…about Living Gluten Free – Some Basic Facts & Myths

 

If you have to be Gluten Free, you will be amazed at some old habits you will need to break! (As well as some habits you may not have been aware of!)

For instance, when cooking, you will soon realize how many times you go to taste it. Even how often you pick at things that are out. Things that are done without realizing what you are actually doing… Yeah, I can pretty much guarantee it will be a lot more than you think. I did that while putting together a ‘regular’ lasagna for my son, got some sauce on my hand and absentmindedly licked it off.  Realized what I did and washed out my mouth! You would have thought I ate a spider! lol When making regular brownies I almost licked the spoon as I was putting the empty bowl in the sink… almost! Another time I was out to dinner with my girlfriend and we went to a Chinese Buffet place (Oooh crab legs!!! Yummy!) when it came time for the fortune cookies, I cracked mine open and immediately went to toss a piece into my mouth. As I was in the process I realized what I was about to do and dropped it on the table like it was on fire. There are a lot of things I realized I do almost on autopilot. These things not only raise the chances of eating something with gluten in it by mistake but also add calories little by little.

So, about living Gluten Free. This is new to me as I only removed Gluten from my diet about 2 months ago. June 15th 2012 in fact. I was actually told to do that very thing back in 2009 however there was not a lot of information back then. Nowhere near what there is now. Did I take it to heart? No and I am so sorry now. Hindsight is 20/20. (I will clarify by saying if I was able to continue seeing the doctor that told me that, I would not be in the health mess I am in now. Financial reasons. Oh well, it is what it is and we move forward from here.)

Why the Facts vs. Myths to start? I was so mistaken on just what Gluten actually was. VERY mistaken. I don’t want you to be too! If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to ask or suggest. That’s how we all learn. This Living Gluten Free/Health category is designed to help others like myself who are recent additions to the “Gluten Free Club” find out as much as possible about Gluten Free living. (There is no such club lol but you get me right?)

**These are my personal experiences as well as my specific health needs. Every ‘Body’ is different!**

Please do your own research and always check with your health care provider before making any drastic dietary changes. (Going Gluten Free is a pretty drastic change.)

The range of syndromes/disorders/diseases that result from the body’s inability to process gluten range from a mild sensitivity to Celiac Disease (a very serious health issue). In this category you will find information such as Basic Facts, Naturally Gluten Free Foods, Resources and more… On that note, welcome, glad you stopped and feel free to share!

Some Basic Facts:

Fact: People who choose Gluten Free living usually do not do this unless they need to for health reasons.

Fact: It is not easy and it can be expensive. Unfortunately I need to. Another fact:  Removing gluten has made such a huge difference in my health and how I feel now it is so very worth dealing with! It has even helped with the pancreatitis.

What do Farina and KFC’s Coleslaw have in common?
They are both delicious and you eat them, however, the fact is that they both contain gluten. Yes, it’s true. Farina, is a hot wheat cereal and KFC’s Coleslaw is a side dish made mainly of cabbage and carrots (carrots and cabbage are both naturally gluten-free). Obviously the Farina has much more gluten than the coleslaw. The gluten in the coleslaw comes from one or more ingredients in the dressing used to make it. (secret recipe’s and all lol so I don’t know what ingredient it is) It may be a very tiny amount, but if there is gluten in it, it has to tell you it is (or may be) there.

This brings me to the most basic fact about living Gluten Free: *Just because something does not contain “wheat” does not mean it doesn’t contain gluten!

Yea, I was mistaken in thinking that I just had to avoid/limit products that were made of wheat. It’s so much more than that.

Fact: Gluten can be in just about anything from foods to drinks to medication additives to the glue on your envelope and even lipstick!

Fact: Gluten can also end up on gluten-free foods because of cross contamination. For example: Oats. They should be processed in a separate facility or there can be gluten from the dust or particles of wheat that may also be processed in the same plant. Also if you are eating gluten-free bread and sharing a butter dish with others who are eating ‘regular’ bread… the butter can be contaminated with ‘regular’ bread crumbs therefore making your gluten-free bread not so gluten-free anymore. Did you use the same spoon you stirred that whole wheat pasta with to stir the gluten-free pasta? If you said yes, then you just added gluten to the water the gluten-free pasta was cooking in taking the “free” out of “gluten-free”. If I saw that happen, I wouldn’t eat it.

Fact: Although a food may be naturally gluten-free, how it is cooked and what is put on it may not be therefore making it something you now cannot eat! Did you toss croutons or sprinkle bread crumbs into your delicious naturally gluten-free salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber and onion? Oops! You’ve just contaminated it unless you used gluten-free croutons!

