VioletBlue

There in lies the rub with ORGANIC growers. They prefer ORGANIC solutions. If you can guarantee your strawberries came from a nice commercial grower who uses plastic you'll be fine. I'm not willing to gamble anymore.

That straw would just turn to mold here in Florida. So our strawberries should be good. CA wouldnt need the straw either. So I will stick to these two sources.

I would agree with what others have said about acid blockers. After a few months gluten-free I no longer had a need for them. The reflux went away. Apple Cider or Apple Cider pills can offer some relief in the mean time. For me, milk always seemed to help, I couldn't tell you why. But both milk and Apple Cider will affect the PH balance in your gut so I'm sure the answer is in there somehwere.

Slipper Elm is good at creating a protective coating in the stomach and intestines and also good at handling inflamation of all sorts. A digestive enzyme might not be a bad idea, I know others here have used some with good results. You might specifically create a thread to ask about using them and who has tried what and had good results. I kow there are some natural options there as well.

Also certain types of foods will be harder to digest while you're healing. The ability to digest lactose and fats tends to be a big problem at first. So a low fat and lactose diet might help with Acid Reflex, but it really depends on you. I don't think there's one answer anymore for everyone. I think each of us has different challenges and finds different answers.

Sigh . . . I'm a believer now. I hate this. I hate hate hate this.

I normally buy strawberries from the grocery store. The last couple times I bought some from the organic store who gets them from a small organic grower. I bought a batch yesterday. I was violently ill last night. My glutening symptoms have been getting worse the longer I'm gluten free. I've been gluten-free for 18 months now. The last accidental glutening produced nausea and diahreah. Last night was just ugly. I was praying for death there at one point. But it's not food poisoning because it came and went quickly. It's not a bug, vomitting and a stomach ache were my only issues last night and I'm physically fine this morning. I'm really spacey and fogging now though, and angry. The only thing it could have possibly been was the strawberries. I had a pot roast and rice for dinner. All made by me in a gluten free kitchen with gluten free ingredients. Desert was ice cream with strawberries on it. I washed them good before I cut them up, but apparently that's not going to do it.

I am so tired of having options taken away from me. I don't dare trust strawberries now, not after last nights reaction. That wasn't an allergic reaction to strawberries, that had to have been a gluten reaction.

Damn. It reads like a snake oil advertisement. That's the last thing I need, is someone thinking this is just another fad diet I'm on. It's hard enough as it is to get people to understand why crumbs scare me.

I don't know. I tend to think it's a bad thing, but maybe if it raises awareness some good will come of it.

Got this in my email today. Maybe gluten-free is going the way of Atkins, like a few years ago?! Hey, anything that makes people more aware and maybe new gluten-free food to try for us!

This is the web site-

www.glutenconnection.com

When your blood tests come back severly out of wack, supplements

are a good thing. It's been over 18 months and I'm still struggling to get the iron

and vitamin A and D up to acceptable levels. Who knows how much further behind

I'd be without supplements. Sorry, but I'll take anything I can get that'll keep my

iron levels going up. When the intestinal damage is bad enough just eating a well

balanced diet isn't going to do the trick.

If you eat a healthy diet, you dont need vitamins! Vitamins are made to sell!

Eat a well balanced diet and forget supplements. You just pee them out anyway.

Supplements are a joke, and an expensive joke to the uninformed consumer!

Save your money, Vitamins are another form of "Snake Oil"!

Nature Made makes a good gluten free multi-vitamin. That's the one I take.

Ok...I was hoping to get a better answer but that will do...I can't really afford to buy vitamins until like a week from now, and since getting off of centrum a week ago, I feel a little 'down'. I eat alot of fruit and veggies and stuff to get the vitamins I don't get from the Nature Made pill I take. It only gives calcium, magnesium, zinc and vitamin D. I need all that Thiamine and riboflavin and iron and stuff like that lol.

