Jump to content

  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):

    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Chicken Salad

ekdumas19

By ekdumas19
in Coping with Celiac Disease

Recommended Posts

ekdumas19 Apprentice
ekdumas19
Posted

Hi everyone

So I think I am on my second glutening of the week here, and it is sooo frustrating, because I know its my fault for not being extra careful but I am just tired of eating with fear.

So yesterday I was really craving chicken salad so got some from my local Coop. Now sometimes chicken salad has given me some problems in the past--but for some reason I decided to throw caution to the wind. Does anyone know if deli's or salad bars add anything to their chicken salads that would make me have such a reaction. This time it was practically immediate but sadly the damage was already done. I am pretty sure it was gluten cuz I had brain fog, stomach cramps and then the Big D this AM. But chicken salad?? I guess it could be cross contamination. Obviously I should have cut out deli's a long time ago--but its hard when sometimes that's your only option!!!

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


CarlaB Enthusiast
CarlaB
Posted

I don't buy prepared foods from delis, unless I know their procedures ... like at our local health food store that carries gluten-free items and even gluten-free sandwiches at their deli. Beyond that, I don't trust that crumbs aren't in my food.

I learned this the hard way, too. Right now I only eat what I prepare, and my gluten problems are gone! My body still needs to recover from the years of stress from eating gluten, but no more gluten reactions. When I feel better, I will take chances by eating out ocassionally, but while I'm still sick, I'm not eating anything I didn't make.

happygirl Collaborator
happygirl
Posted

Did you read the ingredients?

If you don't know 100% what is in something AND how it was prepared, you have every reason to eat in fear....that is scary to me!

When in doubt, go without. I know it is tough and it gets tiring. And boring. And frustrating. And all those other conflicting emotions. But your fear WILL go away when you are truly eating 100% gluten-free all the time.

I'm sorry you are sick...I hope you feel better!

gfp Enthusiast
gfp
Posted
Did you read the ingredients?

If you don't know 100% what is in something AND how it was prepared, you have every reason to eat in fear....that is scary to me!

When in doubt, go without. I know it is tough and it gets tiring. And boring. And frustrating. And all those other conflicting emotions. But your fear WILL go away when you are truly eating 100% gluten-free all the time.

I'm sorry you are sick...I hope you feel better!

I gotta agree.....

its pretty sad it was a chicken sald you could have made yourself but we all make mistakes and we learn from them.

Hope you start picking up soon.... look on this as a learning experience not in a negative way

Guhlia Rising Star
Guhlia
Posted

Lots of "salads" have bread crumbs in them to enhance the flavor.

mythreesuns Contributor
mythreesuns
Posted
Does anyone know if deli's or salad bars add anything to their chicken salads that would make me have such a reaction.

Salad bar!? I never trust food out in the open like that. Any spoon from any other food could have been put in there, and you'd have no way of knowing.

I stay FAAARRRR away from salad bars!

loraleena Contributor
loraleena
Posted

The mayonaise probably had grain vinegar in it. This is common.

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):

Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):


CarlaB Enthusiast
CarlaB
Posted
The mayonaise probably had grain vinegar in it. This is common.

Distilled vinegar is okay, the distillation removes the gluten. If the label said just plain vingegar, then it was apple cider vinegar by law.

Vinegars that are not okay are flavored vinegars or malt vinegars.

IrishKelly Contributor
IrishKelly
Posted

What kinds of vinegars are not okay? What are some examples of flavored vinegars or malt vinegars?

Distilled vinegar is okay, the distillation removes the gluten. If the label said just plain vingegar, then it was apple cider vinegar by law.

