gfp

I have done a lot of public speaking and presentations in my life (mostly scientific) and I am meant to be quite good at it ...

The 'secrets' (if you can call them that) is really not hard ... and it amazes me so many people don't ....

Getting the point about celiac disease across is a presentation or a sales pitch ... if you want to look at it that way.

1/ Each audience has its own 'presentation' or ptich.

Each audience needs to be judged seperately. The same 'presentation' can't be used un modified for different audiences. You might use the same slides or in the case of a resto 'cue cards' but the delivery needs to be targetted.

A waiter or waitress can come from vastly different backgrounds. How you get the attention of and subsequent care of attention matters.

A waiter/ress who is a pre-med student working tables to pay for tuition is different to a single mom working tables to put food in their childs mouth.

For a college student working tables a scientific "serious auto immune disease" puts it ona level where they don't think youare talking down to them because they are a waitress ... for the mom working tables telling them your kid will be sick for weeks is probably far more effective.

What you need is for that waiter/ress to take extra time, check with the kitchen etc. so this is your goal. I am not adverse to an extra level of tipping for this... so I mention this in a service context and make it clear their tip is dependent upon it (without being too blunt).

This is why I never eat at fast food places because this brings in too many of a different type of 'don't give a damn' servers and kitchen staff.

2/ The waiting staff are not your final goal. You need this information to be transferred to the kitchen. Give them too much verbal info and they will get confused when they 'present' your problem to the kitchen. This is where visual aids come in. The dining cards or just your own printed documentation will make it easy to transfer this info and also give them prompts and make sure they don't miss things out like CC, that barley and rye also contain gluten etc.

Phoning ahead is good, popping in ahead is better but these are not always possible.

Hope this helps

Quite often those closest to us have the hardest time accepting ...

All those times you have been sick and your mother gave you gluten but she can't come to terms with that so instead she is in denial.

I don't think this makes her evil, it just means she can't cope so she won't let herself believe she was poisioning you all those years...

IMHO, you need to try and let her know you don't blame her, "even the doctors didn't know back then..." etc.

Right now she's desperately trying to prove its not celiac disease because in her head she was poisioning you and can't take it back.

If its not one thing, its your mother

oops double post: mod please delete

oh my goodness i see what your saying (finally my brain is slow to work!), its all so complicated labelling laws and stuff! im glad im not in the food industry. Nobody dare claim anything these days coz were all so scared of being sued, but at the same time some companies that do make random claims are quite random! Wow you certainly know your stuff!

I just read it .... the info overload is the CODEX entry on gluten-free.

The Codex was written in the 60's and then updated about 1983 (The exact dates are on their website)... back then we had far less additives and far less was known about celiac disease. (This might seem impossible given we know so little even now).

It was also written BY the food industry who sit on these panels for the FAO. In effect they designed something that was easy for them. 200ppm was chosen because it was the limit for the cheapest testing, no scientific reason... and the FAO board looking over this probably had no idea what gluten-free food means in a real world case. Lets face it most GP's today don't realise being gluten-free does not man just not having bread with a meal... or no pasta it means a whole load of hidden gluten. Back in the 60's corn tortila and rice cakes were somewhat exotic ... (in the UK at least) and one didn't pop to Sainsbury's to buy a ready meal curry ...

celiac disease was thought to be so rare as 1:10000 at the time, etc. etc. ... in other words a completely differenet world for food.

When it was updated in 1983 it was just updated! The definitions were kept and things were just added or changed and still even mid 80's (bad hair, Queen) people didn't eat somuch readymeals and celiac disease was still pretty much unknown.