Fact: If a product has gluten, it does not always come out and tell you. There are no flashing lights or sirens… only the Gluten Police have those… 😉 (I wish lol)

You have to be fairly nutritionally educated to sniff it out. (Not sniff literally lol)  Sure, there are the obvious products that tell you straight away that it is Gluten Free but do you know all the different names that Gluten goes by? I sure didn’t and I still don’t. I don’t know if I ever will or even could! I found some books on the subject and am still learning more and more each day.

Don’t get discouraged because it is a lot to take in and learn. Focus on what is already naturally gluten-free! (Stay tuned, there will be more on that coming soon.) There is more than you think. I was getting trapped in the “I’m deprived of even more mindset” (when you have pancreatitis, your diet gets pretty limited as well. Especially avoiding fats and any food/drink that make you gassy. Including my beloved “Bubble Water”) until I realized there is a lot out there that I already ate that was gluten-free!

Beloved but not pancreatitis friendly and now forbidden “Bubble Water”. Even though it is only carbonated water and natural flavor the bubbles make the pancreatitis flare and that is no fun.

Some people think this is just another ‘fad diet’. Those people are clueless and I was one of them. Doh!

Some Common Myths:

Myth: Just avoid anything made from wheat. (No no no! See above *)

Myth: I’ll just go to the salad bar. (If you do, be careful of cross contamination and hidden sources of gluten! More to come on that.)

Myth: I can just take the coating off of any fried or breaded item. (Seriously? No, I tried that and was sorry. Learned the hard way.)

Myth: I can just follow this until I feel better it doesn’t have to be forever right? (This depends on your personal health issue, most are in it for life.)

Myth: I’ll start eating more grains like barley and spelt instead. (These are only 2 of many big no no’s just like wheat itself)

Myth: Gluten is only found in foods like bread, pasta and pastries. (If you said ‘yes’ go back up and read the comparison of farina and KFC’s coleslaw, don’t forget lipstick and envelope glue.)

Myth: I don’t need to keep foods containing gluten separate from my gluten-free ones. (Oh yes you do!! Remember what I said about cross contamination?)

Myth: A little gluten won’t hurt me. (Maybe, maybe not it depends on your own health issue as well as what YOU consider ‘a little’.)

Myth: Eating like this will cause nutritional and/or vitamin deficiencies. (Actually, you may find yourself eating healthier as well as feeling better and actually getting more nutrients than before.)

I was very misinformed back in 2009 when I was told to avoid gluten. (Not because the Doctor was misinformed, she was very informed, I just couldn’t continue to see her.) There was not a lot of information available to the public back then or the range of products popping up everywhere that there is now.

Avoiding wheat is true, yes, but there is a lot more to it than that. There are many different types of wheat. Barley, bran, semolina and spelt are just a few. Salad bars and buffets are notorious for cross contamination. If there is a pasta salad near the tossed salad, how do you know someone didn’t use the pasta salad spoon for the tossed salad as well? You get the idea. If YOU didn’t make it yourself then you really don’t know everything that went into making it. That is a HUGE leap of faith! Taking the breading off is not good enough. Depending on how something is cooked the gluten that is in the breading can get into the meat. If the flavor from the coating is in the meat then the gluten can be as well. For some people, gluten-free living will be forever. (Or for certain medical reasons it should be anyway). If you’ve read and researched you will know that gluten is not only in the obvious places. It’s a sneaky little thing! Cross contamination is a big factor and you must be careful. For example, don’t use that spoon you are mixing regular pasta with for anything you will be eating that is gluten-free (Like the gluten free sauce you will also use on your gluten free pasta). If you do, you have just contaminated that sauce or whatever you used that same spoon for. The cloudiness of pasta water is the starch/gluten being released and you just added some of that gluten to whatever you stuck that spoon in. If you stirred your sauce then… No sauce for you! It’s as simple as it is complicated.

There will be more information coming over days, weeks and months to come. I have to do this for life so… add years to that lol. Things like Naturally Gluten Free Foods, Hidden Sources of Gluten, Reviews on Gluten Free Products (as well as where to get them) more on Cross Contamination and much more.

If you want to see some Gluten Free variations of recipes as well as how some Gluten Free box mixes of popular items fare… check out my other blog Alyss’s Tin Box Recipes! Make sure it’s the Gluten Free section though, items posted there are absolutely Gluten Free. (If not, they will be noted.)

Just what makes me an ‘authority’ on living gluten-free? I have to live this way so as far as I am concerned I have to become as much of an expert as possible if I want to live as long as possible!

Your respectful comments and feedback are welcome here! I look forward to your advice as well.

 

Stay healthy!

Love, Alyss