Kept Getting Glutened

[Ursa Major]

The reason I am posting this is, to remind people to re-check ingredients on foods you think are gluten-free, because they've 'always been' gluten-free.

Well, my favourite chocolate is Lindt Lindor dark chocolate (with a cream centre). Last year it definitely had no gluten in it (even though it had a tiny bit of dairy and soy, which seemed okay and not causing a problem). So, I assumed (stupidly) that it was still gluten-free. Lately I've been having diarrhea and stomach pain, burning and tearing eyes and rashes again (amongst other symptoms), and didn't know why.

All those cleared up these past two weeks, because I ran out of chocolate and didn't have time to buy more. Yesterday I got some again and ate half of it. Not doing too well today, still not cluing in, I ate a few more pieces. Enter Susie, my youngest daughter (14), who comes up, says, "Can I have some of your chocolate?" I agree halfheartedly (kids always wanting MY treats, when they can eat anything they want, grumble, grumble), and she takes some. While chewing, she turns the box over and reads the ingredient list, saying, "Mom, are you sure you should be eating those, they have Barley Malt extract in them!"

Ouch, leave it to kids to make you feel stupid. There goes my favourite treat! I am glad that she is paying attention (sometimes) and cares about what I eat.

So, the moral of this story is:

Read the ingredients of products you buy every time you buy them, never assume they have the same ingredients as last time you bought them, they may suddenly contain gluten!

[CarlaB]

Ugh, sorry you're feeling bad. Reading labels is my favorite hobby!

[Guest nini]

awww so sorry you are feeling bad... every so often I'll be eating something that I've eaten a dozen times and all of a sudden it will occur to me to check the label, usually I'm safe, but that ONE time that I've made a mistake means that I'm in for weeks of misery... So I am absolutely neurotic about checking and triple checking labels, and for some reason the rest of my family doesn't seem to "get that".

[Lymetoo]

Thanks for the info......The regular Dark Choc is OK by Lindt, isn't it?? Gee, I hope so!! my favorite [fairlyLow] sugar treat.

BTW........Are Fritos OK??

[Aerin328]

Sorry to hear you're not feeling well!

[tarnalberry]

This is the other reason why I never answer "yes" or "no" when people ask "Is X gluten free?" Always, always, always read the label. Every time you pick up something, read the label. Ok, honestly, I don't always check the Lundberg Ricecake label - I check it once a month or so. But it's a good point, that stuff sneaks in there all the time.

[Carriefaith]

Sorry that you kept getting sick

Thanks for the reminder. Sometimes it is very easy to assume something is safe and not look at the ingredients. I do this all the time and I have to start being more careful.

[jerseyangel]

Yes--thanks for the reminder. I have to admit that I don't check a product again after I've checked once and used it with no problem.

I will make it a habit to check more often!

Hope you feel better, Ursula

[Ursa Major]

Thanks for the info......The regular Dark Choc is OK by Lindt, isn't it?? Gee, I hope so!! my favorite [fairlyLow] sugar treat.

BTW........Are Fritos OK??

Well, I think the regular Lindt dark chocolate is okay, but you better check the label next time you buy it, there is no guarantee it's still safe!

[gfp]

The reason I am posting this is, to remind people to re-check ingredients on foods you think are gluten-free, because they've 'always been' gluten-free.

Well, my favourite chocolate is Lindt Lindor dark chocolate (with a cream centre). Last year it definitely had no gluten in it (even though it had a tiny bit of dairy and soy, which seemed okay and not causing a problem). So, I assumed (stupidly) that it was still gluten-free. Lately I've been having diarrhea and stomach pain, burning and tearing eyes and rashes again (amongst other symptoms), and didn't know why.

All those cleared up these past two weeks, because I ran out of chocolate and didn't have time to buy more. Yesterday I got some again and ate half of it. Not doing too well today, still not cluing in, I ate a few more pieces. Enter Susie, my youngest daughter (14), who comes up, says, "Can I have some of your chocolate?" I agree halfheartedly (kids always wanting MY treats, when they can eat anything they want, grumble, grumble), and she takes some. While chewing, she turns the box over and reads the ingredient list, saying, "Mom, are you sure you should be eating those, they have Barley Malt extract in them!"

Ouch, leave it to kids to make you feel stupid. There goes my favourite treat! I am glad that she is paying attention (sometimes) and cares about what I eat.

So, the moral of this story is:

Read the ingredients of products you buy every time you buy them, never assume they have the same ingredients as last time you bought them, they may suddenly contain gluten!

Second moral is have someone else read the labels!

My girlfriend (edited to stop sating gluten-free) always double check for me. We (humans) like to hear what we want and so if you want chocolate its easy to skim the labels and rely on "it was OK before"

Its not often but sometimes my gluten-free finds something I missed ... if you have brain fog then you can probably mutliply the risk x10 ....

awww so sorry you are feeling bad... every so often I'll be eating something that I've eaten a dozen times and all of a sudden it will occur to me to check the label, usually I'm safe, but that ONE time that I've made a mistake means that I'm in for weeks of misery... So I am absolutely neurotic about checking and triple checking labels, and for some reason the rest of my family doesn't seem to "get that".

Yep very true ... however I think the most dangerous things are those with some CC or trace gluten we only partially react to. I guess we all have comfort/safety foods. For ages I had some corn tortilla chips and had sporadic symptoms always the same brand and always unflavoured ... then one day my gluten-free points out "made in a factory using wheat" I swear it was new .. but I had been getitng progressively worse.

My belief is that we eat stuff like this and its just below a trigger but gradually builds up. I get little spots (not DH) but id put money they contain gluten ....

The problem is if we ate this once we would probably be fine but the real danger is in your regular comfort foods!

[swittenauer]

My husband is having the same issue. He has been eating the same foods he always has but something is getting him so we are checking & rechecking labels to see what has changed. Thanks for mentioning that. It is easy to get complacent & simply not double check.

[penguin]

Doh! Sorry you got sick

In the US, every single Lindt product I've seen has barley malt in it, even the darks.

I buy the endangered species chocoalte, at least proceeds go to a good cause