IMHO, CODEX STANDARD 118-19811 needs to be rewritten from scratch for todays world because it can't be updated when its based on gluten-free bread and pasta when there is so much more gluten in circulation. It doesn't make sense because its not written for today's world and today's food industry.

oh my god, info overload, perhaps im thick, but this all just confuses me to death.

personally i eat mostly things that arnt specifically gluten free (too expensive and totally unnecessary) and dont say gluten free on them, i just read labels and they obviously are. i have lists from manufacturers of curry sauces (uncle bens) pasta sauces, confectionary that is gluten free, they just dont say on the label. thats what i do anyway and that causes no problems. I work in a hospital dietitians department and we run coeliac clinics, all we say is read the labels, if ingredients are gluten free then produt is, end of!

i really dont understand all the detail but feel there is no need to or half the coeliac world would have no chance!

forgive me if i am just being thick, my brain cant cope!

Your certainly not thick if it doesn't make sense ..! Quite the reverse ....because it reallydoesn't make sense UNLESS you imagine it was written by someone who thought gluten free food means gluten-free pasta or gluten-free bread. Like you I pretty much stick to things that are not "replacement foods" but the reason these foods can't say gluten-free on the label is the CODEX which is taken in the UK as "The Law" as it were ... the fact it doesn't make sense seems neither here nor there!

So your summary is what I'm saying all through... read the labels top to bottom.. don't rely on it saying gluten-free because this itself is misleading (see above information overload definition). Because of the wheat starch thing a lot of stuff labelled Gflegally actually isn't and a lot of stuff which is gluten-free naturally (like a curry sauce or pesto) cannot legally be labelled gluten-free.

Like I say, if this was written by someone who thinks that gluten-free means bread and pasta and knows nothing of CC it makes sense but ... obviously we know this is really just a tiny part of keeping gluten-free.

As hard as it might be to keep eating gluten now, I really would recommend that you do. Thing is, being gluten free for a week and then having some gluten again might be surprisingly hard, some people get a much more intense reaction after being gluten free for a while. The window of opportunity for getting all the tests done is now, before going gluten free. And you should keep in mind that this diet is for life. In ten or twenty years time you might be very glad that you had the tests done now.

That said, I also think it's a good idea to try the diet whether or not you get a positive diagnosis from the tests. Some people test negative for celiac but respond very well to the diet for other reasons, so it's worth a try. But I think you should do the tests first.

So now you have two opinions to consider...

Pauliina

This is one of those questions noone can answer but yourself and both are equally relevant...

It may not seem a big deal but convincing family members and friends is often way more difficult than we expect... The arguament "but I feel so much better" just doesn't seem to convince many and then it becomes an extra burden in your gluten-free journey.

If you don't already have an appointment its not really just a week... if you try gluten-free and get immediate results it can be damned hard to go backand you also need to decide what level of diagnosis. Will you be happy with blood tests or will you want a biopsy to feel "proof".

Its worth considering that for many going back to gluten can actually have more severe symptoms .. many of us find after being gluten-free for a while that even a small slip and the symptoms are much worse than before.

So if I am reading this correctly - you need to read the labels and make sure it says gluten-free and wheat free ?

Yep quite a few brands actually do that... wheat free is meant to mean just that .... its the gluten free label that's confusing.

i get loads of stuff that says gluten free and is!! i

Some of it is and some of it isn't .. wherein lies the problem. I bolded the partswhich add confusion...

1.3 - So the Corn Tortilla, Rice cake cannot be labelled gluten-free... except ... 2.1 then say's they can add these if they "have been rendered "gluten-free" " which is the immediate cop-out.. To label the ricecake or corn tortilla as gluten-free they can just add wheat starch which is <200ppm otherwise it can't be labelled as gluten-free.

So as a Brit take our national dish which I think is now curry It shouldn't contain wheat (although obviously this is open to debate) but it can be added as a thickner. Where exactly does a curry prepared specially gluten free fit? It's not a food natually containing gluten. Just as importantly if its prepared in a kitchen with gluten then there is also a risk of CC. Imagine being a manufacturer making a specifically gluten-free curry and making sure it has no CC but then you are not allowed to label it as gluten-free.... unless you add some item where the gluten has been "reduced to <200ppm".

