I'm still here! Xantham Gum

[ksymonds84]

Wow!  I haven't been on this forum in a long time but found it again when I was searching for xantham gum possibly being the reason why I can't see to eat the gluten free breads anymore.

A quick up date for my missing in action:  Not to alarm anyone but I had a surprise Colon Cancer Stage 4 diagnosis back in August of 2015.  Yes, I was diligently gluten free because I am celiac.  I was 50 at the time having what we thought was an ovarian cyst (I did and still have the bugger) giving me all my problems but nope.  Had a 2cm tumor in my lower sigmoid colon (celiac generally attacks upper intestines) and a met in my liver of 6 cm!  Long story short, I woke up from long surgery to a ileostomy  and a horrible terminal diagnosis! 

I am a fighter and sorry didn't accept that diagnoses.  Started chemo in September and shrunk that liver tumor to 3 cm by check up in November, my oncologist was doing the happy dance!  Had my ileostomy reversed in December and Liver resection in February 2016.  April 2016 no signs of disease in remission to this day!!!!

For those of you on this site please know that my oncologist feels that celiac was NOT connected to this diagnosis.  I was extremely stressed out for the two years before diagnosis with losing our family business, daughter on opioids in rehab, going bankrupt, and drinking way too much wine and not eating healthy at all although no gluten.  Who knows what brought it on, it's not in my family history..... Today I don't look back.  I enjoy our much smaller downsized townhouse , I am painting and selling art again and couldn't be happier.  Yes my daughter is clean and I have a new grandson that is such a joy.  life couldn't be better.

Now, why I am back again after 3 years.  I can't seem to tolerate any of the gluten free breads, pizza crusts etc that contain xantham gum and was curious if anyone else has this problem.  I also am soy intolerant and I can always tell if I have been cross contaminated with gluten or soy by the pain in my right side under rib cage usually the next morning with terrible bloating.  Within the last 6 months or so this pain has been happening more often than not with breads even tho I am being cautious over every ingredient.  Also its not the return of cancer, my blood work is normal for cancer markers and last pet scan normal.  I put this together because when I make my own pizza crust with no gums, no problem but a udi's crust.... yep pain again.  Also, I don't eat a lot of bread anyway and notice I feel so much better without grains in general.

Looking forward to any comments from others if you have problems with gums in gluten-free foods or maybe I am missing something else?

 

Kathy

 

[cyclinglady]

7 minutes ago, ksymonds84 said:

Wow!  I haven't been on this forum in a long time but found it again when I was searching for xantham gum possibly being the reason why I can't see to eat the gluten free breads anymore.

A quick up date for my missing in action:  Not to alarm anyone but I had a surprise Colon Cancer Stage 4 diagnosis back in August of 2015.  Yes, I was diligently gluten free because I am celiac.  I was 50 at the time having what we thought was an ovarian cyst (I did and still have the bugger) giving me all my problems but nope.  Had a 2cm tumor in my lower sigmoid colon (celiac generally attacks upper intestines) and a met in my liver of 6 cm!  Long story short, I woke up from long surgery to a ileostomy  and a horrible terminal diagnosis! 

I am a fighter and sorry didn't accept that diagnoses.  Started chemo in September and shrunk that liver tumor to 3 cm by check up in November, my oncologist was doing the happy dance!  Had my ileostomy reversed in December and Liver resection in February 2016.  April 2016 no signs of disease in remission to this day!!!!

For those of you on this site please know that my oncologist feels that celiac was NOT connected to this diagnosis.  I was extremely stressed out for the two years before diagnosis with losing our family business, daughter on opioids in rehab, going bankrupt, and drinking way too much wine and not eating healthy at all although no gluten.  Who knows what brought it on, it's not in my family history..... Today I don't look back.  I enjoy our much smaller downsized townhouse , I am painting and selling art again and couldn't be happier.  Yes my daughter is clean and I have a new grandson that is such a joy.  life couldn't be better.

Now, why I am back again after 3 years.  I can't seem to tolerate any of the gluten free breads, pizza crusts etc that contain xantham gum and was curious if anyone else has this problem.  I also am soy intolerant and I can always tell if I have been cross contaminated with gluten or soy by the pain in my right side under rib cage usually the next morning with terrible bloating.  Within the last 6 months or so this pain has been happening more often than not with breads even tho I am being cautious over every ingredient.  Also its not the return of cancer, my blood work is normal for cancer markers and last pet scan normal.  I put this together because when I make my own pizza crust with no gums, no problem but a udi's crust.... yep pain again.  Also, I don't eat a lot of bread anyway and notice I feel so much better without grains in general.

