Prairie Girl

I read somewhere that lots of ciders were gluten free in the UK. Now I just found some information that says that many ciders have barely malt added to them. Does anyone from the UK know brands of ciders that are safe? Or should I just stear clear of all ciders??

I just got back today from Scotland and both Tesco and Sainsbury had a lot of gluten-free foods available. They do have different standards in terms of the amount allowed- 200ppm- and I wasn't sure how I would do. I did react pretty badly to some of it- so I guess you just have to see how you do in terms of sensitivity. The choice of cereals wasn't great- but they have tons of breads/english muffins and cookies etc.

Thank you for posting your experience. I read a lot about their labeling and it is very confusing. That is too bad that you reacted ot a lot of it... it must have put a bit of a damper on the trip. It sounds as though things labeled gluten free are more dangerous than those not labelled that look safe from the label. It makes no sense at all! I am leaving in a week so I am really hoping things go well food wise b/c that makes it easier to enjoy the trip! Keeping my fingers crossed!

Thank you thank you!! I didn't realize there were gluten free beers over there! We have only one brand here in Canada and it is not very good. And I am a big beer lover so that is exciting news all on its own! And thanks for the list of stores to get gluten free products.

Are you from Dublin Ireland? Because I am going there for a week after I am in London and you might be just the person with some suggestions for places to go there too!!

I am going to London in three weeks and am a little nervous about finding gluten free foods while I am there. I will be in London for a few days before and then a few days after a Contiki tour that starts there. I am mainly looking for a good store to get some crackers, breakfast bars, cookies, etc. to take on the tour with me (becuase I am not sure what I will be able to bring over from Canada). Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Another question of mine is what kinds/brands of alcohol are safe in the UK? I know the brands that are safe for me here in Canada but can't seem to find any info on brands in the UK. Thanks!

I am going to London in three weeks and am a little nervous about finding gluten free foods while I am there. I will be in London for a few days before and then a few days after a Contiki tour that starts there. I am mainly looking for a good store to get some crackers, breakfast bars, cookies, etc. to take on the tour with me (becuase I am not sure what I will be able to bring over from Canada). Any help would be greatly appreciated!

I just wanted to warn fellow Regina, SK people about the flours at Old Fashioned Foods. I am not sure about all locations, but my mom was picking up some flours for me the other day from the south albert location and the label now said "may contain traces of flour." She spoke with the manager about this and the manager explained that they now bag their gluten free flours on the same day as regular flour. They wash everything, but she admitted that they may package gluten free flours right after regular flours, even though dangerous flour is still likely floating around in the air.

My mom explained that this does not work for those who are celiac and how this is a serious concern. They gave her the name of a company to order from and that is what we did. I will no longer be buying anything that is bagged in the store which makes me sad. It is a pain to order flour and have it shipped. I wanted to warn others and also raise awareness b/c if many people address this in the store, maybe they will be more cautious and do their gluten free flours on a separate day as they used to.

Maybe one day we will be able to buy our flour and foods at the regular grocery store! How nice that would be! And SAFE flour!!

Hi everyone!

My friend and I are going on a trip this August for a few weeks to England, Scotland and Ireland and we want to start the trip out with a tour to get settled and comfortable. She brought some info over about a couple of different companies that do tours and we really like how the contiki tours sound. It said that the tour includes continental breakfasts every day (it is 10 days) and then four three course meals and the others are on our own. I am worried the the breakfasts are goign to be muffins and danishes. I called contiki and talked to someone last night and he said they are good about trying their best to meet different food allergy needs, but that I can't talk to the tour guide until the tour starts because they don't know who it will be yet. I need to talk to the guide when we get there he said (and they will have my allergy down in the file) and it depends how much that particular guide goes out of their way to help me. Has anyone done a contiki tour? Or any suggestions for this situation? I can take a bit of food with me for the start of the trip which would be this tour, but I wont' have a ton of room b/c we are just taking backpacks.

Help!

We need to book our tour within the next couple of days.

Courtney

Hemp hearts really help me. I put them in my smoothies for breakfast and into some of the other things I cook. You might want to give them a try

My friend and I are planning on visiting Scotland for about a week and a half this August and we are not sure we want to stay in hostels, but we don't have a huge budget either. Does anyone know of a bed/breakfast or cottage or a place to rent that we could get for a reasonable price that they would recommend?