Here is the problem... the curry could be labelled "naturally gluten free" BUT that then means it is not subject to controls on CC. Its also confusing... which sounds the safest to the consumer one labelled as Gluten Free or one saying "naturally gluten free" ?? The only other option for them is to use a cereal that is naturally gluten-free (5.2) but this doesn't exactly go with curries since cereals are not normally part of the curry.

The easiest way to legally label the curry as gluten-free is unfortunately by applying 2.1 (a).

CODEX STANDARD FOR "GLUTEN-FREE FOODS"

CODEX STAN 118-19811

1. SCOPE

1.1 This standard applies to those processed foods which have been specially prepared to meet

the dietary needs of persons intolerant to gluten.

1.2 The standard refers only to the specific provisions related to the special dietary purpose for

which these foods are intended.

1.3 This standard does not apply to foods which in their normal form do not contain gluten.

2. DESCRIPTION

2.1 Definition

Gluten-free food is a food so described:

(a) consisting of or containing as ingredients such cereals as wheat, triticale, rye, barley or

oats or their constituents, which have been rendered "gluten-free"; or

( in which any ingredients normally present containing "gluten" have been substituted by

other ingredients not containing "gluten".

2.2 Subsidiary Definitions

2.2.1 For the purpose of this standard, gluten is defined as those proteins, commonly found in

wheat, triticale, rye, barley or oats to which some persons are intolerant.

2.2.2 For the purpose of this standard, gluten-free means that the total nitrogen content of the

gluten-containing cereal grains used in the product does not exceed 0.05 g per 100 grammes of

these grains on a dry matter basis.

3. ESSENTIAL COMPOSITION AND QUALITY FACTORS

3.1 A gluten-free food shall be based on or shall contain:

(a) gluten-containing cereals such as wheat, triticale, rye, barley or oats or their

constituents, which have been rendered "gluten-free" according to Section 2.2.2; or

( ingredients which do not contain gluten in substitution for the ingredients containing

gluten which are normally used in food of that kind; or

© any mixture of two or more ingredients as in (a) and (.

3.2 Gluten-free foods substituting important basic foods like flour or bread, must supply

approximately the same amount of vitamins and minerals as the original foods they replace in

accordance with the national legislation of the country in which the food is sold.

4. LABELLING

In addition to the general labelling provisions contained in the General Standard for the

Labelling of Prepackaged Foods (CODEX STAN 1-1985, Rev. 1-1991, Codex Alimentarius Volume

1), and any specific labelling provisions set out in a Codex standard applying to the particular food

concerned, the following provisions for the labelling of "gluten-free foods" shall apply:

4.1 The Name of the Food

The term "gluten-free" shall be given in the immediate proximity to the name of the product.

4.2 List of Ingredients

4.2.1 A complete list of ingredients shall be declared on the label in descending order of proportion

except that in the case of added vitamins and added minerals, these shall be arranged as separate

groups of vitamins and minerals, respectively, and within these groups the vitamins and minerals

need not be listed in descending order of proportion.

4.2.2 The nature and source of the starch or starches shall be declared on the label. In the case of

starch prepared from gluten-containing cereal grains the declaration of this starch shall be

accompanied by a statement "containing not more than 0.3% protein in the dry matter".

4.3 Declaration of Nutritive Value

The label shall include the following nutritional information:

4.3.1 The amount of energy, expressed in calories (Kcal) or kilojoules (kJ), and the number of

grammes of protein, carbohydrate and fat per 100 grammes of the food and where appropriate per

specified quantity (e.g. one biscuit) of the food as suggested for consumption.

4.3.2 In addition to any other nutritional information required by national legislation, the total

quantity in the final product of those vitamins and minerals which have been added in accordance

with Section 3.2 shall be declared per 100 g as well as according to the serving size of the food

suggested for consumption.