Looking forward to any comments from others if you have problems with gums in gluten-free foods or maybe I am missing something else?

 

Kathy

 

Yep!  I still can not tolerate Xanthan Gum even after five years of being gluten free and a recent endoscopy confirmed that intestine is healed.  I am pretty much grain free (so that includes soy and corn).  Mostly because I am a diabetic and grains tend to elevate my blood sugars too much per my meter.  I feel better too,  I do bake, but I do not use Xanthan Gum.  My hubby has been gluten free for 17 years and he can chow down on anything with Xanthan Gum, but not me.  

 

[ksymonds84]

Hello, haven't been on here in awhile so not sure how to do the quote from above.  Cycling lady, do you use something else in your baking to substitute the xantham gum?

[cyclinglady]

Guar Gum.  I actually use Pamela’s gluten-free flour which already has it.   

....hey, congratulations on beating cancer!!!!  ?

[ksymonds84]

8 minutes ago, cyclinglady said:

Guar Gum.  I actually use Pamela’s gluten-free flour which already has it.   

....hey, congratulations on beating cancer!!!!  ?

Thanks!  I will give guar gum a try... and yeah cancer, even late stages can be beat!!  

[Ennis-TX]

54 minutes ago, ksymonds84 said:

Thanks!  I will give guar gum a try... and yeah cancer, even late stages can be beat!!  

My bakery uses guar gum in something but we changed to grain free mostly and using psylium husk in many of our new recipes, it gives a amazing chewy texture to breads etc. I got some simple keto roll recipes in my blog here you can try it out in. >.< I can only tolerate xantham gum in the tiniest amounts in a few supplements. Seems when I tried it in baked goods I quickly found myself purging everything I ate afterwards.

[ksymonds84]

25 minutes ago, Ennis_TX said:

My bakery uses guar gum in something but we changed to grain free mostly and using psylium husk in many of our new recipes, it gives a amazing chewy texture to breads etc. I got some simple keto roll recipes in my blog here you can try it out in. >.< I can only tolerate xantham gum in the tiniest amounts in a few supplements. Seems when I tried it in baked goods I quickly found myself purging everything I ate afterwards.

I’ve read a few recipes with Keto using guar gum.  My neighbor is a die hard Keto guy and lost over 85 pounds!  I was looking at what I could do for him when we had a party.  So psyllium husk does not  cause things to get um too loose?  I know it’s a great fiber.

[Ennis-TX]

8 minutes ago, ksymonds84 said:

I’ve read a few recipes with Keto using guar gum.  My neighbor is a die hard Keto guy and lost over 85 pounds!  I was looking at what I could do for him when we had a party.  So psyllium husk does not  cause things to get um too loose?  I know it’s a great fiber.

ON the contrary....it makes great stools lol. 1 tsp of pure psyllium husk makes 1 cup of stool mass.......I use 1tbsp to 12 standard rolls or double it for super chewy ones. I normally only eat 1 and it makes 12. If you have loose stool issues psyllium will firm them up nicely .....I turned up my intake after my last glutening to stop the cow pies. PS forgive my frankness, I have Aspergers...practically sheldon from big bang, I am overly logical and blunt.

[ksymonds84]

40 minutes ago, Ennis_TX said:

ON the contrary....it makes great stools lol. 1 tsp of pure psyllium husk makes 1 cup of stool mass.......I use 1tbsp to 12 standard rolls or double it for super chewy ones. I normally only eat 1 and it makes 12. If you have loose stool issues psyllium will firm them up nicely .....I turned up my intake after my last glutening to stop the cow pies. PS forgive my frankness, I have Aspergers...practically sheldon from big bang, I am overly logical and blunt.

Lol nice to know!  Don’t worry about being frank with me, I prefer everyone to tell it like it is ? I did a quick search and psyllium is not very expensive either which is nice!

[selectivefocus]

I am so sorry to hear of your cancer diagnosis. My husband was just diagnosed with testicular cancer right after Christmas. Nowhere near the same situation as you, but I empathize. It's great how serious about your diet and nutrition you are. 

Something to consider: there is a strong link between colon cancer and celiac. When looking for celiac family history from my grandmother, she informed me her father was diagnosed with colon cancer at 38 and he was also undiagnosed celiac. My family history is very strong on that side.

Anyway, xantham gum is made from black mold. I have a mold allergy and cannot tolerate xantham gum. I don't eat bread anymore unless I make it myself, and since it's not the same I just usually forgo it. I feel the most sorry for my middle daughter because xantham gum and tapioca flare her DH so she can't have gluten-free bread or baked good products.

