LauraTX

That is quite odd.  I wonder if skin changes with age have anything to do with it?  That could be a stretch, I will throw in I have no idea what your age is (dont kiiiilllll me pleeease <3 ).  I have a couple birthmarks, and they all have stayed the same.  I have freckles and multi-freckle spots that REALLY pop out if I get any bit of a sun tan.

I think prickly is right, that the mango is bleeding out too much moisture into the batter in the later stages of baking.  Maybe you can pre-bake the mango peices a little bit to where they dry out around the edges if you don't want to use dried fruit.  You can also partially hydrate dried fruit.  You may also find good results using mashed mango, especially with other chunked up fruit in the muffin, just reduce a little of the liquid ingredients.  It will probably take a few experiments, let us know how it works out!

I think what the previous repliers said is good and thorough in the gluten area, and Id like to add to that in the "C" area.

I take plaquenil and other drugs for my lupus that cause severe "C".   I take usually 2 metamucil caps daily, but I dont take them if I have a super high fiber meal. I never  take stimluant medicine for that problem because I eat a ton of high fiber foods to offset it.  I make beans as the main meal at least once a week, eat them as a part of a meal about every other day, and switching any grain to the whole grain helps as well.  Broccoli, carrots, sweet potato(vs regular potatoes) squash, zucchini, and green beans are all favorites of mine that help with that as well.  If you are not a big vegetable person, find the most fiber- containing vegetable in a preparation you like(just not like drenched in cheese that defeats the purpose) , and eat the crap out of it.  

I don't think you need to take out grains, but you may need to over-adjust proportions of stuff.  Listen to your body and what your... bathroom trips... tell you.  Haha.  But really, some foods, like cheese, I eat I am guaranteed to be more "C" afterwards.  Certain medicines that I don't take all the time will stop things for sure, like hydrocodone after I had a surgery, I had to stop it and bear the pain.  So anything like that, definitely will need limited.  Others are the opposite, like cantaloupe.  I will buy a whole one and eat on it over a few days and if I do it too hastily, well, things go a lot better.  If you eat white rice, maybe try brown rice.  If you do a meal with 1/3 meat, 1/3 carbs, and 1/3 veggies, try a meal with 1/4 meat, 1/4 carbs, and 1/2 veggies on the plate.  Also swapping carbs or meat for beans helps, of course.  Hehe.  It is more of a lifestyle change, really.

A lot of times people are puzzled when a doctor just says "eat more fiber!!!" so I hope some of my examples have been helpful.  

Also, your plaquenil RX. is it for undifferentiated connective tissue disease?  That is usually the label they will put on for a diagnosis when you have something autoimmune going on but you don't meet the full criteria for a lupus or rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis.  Just curious on that one.

I dug around in some journal sources and was unable to find anything other than the anecdotal evidence you say you already found.  That doesn't mean that there is not a link, it just means there has not been a published study.  Now, if you want your doctor to know about the celiac- osteopenia link and also the osteopenia-scoliosis link, you can find articles on both of those through a quick google search.  Compared to more common things like heart disease, diabetes, etc., celiac disease really has not been studied that much.  Maybe we will get there in the future

This is good to know.  We find ourselves going through Jackson at least once a year, and like to stop and stay the night there.

Yep.  I keep my cat food in the kitchen on the far end of the counter.  One less intense handwashing step for when I feed her. (When I handle a gluten source I wash my hands and use a nail brush). I feed her a normal measured amount, but spread into four times per day because she begs and annoys the crud out of me.  Also, cats lick themselves all day grooming, you pet the cat, then touch other things.  Cat eats like a pig and picks up crumbs in her feet when she bats peices of food out of her dish before eating them because they are TOTALLY MORE DELICOUS THAT WAY! (Big joke in our house, she does that with water, too.), then walks all over everything.  Cat gets in your bed and paws at your face when she wants food, etc.  Also, getting other household members to 100% abide by "This contains gluten wash your hands after" is difficult.

Dogs are probably even more important, because they lick you in the face.  If you don't let a dog lick you, that is like their equivalent of a social rejection.  They, too are piggies when eating.  But yes, overall, just one less thing to worry about.  

You certainly do not need to do a water fast.  That will land you in the hospital.  Generally, people who have problems with dairy are the ones with severe villi damage.  If all you are wanting to do is start a gluten-free diet, I would not exclude dairy unless you start to suspect it is giving you problems.   I think I am lacking information on why you are thinking of excluding many other food groups.  If you are going to eliminate gluten, do that first, and see how you feel.  After that if you want to see how other things eliminated affect you, do them one by one.  