4.4 Date Marking and Storage Instructions

4.4.1 The date of minimum durability (preceded by the words "best before") shall be declared by

the day, month and year in uncoded numerical sequence except that for products with a shelf-life of

more than three months, the month and year will suffice. The month may be indicated by letters in

those countries where such use will not confuse the consumer. In the case of products requiring a

declaration of month and year only, and the shelf-life of the product is valid to the end of a given year,

the expression "end (stated year)" may be used as an alternative.

4.4.2 In addition to the date, any special conditions for the storage of the food shall be indicated if

the validity of the date depends thereon.

Where practicable, storage instructions shall be in close proximity to the date marking.

5. CLAIMS

5.1 A food prepared according to Section 3.1 may be called a "gluten-free food".

5.2 A food which naturally has no gluten may not be called "gluten-free"; however, a cereal or a

food product containing a cereal which naturally has no gluten, may be labelled to show that it is

naturally free of gluten and is suitable for use in gluten-free diet.

6. PACKAGING

6.1 The product shall be packed in containers which will safeguard the hygienic and other

qualities of the food.

6.2 The containers including packaging material shall be made only of substances which are safe

and suitable for their intended use. Where the Codex Alimentarius Commission has established a

standard for any such substance used as packaging material, that standard shall apply.

7. METHODS OF ANALYSIS AND SAMPLING

See Codex Alimentarius Volume 13.

Brainfog is very hard to describe but those of us that get it can identify it pretty well. As kbtoyssni said ... its almost like not being in proper control of your body to me... and a generally dissacociative state ... a weird way to describe it many agree is its like an "inbody out of body experience" ... I tend to thinkof myself in the 3rd person almost.. and things just seem to be happening around me that it takes a huge effort to become part of.

It could just be a function of age or a change in diet or both ... going gluten-free you have undoubtedly changed what you eat and what your body is accustomed to, I guess the longer you were undiagnosed the more used to the old foods your body is.

It could also be a hangover from pre-diagnosis ? where your body was trying to get every ounce of nutrition from what you ate... so producing more acid?

As Ursa say's many gluten-free replacement foods are very starchy and hard to digest. I still find buckwheat very heavy and get reflux if I eat a lot. All in all it could be a mix of all of these.

The shaving cream I use is Aveeno Shaving Gel for sensitive skin and it contains oat kernal as an ingredient. Because of the cross-contamination issue with wheat, I am wondering if this would be considered OK to use? Thanks!

Not everyone is OK with oats anyway but I would really stay well clear. If you are using it for shaving then its like injecting it direct... (presuming once in a while you do nick the skin)...

Thanks. My GI doc also thinks I may be getting gluten from an unknown source. Never thought about shampoo but I am over 65 and still use it (attempted humor). I am on a strict gluten-free diet, but drink Lactose free milk. I do occasionally eat ice cream and often eat yogurt for lunch. I have been a milk guzzler all of my life.

Both this and milk are likely culprits. Being 65 your Villi will take longer to heal. Your about the same age as my mom and she also had lots of problems getting her villi to heal but she also continued with milk and soya and she was also getting CC from her dog.

Its a catch-22 like situation, with damaged villi its difficult to get the nutrition to heal ...

If you get CC it can be a 3 steps forwards and 2 back situation.. or if you get too much it ends up being 2 forwards and 3 back...

balsamic vinegar, having sulfites, can bother some people. but a balsamic from modena is just grapes. (I've been there, went through a very cute vinegar producer's factory, learned the whole process - in broken english! ) caramel color should not be added to any even "decent" quality balsamic vinegar. (yes, I'm a food snob. ) that's not to say that vinegar won't bother your stomach - it's 12.5% acid!

Moreover its illegal in Modena and Reggio Emila.

The information about DOPs in Europe was interesting. Sounds like Modena polices itself in terms of including allergens on the label...and so does that mean we can not trust the label for its ingredients?