Also, I can't find much about eating in Scotland. I would really like to go to edinburgh but we have no ideas about where we want to go so we are pretty open to suggestions. Any ideas and advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!!

Thank you so much for all of your ideas everyone! I had a GREAT trip and never got sick!! I ate at Chiante's and it was good... very similar to a pasta restarant that serves gluten free in my city (Luiggi's). I also ate at Milestones and it was AMAZING!! I planned to order the salmon on rice that I had in Vancouver at Milestones, but was informed that the brine it is premarinated in has wheat flour and it comes this way. So I was very happy that the staff knew this. Instead I had a chicken dish which had fried mushrooms on it and was served on jasmine rice which is one of my new favourite things! I can't tell you how good it was... it had so much flavour and I am not used to that, especially when eating out. I always get things plain to be safe.

Also, I went to the farmers market on Saturday b/c my friend noticed a whole booth set up with gluten free baking and foods and I got some of the best things! I got a gluten free chicken pot pie and it was very very good... and stuffing! and a really good loaf of bread! There were so many things I wanted to try but couldn't bring it all back. I wish I lived there for the farmers market! So if you live in Edmonton and have not been to the farmers market, you should go!

Courtney

I see all over the web about pocket guides for gluten-free products to help making shopping easier. I'm wondering are they really helpful and worth paying money for them?

https://www.celiac.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=48_51

Not only this, but can you get any in Canada? I have tried ordering a few things from the States and they won't ship to Canada. Very dissapointing.

Thank you so much for the ideas! I am excited about all of the options!!

Hi everyone!

I am going to Edmonton on Friday and am staying for a week to visit some friends. I know we are going to be out a lot and I am wondering if anyone who lives there can suggest some restaurants! I know about Outback steakhouse which I love!! And Tomy Romas and Montanas... but those two I eat at so frequently I would love to try something new. My friends are in the Whyte Ave. area. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Courtney

But the Orchard Blend ones don't cause a reaction? I am assuming that they make them on totally separate lines.

I am so glad that I asked this question before trying the veggie ones.. you saved me some pain! Thank you for your help

REally? It is scary that they have gluten free all over their webpage and several others that I found. I was a worried when I read about the barley and oat proteins. I will stear clear of the veggie ones then. I am dissapointed though I must say. What kind did you get instead? Did you get a veggie supplement? Or some other kind of supplement?

My aunts both take Juice Plus food supplement and they swear by it. I would like to start taking it, and see that on their website they say it is gluten free, but I am concerned because it lists barley and oats and has (gluten free) after each. I found this old post from this website:

"I know of a great whole food supplement that is better than any vitamin I've ever taken and it is gluten-free. It's called Juice Plus - it's a capsule that has the concentrated powder of 17 fruits and vegetables. Because it includes only the outer portion of the oat and barley grain it is gluten-free.

This confuses me. I didn't know that we could have the outer portion of oat or barley grains. could someone please explain this to me?

Courtney

I emailed The Body Shop and OPI to ask about their lotions and which do not contain gluten. These are the responses that I got and I thought I would share them with you all. The Body Shop's response is not overly helpful though as the ingredient lists really do not help a lot for those who don't know what the big names of everything are.

Anyways, here is what they said :

Body Shop

Dear Courtney,

Thank you for your email. Unfortunately, we currently do not have a

compiled list or database that we can query for specific ingredients in

all our products.

Please know that an item not containing gluten may have come from a

vendor that produces products that do contain gluten in the same

machine. Therefore, there may be a very small trace left behind in the

machine after cleaning. Depending on the severity of your reaction this

trace amount may not affect you, where another person may have a very

bad reaction. Gluten is not tested for due to the fact that is used

intentionally in some products.

All our product formulations are subject to careful evaluation by

independent external safety assessors and adhere to strict criteria.

Customers concerned about an allergy should carefully read the product

label to ensure that the product contains no ingredients they are

allergic to. We include a full ingredient list on our products, which

would identify a known gluten ingredient in the product. Please know

that the ingredients to all our products, in addition to being listed on

our products, can now be obtained from the website www.thebodyshop.com.

Once you have selected the item you are interested in, click on the "All

Ingredients" tab found below the product.

