Gluten free - opinion please!

[hunter]

Hey folks, I'd like your opinions. I have started a gluten free living blog. Let me know what you think!

Easy Gluten Free Living

How to live without gluten and other common allergies such as dairy, egg, and soy.

easy-gluten-free-living.blogspot.com

 

[pekedogs]

WOW, what a great blog. My nephew is gluten intolerant and I have been working to create foods that don't taste like "gluten free" foods. I bought a mill to grind my own rice flour as well as other gluten free grains. It is dedicated for gluten free cooking. You also make a great point about really cleaning the pans of wheat and gluten residue. I have dedicated cookie sheets. I use a mixture of rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch as my main flour for baking. I think it is better than the bean based flours. Thanks for the link to your blog. I have it bookmarked.

 

[ronhic]

Isn't there....

...a decent range of GF foods available in the US?

 

I ask because I went predominantly GF due to being sensitive to wheat and find that there are many many products on our shelves here that cater to GF individuals as well as those that have other grain issues.

 

I generally don't worry about it if it is a small component of the product, such as a thickener, but when it is the main ingredient in a product (cakes, etc), I avoid...I have no problems getting virtually anything from decent breads (white, whole grain) to cookies and cake mixes....

 

[sudsmaster]

I thought I was gluten intolerant and started a gluten free diet for a while. Then I asked my doctor to do a test, which came back negative, and my symptoms also began to return. I finally concluded the problem had been work stress and some questionable food safety, as well as over consumption. Once I addressed those issues as best I could, felt better even with gluten in the diet.

 

But I can certainly understand how some people cannot tolerate it, but for me the improvement came from being on a diet, and cutting out fast foods. The gluten part really didn't matter.

 

 

[hunter]

Thanks!

Thanks for the nice comments! I'm trying to work at it. I agree about the bean based flours - I don't think they taste good. ( I posted a recipe for white bread today. Tomorrow I'll post variations with milk and egg in it ).

Yes, there are a lot of gluten free items on our shelves, though things MARKED gluten free are relatively new in the last few years. The issues I have with them are a) price (US$5 for a SMALL loaf of bread is more than most of us can afford all the time) and b) other ingredients. Since my other half cannot have soy, dairy, egg, and a whole host of other things, it's almost impossible to find gluten free stuff for her restricted diet.

Sudsmaster, wow, I'm glad you don't need the gluten free, and isn't it amazing how changing diets can make you feel WAAAAYYYY better? When I went dairy free I realized how bad i felt all the time because of my whey protein allergy.

Hunter

 

[gizmo]

I'm not sure but I suspect in Australia we have a lot more coeliacs / gluten intolerant people, and we have more suitable food to offer.

I cook for a restaurant that always keeps a variety of gluten free options on the menu, only two days ago we had a Canadian lady in who said she was amazed at our range of gluten free foods. She said her sister was a coeliac and would be delighted with the range of foods on offer in Australia, she said there seems to be a greater awareness of the needs of coeliacs in AU than in Canada and the USA.

We have a pretty active coeliac society here, they have a regular magazine and are good at providing advice to restaurants on how to cater for coeliacs.

I cook a gluten free chocolate, date and walnut cake (and variations) that gets rave reviews from gluten free eaters and omnivores alike. I also adopted a raspberry friand recipe to use my own gluten free flour, it is so similar to regular friands that we don't bother making two types, we just make the gluten free for everybody now.

Chris

Home

Australia’s go-to source for empowering information and inspiration for living a great gluten-free life.

www.coeliacsociety.com.au

 

[gansky1]

Very good blog, Hunter.  I will link this to a friend of mine, she has been (trying) to live gluten free for years.  It takes some significant work and planning but can be done and it has slowly gotten easier for her to shop, eat out, etc. 

 

 

[hunter]

It does...but once you manage it...

....it is far easier than 'normal life' for most people.

Since we never eat in restaurants EVERY meal gets cooked at home. Eventually I'll even be writing about pressure cookers (GRIN). Once you get in the swing of thinking a different way, doing this stuff isn't hard. And it is much cheaper than buying stuff pre-made.

I'm not surprise there is a greater need for gluten free in Australia. I think that in many instances in the USA people with the problem are told by their doctor that they have 'irritable bowel syndrome' and simply prescribed medicines to quash the symptoms. Since some of the side effects include anemia and cancer, this is NOT a good thing.

People of the USA hate to enjoy food. What I mean by this (and I am excepting our group here, who have a lot of people in it that like to cook and bake) is that folks want to swing into a fast food restaurant for breakfast and lunch, then eat a quick dinner out (or out of a cardboard carton at home). Shopping and preparing food DOES take time and no one is interesting in taking that time. I think it shows a national psychosis, myself, as if you don't take time to care for yourself...what does that say about how much you value yourself? [Paradoxically enough, we also eat enough for three times our population. Go figure.]

Hunter

 

[sudsmaster]

I'm glad too, Hunter, because it certainly wasn't easy to eliminate gluten from my diet. I don't think I ever succeeded 100%, since so many ingredients contain it. Even a simple dry cereal can contain not only wheat, barley, etc, but also barley malt as flavoring which contains gluten. And frozen entrees often contain wheat flour or even gluten as thickeners for the sauces.

 

I also purchased and  tried some gluten-free pasta. Awful stuff! It cooked up mushy and sticky. Maybe I didn't get the hang of it, but I have a little collection of gluten free pasta and flours that probably will never get used.

 

And gluten free bread is very expensive. The only stuff I could find was at Whole Foods, and that stuff was frozen and looking pretty miserable at $5 or more for a tiny frost covered 1 lb loaf.