Its not really about the allergens, if they had allergens then the EU would force them to label them but the policing is done very very strictly to ensure the livelyhood of the region and the product from how it is grown and harvested to what exactly can be put in. This works well for us because these methods are traditional before additives. The idea is that everyone has the same raw materials and the same chance and the quality of the end-product is down to the "art" of the producer.

Most of the DOC and DOP are areas that would be astoundingly poor was it not for their much sought after traditional product. Even if say Basalmic vinegar could be made "better" using some additives the rest of the producers would be VERY VERY pissed if they thought someone was cutting corners.

There are even non DOP and DOC local laws. To give one which is funny for us .. in Naples you cannot call a Pizza "Neopolitan" unless you are certified and tested. From memory it has to be cooked on in wood powered stove, the mozeralla must be from cattle feeding on a certain grass in a certain area... and the quality is tested. As I remember this is just a local by-law. The funny part is you can't buy a gluten-free Neopolitan Pizza, they have to call it something else.. (there are at least 5-6 great gluten-free pizza places in Naples)

And by the way, In my panic, I read some threads about getting rid of gluten skin products and gluten everything. I did stop using certain lipsticks because that sits on my mouthc, but this misinformation spreads panic unnecessarily. Gluten is not a danger unless it hits the stomach or villi, which can only happen if it is swallowed, then producing / aniti giagladin response which gets into the blood. Gluten has to meet with stomach for a problem to occur. I saw one woman intimating that having sex with someone who eats gluten is a problem!!!!! We all have to be careful, but we need to have all our information as well.

As others have said ..

Anything that gets onto the skin potentially end up in the mouth ...

Gluten has to meet with stomach for a problem to occur.

I'm not so sure about this... the antibodies just need to be in the blood or the gluten to get into the blood for it to be recognised and antibodies produced. Simply producing antibodies on a continual basis is enough to make many sick and neurological and symptoms like depression I doubt need intoduction via the stomach ..

Crossing the stomach/blood barrier is only one way... I wouldn't want to inject gliadin into a vein... yet this is what you do if you shower with a cut.

Either way ... unless someone can convulsively show that injecting gliadin is harmless I think safer is beter than sorry. There are far nastier reactions to gliadin than lost villi and a bit of D...

I saw one woman intimating that having sex with someone who eats gluten is a problem!!!!!

Again, yes there is a lot of misinformation .. however there is actually far more misinformation given out by GP's, GI's and nutritionists in the other direction just because they have never considered it.

How many people got told to at least clean utensils and dump the toaster by a GP or GI? That they need different dishcloths etc. ??

Last time I was ill from glutening my GP asked if I accidentally ate some cake ... or something ?? because they really don't have a clue of all the places gluten can be and mostly how little it takes to actually cause a reaction.

2) I am very nervous now about my expensive balsamic - Olivier from Modena, packaged in Napa Valley CA, purchased at Williams Sonoma where the only ingredient listed is "balsamic vinegar". Are Italian labeling laws so much different? Could barley malt or caramel coloring from a gluten source be in there and not listed?

This is a long and complex subject.

For a lot of historical reasons, not to mention constitutional and well plain greed the US doesn't follow International Law for "Regional Protected" origins.

In a simple way, if its not Trademarked in the US then the US doesn't enforce any international "area trademarks" .

So you can have a cheese made in Florida called Wisconsin Cheddar that has nothing to do with Wisconsin except they decided to call it that because its known for cheese.

The rest of the world excluding Australia (but mainly Europe) have what are known as protected regions. DOP in Italy and DOC in France etc. so Bayon Ham must come from Bayon or it can't be called Bayon Ham... and Dijon Mustard must be made in Dijon. The ingredients, manufacturing process etc. are guaranteed by the region ... and enforced. Chablis must come from the DOC Chablis, the grapes, ingredients and even soil or fertilizers are controlled by Chablis.