Some balsamic vinegars can contain gluten, either in the coloring or sweetener. It depends on the brand and the ingredient. Theoretically pure balsamic vinegar shouldn't be a problem, but manufacturers can add color or "natural flavors" that may be sourced from wheat or barley, particularly if it's a flavored vinegar. So it depends on the brand and the ingredient list.

I have a problem with wine because of the suflites, but I didn't think red wine vinegar would be a problem. I was surprised that I reacted the way I did. It wasn't a typical sulfite reaction for me either so I really don't know. It's also possible the vinegar had additives in it. Some manufacturers have tended not to list an ingredient breakdown for what I believe they call secondary ingredients in their products. This is why "natural flavors" and "food coloring" are such an issue. It's possible there was more to that red wine vinegar than wine and vinegar. That's a problem with food bars as well, where they may not have detailed ingredient lists for the items. It's like russian roulette.

yeah, your probably right about the chance of cross contamination. But you said balsamic and red wine vinegar are a problem? I am still relatively new to this, but I feel like I am pretty diligent about learning everything with gluten, though I have never heard of why any vinegars would be a problem exept for malt vinegars of course. I would love to hear more about this. I use vinegar in a lot of my cooking, and I hope I have not been contaminating myself. thanx alot for your response.

I had to throw out a jar of black olives the other day. They made me sick when I used them. They contaminated the whole chicken I cooked. The only guess I have for why is the red wine vinegar listed on the ingredients. I also wouldn't be suprised to see something like balsamic vinegar used in some exotic olives. I wouldn't automatically assume all olives are safe. But then I wouldn't eat out of any kind of public food bar anyway. It's literally begging to be cross contaminated.

This might be a dumb question, and I'm not sure if i'm in the right place. But, are the olive bars at grocery stores like whole foods gluten-free? They don't really list the ingredients, they usually just list the main flavors like "stuffed with red peppers and garlic, tossed in olive oil". I am guessing there are probably a couple more ingredients than that. I hear people(celiacs) talk about eating at olive bars at thier local markets all the time, so is this generaly pretty safe? Is it just very unlikely that they would use any gluten containing ingredients in any of the olive flavorings? Does anybody know what I am talking about at all? If anybody knows anything about olive bars I would love to hear from them. Thanx alot, scotty.

I'd read the label on all Lee Kum Kee sauces very carefully.

I avoided them in the store because many of them contain wheat per their own label.

The hot flashes and night sweats I was having went away after three or four months on the gluten-free diet. They only return if I'm accidentallyl glutened or get a good dose of something else I'm sensitive to. The irregular periods are still irregular. I am entering menopause so that's not surprising. A lot of the other symptoms you mention here went away or were minimized by going gluten-free. There's antidotal evenidence out there that Celiac can bring on early menopause in women. I think Dr. Green mentioned it briefly in his book and I've seen it thrown around other places as well. I'm 46 so I am somewhat ahead of schedule.

The heart palpitations were the worst of it for me. They became truely frightening and what pushed me to seek answers. They were most likely the result of a very low iron count according to the Docs. And the uncontrollable weight gain stopped as well. Loosing the weight I gained will be tough, but I'm just thrilled the gaining stopped.

my other symptoms include: irregular periods (they were always incredibly regular before), hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, bladder control problems, disrupted sleep, palpitations, weight gain, dry skin, headaches, nausea, tingling skin, itchy skin, buzzing in head, bloating, dizziness, light headedness, sore joints, sore muscles, hair loss/thinning, dry mouth, irritability, brain fog, confusion, memory lapses, low energy/fatigue, lack of concentration, feeling emotionally detached...

alot of the symptoms I've had for most of my life but they are getting worse, otehr symptoms are new in the last year and getting consistantly worse.

anyway have any ideas? is this menopause or will this go away on a glutenfree diet? I am in the process of testing and diagnosing celiac.