The easiest way to start eating gluten-free is to eat foods that are naturally gluten-free.  Meat, veggies, fruit, etc.  If you are having severe gastrointestinal symptoms you may want to avoid processed food for a while until you start to feel better, then slowly add them in.  If you think dairy may be a problem for you now, you can leave it out and add it in later.  What you want to avoid doing is eliminating too many things at once, then if you improve you don't know which food item was the one causing problems.

If you are up to giving us a little more information on what your symptoms are and what specific tests you had done, and if you were eating gluten at the time of the tests, we will be able to help you more.  Also if you can check out the "Newbie 101" thread under the "Celiac Disease- Coping with" subforum.  I hope we are able to help

I was diagnosed with IC when I was 18 and still deal with it.  The best website is Open Original Shared Link (that is their page on diet)  They used to recommend cutting out acidic foods, spicy foods and such, but now they don't give as many specific guidelines.  I would definitely recommend keeping a food journal to see if you are able to link symptoms to something you are eating, though.  

Also, if you do not have an official diagnosis of I.C., I would definitely go see a urologist.  Before I saw a urologist, I went to a gynecologist over and over repeating the same tests until she brought up I.C.  Not a lot of doctors know much about it, kind of like celiac.  But it is definitely something you cannot self-diagnose.  You need a cystoscopy of the bladder to rule out other things that can cause these symptoms.  I was also sent for an MRI of the pelvis to rule out any abnormal structures in the bladder/urethra.  A cystoscopy of the bladder sounds scary, but if you have ever been through a routine pelvic exam/pap smear, it is less invasive than that, and they do it in their office.  Basically they numb your "area" with a paste (no shots or needles), then put a small scope up there, and they fill your bladder with water so they can get a good look at the walls of it.  Took about a minute.

There are a few medicines and even physical therapy for it, but I found nothing helped me.  I did not try the physical therapy, though.  The one thing that will trigger symptoms for me is holding it too long.  Other than that, I have just learned to live with it.  However, I worked with a lady who saw great improvement on the diet.

That acana brand looks like it is pretty good.   Mainly a canadian brand but they do sell it on petflow.   By the way, your white cat looks hilariously cute in your avatar.

I have severe GERD and gallbladder issues as well, and sometimes I am unable to figure out if it is that or the asthma causing symptoms.  This year I got a digital peak flow meter, and my doctor said to use it to check before I use my inhaler and only use my inhaler if I am below a certain number.  Shortly after that I realized that sometimes I felt like I needed to use my inhaler, but my flow readings were fine, so it was my GERD/gallbladder.  Now I am paying more attention and can tell a little better when it is asthma vs. something else.

I deal with lupus, an inflammatory disease.  I find that anything that makes me feel poorly in one area, like asthma irritants, crappy food/poor diet,  over/under exercise... it all contributes to my overall lack of well-being and leads to everything acting up.  Of course this is anecdotal evidence and should be taken at face value.

I googled "air quality systemic inflammation" and found a ton of inconclusive articles.  Most of them focused on the possible link between air pollution and cardiovascular events.  I started to link a few on here, but I will let you plug it into google and take a look, because there are quite a few.  The one most close to what you are looking for is here:  Open Original Shared Link   Happy reading!

I feed my cat Blue Buffalo's Freedom Indoor.  Their Freedom line is all grain-free. Basically the ingredients are the same as their regular cat food, but it has potatoes as the carb source instead of barley.  The ingredient list looks the same otherwise.  I fed her blue buffalo indoor before switching, switched to gluten-free food for her because she eats like a little piggy, haha.

Open Original Shared Link

Also, Petsmart and Petco both have satisfaction guarantees, if you don't like the product you can bring it back for a refund.  You may be able to do the same at the store you bought the last bag of food at, so I would definitely check.

I second the snyders gluten-free pretzels.  I will eat them when I have an upset stomach.  They are also great dipped in things, but they have that snackable quality that I can deal with when I am ill.  

Something else that may help you, that helped me greatly when I went gluten-free a year ago now, is one of the gluten-free grocery guides available.  The one I use is the Cecelias marketplace one, they just put out a new edition, which I preordered.    Open Original Shared Link

Triumph also makes a guide book, but I haven't looked at it. Both will have an alphabetical list of foods that are okay.  So, if you want sausage or something that may or may not be gluten-free, you can look up what brands to look for in there. 