Italy has DOP and Modena and Reggio Emila are the two places with a DOP for Basalmic Vinegar. The ingredients, processes etc. are controlled by the regions. Italian or EU law would only kick in if they contained allergens and then it is the region not the government enforces this.

Protected designation of origin (PDO), protected geographical indication (PGI), Protected Geographical Status (PGS)[1] and Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) are geographical indications (GIs) defined in European Union Law to protect the names of regional foods. The law (enforced within the EU and being gradually expanded internationally via bilateral agreements of the EU with non-EU countries) ensures that only products genuinely originating in that region are allowed in commerce as such. The legislation came into force in 1992. The purpose of the law is to protect the reputation of the regional foods and eliminate the unfair competition and misleading of consumers by non-genuine products, which may be of inferior quality or of different flavor.

These laws protect the names of wines, cheeses, hams, sausages, olives, beers, and even regional breads, fruits, and vegetables. Foods such as Gorgonzola, Parmigiano Reggiano, Asiago cheese, Camembert de Normandie and Champagne can only be labelled as such if they come from the designated region. To qualify as Roquefort, for example, cheese must be made from milk of a certain breed of sheep, and matured in the natural caves near the town of Roquefort in the Aveyron region of France, where it is infected with the spores of a fungus (Penicillium roqueforti) that grows in these caves.

This system is similar to the French Appellation d'Origine Contr

I have scrubbed with the bleach.

Bleach is useless or no better than soap. Gluten isn't alive, it can't be killed and bleach is not an effective cleaner in that it doesn't 'lift' it just kills bacteria.

Neat alcohol is probably the best cleaner if you decide to try and scrub things clean.

Reaction time varies person to person. Most of the time I get sick 24 hours after I eat something that had CC, but if I were to actually eat gluten, like a piece of bread, I would get sick within a few hours. For me it has to do with the amount of gluten in something... like it takes my body 24 hours to discover it was glutened if it was CC, but it knows immediately if it was a bigger dosage.

It has taken up to 4 days before, believe it or not. But most of the time it's 24 hours.

As if to demonstrate how individual celiac disease is I'm almost the opposite. The amount doesn't seem to matter (for me) for either severity or how long to onset.

In most cases it's 8 hours or so but it can be up to a weel or it can be 1-2 hours. Most often the symptoms come at different times... I often start with a fever or just a dissassociative feeling best described as brain fog and the D might not happen for 1-2 days... I might get cramps then D or D then cramps the next day or day after ..

For me general health, rest and sleep etc. seem as or more important than how much gluten.

He went back on gluten the end of March, so 20 days of gluten till we saw diarrhea...is that long/short/or normal to take that long for symptoms to arise?

Its a long time for an adult .... but that doesn't mean much really for him at his age. Incidentally not everyone even gets diarrhea, some people actually get constipated and some people get pain but no D and others D and not much pain... Quite a few people here had no symptoms they were aware of until they got diagnosed because of another indicator like anaemia...

Its very individual but I personally started off as a baby reacting very badly to the formula milk (containing gluten) then 3-18 or so no real symptoms I noticed at the time (retrospectively I had quite a few like breaking practically every bone in my body) but compared to my brother (non celiac) my gastro probs didn't really start until 19-20.... and even then it was not constant until i was 26-27... However the intervening years I really wish I'd known.

How soon do biopsy results come back, on average? Im afraid he has celiac, and Im also equally afraid it is gonna come back negative, and I still wont know WHAT this all is..

I'm sorry to agree.

At his age the body repairs very very quickly...

One interpretation of your description (which you seem to be saying between the lines?) is that it took quite a bit to really screw him up... a long extended glutening and he was only gluten-free for 3 months (a lot of his life but not so long in real terms).

