lobita

Hi all,

I've been on a gluten-free diet for over ten years, but now my mother has just been diagnosed with acid reflux. My instict is to tell her to go on an elimination diet and avoid gluten, even though her doctor didn't tell her to do this.

I found one discussion on here talking about people prior to going gluten-free dealing with acid reflux. I was just wondering if there are others here who have or have had acid reflux and how their experience with going gluten-free turned out. I'm really unexperienced with AR and I just want to be sure I'm telling her the right thing.

Thanks!

I have never had success baking with rice flour. I have decided that it is because of the properties of rice. I know it is less expensive than other glutenfree flours, but sometimes we have to spend more to get the qualities we want. This is why we save receipts, so the excess cost can be deducted from taxes.

Rice flour really shouldn't be the sole flour used in gluten-free baking. It should only be a component of your baking flour, which should have a mixture of all different kinds of flours like millet, sorghum, tapioca, potato, etc. Maybe pick up "Gluten-Free Baking" by Analisa Roberts. It's a good book to get started with gluten-free baking until you get a feel of what flour ratio should go into your recipes.

Thank you for posting this interesting article. I found it fascinating. I also found it very disturbing. Did anyone else?

I'm not sure more genetically modified food is what the world, and especially the gluten-free community, needs right now.

I'm right there with you. I remember reading years ago about how scientists were trying to cross-pollinate wheat with corn to make a heartier corn plant. I was terrified, but haven't heard anything else about that.

I wonder why the scientific community is so quick to come up with complicated fixes rather than try to find out WHY celiac disease is 4x more common now than it was 50 years ago. Doesn't that tell you something is wrong with the growing industry of processed foods? But I guess that would upset too many people in that multi-billion dollar industry.

I was at Wal Mart today. I have been buying the Walmart brand honey ham sandwich meat because it alway said "gluten free." They are coming out with new packaging.

The old packages say "gluten free," the new packages don't. Now, they have added Spanish translations of the ingredients list instead.

Wally World knows where their bread is buttered.

I had given up luncheon meats until I found that one. Now, I don't know that the ingredients have changed, but it does make me wonder.

I guess I will be buying the Hormel brand that clearly states it is gluten free - even the turkey breast.

Argh! That sucks! I always loved to buy Wal-Mart's lunch meats because of the gluten-free label. Another one bites the dust, I guess.

Here's a tip Teacher:

Shop at Wal-Mart for more than just non-grocery items. A lot of the Great Value products actually say gluten-free on them, and they are MUCH cheaper (one of the best GV gluten-free products is soy sauce).

And I cut my costs WAY down with another more controversial method. I live in Chicago and there is a sizeable Indian population here. They stock their stores with a lot of alternative flours, like sorghum, rice, millet, etc. I buy my flours from the markets at a MUCH lower cost than at stores like Whole Foods and use them in my baking. The problem is that many of the flours have allergy warnings on them, that they are either processed in shared facilities and/or equipment that wheat is on. It's a gamble that some rather not take in the gluten-free community, but I've been on the diet for longer than a decade and consuming those flours for much of that time and I've rarely had a problem.

I will be visiting Las Vegas for the first time March 6-10. I have planned everything from flight to hotel to shows, but Im having trouble with restaurants. I need places that will be safe and gluten-free so that my trip is not ruined. Has anyone been to Las Vegas on a gluten-free diet? Which restaurants have a gluten-free menu or have an accomidating chef? THANK YOU so much for any help!!

I know there's an Outback on the strip and I ate at a Chipotle(I've not had problems with their burrito bowls with no tortillas and no meat, but some have, so that's up to you). A short cab ride away is a PF Changs.

Also, if money isn't really a problem, I ate at an upscale restaurant in Harrah's (can't remember the name, but it over looks the strip) and the chef was fantastic about gluten-free there. I just told the waiter and he asked the chef and the waiter came back with all the choices from the chef. I'm assuming it was pricey, though, because I was there for a work function and no prices were on the dinner menu I saw.

I love this topic. I ventured out this year and tried gluten-free oats and was able to tolerate them! So my fav recipe was one I adapted from Cook Illustrated, their Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal with Dried Cherries. I substitute Craisins for the dried cherries.

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I usually put in a mix of gluten-free flours, like 3/4 c rice flour, 1/4 c sorghum, 1/4 c tapioca and 1 tsp of xanthum gum...or something like that, I've found it doesn't really matter much the gluten-free flour mix in this cookie recipe)

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon table salt

2 1/4 cups rolled oats , old-fashioned (make sure it's Bob's Red Mill gluten-free oats)

1 cup dried tart cherries (I substitute Craisins)

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped into chunks about size of chocolate chips (about 3/4 cup...I usually just use Nestle Chocolate Chip)

12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar, preferably dark

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions; heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large (18 by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Whisk flours, xanthum, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. In second medium bowl, stir together gluten-free oats, cherries/Craisins, and chocolate.

