JennyC

My son doesn't react to them. He loves the cheddar flavor also. They are made in a shared facility, and so some people will not eat them.

Thank you. These cookies sound good, especially since I have a new found love for pavlova! I will definitely try them.

I was wondering if people could please share their experiences with millet flour? Is it a good flour that can be used in many dishes? Does it have a lot of flavor or is it mellow tasting? Does it alter the consistency of the dish? I'm trying to get away from using rice flour because it offers very little nutrition. I have already discovered amaranth flour and love it!

Thanks.

I would keep your daughter on gluten until her biopsy. I would also have your son tested as well. I have seen his condition mentioned on this page numerous times. I agree that you should DEMAND that they take lots of samples during the biopsy. Diagnosis of celiac disease is not always clear cut, although many ignorant doctors believe it is. The golden standard for diagnosis is a positive biopsy. There are more and more studies out that state that positive blood work along with good dietary response to the diet are enough proof of celiac disease, but unfortunately most gastro's don't follow that school of thought. I would start getting ready, but keep her on all the gluten she can handle. You will have a much easier time with follow up care if you get the biopsy. Also keep in mind that it is possible for them to not see the signs of celiac disease during the biopsy even if she does have the disease, either because they did not sample the exact spot that has been damaged or because her damage is not severe enough yet. Either way I would try her on the gluten free diet as soon as the biopsy is complete, and test your son as soon as possible. So go ahead, start buying the foods and the new appliances--just don't use them quite yet!

Sorry for rambling!

I have also seen some that contain broth and that can contain wheat.

Butterball lunch meat, when owned by CONAGRA, contained flavors with gluten containing broth. I try to stick with good brands, like Oscar Myer, Hormel, etc.

They have! That's great news. We stopped buying them because I'd had reactions if I ate too many. It will be nice to have a snack once in awhile of chips.

As I mentioned above, when I called them I got a call back from someone who sounded very knowledgeable. She said that the only gluten chip made in their facility is the cheddar beer flavor. Although that chip is made with beer, it tests negative when ELISA tested for gluten. Theoretically, that chip should test positive, but it does not. I consider their chips much safer than the Frito-Lay variety.

I don't know of any soy milk that tastes like cow milk, but my son loves Silk very vanilla. It's supposed to be specially fortified for children. My son did not even mind the transition. If all else fails you can try mixing the two for a while and gradually adding more soy milk.

I'm sorry you and your family have been having a bad time. It's so hard to not be able to give your kids food. All you can do is try your best. It sounds like you have done a good job of being prepared, but sometimes there are just going to be hurt feelings. Maybe freeze the cupcake and let your daughter help frost and decorate it the morning of the event. Sorry I could not be of more help.

Fantastic letter!

I don't think that it's very easy to convert gluten breads to gluten free, unless maybe it's something like cornbread. I too use the gluten free flax bread on the recipezaar site. I could never get bread to turn out right until I got a bread machine. The bread would always not rise enough and then sink in on the sides. I had to send my son to daycare with 3 inch tall bread. One thing that I found was that I needed to add extra yeast. In the recipe I mentioned above calls for 2 tsp yeast, but I add 3 tsp. It also calls for 2 TBSP honey, but I use 3 TBSP sugar instead. I also substitute almond meal/flour for the flax, but that's just personal preference. Another thing is that if you use too many heavy flours your bread may have a hard time rising. I really like amaranth flour too, but you should maybe try mixing it with a bit of rice or sorghum flour to lighten it up a bit.

Congratulations! You must be doing a great job with your diet.

I'm sorry that I don't have anything more intelligent to say, but I would not do the gluten challenge. The does not sound like she is medically stable enough. Also, she's 13 and IMHO she's old enough to make that decision for herself. She's the one who has to live the life style and also the one who would have to endure the challenge first hand.

Happy Birthday!

I'm sitting here reading this thread while eating M&Ms. I have not been tested for celiac disease yet, but I suspect that I likely have it. I have many of the non "classical" symptoms, and my son had to have gotten celiac disease from somewhere. After the birth of my son I totally became addicted to sugar. I am not over weight, but since my son's birth I have never been able to reach my target weight. I think about sugar all the time. When I want to loose weight I will budget my calories to try to conserve so that I can have sweets in the evening. My weight will often fluctuate by 10 lbs because of this. I'm sick of it. Even when I try to just eat healthy, and not diet, I end up eating small amounts of sugar throughout the day that inevitably end up adding up at the end of the day. No more M&Ms. I will try to cut sugar out of my diet. Although I planned on making banana sticky buns today.

I spoke to someone with Kettle chips and they said that the only flavor that is NOT gluten free is the cheddar beer flavor. It is the only gluten chip in their facility and it, for reasons unknown, does not even test positive for gluten when they batch test. I consider Kettle chips much safer than Lays, except for maybe the Stax. I like to give my son baked kettle chips.

I'm not so sure about the frosting. I know that the only flavor that was not considered gluten free was the coconut pecan--but that was a couple of months ago. You can always call them if in doubt.

Today it's only about 70 in Portland Oregon. I hope you guys get some relief from the heat soon.

Crayola addresses this issue under their FAQ section. The only crayola product that is not gluten free is their play dough. All of their clays are gluten free. There are plenty of gluten free play dough recipes online if you want to make your own.