One way to classify celiac disease vs pre-celiac disease might be that at one point our bodies are repairing the damaged villi faster than destroying them. His immune system right now is barely his own, its still largely your's as he uses antibodies from your blood (IgG) and your milk (IgA). So his body right now like any other 22 month old is weak in its own immune response and very strong at growth/repairing. Given this the damage to villi is likely being repaired but he can still have all the other problems ...

p.s.

celiac disease is not a bad diagnosis its culturally inconvenient becase our Western Diet is so based on bread and wheat but image you are an inuit, many inuits have a very high resiliance to eating very high concentrations of Vitamin 'A' which is found in Polar Bear, Seal and Walrus meats. Centuries have adapted them to be able to exist on what to most of us is poisonious. However not all of the inuit have the same tolerance....

So do I feel 'disabled' by not being able to tolerate polar bears? No, because its not part of my cultural diet... however my ancestors ate wheat... I just don't have the same tolerance to it as they do... The fact there are far more caucasians than inuit just makes it more seem more normal to eat wheat? However its not good for anyone, like polar bears... some people just tolerate it better than others...

Imagine being a cow, unable to eat grass or panda with bamboo intolerance... that would be bad!

'lac resin' is --IF I read correctly-- from a BUG!

The usual coating is chitin which is the protein insects use for their skeleton. The usual source is crustaceans but this obviously isn''t kosher or halal.

Prior to coating they usually clean the apples, irradiate then coat in candida.

Everything so far is great advice but I would say, step back and make sure you really are not getting traces of gluten from somewhere.

Quite often we introduce things that can be contaminated ... but perhaps not always...

For example corn chips made on the same lines as flavored ones...

At the time we introduce them we are 'lucky' perhaps the bag we bought is the end of a run ... but then we buy other bags later from the begining, just after the gluten stuff has been through the lines. Or perhaps one plant does natural flavor only and a different plant does natural and flavored...

This is just one example, there are of course lots of places this can happen...(I'm actually just using the one really got me bad) ... but this can happen from the fields through transport and manufacturing etc.

The reason I say this is most of us do get worse symptoms AFTER being gluten-free for a while if we slip up.

My son's almost 2 years old

That is the information we needed. Blood tests in young children and toddlers are particularly unreliable for false negatives. Withdrawal symptoms from gluten are not ....

The odds would seem stacked in the biopsy being correct but you will not get firm answers without an extended torture of your toddler ... if its correct. You can keep testing but each time he will need to eat gluten again for an extended period and at that age its a pretty long period since the villi heal faster.

In other words you might spend the next 5 yrs waiting for a positive or perhaps just the next 3 months ?? Meanwhile you are going to have to repeatedly make him ill.

The flip side is that even if its not celiac disease he isn't going to feel any dietary restrictions ... (yourself and his father will be the ones as he's not going to miss pizza and stuff right now... by the time he's old enough to wonder you can think about retesting or hopefully their will be a better way to test without making him sick?

Do you react differently to the tap water upstairs than you do downstairs? The reason I ask is because I am trying to figure something out at my house.

I have a well. I have an expensive filtration system. The only water in the house that smells or is discolored is the upstairs cold water. It smells like sulphur and is tinted brown. Downstairs sources are totally clean.

I have talked to two other people in totally different towns with the same scenario. Upstairs smelss of sulphur downstairs is fine.

I think the vertical plumbing lines have become home to a fungus. I think this is may have contributed to my candida. I don't know how to test this theory though.

Simple explanation is that the gases just float up through the water ... the filtration system might get rid of solids but not the gasses that are produced.

I was raised in the country with our own well. Drank our well water all my life as did the rest of my family. Didn't do us any harm.

How do you know ? Most of us would have said the same about our mom's homemade bread until we got diagnosed with celiac disease.

Your presumably here for a reason, my celiac disease was triggered from well water which doesn't mean it would never have developed but saying it never did any harm is a bit of a stretch.

More seriously though ....

I don't think its intentional but they have been killing us since the 60s when the wheat was modified.

