Merika

Great ideas. Thank you for the thoughts!

I'm curious if there is interest in a gluten free bed & breakfast/hotel stay in Los Angeles? I live in Hollywood and have a small rental unit. Some of my neighbors run B & Bs out of their homes, which seems fun, but as I'm celiac, I'd like to do it gluten free I was thinking to go a bit above and beyond the traditional B & B, and offer warm breakfasts, packed lunches and snacks, and optional dinners. I'm in the heart of Hollywood, near a lot of tourist attractions! There are two excellent restaurants nearby that offer trustworthy gluten-free foods. And of course many places that claim to offer gluten-free foods, but are not always successful (always my nightmare when I travel). Do you think there would be interest in this? Where would I advertise for this / where do you look for travel places when you are planning a trip? Thanks! Liz

Updating info on this old post...guar gum can indeed contain soy. While it is derived from the guar plant (no soy there), when it goes through processing to become guar gum, 10% protein is added from...you guessed, soy. Or sometimes not soy, but a different food-based protein. So you may find some of the time you tolerate guar gum, and some of the time you don't. Products like this can be labelled "soy free" as they are considered free of the soy protein allergen. But if you are super sensitive to soy, you will notice it.

Thank you so much! There is all so much to learn, and trying to do it gluten-free as well has only made it harder. But I think I may be able to do it, it will just take some good planning. Ideally I would like the baby chicks to be gluten-free as well, so I don't have to worry about my daughter handling them. I imagine that chicks are pretty messy eaters and that their fluff gets a nice coating of their food, but if they are in little cages I'm not so worried about the feed, and I could decontaminate my 3 yr old dd afterwards (I *think*). But gluten-free would sure take a lot of extra worry and work off of me! We also have a cat and dog. The cat eats gluten, but she's tidy and eats on top of the washing machine. My dd is not allowed to touch her food or feed her. My dog eats gluten free, and she LOVES to feed him. I've just connected with a local chicken group, so I'm hoping I can get some more insight on baby chick meds and care. Liz

Hi Boysmom, Thanks for your response. It's interesting what you say about the medication. Ultimately, I think I'd like to find a feed that has it so I don't have to worry. But the risk would seem low from here. I guess it would also depend on where I got them from. My yard has probably never had chickens. In the 1910s it grew avocados. Before that it was probably undeveloped semi-desert. And since the house was built, I doubt there have been chickens. I live in the heart of Hollywood, CA Hi Jestgar, I could see how a gluten feed would work in your situation. I've got little kids and a small yard and I'll be doing a lot of the work myself. Thanks, I knew I could find some info on this group! Liz

Hi Jestgar, Is the chick feed you use gluten-free? The ones I've seen all have gluten. Do they get this only when they are very little, before they get their grown-up feathers? I agree the medication is probably important and would like to find a feed with it that is gluten-free. Thanks! Liz

Hi Takala, Thank you soo much! So there is hope for getting chickens still I too am not interested in feeding them soy. Yuck! Plus my ds is allergic. What does the molasses do (besides make it yummy for them)? I am in Los Angeles, and so cold would rarely be an issue, I think. Today it is 80 degrees, though a few weeks ago it was rainy and 50 in the day with temps in the high 30s/40s at night(kind of unusual really). So if got some cracked corn, black sunflower seeds and maybe some sorghum or millet, plus some of the mineral mix, plus some free range time in the garden to eat bugs (not the majority of the day, they'd need to be supervised a bit), would this be enough? Do I add worms or something for extra protein, or are the seeds enough? Or maybe a bird seed mix? I don't have hay or a barn... And one more question, what about baby chicks? I see the store sells different feed for them. Do you think I would be able to concoct a gluten free baby chick version as well? Hi Stephanie, If I can't have chickens gluten-free I'm not having them. Dust, mistakes on my part, my 3 year old daughter who will get covered in the stuff, I could go on, but it's just not worth it Thanks!! Liz

Hi, you mention vegan... but after being dx'd celiac and then to have my son have a severe soy allergy, and then to have a daughter with a dairy allergy.... well let me say I cook with a lot of lard and olive oil now lard is homemade, no funky ingredients, healthy and great for baking and cooking. And it's soy free and dairy free. i'm allergic to coconut, so we only use that oil a little, though the kids both love So Delicious coconut ice cream and yogurt. i'm also allergic (very) to palm, which i discovered in part after trying the palm oil shortening (which btw tasted disgusting in cookies I thought). it took me a long time to get back to eating omnivorously, but i'm glad i did. it was just too darned restrictive (i was veggie for 12 years) with all the celiac and allergies, and i don't feel bad about it as i try really hard to "eat the whole animal" hope that helps, Liz

