pauliina

[MallysMama]

I'm very seriously considering it. It would be months before I'd be able to get into a specialist though.... and I need to make sure our insurance will cover it.