Anything for the almighty dollar I guess. I think its why support of SlowFood movement, Buy Fresh Buy Local movements and farmers markets are so important. Then again nothing would surprise me -- even if we both disappeared!

Ken

The bottom line is ... well the bottom line.

We live in a 'corrupt' society where being elected to office is a way to line someones pockets or those of their friends and relatives. Not everyone does but enough do and others see this as 'normal' and turn a blind eye.

Unfortunately this is the best we have .... much as we love to say democracy is so great, its really just the best of a poor set of options. The fundamental problem with democracy is that the "aye's" have it. In order to get something passed all that needs to be done is to convince the voting public ... and the easiest way is to promise more $ in their pockets...

It would seem that the latter part of last century we actually did go through a change, perhaps America started but others have certainly either followed or taken the same path regardless.

We now have a culture where we buy everything, where the $ (or Euro or Pound) is the last word.. and where mostly people will not even do a kindness to others without being paid. Much as this is a tragedy in itself it provides a great cover for corporations .... the farmer is offered the modified grain... which allows them to get an edge on the farm next door... and sell at a higher profit margin etc. etc.

Because in most cases most people no longer buy from the farmer, or even the person who buys from the farmer or the person who buys from the person ...etc. no-one really gives two hoots about the quality, if its good for us etc.. etc.

The fundamental principle of capitalism's self regulation is that the end consumer will not buy the poor products but we are no longer given any choice over supply for many items and the starting products are so mixed up (the produce of farmer A is mixed with the produce of farmers B-Z) and mixed in with other products (additives etc.) that it makes no sense anyway. The only way farmer A can sell competitively is by selling the cheapest bulk.

However, conspiracy theories have a huge role.... the big conspiracy is that as long as we have conspiracy theories the corporations can get away with whatever they want because ... well mention it and its a conspiracy theory ...

Lets try .... most fruits are deliberately infected with candida .... ???

I have irrefutable evidence that ...............................................

"So is this why Mediterraneans are healthier? They are eating these glue foods... but they drink wine throughout the day. In fact in Spain the government recommends men to drink up to a half bottle of wine a day..."

The countries you are referring to are some that routinely test for celiac starting in childhood. They also will exclude gluten as an issue within and average of 3 weeks after the symptoms start rather than the years it takes in the US.

That's only Italy not countries plural.

All the mediterranean countries drink lots of wine with meals... and have better health metrics than the US or Northern European countries. Then again they also eat raw meat/eggs and unpasturised cheese. ( I believe this itself is another contributing factor because it helps our immune systems develop)

I rather think it has more to do with the overall diet as Curious one said

The point that DogtorJ was making... was that Italy and France culturally adapted to their high wheat and dairy diets by introducing certain practices.

The whole diet is something that has evolved over 1000's of yrs. I know lots of Northern Europeans who order a capuccino after a meal in Italian resto's ... noone would ever do that in Italy or Southern France...( uggh all that milk with a meal? ) Th mediterranean has had a lot fo time and the luxury of a bountyful climate and moderatley well off poor people...compared to the North. People are less stressed and conscious of being less stressed (at a cultural level) and how overwork is bad... but in Northern Europe you either worked all summer and stockpiled food and firewood etc. or died... We Northern Europeans love to call them lazy yet they enjoy their food, live longer and it seems happier lives?

It is just 'common knowledge' in many ways so that people don't really think about it specifically but when you ask them they just say "but its bad for you"..

Perhaps its a combination? France has a very good medical system.. Italy .. well its could be better from my experience.... its certainly not anywhere near as good as France.. (though a damned site better than the UK) ...

Wine always has been considered healthy in Southern Europe ... (in moderation and with a meal) ... most Italians and French will drink beer for a drink unles they eat but wine with the meal. I think this reallly does have some culturally instilled value... because its about how people feel after the meal.. just like drinking milk with meal or a milky drink afterwards...