Do All Celiacs Have To Worry About Cross Contamination?

[eborzecki]

Is there any exception, whats your take on it?

[Silencio]

I dont worry about it but I dont have any symptoms when im glutned. Some people have a lot of pain and sickness with the slightest amount and really pay attention to cross contamination.

[ravenwoodglass]

Since Celiac is autoimmune and even if folks don't get symptoms they are still flaring the antibodies I would say, IMHO, yes all should be concerned about CC.

[Meatballman]

I have to agree with Ravenwoodglass.Do all you can to avoid cc.

[lovegrov]

In answer to the question in your topic header -- Yes.

richard

[psawyer]

Yes, we all do. But we don't have to become paranoid about it. A pragmatic, reasonable approach works.

[sa1937]

Definitely yes...I am more concerned with CC than getting outright glutened. To qualify this I will add that I live alone, have a gluten-free kitchen (as much as that's possible), wash my hands frequently, etc. My main concern would be eating something a friend or relative made as I really can't expect them to understand celiac and CC as we all do.

[IrishHeart]

Absolutely.

But to echo Peter's advice, don't let it paralyze you. Make your home gluten free, read labels, know how your food is prepared.

If it happens (and it will)-- know that it will pass.

Life may be a gluten-filled landmine, but being wise about CC is your kevlar vest.

[Reba32]

yes, everyone with Celiac disease should be concerned about cross contamination, regardless of what their reaction is, it is still causing damage to the intestines.

[Korwyn]

I also agree with Peter. But your concern about CC also depends on your level of sensitivity. Due care should be exercised in all cases to avoid CC. I don't allow gluten containing items in our house at all except beer. It stays out of the kitchen and is only poured into glass or disposable plastic. I am quite sensitive to CC. Not as sensitive as many on this board but I consider myself super-sensitive. I can't/dont even eat anything produced in shared production facility even it is produced on separate production lines.

[Katrala]

I dont worry about it but I dont have any symptoms when im glutned. Some people have a lot of pain and sickness with the slightest amount and really pay attention to cross contamination.

No symptoms doesn't mean no damage.

Yes, we all do. But we don't have to become paranoid about it. A pragmatic, reasonable approach works.

I agree 100%.

There has to be a balance between avoiding CC and becoming paralyzed by the fear of it.

While I do my best to avoid CC and am of the "When in doubt, go without" mindset, I also feel that the anxiety that can come with worrying just isn't worth it sometimes.

[Seeking]

It sounds like a real on concern with cc wouldn't allow a person to eat in a restaurant where there is no way of knowing. Have you stopped eating out?

[psawyer]

Have you stopped eating out?

No.

[Reba32]

I go to restaurants as often as my budget allows (which isn't often, I'm unemployed) but I don't avoid them altogether, I just contact them ahead of time to find out if they have anything I can eat, and if not, I go somewhere else. I have been incredibly lucky and have not been contaminated in a very long time.

Last week I went out for sushi for a couple of friends' birthdays, and a couple of weeks before that I went to Boston Pizza for my nephew's birthday and I had their gluten-free pizza.

[Takala]

Restaurants vary in the type of care they take to avoid cross contamination.

I have happily eaten in every thing from a hole in wall off the beaten track with a really careful chef who came out to interview me on ingredients, to a chain restaurant with no gluten free menu but with a waiter who "got" it, and hadn't any problems. The worst hit I took was at a name - brand restaurant with a gluten free menu, where I got a meat - and- baked potato type dinner, on the eve of a holiday - I don't eat out now right before a holiday, after subsequently getting glutened for 2 New Years in a row a few years back.... let somebody else risk the "B" team working at the restaurants those days....

One of my more unexpected safe meals was at a casino in Nevada, of all places, the waitress "got" it and they did up a plate of plain food for me without a problem. What is annoying is the big, popular restaurants in tourist areas that can't do something like a plain piece of chicken, meat, or fish, a safe salad, and a potato because everything is sauced, breaded, or served in pasta, and they have no fresh potatoes and the salads are lost causes unless you just get lettuce. Second is the restaurant (rarely) that offers gluten free but doesn't "get" the whole concept, at all.