Vinegars that are not okay are flavored vinegars or malt vinegars.

cgilsing Enthusiast
cgilsing
Posted

I know they say distilled vinegar and alcohol are supposed to be gluten free, but I swear I get sick any time I eat/drink them. I'd stay away! But then I get sick from McDonald's fries too (which are supposed to be ok)...so maybe it's just me :rolleyes:

on the chicken salad - I don't know where they got their chicken, but I believe some brands of canned chicken (often used in chicken salad) are not gluten-free

TinkerbellSwt Collaborator
TinkerbellSwt
Posted

As was mentioned in another post.. my experiences with a salad bar is asking for trouble. I wouldnt trust anything on it. I have thrown caution into the wind and took some stuff from a Whole Foods salad/food bar. I got lucky and never have gotten sick. I only have done it twice and each time I know I am asking for trouble.

And again, the breadcrumbs subject. I know for a fact that a lot of places put breadcrumbs in their salads to make them taste better and to have them last longer. My mother asked in a supermarket if their tuna salad was ok.. the person behind the counter immediately said.. no way! That the salads at this particular market have breadcrumbs in them.

So, I hope you feel better. Just chalk it up as a learning experience. We all had them in the beginning, heck I still do!!

IrishKelly Contributor
IrishKelly
Posted

Sometimes McDonalds fries can make us sick if they fried nuggets or fish in the same oil as the fries...and you also never know how well they cleaned the fryers before reusing them for the next day, so there can still be traces of gluten in them that way too. If i want fries i use my "fry daddy" at home with my own store bought frozen bag of shoestring fries and oil, and it literally only takes 5 minutes and tastes just as good :)

I know they say distilled vinegar and alcohol are supposed to be gluten free, but I swear I get sick any time I eat/drink them. I'd stay away! But then I get sick from McDonald's fries too (which are supposed to be ok)...so maybe it's just me :rolleyes:

on the chicken salad - I don't know where they got their chicken, but I believe some brands of canned chicken (often used in chicken salad) are not gluten-free

Fiddle-Faddle Community Regular
Fiddle-Faddle
Posted

Most supermarkets make their chicken salads from leftover rotisserie chickens. Sam's Club ROtiesserie chickens (I believe) are gluten-free, but GIant Eagle (my local supermarket) uses soy sauce (with wheat) to marinate their rotisserie chickens before rotisserie-ing them.

That is a likely source of your glutening.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):


  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      132,397
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748
    Megannnnn
    Newest Member
    Megannnnn
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):

  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.5k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):



  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):


  • Who's Online (See full list)

  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • Scott Adams
      Coeliac UK Research Conference 2025

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      Thanks for sharing this!
    • Scott Adams
      Shingles - Could It Be Related to Gluten/ Celiac

      By Scott Adams · Posted

      I had the same thing happen to me at around your age, and to this day it's the most painful experience I've ever had. For me it was the right side of my head, above my ear, running from my nerves in my neck. For years before my outbreak I felt a tingling sensation shooting along the exact nerves that ended up exactly where the shingles blisters appeared. I highly recommend the two shot shingles vaccine as soon as your turn 50--I did this because I started to get the same tingling sensations in the same area, and after the vaccines I've never felt that again.  As you likely know, shingles is caused by chicken pox, which was once though of as one of those harmless childhood viruses that everyone should catch in the wild--little did they know that it can stay in your nervous system for your entire life, and cause major issues as you age.
    • trents
      Blood tests low iGA 4 years later digestive issues