I don't know how much of a kick you want. Thai Kitchen makes a sweet chilli sauce that is gluten-free and very good. I used to use it a lot in chinese and as a dipping sauce. It has a mild kick to it. I'm thinking TK has something hotter but I'm not sure, you'd have to look them up and check out their product line.

Best of luck in your search. If you find something you like please let me know. I understand the frustration. I can't eat tomatoes or peppers. It would be nice to have some kind of BBQ sauce that's within the same range as the traditional tomatoey ones, but I can't see it happening. Sorry guys, but marinades aren't the same thing as a nice gooey BBQ sauce. Fruit based sauces tend to be too sweet and be a whole different experience.

The best option I've come up with is orange juice, gluten-free soy sauce, honey and garlic. I've taken to marinading the chicken in it, then once I pop the chicken in the over or on the grill I reduce the remaining marinade by at least half until it's got a thicker consistency to it. Then I brush it on the chicken a couple times while it's cooking. It's not perfect, but it's an option.

By the way, tomatoes and peppers belong to the same nightshade group so there's a chance that peppers will bother you as well. And tomatoes are tomatoes no matter what the color. If it's an allergy issue the color of it or the type won't matter.

Unfortunately, as many of us here have found out, GOOD doctors are few and far between. A good doctor would be alarmed at a patient telling them they've lost two inches of height. A good doctor would hear that and schedule the appropriate tests. Too often, doctors hear our symptoms, look at us and decide what our problem must be. This is particularly true of women and of Celiacs who are experiencing depression. It's easy to treat depression, they've got a pill for that, and depression explains everything else as far as they're concerned. Once they decide you're depressed they tend to discount every other word out of your mouth. In addition they don't look at the depression as a symptom of a bigger problem or a result of other physically problems. Instead they treat the depression in isolation from the rest of the patient's body. That is unfortunately how they've been taught to practice medicine.

The human body is very complex, but unfortunately western medicine loves to treat it in pieces rather than stand back and looking at the whole complex picture. They want to treat the gallbladder as a stand alone entity rather than seeing the connection between all the parts of the body. They'd rather do invasive surgery with the risks that it entails than spend the time and energy to figure out WHY the gallbladder is malfunctioning. To quote an old friend of mine "There's always a why."

Maybe not but as long as it is only you who will be affected you can give it as much weight as you want...

The human body is very complex. There is much variation within that complexity from individual to individual. There are many diseases/conditions with overlapping symptoms. A good doctor will listen to your observations about how you are reacting/feeling.

However, to call a doctor ignorant because he won't make a diagnosis based on the patient's self-described symptoms when other conditions could cause the same symptoms is pretty dangerous.

I don't buy the sticking to the villi thing. I don't believe the digestive system works that way. Some things are harder for the stomach and small intestine to break down into absorbable nutrients, but I don't believe it's possible for anything to "stick" to the villi. The digestive process is largely one of chemically breaking down foods so that their nutrients can be released and absorbed by the villi. The whole sticky analogy may be a simplification the person who originally presented the theory used, but medically I don't think anything "sticks".

Pretty much all wine contains sulfites; it's just a matter of amounts. Organic wines are usually lower in sulfites, but it's virtually impossible to remove the naturally occurring sulfites. Sulfites are a natural result of the fermentation process and are unavoidable. Most organic wines say on the label "No sulfites added" and still carry the warning on the label "Contains suflites". I'm allergic to sulfites and I can tolerate some organic wines, but I can rarely handle more than half a glass. Some organic wines I simple cannot tolerate; it depends more on the maker than the type of wine.

If someone is allergic to suflites, it will not just be wine that sets off a reaction. Chemically processed cornstarch will be a problem as will some dried fruits, things like baking powder and other foods. It used to be sulfites were routinely used in salad bars and on salad fixings in restaurants. Some restaurants still use them on things like french fries in order to retain color.

I agree with those that have said to go ahead and start the gluten free diet. You have nothing to loose and everything to gain.

