anewbiewannabe
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Ha Ha Ha! As I'm getting ready to paste the post here the ad at the top of the page is for Udi's Gluten Free Bread. I treat myself to a loaf on rare occasions. It is one of the better ones I've tried. Okay, I'll paste now, probably more than you want to know:
Gluten Free 101
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. Avenin is the protein in oats. Someone who has celiac or is non-celiac gluten reactive has to avoid wheat, barley, and rye. Not all have to avoid oats though careful sourcing is required because of cross-contamination of oats during harvest. Some react to the avenin. For womeone with celiac, the gluten damages the villi in the intestines. The gold standard for testing for celiac is still endoscopy for intestinal biopsies which can be hit or miss for confirming the diagnosis. More research is coming out all the time. There is a belief among some scientists that gluten can cross the blood brain barrier affecting cognition.
The optimum level of gluten in a gluten free diet would be zero gluten but that isn't what happens with processed foods, nor for that matter whole foods unless grown and eaten with no additives on one's own land that has not had any gluten crops. The experts are still disagreeing on what ppm (part per million) is an accepted level of gluten in a product. The number being tossed around last I looked was 200ppm per serving which is way too high for many of us just with that one serving. So, in reality, unless certified below a specific ppm (I think the numbers are either 10ppm or 20ppm depending on certifier) by one of the accredited certification organizations then the common processed food gluten free diet is actually gluten lite. Many with celiac disease are diagnosed with refractory sprue because they are really on a gluten lite diet so their intestinal villi do not completely heal so they continue to have leaky gut.
Some people actually can tolerate small amounts of gluten and heal well, most cannot. If someone eats a diet high in processed gluten free foods then each food item eaten raises the ppm they consume even if the ppm is acceptable to the authorities on the particular food item---the effect is cumulative. Kind of like the cumulative effect of not giving your batteries enough of a charge to keep them happy.
Had to throw that in there so if someone who understands the batteries yet gets lost in this stuff reads they can see how it goes for those of us that get lost in the battery charging stuff.
There are all kinds of forums for people with celiac disease on the internet and just like the variety of opinions on van stuff here, there are a variety of opinions there. The blonde talk show host, who shall remain nameless because she set the cause back, had an episode where she went through and showed all the yummy foods she could eat gluten free---I didn't follow after that because I know that a processed gluten free diet is neither really gluten free nor very healthy considering some of the stuff they put in instead. That's not to say that some people can't enjoy some of the processed foods sometimes, just not all the time.
The safest diet for someone who cannot have gluten is a whole foods diet---meaning whatever meal is made, the ingredients are whole at purchase. I guess paleo is similar but I've never looked into it. There are all kinds of caveats to that though because of the coatings put on foods and also the growing conditions. For example: strawberries are usually mulched with straw (get it, STRAW berry? ) so have some contamination. Driscoll's grows on red plastic so those strawberries have less risk and I can eat strawberries again. Oh yeah, and gluten and avenin are found in personal care products too. Formulations for both food and personal items change all the time so reading labels is always mandatory. The "experts" disagree with each other on whether gluten can cross the skin barrier.
Cosmetics and other personal care items won't be falling under the FDA ruling on ppm. As of now, there is very little regulation on food items, last I looked, unless through those independent certifiers. So, companies are taken advantage of labeling things gluten free even if they haven't been tested just like happened with organic before the National Standards. If they don't add gluten, hey, it's gluten free.
Some restaurants offer gluten free options. They are only as gluten free as the standards for the protocols are maintained. I have been made ill in restaurants that specifically advertise to cater to gluten free where the manager and waitress were up to speed, but then the server served the meal improperly and I didn't think to question it immediately because they were supposed to know what they were doing and appeared to really know, just not at the server level. I usually do not have that severe of a reaction if I get exposed to trace amounts of gluten. I have eaten safely in a restaurant one time only to be made ill the next visit where I ordered exactly the same thing. I have one restaurant that doesn't cater to gluten free where I have never gotten ill from the food. Thank goodness cause I love a good steak and it's a steakhouse!
