Please Help Me Find Gluten In This Products

[Carriefaith]

Sorry it took me so long to read this thread, I took kind of a long vacation in Rachelville....

Psawyer gave a good explanation of kosher. To confuse things more, though, there is also "Kosher for Passover," which means that the product can NOT contain leavening; most people think it means "no wheat" because there are so many wheat-free baked goods available at Passover, but this is because the wheat that is allowed has to come from matzoh--which is made from wheat. So instead of buying flour, everybody buys matzoh meal that has been certified "kosher for Passover." It's basically just ground-up matzoh, and cakes made with it are very dry and heavy. The matzoh that you see on the shelves year round is just regular crackers with leavening. The matzoh sold at Passover only contains Passover flour (wheat) that has been specially blessed, and water.

Kosher seems complicated. I am assuming that I should only be concerned whenever Kosher products are DE or D. I'm assuming a product can be Kosher without dairy products.

[Carriefaith]

I was wondering if anyone knew how long allergic reactions can last? I just had a mild reaction tonight and I'm pretty sure that I had no milk, wheat, or yeast. I am on prednisone and once I took Benedryl, I felt better within an hour or so. I am afraid that when my prednisone runs out that I will get worse.

Also, does anyone know if people can get allergic reactions in which the throat feels like it will close over from environmental allergis, like animal hair, dust, pollen, or mold?

[oceangirl]

I was wondering if anyone knew how long allergic reactions can last? I just had a mild reaction tonight and I'm pretty sure that I had no milk, wheat, or yeast. I am on prednisone and once I took Benedryl, I felt better within an hour or so. I am afraid that when my prednisone runs out that I will get worse.

Also, does anyone know if people can get allergic reactions in which the throat feels like it will close over from environmental allergis, like animal hair, dust, pollen, or mold?

Carrie,

I have had that "throat closing over" feeling, relieved by Benadryl several times. VERY disconcerting. Allergy testing revealed nothing, but I had two nut flour muffins the last time it happened. Very leery of nuts now. Had testing for tree nuts which came back negative but it was weeks after the reaction. Don't know if this helps. Feel better.

Fiddle-Faddle,

I like your description of yourself a "a reluctant carnivore". I can relate to that. The way the American food industry treats animals is appalling. I try to buy only from local farms. Thanks for your Kosher info- fascinating!

lisa

[Carriefaith]

Carrie,

I have had that "throat closing over" feeling, relieved by Benadryl several times. VERY disconcerting. Allergy testing revealed nothing, but I had two nut flour muffins the last time it happened. Very leery of nuts now. Had testing for tree nuts which came back negative but it was weeks after the reaction. Don't know if this helps. Feel better.

Thanks for your help. I wish that there was an easy way to tell what is causing these reactions.

[oceangirl]

Thanks for your help. I wish that there was an easy way to tell what is causing these reactions.

Carrie,

My sister, who has no gastrointestinal symptoms and is not gluten intolerant as far as she knows, has had several times in her life when she has had the throat closing, puffed-up face, scary symptoms of an allergic reaction after eating a bunch of very different foods at the same time. "Specialty foods", I guess you'd say. She could never figure out what did it as she'd had so many things in combo. Maybe it's best for you to have pure, "clean" foods for awhile, then slowly and one at a time add in "suspect" things. It's so annoying, but better than being ill or having a frightening reaction to something. Good luck with your detective work.

lisa

[Carriefaith]

Maybe it's best for you to have pure, "clean" foods for awhile, then slowly and one at a time add in "suspect" things. It's so annoying, but better than being ill or having a frightening reaction to something. Good luck with your detective work.

I am eating safe foods that I know have never caused me problems in the past. My diet has been sort of blah, but like you said better safe than sorry. I'm trying to keep everything interesting though. I'm not eating the new foods that I had before the reaction, no way! I am also staying away from everything that may have come in contact with milk since milk is my main suspicion right now.

[ArtGirl]

I'm casein intolerant so I am always on the lookout for foods without milk products. I shop the Kosher section of the grocery store and look for parve, which means there is no milk product in it (but also look for gluten or other any allergens of mine). My husband is casein sensitive, so he also buys parve, and since we don't eat pork, buying Kosher franks and sausages makes shopping easier, and you can be certain that there is no casein in Kosher meats. We recently found a Jewish market and went crazy in there. I will warn you, though, that many Kosher products, especially their soups, contain MSG.

Jewish cookbooks have good main-dish recipes that do not contain dairy. If you have a good library, there'll be at least a few Jewish cookbooks on the shelves.

Carrie - I, too, have eaten several new foods in one day and then, when I had a reaction later on, had no clue to what caused it. I wish I'd quit doing that!

[Carriefaith]

I will warn you, though, that many Kosher products, especially their soups, contain MSG.

What kind of problems can MSG cause?

[mamaw]

Hi Carriefaith

when I eat MSG I get terrible headaches and a hive like rash and feel like I was run over by a truck. I've alwaya had those results......

Hope you ar e doing better

mamaw

[Sarah8793]

What kind of problems can MSG cause?

When I accidentally get MSG, I get heart flutters, headaches, insomnia and chest pain.

Sarah