pixiegirl

I'm going to San Antonio in 3 weeks! I can't wait.

Susan

I started getting symptoms right after child birth but was not diagnosed until my daughter was 11 years old!

Susan

Both my daughter and I have celiac. I honestly believe my mom has it but her blood test came back negative and thats good enough for her, she desperately wants to eat bread, she says she can't live without it.

Susan

I love that show, I laugh so hard every Monday when I watch it. My BF reminds me of Jeff (the older married guy, formerly on Seinfeld). The funny part is my BF's name is Jeff.

I did see that episode and also notice the wheat allergic reference, but was laughing too hard to give it much thought!

Susan

I don't think its anything else, I have very clear and unmistakable symptoms when I get glutened. I don't get glutened every time with Amy's stuff but maybe half the time and as I said the symptoms are perfectly clear.

Susan

I can't eat Amy's products either, they make me really sick.

Susan

Ok thanks! I too wondered when I saw that the other packages of Yoplait stuff says gluten-free but the chocolate Whips does not.

Susan

I'm asking because I ate it and have a belly ache and when I read the ingredients it lists, "carmel color" and I know that is often a source of gluten.

Does anyone know for sure?

Susan

I bought a bunch of Enjoy Life semi sweet morsels. My daughter and I have to be gluten-free and nut free and they are both.

I want to melt them down and pour them over raisins or coconut and make some candy for us. But when I melt them they feel a little grainy.

What do you add to melted chocolate to make it into a smooth candy? Cream, oil, ??

Any help would be appreciated.

Susan

Thanks!! I'll look for them.

Susan

I think the bottom line is before you try vitamins and such, is to see a doctor, you could have thyroid issues, or be anemic or anything number of things. Most of which can be detected with simple blood tests (there are 2 tests for thyroid one is older and not as good the newer one is I think a few different blood tests - probably someone here will know - make sure you get the newer better test). Being as bone tired as you are is not normal. Your doctor should have some ideas of where to go next and I'd follow the medical route to see if you have developed more food allergies or have something else going on.

Certainly at the same time if you have a naturopath or homeopath in your area it would be good to get their take on it too. And I'm not against vitamins, I take a bunch of them, but I personally think you need to rule out a few traditional medical issues before you embark on that.

Good Luck,

Susan

I don't usually have nuts around as my daughter has a peanut and nut allergy but I need to take one to a party and I'd like to get one that is gluten-free so I can eat it.

What brands of nuts roasted or other wise can we eat?

Susan

My daughter has a life threatening allergy to peanuts, her's is so serious she has airborne reactions. I bought her the Enjoy Life sunbutter bars and she would not eat them, (I love them) over the past 16 years she has come to associate the smell of peanut butter with her allergy and possibly death and when she opened one she immediately said, "I'm not eating this" I told her that they didn't contain any nuts at all (she is allergic to tree nuts too) and she said just the smell of the is making me sick.

In her case its probably a good thing.. so I ended up eating them all!

Susan

I checked at a bunch of groceries and health food places with no luck. I can't use Bob's Red Mill, ugh I hate that company, they never list cross contamination issues on their products because I called them to find out of I could use a specific product (my daughter has a life threatening allergies to peanuts and tree nuts) and they told me with a tree nut allergy I can't use ANY of their products, yet that isn't listed on a single label. Very distressing to me.

I'll have to order some online.

But isn't it usually used for sweet things, due to its flavor, as opposed to say pizza crust?

Susan

Oh I'm sorry I certainly didn't mean to imply that anyone was dishonest! I just meant that some times we sugar coat things. I've known people that had different prep things and said it wasn't so bad.

In regards to the running to the bathroom, I never had that issue, I had to go often but for me there was nothing uncontrollable about it. Instead of Vaseline I used baby diaper stuff, Balmex, its basically like a vaseline type product with zinc oxide in it but it does NOT come off like Vaseline does, it really stays put! (the things we talk about!)

But without a doubt everyone has different experiences!

Susan

DUCK!

I work from my home most of the time and my iMac is set up with a huge window behind it and right out side the window is my "diner" (read: animal feeding station).

I have a squirrel proof bird feeder (really is squirrel proof) suet, niger, water in a bird bath and on the ground and I throw corn and other things on the ground for the squirrels, my lone chipmunk and other wildlife.

The antics of these animals keeps me laughing. I'm a stockbroker - a fairly stressful job but I love that I can just glance up and see what's going on in our little world. The antics between the 10 squirrels and my "chippie" are hysterical. The amount and variety of birds I get is unreal. We have a few field mice and a couple of voles.

We also have a pretty little red fox that makes frequent stops at my diner to eat some of the things I put on the ground. For the most part its a peaceful family.... I have put up what I call "cat baffles" not real pretty but prior to putting them up I was losing birds every day due to neighborhood cats, now I don't lose any (and no cats are harmed).

The worst thing was this winter I had a hawk dive out of the sky, it really was a black streak, I couldn't even tell what it was until it hit the small bird it was after, it fell out of the sky full speed and slammed into a small bird got it in its claws and flew off. I was upset for days after, thankfully he is hunting elsewhere now, but seeing that speed and power was unreal.