It is quite common for someone with unhealed villi to be lactose intolerant because the damaged villi do not process the lactose. It's also common for there to be other foods that cannot be tolerated while the villi are damaged. The same holds true for non-celiac reactivity though the mechanisms aren't as clear since it has not been researched as long. Unfortunately, the lists of foods are as varied as the number of individuals dealing with celiac or non-celiac reactivity. Sometimes foods that were not well tolerated can be tolerated after the villi heal. Sometimes it's just a different food allergy or sensitivity. The lists of foods that have potential gluten contamination is quite large as well. To give an idea: farm raised fish swim in gluten contaminated water because of the feed that is used. Who would expect a fish to contain gluten?
There are some wonderful gluten free flours on the market. Many people react to the xanthan gum or guar gum that is used to help those flours perform more like regular flour. I can't use any of the premade flours blends myself. For those raised with the more urban diets of CA and NY there are lots of fancy foods and ingredients. For those with a more modest midwestern palate it takes experimentation to come up with replacements for some things and others you just learn to live without----bread, yes, bread---at least until you can heal enough to have the energy to experiment or try the recipes of others or find one brand of gluten free bread that doesn't either taste like dust or have something else that makes you ill. If you've always cooked from scratch then it's mostly a matter of making some adjustments to your recipes---except of course baking, that's a whole nuther story.
I won't argue with anyone one way or the other on it because I've dealt with that on forums specific to the subject and many would rather be able to eat too much processed gluten "free" food in denial than admit they aren't healing. To each their own journey. For the most part though, if someone needs to practice gluten free it is way more in depth than could be handled here and I'm willing to refer people privately to at least one site I found helpful in the past. I will also answer questions privately if anyone needs/wants to ask through PM.
Alright, so there's the introduction to basic gluten free 101. If anyone has anything to add or has questions now's your chance.
We could include gluten free recipes on this thread if we want. There are many gluten free recipes that gluten eaters will like too. I switched my whole household to gluten free about 10 years ago because I needed that to avoid contamination from any gluten in the house.
Gluten Free 101
Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. Avenin is the protein in oats. Someone who has celiac or is non-celiac gluten reactive has to avoid wheat, barley, and rye. Not all have to avoid oats though careful sourcing is required because of cross-contamination of oats during harvest. Some react to the avenin. For womeone with celiac, the gluten damages the villi in the intestines. The gold standard for testing for celiac is still endoscopy for intestinal biopsies which can be hit or miss for confirming the diagnosis. More research is coming out all the time. There is a belief among some scientists that gluten can cross the blood brain barrier affecting cognition.
The optimum level of gluten in a gluten free diet would be zero gluten but that isn't what happens with processed foods, nor for that matter whole foods unless grown and eaten with no additives on one's own land that has not had any gluten crops. The experts are still disagreeing on what ppm (part per million) is an accepted level of gluten in a product. The number being tossed around last I looked was 200ppm per serving which is way too high for many of us just with that one serving. So, in reality, unless certified below a specific ppm (I think the numbers are either 10ppm or 20ppm depending on certifier) by one of the accredited certification organizations then the common processed food gluten free diet is actually gluten lite. Many with celiac disease are diagnosed with refractory sprue because they are really on a gluten lite diet so their intestinal villi do not completely heal so they continue to have leaky gut.
Some people actually can tolerate small amounts of gluten and heal well, most cannot. If someone eats a diet high in processed gluten free foods then each food item eaten raises the ppm they consume even if the ppm is acceptable to the authorities on the particular food item---the effect is cumulative. Kind of like the cumulative effect of not giving your batteries enough of a charge to keep them happy.