3. In standing mixer fitted with flat beater, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until no sugar lumps remain, about 1 minute. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula; add egg and vanilla and beat on medium-low speed until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl; with mixer running at low speed, add flour mixture; mix until just combined, about 30 seconds. With mixer still running on low, gradually add oat mixture; mix until just incorporated. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no flour pockets remain and ingredients are evenly distributed.

4. Divide dough evenly into 16 portions, each about 1/4 cup, then roll between palms into balls about 2 inches in diameter; stagger 8 balls on each baking sheet, spacing them about 2 1/2 inches apart. Using hands, gently press each dough ball to 1 inch thickness. Bake both baking sheets 12 minutes, rotate them front to back and top to bottom, then continue to bake until cookies are medium brown and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will seem underdone and will appear raw, wet, and shiny in cracks), 8 to 10 minutes longer. Do not overbake.

5. Cool cookies on baking sheets on wire rack 5 minutes; using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.

I usually use it in place of recipes that call for bean flours since I don't like the taste of those. I really can't taste the soy and I think it has a higher protein content than rice flour. Just like any gluten-free flour, I wouldn't use soy alone, but in combo with rice, tapioca, sorghum, etc.

In a nut shell the reason is because there is no big drug company interested in Celiac Disease.

Yep, that pretty much sums it up; no drug money to make on us. Nice world we live in, huh?

I love the posts on this thread. Very cathartic and comforting to read comments from people with experiences so similar to mine.

This has basically been said in many different ways already, but when you've been sick for so long and then you start on this lifestyle and you actually start to feel like a human being...you end up self-diagnosing yourself. It's not really something you do because you wake up one day and say "Yeah, no wheat sounds like a great idea!"...at least I think that's not the reason why most of the "self-diagnosed" people on this forum did it.

Thanks for being interested enough to ask us the question, though.

I hosted Thanksgiving for the first time this year and I'm really pleased with how everything turned out (except for the gravy, I have to come up with something better next year). I think my favorite was the cornbread stuffing...homemade cornbread with sausage, onion, sage, and celery. Yum.

I was going to have cornbread muffins, but they came out a little too dry and thought it'd be too much cornbread. So, I was in a pinch and decided to use Pamela's Bread Mix with the recipe for the rolls...VERY good. They came out very light and tore just like real rolls. I usually mix my own flours, so I have the challenge ahead of me to come up with just as good of a homemade mix to use.

Hi all,

I saw this article on the widening definition for having a disability and it focuses on people being covered with things like diabetes. I was wondering if there could be an effor to get people with celiac disease/gluten intolerance to be included as well?

This is the article:

Open Original Shared Link

I always use the gluten-free pizza crust recipe on epicurious: Open Original Shared Link

It takes a little practice working with the really sticky dough, but with rice-floured hands and quick movements, the dough will eventually get into place.

Yep. My brother and I both have celiac, and we both have alopecia.

We've both been on the diet more than 10 years, but I still struggle with about 60% of constant hair loss (I mostly manage by wearing head bands to cover the bare spots). My brother never got his hair back. His fell out when he was a lot younger, though (12 years old to my 18 years old).

Has anyone gone to this before and is it worth going? It's this saturday, Oct. 17.

If it's like the Allergy Expo that happened in Chicago last spring, I'd definitely go. They had a bunch of companies and speakers, with tons of samples and lots of goodies to take home. We had a blast.

I say this with much love: The mix up with the name of Bob's Red Mill with "Big Bob's" completely cracked me up. I think I'm forever going to think of that when seeing Bob's Red Mill products in the store. Tee-hee

Thanks! I will try to lower the temp.

Maybe those mixes have too much tapioca flour in them. I've noticed Pamela's bread flour mix has that doughy problem. I usually mix my own flours and use very little tapioca flour about 30% if that.

I just made a dutch apple pie, where I pre-cooked the crust in the oven and the apples on the stove top (separately, obviously), then mixed the cooked apples with some heavy cream and raisins. It didn't require any thickener. For the topping, I made a gluten-free streussel-like topping. Came out super yummie!

Sometimes I put a little olive oil in a stockpot and saute some garlic, celery, carrots and onions, then throw in some dry rice and let the rice get coated with oil and golden (becareful not to burn it). After that I throw in either water or chicken stock or both, and season it with salt. It changes up just the plain ole rice taste.

