Gluten free is definitely not always gluten free

New study just came out, and it's saying what a lot of celiacs have been saying for years: gluten free products are not always as gluten free as they claim.

In the study, out of 158 products labeled gluten free, 5% of those with the gluten free label with not gluten free. 4% of the products labeled as certified gluten free were not gluten free, and these are the ones that are supposed to certify as having half the allowed gluten contamination as the regular gluten free label.

https://www.glutenfreewatchdog.org/blog/Five-Percent-of-Tested-Foods-Making-Gluten-Free-Claims-are-not-Gluten-Free-Study-Finds/41

Personally, I think this is the canary in the coal mine of contamination.  Gluten currently is one of the only allergens to have actual ppm contamination standards on the books. The other allergens do not.  You would expect that having to meet actual standards would increase compliance, to avoid prosecution if nothing else.

So if gluten free foods are only gluten free about 95% of the time, what's the level of 'free' for other allergens that list themselves as soy free, egg free, and so on?

Obviously, it's something we have to figure out for ourselves. But for those of us with serious allergies, or who have very serious reactions to allergens, I think this may be a factor to consider for our food. Yet another potential reason to start looking at whole foods rather than processed foods when making dietary choices.

Testing

We dropped off my daughter's blood test today and we're doing a 24 hour urine test - the same one that diagnosed me with MCAD.

I'm so torn. I want to have answers, finally, to what is hurting my baby girl. But I don't want it to be THIS answer. I want a different one. I want an answer that has a super pill that will cure her pain, or a magic medical wand that can be waved and make it all better.

Yes, this

How it feels to be diagnosed with MCAD after a celiac diagnosis:
http://wheniwentglutenfree.tumblr.com/post/57611329798/when-i-tack-on-another-food-intolerance-allergy

Sing it, sister.

Doctors and patients with chronic conditions

A lovely letter to patients with chronic conditions, written by a doctor. Does a nice job of discussing the patient experience while sharing some of the doctors' too.

http://more-distractible.org/2010/07/14/a-letter-to-patients-with-chronic-disease

Why I'm a paranoid little SOB

I'm writing this mostly as a reminder to myself, about WHY I am as careful as I am. About WHY I need to listen to myself and not the people who think I'm paranoid because they don't have to deal with the consequences of my actions. Because seriously? It comes across that way.

NYR

You know, I had all these lovely posts on how the New Year Resolution was going and realized something: wow are they incredibly boring. Just, incredibly. I'm erasing them and doing this once a month or so, jeesh!

So...homeschooling could be doing better, eating is doing pretty well, but had a couple backslides where I ate something with sulfites, and writing is coming apace. The house could be better, too, but it's still tolerable.

Although today is a depressing day. I reacted, and I don't know to what. Seriously, it would have to be something I touched and touched my hands to my mouth without thinking - maybe the library book? Seriously, it's so ridiculous sometimes how sensitive my body can be. When you don't even know what set you off, but you know it's a gluten reaction, very depressing.

Now it's day two with vertigo so bad that I'm nauseated all day long AND I can't drive safely. And today was the day for our fieldtrip so I had to cancel.

I hate this, when my own physical crap is ruining something for the kids. Makes me want to cry, honestly it does.

I'll have to do something extra cool with them in a few days when I can drive again.

Defining Gluten - Humor

Very cute. :-)

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=2288

Why what we say matters.

I constantly share information about Celiac Disease.

I know this annoys some people. My friends are likely nodding their heads and saying, 'yes, Shauna, please do shut up about this sometime soon, eh?' I can appreciate that. I know have a bit of an obsessive personality at times. It comes out with anything new in my life, like the three tiny goldfish that turned into a 10 gallon tank, a 20 gallon tank, a 60 gallon tank, and explorations into fish breeding, live plants, and attempts at mimicking a complete ecological environment.

Like I said, just a teensy bit obsessive. Although my fish tanks were awesome, if I do say so myself.

But with Celiac Disease, it's not always obsession driving me to talk about it. Deep down, this is grief and anger. I talk about cooking and the food industry because I have to think about it all the time. But Celiac Disease is more than that.

Celiac Musical humor

This is a RIOT. A Gluten Free Les Misérables parody. 'One Grain More.' SOO funny. :-D

Celiac Humor

This is a wonderful tumblr collection of what it's like to be gluten free/celiac. Cracks me up!


http://wheniwentglutenfree.tumblr.com/


This is a great one to start with:
When I heard Dominoes made gluten free pizza