I really want to get backyard chickens but every feed I've looked at - both store bought and homemade recipes - ALL contain WHEAT and often barley and rye and oats....Is it possible to keep chickens while feeding them gluten free? They will have some free range time in the yard, but they'll also need feed. I want to be able to safely feed them, clean the cages, etc and have my kids do it as well, without fear of glutening. Somebody here must have chickens and know how to do this. Please help! Thanks, Liz dx'd celiac 5 yrs ago

I'll second RiceGuy. Include in your list of soy foods: mono-and-di-glycerides. Also, depending on how sensitive you are: mixed tocopheryls and vitamin E (a preservative typically derived from soy, though it could be from wheat (rarely, if ever I've found), or synthetic). Merika

LOL, you're on! I'm allergic to coconut (love it, and can kind of eat it once in a while w/o making me sick). Cooked avocado? Or is it raw? (btw, dd doesn't like avocado) Zuchinni and spaghetti squash are both, well, squash, which I was allergic to last summer (and have avoided for a while now, so maybe I could try it again?) The thing about food intolerances is they seem to shift. Whatever I eat I become intolerant towards. After avoiding it for a year or two, some of it seems to go away. Not all, but some. I am going to try beans again soon. (was tested allergic two years in a row. haven't had ANY in about 3 years....) Hey, I made millet tonight! Tomorrow will tell how we all handle it. Ds (age 7 remember, lol) LOVED it, until it got cold on his plate and then hated it. Kids!! Merika PS. Let me ponder for a while a specific challenge....

Thanks for all the responses I love all the suggestions, and yes there must be an asian grocer around here I can find those noodles at. (I love LA!) Reading all this, though, I realize I am ridiculously allergic (intolerant) of so many foods still. I love sweet potatoes, but stopped eating them this year when i found they make my skin insanely dry and painful (like white and cracking to bleeding, after I prep dinner and it takes days to go away) and my tummy not feel so good. We do eat parsnips. I haven't tried much with them other than slow roasting (yummmm). Got any ideas? I don't eat eggs, so that plus the no dairy for dd means no casserole or lasagne-type things, because there's nothing left to glue the food together, lol. Since my post got reshuffled into the leaky gut topic anyway, have there been any advances in science lately here? I know about probiotics (they make me sick as a dog). I can eat more than I used to, and I try to rotate some items for variety. sigh. Merika (PS. Mary's gone crackers has soy.)

Hi Tarnalberry, Nice to see you still here I'll have to check out the millet and buckwheat options. Quinoa I have problems with. Amaranth is kind of bitter?? I can't remember. Thanks! I forget about all those, because so many grains I have problems with (even rice a bit, according to the allergy tests I've had run....). What is a yummy millet thing/recipe? The only thing I've ever done with it is put it under wheat (!back in the day!) pizza crust to help roll it off the pizza paddle and give it extra crunch. Merika (in Los Angeles) PS. How're you liking WA?

Hi, I haven't been on this board in forever it seems. I was diagnosed celiac about 4 years ago and have been gluten-free since. I do all the cooking for me, dh and 2 kids. I only cook gluten-free, but will handle premade wheat things for dh and ds sometimes (being very careful about cc). Recently, ds age 7 has been complaining about rice noodles. He doesn't like them and says he doesn't feel good after eating them. He's not sure in what way. At first I thought maybe he was just not into them right now (as kids are with various foods at times). But then last summer he was having some issue with rice milk on his cereal (he's not a fan of cow milk) and I think it was making his tummy bloated, because he'd say he was full after just a few bites, and then be ravenous a while later. We trialed several brands of rice milk, and i even made it from scratch, which he seemed ok with. Ds is also super allergic to soy, and the whole family avoids it except dh at his own lunches. Now, dd age 2 (almost) is allergic to dairy. This nearly sent me over the edge, what with the no-soy and no-gluten already in our house. But I have adjusted (mostly, lol). I have numerous food intolerances. I am allergic to tapioca (which eliminates many premade gluten-free items). I have learned to cook really well I make basically all our own food from scratch. I also can't figure out if i have a problem with corn - it seems sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't. Dh thinks he would do better on less rice, but eats it anyway. He has developed IBS since the family has gone gluten-free. He still eats gluten at breakfast and lunch (that he makes himself). (and yes, he's been tested for celiac.) As for the kids, in case you were wondering, ds does not carry the gene (any) for celiac. Dd does carry one of the genes, and she eats a very minute amount of wheat (from dh, I won't feed it to her - too messy!). Any tips????? I do NOT want to be a short order cook any more than I already am! How do I keep my family eating TOGETHER? Thanks, Merika

Hi psawyer, I totally get what you're saying. From a scientific point of view, there is truth to all grains having gluten. I can't think of the technical term for the kind of gluten we can't have, but yk, when the average consumer calls to ask about gluten being in a product - whether for human or animal consumption - I think most of them mean wheat/barley/rye/oats-derived. The customer service rep didn't seem to understand, but I think you know what I mean. Merika