I guess I've just always interpreted it as "something people are afraid of or worried about." I think what happened with this author - and this is also true of his title and introduction - is that he was looking for the snappy, catchy phrase, and now that it's all being parsed to death, it doesn't hold up. I publish for a living, too, and that can happen more easily than you'd think. It could even be possible that he wrote it differently and his editor had him brush it up a bit. I honestly think this is kind of a problem for Slate as a whole, that they try to be edgy and push envelopes and whatnot, but don't often end up actually doing that, and instead just offend - or bore, or annoy - a whole heap of people, often their intended audience. The writing itself is good, but what's being said is often fair to middling, given what they seem to want to do. I think this article isn't an attack on gluten avoiders, but a symptom of a larger problem within the publication.

I agree with that. I've seen the pub problem happen as well (yay fellow editors!).

Also, I think the problem is that the article isn't aimed at those of us on the board. I'm assuming that most of us have gone through horrific medical problems and once we found that going gluten-free changed some if not all of those problems, it became panacea for us. But there are others out there, my bf being one of them, who tries going gluten-free because of small problems. My bf suffers from stomach problems from time to time and is "tired" often. When he went on the diet for a month, he said he felt a little better and more energetic, but couldn't really tell the difference.

Now my story: I was so fatigued in college that I would sleep 10 hours and still cry because I couldn't stay awake during my classes. And everyday felt like I was walking around in a haze, and that went on for years. What I had was definitely fatigue, and anyone who'd have experienced what I did couldn't write, like the Slate author did, that going gluten-free has a placebo effect.

But that's the dramatic difference between someone like myself going on the diet and my bf. Sometimes it's hard to remember that not everyone is as sensitive to gluten as I am.

I do like the part where he writes about how not eating gluten can make it harder for you to digest when you do. I never understood why people became more sensitive to gluten after going off of it, but the lack of enzymes makes sense to me because that's why beans upsets a lot of people...b/c they lack the enzymes to digest it.

I hadn't had Starbucks since being diagnosed 2 weeks ago. I have a cup of coffee at home every morning with no problems. Yesterday I got a coffee at Starbucks and felt tired all day and today I have an upset stomach. I have light cream in my coffee every morning at home with no problem and the Starbucks is the only thing I changed in my diet yesterday. Guess I'll be saving myself $2 by making my coffee safely at home!

For some reason, Starbucks reg. coffee sometimes bothers me, but I don't think it's because of gluten. I wonder if you tried getting an Americano (shot of espresso w/ hot water). I've never had a problem with that.

I've never had any problem with their gluten-free labeled products. And really, I love Wal-Mart for what they've done w/ labeling. It proves that EVERY big food company can do it.

Thank you, Wal-Mart!

I have a similar reaction to it as I would to gluten,soy, or MSG..nausea,sore body,extreme lethargy ect.

Me too. I had the brain fog the next day after drinking some. I'll never touch the stuff again.

I think I've recently got into a slight gluten contamination because my DH reaction is worse than usual. It usually happens on the palm side of my hands, and sometimes in between my fingers and if it's bad enough, it'll spread to the tops of my fingers. BUT lately I've been itching my calves and lower legs, which I first thought was from mosquito bites (I've been camping lately). IT'll flare up like clusters of welts on my legs, although the DH on my hands are more like the tiny water blisters Melissa described.

This morning I noticed that I have a couple of bumps on my face, I first thought they were zits, but they itch and then go away quickly. So I'm thinking that's yet another form of DH.

It's probably time to throw out my suspect rice flour from the Asian store.

I have been wanting to bake a homemade pot pie for some time, but struggling to find a recipe that is gluten-free. Is it possible to make a gluten-free pot pie? I'm craving a simple and delicious meal. Thanks!

I use pretty much any basic chicken pot pie recipe for the filling and substitute rice flour for wheat flour in the roux. THen I put it in a casserole dish and cover the top of the filling with a gluten-free pie crust. It's kind of tricky to get it shaped flat enough to cover the dish. I usually roll it out on a baking sheet w/ plastic wrap over it to roll it out, and take the plastic wrap off and flip the baking sheet over the casserole dish.

I use a stand mixer with the exception of some mixes that aren't big enough to put in the stand. I have the biggest Kitchenaid that they make, I'm sure a smaller one would be fine for most people though. For those few things I use a cheapy hand mixer so when it burns up I can just replace it.

I bought a KitchenAid from Costco about a year ago, and I love it. It's totally essential for making breads, in my opinion.