I hope you find the level of service provided to you via this

correspondence satisfactory. If you are not satisfied please feel free

to contact me at, 1-800-263-9746 ext 5667.

Sincerely,

Tieren

US Care Center Admin Team

OPI:

Gluten Free?

The following OPI products contain hydrolyzed wheat protein, which may have traces of gluten:

Acrylic Nail Base Coat

Designer Series Base Coat

Natural Nail Base Coat

Start to Finish basecoat, topcoat, and nail strengthener

Start to Finish, Formaldehyde Free Formula

Nail Envy, Original

Nail Envy, Matte

Nail Envy, Dry & Brittle

Nail Envy, Sensitive & Peeling

Nail Envy, Soft & Thin

At this time, all other OPI products are free of wheat, barley, rye, or oat extracts, and should therefore contain no gluten.

If anyone has any other information to add about Body Shop or OPI lotions, please share! Or any other body lotions for that matter!

If you go to:

1) Gluten-Free Recipes - Baking & Cooking Tips

and to the topic: 2) What Is Your Favorite gluten-free Recipe?, share the joy!

you will find lots of ideas!!

Hope this helps

Courtney

I hope it goes well Lisa. I have just recently had my second one and it went good. i asked for lots of drugs and i don't remember a thing from this one... i would recommend doing this! I am sure you will do okay though. My thoughts will be with you. I went gluten free before my first endoscopy too and had to eat gluten for 4 months before the test... and though it can be hard, it is worth it in the end to know 100% for sure. Take care,

Courtney

If you have a number for someone Lisa that would be great! I cannot find one on any of my newsletters. And i have looked up the regina chapter in a google search already and it gives me the location, but no number.

Thanks,

Courtney

I have a question for anyone in regina. I am a member of the regina chapter, but even though I changed my address when I payed my renewal fee, my newsletter is getting sent to my old address. I want to sign up for the cooking demo of the gluten free oat products (march 14 and 15th) and don't know who to call. It said in the newsletter that the telephone callers would be calling to confirm dates, but I have not recieved a call. Does anyone have a contact for someone in the chapter? If you could email it to me, that would be great!

I ate at ZEST restuarant last night and it was DELICIOUS!! We had an appetizer that was like a bean/chili sauce on top of cucumbers and it had so much flavour! Then I ordered a halibit dish that had a caramel sauce and was on wild rice.. it was really good! i also tasted the chicken dinner.. it was stuffed with a rice and walnut filling and was on sweet potatoes mixed with regular mashed potatoes and it was really really good! if i were to order again, i would get either thing.. but probably preferred the chicken dish. I noticed that there were no stars beside any dessert items and asked about them and she said they didn't have any gluten free choices at this time. the menu changes, so even the main dishes may not be the same the next time you go. and they do have gluten free desserts sometimes. i would recommend this restuarant for sure!

Also for a great dip ...

** make in shallow dish that is square

1 box philidephia cream cheese creamed with approx. 1 tbsp old el pasa taco mix mixed in (until light orange)

next a layer of cut up lettuce (make sure really dry)

next a layer of cut up tomatoes

a few finely chopped green onions

a layer of grated cheddar cheese on top (i used quite a bit)

** eat with taco chips or rice cake crackers

this is so good you won't be able to stop eating it! i just made it on the weekend for friends and it was gone fast!

i am lactose intolerant and really sensitive, but cream cheese and cheddar don't bother me

What a great idea to share recipies!!!

My mom modified an AMAZING cookie recipie!!!

Chocolate Chip or Gumdrop Cookies (use either chocolate chips for choc chip cookies, or use sugar covered jube jubes (DARE) to make it a candy cookie

1 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 tsp. b. soda

1/2 tsp. xantham gum / cream butter with sugars and then continue creaming with the rest of the ingredients

1 1/2 cups coconut

2 cups sliced almonds

2 cups chopped pecans

3 cups chocolate chips or gumdrops

1 1/2-2 cups gluten-free flour (until it is not super sticky but not really dry either) / mix in by hand with spoon

bake 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes (watch carefully!)

my friends all LOVE these! and they are not celiac

My first post - and I am just pushing buttons and assuming this will work.

I believe all neutrogena products are gluten free. I just got the skin cream for my face and it works really well too!