Please also remember that it is YOUR body. The doctors do not own it, YOU DO. They do not have the right to do surgery you do not want. You know your body from the inside in a way they never will. Trust your intuition about your own body. Your intuition is JUST AS VALUABLE as their opinions.

Now they can refuse to do surgery on you if they don't believe it's in your best interests, but they cannot force you to have non emergency surgery, nor can they agree to do one type of surgery and do another without your approval or knowledge. Please do not be intimidated by doctors. They are partners in your health care at best, but they are not the authority on YOUR BODY.

Please also understand that gluten intolerance can have psychological effects. It can cause mood swings, depression and brain fog. I believe it literally effects every part of your body to one degree or another; every system, every body part, how we think, how we feel, how we view the world.

Nitrites do not contain gluten. But it is not unusual for people to be allergic to nitrites. For me it causes a very similar reaction to that of ingesting gluten. Nitrites will be found in preserved processed meats such as sausage, ham, brined meats like pastrami or corned beef and of course pretty much all meat cold cuts. You're not going to find it in fresh meat. Likewise if a cow eats wheat it's meat is not contaminated any more than it's milk is. The milk someone mentioned that contained gluten had the gluten added to it in the manufacturing process and it was marked on the container as such.

Nitrates are different from Nitrites. Nitrates are considered toxic and are not used in food processing. Chemically the two are very different.

I don't use the F word anymore. I simply don't. I take it all one day at a time.

In many ways it is an addiction I'm dealing with. I don't crave gluten products, but eating gluten is easier in American society than not eating it. It's in every convenient food choice from delivery pizza to take out burgers and tacos. We are literally bombarded daily if not hourly by temptation in billboards, commercials, radio ads, magazines and newspapers. We are constantly surrounded by ads created by people who are VERY GOOD at selling things to people. Is it any wonder we have a hard time?

So I think about this meal or the next meal or the next grocery shopping trip, but I do not think about forever. It may sound odd, but a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders when I stopped using the F word.

Yes, I think it's inevitable that you'll face moments of anger and frustration forever. You're not going to be living the "normal" "typical" American life anymore and that's bound to cause conflict every once in awhile. No matter how good you get at dealing with the challenges, there will be moments. Now days I'm working on finding a way to deal with those moments that causes me the least amount of grief. I'll let you know if I ever figure that one out

A lot of people find that once they go gluten-free other allergies and intolerances start to become obvious. It can take weeks or months to feel it. And other allergies are possible as a result of leaky gut. So you might want to keep track of how you react to foods with food journal for awhile. That can help you see patterns. Gluten free enchilada sauce was my first tip off that tomatoes and indeed all nightshades were a problem for me. I made the enchiladas so I knew they were otherwise safe.

Since going gluten free after being diagnosed in February of this year, I have tried to be careful although I will admit to cheating a few times. Well I thought it would be safe to eat at our local Mexican restaurant and have rice, beans, and cheese enchiladas which are served on corn tortillas. I've eaten that same meal several times with no obvious symptoms of being glutened. However, the last two times (today being one of them) I've had D before even being able to finish my meal. Is this just a coincidence because you wouldn't think I would have a reaction that soon? Today I also got very tired after eating which is another classic symptom for me. I'm guessing it's the sauce, what do you think?

I had them from my early twenties on. I'm 46 now. They were never constant, would come and go. So I can't tell you how long it's been exactly. I haven't had an "outbreak" in at least nine months. I've been gluten-free for 17 months, approaching that all ellusive 18 month mark, YEAH.

For someone with Celiac disease additional allergies are possible. Celiac is an auto immune condition and it effects the cell structure of the intestines making them more permeable. It's called Leaky Gut. I believe there's a thread about it somewhere here on the forum. Leaky Gut can lead to other allergies.

Whether allergies acquired that way every go away is up for debate. I'm hoping they do, but no one seems to have a definite answer.

