Cross Contamination

[lilypad23]

I have my own pots and pans, cooking utensils, bowls, and sponges, yet every time I cook anything I get sick. I noticed this because I go on fruit and vegetable fasts about twice a week and I feel fine when I do those as far as stomach issues and brain fog is concerned. However, as soon as I eat anything I cook, I get what feels like a mild glutening. I get brain fog and I get bloated and gassy. I also usually only eat what I cook in the morning and spend the rest of the day eating fruit and start to feel better. I know that this can't be healthy, though. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[GlutenGalAZ]

What type of things are you cooking? Maybe there is hidden gluten or something being overlooked in one of the items. Are there gluten eating family members in your house that are maybe eating your gluten free items and getting crumbs in the container/bags?

I am going to stay away from asking if maybe you are glutening yourself from lotions, toothpaste etc if you say you go on fruit/vegetable fasts and have no problem during these times...but then have a problem when you start cooking.

Can you give an example or couple examples of things you are cooking and having problems with?

[lilypad23]

I do live in a non-gluten-free house, but my aunt and mom don't eat any of my stuff. The only thing in the kitchen that we all use is the silverware.

I usually cook squash and zucchini with olive oil, beef with mushrooms, onions, and celery, or chicken with mushrooms. I also cook fish in olive oil.

[gabby]

Hi,

Here are a couple things I'd check out:

-your olive oil: is it your own dedicated bottle? Does anyone else use it? I ask because I once asked my cousin to drizzle "my" olive oil on the salad, and I watched (in horror) as she did the following: after cutting her bread with her bare hands, she took my bottle of olive oil and placed her thumb over the opening so she could drizzle the olive oil out onto the salad (which contaminated the salad and the entire bottle of oil).

-Your meat: are you buying your meat from a meat section where they also carry things like breaded pork chops and marinated chicken breasts? It is quite possible to get cross contamination from these types of set-ups (from the weighing scale, the counter tops, or just having crumbs fall onto your stuff).

-spatulas/brushes: do you use a brush to put the olive oil on your meat? anyone else use this brush?

-seasonings: do you use any salts/spices/seasonings on your meat? Call up the manufacturers and ask if they are gluten-free

That's all I can think of for now. Hope it helps!

[BallardWA]

Sorry you are still getting sick. The same thing happened to me, I'd done everything to quarantine my utensils, condiments, water bottles, and I was still getting sick. Check your shampoos and cosmetics. Both of my shampoos contained wheat protein! Lipsticks have gluten, too. Clinique (and I'm sure others) provide a list of gluten free products if asked. Good luck, it gets better.

[AliB]

If you are fairly confident that you are not getting gluten from any source, and you are only feeling ill when you eat foods other than fruit, it is likely that something else in your diet is also affecting you. I would suggest that you do an elimination diet.

You know that you are ok with fruit, so just eat that for a day or two then gradually introduce, one at a time, other foods.

I know that my body cannot process not just gluten, but carbohydrates in general so I have to try and avoid them if possible. I am ok with simple carbs such as those found in fruits and veg and honey, but anything from a grain, starch, sugar or lactose source I have to be careful of. Sugar is especially prone to triggering brain-fog and other symptoms.

Do you have a problem with Candida or bacterial overgrowth? Starches and grains, sugar and lactose can also feed the bacteria and that can be behind some of these problems. The only way to control it is to starve it out by not eating the foods that feed it.

Your diet seems to be fairly innocuous, but something is obviously affecting you. I know that celery can be suspect too sometimes and foods from the onion family if you suffer with Leaky Gut Syndrome that allows toxins through into the blood stream to set up allergic type responses. I kept getting reactions to different foods before I went gluten-free and was still reacting after so that's when I dropped all the carbs. Within 2 months my gut is healing and I can now tolerate foods that I couldn't cope with a few weeks ago, like eggs.

[babysteps]

I second the elimination idea

With perhaps the first food introduction being *cooked* (by you) fruit to see if that's an issue - if cooked fruit is okay, you know it's a food thing not a cc of cooking items thing.

if cooked-by-you fruit not okay, consider crumbs lurking in:

cutting boards (unless fruit being okay rule these out)

wooden utensils

non-stick pans

hand or dish towel (unless fruit being okay rule these out)

potholders

oven

any overhang above cooktop (esp. a fan)

(I didn't replace my pre-gluten-free non-stick pans and can cook w/o cc, but many folks do have a sensitivity that strong - basically unless it's new, the coating isn't 100% smooth and crumbs can get stuck and may outlast a dishwashing)

if cooked-by-you fruit is fine, 2 ideas (other than elimination diet):

1-how are you storing the veggies, any different than the fruit? some people have a plastic sensitivity (my cousin has to put everything in stoneware or glass - but some foods that he can't have right out of a plastic package are okay after 'resting' in non-plastic container for a few days).

2-Does your oil have any allergy disclosure? some companies make flavored oils that contain gluten, and process on shared equipment with their plain oil (this is a stretch, but I did once have a reaction to an oil with no gluten ingredients & that was the best theory as to why)

Hope you can resolve this soon

[lilypad23]

Thank you all for the replies. I really appreciate it.

-Your meat: are you buying your meat from a meat section where they also carry things like breaded pork chops and marinated chicken breasts? It is quite possible to get cross contamination from these types of set-ups (from the weighing scale, the counter tops, or just having crumbs fall onto your stuff).

I'd never even thought of that, really. I buy my meat at H-E-B. I just get the H-E-B brand and there are usually cuts of meat that are pre-seasoned and pre-breaded. I thought about it once, like maybe they use the same stuff to cut the meat or weight it or whatever that they use to put all the bread crumbs on the other meat, but then I figured that I was just being over-cautious, so I kept buying it. But, maybe they do. At my H-E-B, they only have their brand of meat. There is a Wal-Mart, though. Do they carry different brands of meat? I hardly ever go to Wal-Mart, just because the one in my area is always so crowded during the day you can't find a parking space. But, if they have different brands of meat, I would totally go there

non-stick pans

any overhang above cooktop (esp. a fan)

All I ever use is non-stick pans, and even though they're only about eight months old, they have scratches. Are there pans that stuff won't stick to easily? I also use the fan on the overhang every time I cook.

As for the spatulas, olive oil, spices, and cutting boards, I have my own except for spices, because I don't use them. I also have gluten free shampoos, conditioners, and lotions. I use the gluten-free Savonnerrie stuff and it works pretty well.

I think I will start an elimination diet. That sounds like a good idea:).

This is probably a stupid question, but when you share a house with someone who isn't gluten free, should you clean every day? I was cleaning like 2 times a day for a while, but after school started in January, I started getting lazy about cleaning:ph34r:. Like, instead of putting my dishes in the dishwasher right after using them or cleaning the counters every day, sometimes the dishes will stay in the sink until the following day or I won't get around to cleaning the counters until the next day. I know that I should probably know all of this stuff already, because I've been gluten free since last July, but sometimes I still don't know for sure about everything.