But, since you are not sure if gluten is the problem or not, I would just stick to the more obvious foods and see how you react before investing money into it.  Best of luck to you!

I also carry a full sheet folded up in my wallet, next to my DL where it sticks out a bit I put yellow highlighter on it and ***MEDICAL INFO**** so it is obvious.  That way if something happens and I am incapacitated they will find that.  I also tell everyone I know, if I get sick my info is in here.  It has all my many medications, conditions, past surgeries, emergency contacts, and my doctors.  Important things are highlighted, like the celiac, a drug allergy, and my immunodeficiency.  It is always a good idea to keep a list of your medications on you at all times, and it helps you not forget any when you to somewhere and they want to know.  I have them make a copy of my list and keep it to avoid transcription errors.  

I don't like wearing jewelry other than my wedding ring unless it is a special occasion, so alert jewelry would be something I would forget to wear all the time.  

I think it is important, like kenlove says, to try to develop a good relationship with a facility if you know you are going to be there again.  Write down names of people who were good and helped you, the pharmacist you talked to, that way you instantly have more leverage when you are throwing out names.

We all could use some more gluten-free beef jerky.  On a recent road trip I was looking at every place we stopped at because I had a hankering, but didn't find any.

A good example of how a little persistence can pay off  It is worth it for your health!

I looked it up and yes, it does contain Niacin.  Especially if you don't drink energy drinks a lot, what you described sounds like a niacin flush.  Here is a link to some info: Open Original Shared Link

The flushing is more of an annoyance.  When I drink an energy drink (5 hour energy) on a rare occasion, I drink half, then the other half later if I still need some more pep in my step.  I will get a mild flushing in my face even with half.  

I hate that!  Especially when it is something hard to find.  For some reason at my grocer I usually go to, almost all of the shelled nuts are on shared equipment.  I have to go down the road to walmart.  

Are you saying you can't have peppers as well?  If so, I would definitely go the route of making your own.  Salsa is one of those things you really just can't mess up, but it may take a lot of tweaking to get what you like.  It also freezes well, if you don't want to mess with canning and want to make big batches.

Also, what are you eating the salsa with?  gluten-free tortilla chips are readily available, but not all tortilla chips are gluten-free.

Another thing is that, if your stomach and such is already prone to being upset, you may have to lay off the salsa for a little bit until you heal up some more.  As time goes by it will all be easier and you will be more knowledgeable and less freaked out and paranoid

I looked on their website after reading this... I haven't really looked into his stuff too heavily as I was already diagnosed when I heard about his offerings.  They have a fairly detailed FAQ and I don't have any questions unanswered after reading that.  I still hold the same opinion of it that I did before reading it.  I don't want to turn this thread into a debate about that, though.

What specific concerns do you have?  I would think that, being a smaller place where you can actually reach people via phone and email, you may get great success in just writing your own letter and letting them know you want to share it with the forum here. 

My doctor is in the Dallas/Fort worth area, but I can call them next week and see if they know any practices in the Houston area.  The University of Chicago center has a new doctor database but not many doctors had been added last time I looked at it.  Also, if there is a GIG-Gluten Intolerance Group chapter in that area, you can see who they go to as well.  Good luck!

I would not buy it.  In my kitchen it is the opposite way around, I segregate gluten, not gluten-free stuff.  Basically my whole kitchen is gluten-free except when I make hamburgers/hot dogs I buy regular buns for my spouse and only I handle them in the most anal retentive way you can imagine.  He used to keep bread around for sandwiches but now if he wants one he will use a hamburger bun because they are less crummy.  I freeze them individually in ziplocs.

If I had a shared kitchen, I would buy the cheapest cutting boards and colanders I could, because if a roommate is THAT inattentive I don't think they would pay attention if it said GLUTEN FREE with giant shiny lights pointing at it, it would still be prone to accidental contamination.  People mark theirs with markers, designated colors, and then there are also the labels linked by the previous poster. 

However, depending on how much storage space is in the kitchen, maybe a solution to people inadvertently using the gluten-free stuff for gluten would be to get a giant red tub at the after Christmas sales and keep all gluten-free stuff in there?  Put a giant "Soandso's Gluten Free Utensils- touch this and you die!"

Tortietude!  (That is what jackson galaxy says lol)