My opinion is that it is better to be safe than sorry. If you have an option of buying a perfectly good gluten free lotion over one with gluten, then why not buy the gluten-free lotion?! If my son has a gluten reaction I want there to be as few variables as possible when I try to find the gluten culprit. As his mother, I use gluten free products because my son is really cuddly. He loves to play with my hair and kiss my face. I don't want him to have to wash his hands after every time he touches me--like I'm a piece of raw meat! Better safe than sorry!

Above you mentioned toothpaste. My son was getting glutened from his toothpaste! I am very careful about his foods and cross contamination. Shortly after my son was diagnosed I went to the company website, but it was down and I ended up forgetting to go back. It would not happen every time I brushed his teeth, only sometimes when she must have swallowed too much. He ended up with the typical foul smelling floaty diarrhea. I was up in arms trying to figure it out. When I called the company again, they (Oral-B/Zooth) would not say any of their products are gluten free. I switched his toothpaste to Colgate and have only had one episode since.

Just because there has not been a formal scientific study on it does not mean that it does not exist.

I make this sweet and sour chicken recipe. It's really good, but I only use a 1/2 cup of cider vinegar, decrease the sugar, and increase the pineapple juice.

Sweet and Sour Chicken

Poultry

Source

Generations - My Family Cookbook1 Chicken, cut up into serving pieces

1/2 C. Flour

1 tsp. Salt

1/4 tsp. Black Pepper

Sauce

1 (13 1/2 oz.) can Pineapple Chunks

1 C. Sugar

1 Tbsp. Cornstarch

3/4 C. Cider Vinegar

1 Tbsp. Soy Sauce

1/4 tsp. Ginger

1 chicken Bouillon Cube

1 large Green Pepper, cut into strips Methods/steps

Wash chicken dry, and coat with flour. Heat oil and brown the chicken. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drain pineapple and add enough water to the drained liquid to make 1 1/4 cups. Mix sauce ingredients and boil for 2 minutes. Pour this over the chicken. Add pineapple and green pepper. Bake until tender, about 30 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

dumb question here--what is the difference between tTG and IgG?

There's no such thing as a dumb question--especially not regarding this complicated stuff! IgG is an immunoglobulin or antibody. We have numerous types in our body such as IgA, IgM, IgE and IgG. They are meant to protect us from infection but also give rise to allergies. tTG is an enzyme. I think it is called tissue transglutaminase. I don't know the normal function off of the top of my head, but in celiac disease it alters the gluten molecule and it is one of the steps that takes place when celiac patients react to gluten.

Happygirl, thanks for posting that link. It's very interesting.

I can relate, JennyC. At my sister's recent wedding, I made a gluten-free, dairy-free cake and decorated it myself. Tiered and everything. (My sister is playing with gluten-free; I hope she decides to do it permanently.)

My mom brought the groom's cake (which was gluten). She bought it straight out of the refrigerator case at Walmart and wrote something silly on it with an icing pen.

She told me straight to my face that people would probably rather have the store-bought cake.

Just for anyone who's keeping score... I got asked for my recipe MULTIPLE times by people who had no idea it was a gluten-free cake, even though my mom was totally rude about it.

It takes time to shrug these sort of behaviors off. It helps to remember it's usually a power struggle in the head of the person behaving rudely and has nothing to do with you personally. Just remember her behavior when you're in control of the guest list.

Yeah, I'd love to cut her off of the guest list but I really shouldn't. But who knows how I'll be feeling next year...

I'm sorry about your experience. People don't realize how much work gluten free baking can be. It's not as if we throw in some rice flour and call it a day. I can't imagine how mad you must have been after she said that about a wedding cake!

Is there any way that I could possibly get that wonderful cake recipe? I would be very appreciative.

I was scheduled for an induction, so I nested until the very end. The last two or three weeks I went crazy cleaning my house. I even had to reorganize the medicine cabinet. I was scheduled to go in on Monday and the weekend before I totally detailed the family car and shampooed the carpets! Nesting can be good because you likely won't feel much like cleaning once the new baby gets there, but don't work too hard.

When I was considering Enterolab for my son, I called bluecross and read them the medical codes for the tests and I was told that I would be reimbursed for the costs for an out of network provider. Of course, labs are considered major medical, so the detectable is applied.

I would only buy it if the store is knowledgeable about cross contamination and if they don't switch bins or switch around locations of the products. I only buy bulk at Bob's Red Mill because they are very knowledgeable and they do not switch the bins and flours around. They even have all the gluten free flours together. Buying in bulk can be risky, but if you feel that it is safe where you shop, you can save lots of money. I'm never moving away from BRM.

So does that mean that elevated tTg levels mean someone is celiac?

In my opinion positive tTG levels are indicative of celiac disease when accompanied by positive dietary response to a gluten free diet. tTG is an enzyme that is located in various locations around the body. When they test for tTG they are testing for an autoimmune reaction to tTG (anti-tTG) and this, I believe, is specific to celiac disease. I am not a doctor or a celiac disease specialist, but I have done many searches for diseases associated with anti-tTG and have only found it associated with celiac disease. I think that I read somewhere (maybe Celiac Disease: a Hidden Epidemic?) that this could also be associated with liver disease, but I have not seen any additional information about it. Either way, I don't think that liver disease responds to a gluten free diet. For me, positive tTG and good dietary response should be enough to diagnose celiac disease.