Susan

I get the Whole Foods newsletter and I love that they label their recipes depending on what's in them (or isn't in them as the case may be).

I've made a lot of their recipes in the past and really love most of them, they do such a terrific job, I love that store (I have to drive 45 minutes just to get to one)

Susan

I love these shows... I've gotten so sick of "regular tv" all the shows are the same there are only a few Network shows I'm willing to watch, so I turned to cable.

I love Top Chef and Design Star and Project Runway (i'm both fashion and food crazy, I occasionally even watch Hells Kitchen although Gordon Ramsey gets on my nerves I've worked in some restaurant kitchens before and you really really do have to be able to handle a lot of stress).

Right now I think Stephanie is the best cook there. Dale is interesting too. Can't stand Richard's hair and I think Andrew and Spike are related cuz I mix them up all the times!

I watch far more tv and cable and much of it reality type shows...

Susan

I drink water that come straight out of the ground, its not filtered or treated in any way. We do have it tested yearly and its clean with no contaminants, we don't just test for bacteria either but do the big expensive test (like 450.) that tests for crazy things like jet fuel and fertilizers etc. It tastes excellent. My well here on Cape Cod is twice as deep as all the other locals, 75 feet deep.

What is interesting, in one of the posts above it said something about chlorine being added to the water supply and that being regulated by the fed/state.. I have to assume they were talking about a specific area they live in because here on cape cod the public water supply comes straight up from the ground, no chlorine is added at all (or fluoride, nothing at all), its not filtered but according to the water co. they do add something (salt maybe) to adjust the PH. (we don't have public water we stayed with our well but I looked into getting it).

I do drink Poland Springs water a lot too as I buy it all the time when I'm out and about. I don't react to any of it.

Susan

Wow how exciting. The Outback on Cape Cod has glutened me the last 3 times I've been there. I finally called the General Manager of the entire chain. They told me they are going to go over the gluten-free protocol in Hyannis and try and fix the problems.

Lets hope so!

Susan

I agree with the tomatoes ...... the first year I grew them I had a gazillion of them. So I washed them, dried them, froze them individually then combined them in a big bag. I just took out what I needed from the bag and dropped in boiling water to remove skins then used them.

If you don't have the freezer space you can remove the skins first before you freeze and either chop them or puree them and freeze that (uncooked).

Also I eventually broke down and bought a.... darn I can't think of the name of it... the one I bought was a good one from Italy... you put the tomatoes in the top and turn the handle and it separates the skins from the pulp of the tomatoes. You then freeze that separated "sauce". It was expensive but when you grow a gazillion tomatoes, well worth it.

That was in my old house, in the new one we just grow a few tomatoes!

Susan

Oh I hope they are gluten-free I love When hope is not enough. I love all their products!

Susan

I do not eat them, most make me sick every single time. I guess the bottom line is you have to try them, I've gotten sick off them so many times that I gave up on that but I'm lucky that I have a lot of good stores that sell gluten-free products fairly close by.

Susan

People are so careful about saying anything bad... well I will. The prep was so awful for me. The procedure was a breeze, nothing to it.

I told my doctor that next time I need one I will fast on liquids only for days to avoid the prep. It wasn't that I had to remain so close to the restroom, that part was controllable for me. The prep gagged me and I could not drink it. I tried to hide it in chicken broth, or soda pop. You can't hide that stuff, no way.

The good news is there are a number of products on the market they use for prep so there is a good chance you won't have the one I did! And everyone is different, whatever my BF had he said, "its not so bad" and was guzzling it down! (guys will eat anything).

But really the procedure was fine for me. It was so easy for my 80 year old mother then after they were done she got dressed and said, "lets go out for Thai food!".

Susan

Its interesting all the different experiences. I eat out in restaurants a few times a week (biz and for pleasure) and almost never have a problem.

However many times that I eat at a friends house I get gluttened and at every potluck except for 1 I've gotten glutened.

Our neighborhood has a big grassy open lawn and we have pot lucks (and clam bakes) there in the summer. I stopped even attending the potlucks because I'd get so sick. Last year I had a couple of neighbors tell me they understood gluten-free and so were making things I could eat so I'd attend. I got there early and got my green salad, fruit salad, plain grilled chicken and potato before the bulk of everyone arrived (about 40 people) and I'll tell you... people are just messy!

The spoons from the pasta salad went into the fruit salad! The lasagna spoon was used in the baked beans, the tongs for the meat was used on bread rolls. If I had not been first in the "grub" line there is no way I could have eaten there!

From where I sit I'd much prefer to have the gluten-free food at another table. I have no issues like some do about feeling good that the food I can eat is all inclusive i.e. near gluten food. I don't feel shunned or offended by a gluten-free table, I feel safe. I got glutened this past weekend at a friends house (OK I am done done done with dinner parties... her food was safe, she called me and we went over every ingredient but I"m guessing it was the pots, pans, wooden spoons, ugh) so right now I'm still so sick a separate table would look like a gift to me!

Maybe talk to the people that need to be gluten-free and see if they have any problems with a gluten-free table or if they have any ideas.

Have fun!

Susan