      By trents · Posted

      Keep us posted.
    • Clear2me
      Gluten free nuts

      By Clear2me · Posted

      Thanks for the info. I recently moved to CA from Wyoming and in that western region the Costco and Sam's /Walmart Brands have many nuts and more products that are labeled gluten free. I was told it's because those products are packaged and processed  in different  plants. Some plants can be labeled  gluten free because the plant does not also package gluten products and they know that for example the trucks, containers equipment are not used to handle wheat, barely or Rye. The Walmart butter in the western region says gluten free but not here. Most of The Kirkland and Members Mark brands in CA say they are from Vietnam. That's not the case in Wyoming and Colorado. I've spoken to customer service at the stores here in California. They were not helpful. I check labels every time I go to the store. The stores where I am are a Sh*tshow. The Magalopoly grocery chain Vons/Safeway/Albertsons, etc. are the same. Fishers and Planters brands no longer say gluten free. It could be regional. There are nuts with sugar coatings and fruit and nut mixes at the big chains that are labeled gluten free but I don't want the fruit or sugar.  It's so difficult I am considering moving again. I thought it would be easier to find safe food in a more populated area. It's actually worse.  I was undiagnosed for most of my life but not because I didn't try to figure it out. So I have had all the complications possible. I don't have any spare organs left.  No a little gluten will hurt you. The autoimmune process continues to destroy your organs though you may not feel it. If you are getting a little all the time and as much as we try we probably all are and so the damage is happening. Now the FDA has pretty much abandoned celiacs. There are no requirements for labeling for common allergens on medications. All the generic drugs made outside the US are not regulated for common allergens and the FDA is taking the last gluten free porcine Thyroid med, NP Thyroid, off the market in 2026. I was being glutened by a generic levothyroxin. The insurance wouldn't pay for the gluten free brand any longer because the FDA took them all off their approved formulary. So now I am paying $147 out of pocket for NP Thyroid but shortly I will have no safe choice. Other people with allergies should be aware that these foreign generic pharmaceutical producers are using ground shellfish shell as pill coatings and anti-desicants. The FDA knows this but  now just waits for consumers to complain or die. The take over of Wholefoods by Amazon destroyed a very reliable source of good high quality food for people with allergies and for people who wanted good reliably organic food. Bezos thought  he could make a fortune off people who were paying alot for organic and allergen free food by substituting cheap brands from Thailand. He didn't understand who the customers were who were willing to pay more for that food and why. I went from spending hundreds to nothing because Bezo removed every single trusted brand that I was buying. Now they are closing Whole foods stores across the country. In CA, Mill Valley store (closed July 2025) and the National Blvd. store in West Los Angeles (closed October 2025). The Cupertino store will close.  In recent years I have learned to be careful and trust no one. I have been deleberately glutened in a restaurant that was my favorite (a new employee). The Chef owner was not in the kitchen that night. I've had  a metal scouring pad cut up over my food.The chain offered gluten free dishes but it only takes one crazy who thinks you're a problem as a food fadist. Good thing I always look. Good thing they didn't do that to food going to a child with a busy mom.  I give big tips and apologize for having to ask in restaurants but mental illness seem to be rampant. I've learn the hard way.          I don't buy any processed food that doesn't say gluten free.  I am a life long Catholic. I worked for the Church while at college. I don't go to Church anymore because the men at the top decided Jesus is gluten. The special hosts are gluten less not gluten free. No I can't drink wine after people with gluten in their mouth and a variety of deadly germs. I have been abandoned and excluded by my Church/Family.  Having nearly died several times, safe food is paramount. If your immune system collapses as mine did, you get sepsis. It can kill you very quickly. I spent 5 days unconscious and had to have my appendix and gall bladder removed because they were necrotic. I was 25. They didn't figure out I had celiac till I was 53. No one will take the time to tell you what can happen when your immune system gets overwhelmed from its constant fighting the gluten and just stops. It is miserable that our food is processed so carelessly. Our food in many aspects is not safe. And the merging of all the grocery chains has made it far worse. Its a disaster. Krogers also recently purchased Vitacost where I was getting the products I could no longer get at Whole Foods. Kroger is eliminating those products from Vitacost just a Bezos did from WF. I am looking for reliable and certified sources for nuts. I have lived the worst consequences of the disease and being exposed unknowingly and maliciously. Once I was diagnosed I learned way more than anyone should have to about the food industry.  I don't do gray areas. And now I dont eat out except very rarely.  I have not eaten fast food for 30 years before the celiac diagnosis. Gluten aside..... It's not food and it's not safe.  No one has got our backs. Sharing safe food sources is one thing we can do to try to be safe.        
    • Mmoc
      Blood tests low iGA 4 years later digestive issues

      By Mmoc · Posted

      Thank you kindly for your response. I have since gotten the other type of bloods done and am awaiting results. 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.