Had to throw that in there so if someone who understands the batteries yet gets lost in this stuff reads they can see how it goes for those of us that get lost in the battery charging stuff. There are all kinds of forums for people with celiac disease on the internet and just like the variety of opinions on van stuff here, there are a variety of opinions there. The blonde talk show host, who shall remain nameless because she set the cause back, had an episode where she went through and showed all the yummy foods she could eat gluten free---I didn't follow after that because I know that a processed gluten free diet is neither really gluten free nor very healthy considering some of the stuff they put in instead. That's not to say that some people can't enjoy some of the processed foods sometimes, just not all the time.
The safest diet for someone who cannot have gluten is a whole foods diet---meaning whatever meal is made, the ingredients are whole at purchase. I guess paleo is similar but I've never looked into it. There are all kinds of caveats to that though because of the coatings put on foods and also the growing conditions. For example: strawberries are usually mulched with straw (get it, STRAW berry?
) so have some contamination. Driscoll's grows on red plastic so those strawberries have less risk and I can eat strawberries again. Oh yeah, and gluten and avenin are found in personal care products too. Formulations for both food and personal items change all the time so reading labels is always mandatory. The "experts" disagree with each other on whether gluten can cross the skin barrier. Cosmetics and other personal care items won't be falling under the FDA ruling on ppm. As of now, there is very little regulation on food items, last I looked, unless through those independent certifiers. So, companies are taken advantage of labeling things gluten free even if they haven't been tested just like happened with organic before the National Standards. If they don't add gluten, hey, it's gluten free.
Some restaurants offer gluten free options. They are only as gluten free as the standards for the protocols are maintained. I have been made ill in restaurants that specifically advertise to cater to gluten free where the manager and waitress were up to speed, but then the server served the meal improperly and I didn't think to question it immediately because they were supposed to know what they were doing and appeared to really know, just not at the server level. I usually do not have that severe of a reaction if I get exposed to trace amounts of gluten. I have eaten safely in a restaurant one time only to be made ill the next visit where I ordered exactly the same thing. I have one restaurant that doesn't cater to gluten free where I have never gotten ill from the food. Thank goodness cause I love a good steak and it's a steakhouse!
It is quite common for someone with unhealed villi to be lactose intolerant because the damaged villi do not process the lactose. It's also common for there to be other foods that cannot be tolerated while the villi are damaged. The same holds true for non-celiac reactivity though the mechanisms aren't as clear since it has not been researched as long. Unfortunately, the lists of foods are as varied as the number of individuals dealing with celiac or non-celiac reactivity. Sometimes foods that were not well tolerated can be tolerated after the villi heal. Sometimes it's just a different food allergy or sensitivity. The lists of foods that have potential gluten contamination is quite large as well. To give an idea: farm raised fish swim in gluten contaminated water because of the feed that is used. Who would expect a fish to contain gluten?
There are some wonderful gluten free flours on the market. Many people react to the xanthan gum or guar gum that is used to help those flours perform more like regular flour. I can't use any of the premade flours blends myself. For those raised with the more urban diets of CA and NY there are lots of fancy foods and ingredients. For those with a more modest midwestern palate it takes experimentation to come up with replacements for some things and others you just learn to live without----bread, yes, bread---at least until you can heal enough to have the energy to experiment or try the recipes of others or find one brand of gluten free bread that doesn't either taste like dust or have something else that makes you ill. If you've always cooked from scratch then it's mostly a matter of making some adjustments to your recipes---except of course baking, that's a whole nuther story.
I won't argue with anyone one way or the other on it because I've dealt with that on forums specific to the subject and many would rather be able to eat too much processed gluten "free" food in denial than admit they aren't healing. To each their own journey. For the most part though, if someone needs to practice gluten free it is way more in depth than could be handled here and I'm willing to refer people privately to at least one site I found helpful in the past. I will also answer questions privately if anyone needs/wants to ask through PM.
Alright, so there's the introduction to basic gluten free 101. If anyone has anything to add or has questions now's your chance.
We could include gluten free recipes on this thread if we want. There are many gluten free recipes that gluten eaters will like too.
I switched my whole household to gluten free about 10 years ago because I needed that to avoid contamination from any gluten in the house.