Hello all. This may be a silly question, but the more and more research I do, the more and more confused I get....

So........so far with me, remaining gluten free does not seem to be TOO difficult for me. I am just eating my chicken I love, salmon, plums, apples, pears, gluten free rice bread, rice, rice crackers, risotto, tuna, rice tortilla's, etc........

NOW, I keep getting bombarded with " if you eat the same foods all the time you will become allergic to THEM, or sensative to them "......

Is this true. Because it seems that my bread / tortilla's / crackers, etc. all seem to be made with corn, and therefore I am consuming everyday, am I going to now become allergic to them? I am not a big eater and....also a LAZY kitchen person, so I do tend to eat mainly the same thigns most of the time. I am harming myself?

Any easy, no baking ( I will cook, but I do nto make my own bread / pasta, etc ), ideas for me? I am not a big meat eater, I am lactose intolerant, and I am in Canada so i am finding that a lot of things mentioned on this site I cannot find......

Another thing to consider is cross contamination. I ate at a restaurant the other night; steamed chicken and veggies with steamed rice. It however did not occure to me until later that night that they may have steamed other gluten items with the same equipment.

But if you had a california roll it was most likely that the fake crab had wheat in it.

I've tried sushi twice at a local restaurant and not gotten sick...maybe a little gassy/bloaty but that happens a lot b/c I also have IBS so I tend to ignore it. I had NO idea how the rice was prepared and didn't think to ask.

Well we just went to Las Vegas and ate at Shibuya at the MGM and the wait staff said their sushi rice is prepared in an oil/vinegar that has gluten in it. I asked if all sushi rice was made that way and they said yes. I ordered a plain steak with steamed rice, but since I knew I had eaten it before, I also had 3 pieces of California roll sushi.

The next day I was sick. I don't know if it was gluten or massive hangover (yeah, we went to Rain at The Palms that night too). So now I'm curious about sushi...

What's your experience or knowledge of it??? THANKS SO MUCH!!!!!!

I understand Scott's frustration WITH AMAZON. But the people who are posting links are not the cause of his grief, but yet they stand to be offended by his choice of a remedy.

Here is a response from Scott from an old thread in this same subforum about Amazon

I've read a lot from people who believe cayenne can cure everyting that could ever possibly be wrong with you. I tried having a conversation with one of them once; patiently explaining that I'm allergic to peppers so that wouldn't work for me. I was told to grin and bear the searing pain it causes in my throat and stomach because "It's worth it". I choose to disregard their advice

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I accept the risk as a trade off for the parakettes. I find them fascinating creatures who amuse both me and the cats. So I am as careful as I can be, wash after I handle seed or vacuum or clean up after them. You can get grain free mixtures, but as someone else pointed out, they will be harder to find and more expensive. I have a place an hour or so away that will do a custom mix but the travel and price just make it prohititive.

So I accept the risk. Gloves that you keep just for handling see are another option, or disposal gloves would work too.

Not all wild bird food blends have grain in them, but expect to pay more for one that is grain-free. There is always a cross-contamination risk with products of this nature.

gfgypsyqueen, you didn't say which type of nuts you are avoiding. Tree nuts are very rarely found in these products, but peanuts (a tuber, not a true nut) are very common. Even so, feeding options with neither grain nor peanuts do exist.

I understand this sites desire to limit spam, truly I do. But we also exchange a lot of information among ourselves here, not the least of which are URL's for products that have helped us. Unfortunately some of these URL links seem to trigger an insert of "Lame Advertising" in place of the website URL.

I find it a little dismissive and condescending for the site to automatically dismiss a link to a bread pan at Amazon is an attempt by an innocent poster at promoting "Lame Advertising".

Isn't there a nicer way to handle the problem? People are only trying to share information here, not promote spam or rip this site off or anything even remotely unkind. How would you propose we share this information if not in the threads with links?