 

I soon realized that nearly all fast food has some sort of gluten in it, as well as most prepared frozen foods, like TV dinners, entrees, etc. I finally figured out that eliminating this stuff from my diet was the main reason for any improvement I noticed, because I was eliminating bacterial contaminated fast food, fatty fried food, and improperly handled frozen prepared food from my diet.

 

[sudsmaster]

PS-Hunter,

 

I visited your blog and thought it had some very well written and informative posts.

 

I think in time, however, you might want to organize the posts not only by date, but also by subject - such as gluten theory, gluten free substitutes, gluten-free recipes, non-dairy substitutes, etc. As the blog grows the index or categorization may help a lot for people to find specific information they are looking for. Just a thought.

 

[hunter]

good point

Good point on the organization.

We NEVER EVER buy gluten free pre made stuff except for pasta (I've found a brown rice pasta that is really good). The $5 or more for a tiny loaf of not so good bread from whole foods is truly awful. I have driven the cost down -- typically the 8 ounces of flour that I use in the bread costs <$.50, and the other stuff probably has no more than the cost of another $.75. So it is $1.25 for a loaf, plus the amortized cost of using the bread machine (let's be really extravagant and say another $.25). So I'm up to $1.50 for a loaf of bread. Not unreasonable, whereas I think $5 IS.

I've also been unimpressed with the quality of premade gf items. Just me.

 

[toploader55]

OK...

I really would like to know where all these New Food Allergies started. I am 55 years old and never heard of all these Peanut, Soy, Wheat, Gluten etc until maybe about 8-10 years ago when they started to rise.
I try to eat as natural as possible meaning I never ever eat Fast Food of the likes of BK, Mc Ds etc.
I firmly believe and am researching it in free time, that the start of all this has to be either Preservative, Processed or Genetically Modified foods that have changed over the past 10-15 years. What is causing all this is my question ?
Yes, I realize that afflictions like Diabetes has been around for a long time, but being a Chef, these new allergies have turned running a kitchen into a total Nightmare. When your in the middle of serving 150 dinners per hour, it is abosolutely ridiculous that a waitress or waiter has to make 5-6 trips into the kitchen with questions about food preparations.
All I ask of People afflicted with these Allergies is Please... Educate Yourself Completely about what you can or cannot have and be courtious to your Server and not Drive the Staff Crazy with all your wants and needs for your Allergies.
I myself have Low Blood sugar and I have educated myself what I can and Cannot have. So when I go out to a Restaurant , I look at the menu and I know what I should order.
NOW, A Commercial Kitchen is far from a Safe Haven for people with Gluten Issues. There is Dust of Flour in the air, Ovens that your food is being cooked in has Airbone Flour and perhaps other Gluten related products. In Kitchens where Fried Food is available, the breading is very fine like flour and when you bread something there is always dust going up in the air. So when a Restaurant touts a Gluten Free Menu, it is impossible to make such a staement. I have contacted an attorney in fear for my life, that someone is going to have something prepared in my kitchen and a "dusting" in the air passes over their food, they eat it and go into shock, I do not want them chasing me down for attempted murder. The Attorney's advice was to put a disclaimer on the menu as you would for Rare Meats, Shellfish etc. People are so Lawsuit Happy these days, I had to make sure I was covering The Restaurant, My staff, and My Ass.

And by all Means, Please do not be offended by what I have just posted.
These are just the Facts about what Commercial Establishments go through on a Daily Basis.[this post was last edited: 2/11/2011-17:28]

 

[ronhic]

There has been a significant increase in the DIAGNOSIS of these diseases. Until recently the diagnosis of coeliacs was haphazard and difficult not to mention invasive.

As to the severe allergies that people are suffering from peanuts etc, I agree. This really is a recent phenonemon. It certainly didn't exist when I was at school 23 years ago.

There is a school of thought that pretty much says that the delayed introduction (or early into, I can't remember) of nuts into the diet that has become so common now is the precursor to the allergy.... I know there was a paper written about it ( in the UK I think), but need to be on something a bit mire condusive than an iPhone to be able to look and link...

 

[hunter]

the 1940s.

According to wikipedia:

His "Cœliac Affection" (coeliac from Greek κοιλιακός koiliakos, "abdominal") gained the attention of Western medicine when Francis Adams presented a translation of Aretaeus's work at the Sydenham Society in 1856.

I agree about early (or late, whatever it is, probably early) introduction of stuff into the diet that makes things worse.

My wife has another idea that I think is fascinating and probably true: Children, especially in the USA but in all the advanced countries, are exposed to strong perfumes from EARLY in their life. Could these fake scents have affects on the immune system that no one knows, causing it to become more sensitized? Who knows? I know that *I* can't go down the detergent aisle in the supermarket without gagging!!

Despite all the hoopla that 'we are cleaner than we used to be which has increased allergies!' I actually think the US is far filthier than it was when I was a kid in the 1970s. Bedbugs weren't endemic, there weren't super bugs, etc. Mostly because a) we didn't own as much superflous stuff and there wasn't as much use of fake perfumes to make folks think things 'smell clean' - when really the smell of clean is the smell of...nothing.

 

[toploader55]

Here's another thought...

Speaking of Perfume... Besides being "Over Sanitized", I don't get all this Febreze, Glade Plug-ins, Scented Candles, Glade, so on and so forth.

It's a really Sad Day if your house Stinks that bad so you need to have all these Chemical Nightmares through out your Home, I would strongly suggest that these people learn how to Clean, Scrub and do Proper Laundry.

As you said Hunter "the Smell of clean is the smell of...Nothing".

I couldn't agree more.