I make really great banana bread muffins with only brown rice flour. No gums or starches added, they taste amazing. My husband can't even tell they are gluten free. Unfortunately, there are some things it would be better to make peace with not being able to have them anymore. Also, especially considering your other health issues, eating whole foods with few ingredients is the best option. All the luck in the world to you! Keep fighting!

 

[ksymonds84]

41 minutes ago, selectivefocus said:

I am so sorry to hear of your cancer diagnosis. My husband was just diagnosed with testicular cancer right after Christmas. Nowhere near the same situation as you, but I empathize. It's great how serious about your diet and nutrition you are. 

Something to consider: there is a strong link between colon cancer and celiac. When looking for celiac family history from my grandmother, she informed me her father was diagnosed with colon cancer at 38 and he was also undiagnosed celiac. My family history is very strong on that side.

Anyway, xantham gum is made from black mold. I have a mold allergy and cannot tolerate xantham gum. I don't eat bread anymore unless I make it myself, and since it's not the same I just usually forgo it. I feel the most sorry for my middle daughter because xantham gum and tapioca flare her DH so she can't have gluten-free bread or baked good products.

I make really great banana bread muffins with only brown rice flour. No gums or starches added, they taste amazing. My husband can't even tell they are gluten free. Unfortunately, there are some things it would be better to make peace with not being able to have them anymore. Also, especially considering your other health issues, eating whole foods with few ingredients is the best option. All the luck in the world to you! Keep fighting!

 

Thank you for your kind words.  Sorry also for your husbands diagnosis, Even early stages are scary when they tell you it’s cancer but it sounds like he’s in good hands with you and your knowledge and testicular cancer has a high cure rate I’m told.  I’m sure you are right about a connection with celiac and colon but my oncologist doesn’t really know about celiac.  I had ulcerative colitis in my 20s that went into remission, I thought it had come back (2008) but they found celiac only.  He said there is a very strong connection with crohns and UC and that it could have came back but I thought it was celiac symptoms.

I am allergic to mold, ? moment here!  I ordered King Arthur gluten free flour because it doesn’t contain Xanthan gum so I plan to play with that and see if I react to physillum, otherwise like you said I will simply move on from sandwich bread.  I like lettuce wraps so I’m good with that.  Banana bread sounds awesome!

thanks again I did know xantham was created with bacteria but mold makes sense ?

[selectivefocus]

 Also, all digestive enzyme products are created from mold. I cannot eat yogurt or take priobiotics either and that's related. Anything fermented or aged might give you trouble with a mold allergy.  Research something called histamine intolerance.

[Ennis-TX]

1 hour ago, selectivefocus said:

 Also, all digestive enzyme products are created from mold. I cannot eat yogurt or take priobiotics either and that's related. Anything fermented or aged might give you trouble with a mold allergy.  Research something called histamine intolerance.

Porcine based pancreatic enzymes are not created from mold.......while probiotics can cause issues for some...fact is many of them are already present in your gut.....and without them you would die. Probiotics are as much of your bodies immune system as anything else, on a side note many extras you take are grown and mixed with questionable substances and substrates that can cause other issues. And indeed if you have a histamine issue anything fermented will set it off....I found I got the best results making my own yogurt in house and eating it fresh.

[ksymonds84]

27 minutes ago, Ennis_TX said:

Porcine based pancreatic enzymes are not created from mold.......while probiotics can cause issues for some...fact is many of them are already present in your gut.....and without them you would die. Probiotics are as much of your bodies immune system as anything else, on a side note many extras you take are grown and mixed with questionable substances and substrates that can cause other issues. And indeed if you have a histamine issue anything fermented will set it off....I found I got the best results making my own yogurt in house and eating it fresh.

I am using align right now for probiotic and I seem to do okay with it.  Anything with aspergillus  will have me vomiting in an hour, found that out with lactaid.

[ksymonds84]

1 hour ago, selectivefocus said:

 Also, all digestive enzyme products are created from mold. I cannot eat yogurt or take priobiotics either and that's related. Anything fermented or aged might give you trouble with a mold allergy.  Research something called histamine intolerance.

Thanks will look into histamine intolerance. 

[Aerostepn]

Wow Kathy!!!!

You are Amazing!!!!! Continues Prayers to you and your wonderful family!!!! 

 

I have not been diagnosed however the more that I read on Celiacs- I definitely fit in one of the buckets... With the exception of my horribly 6 month pregnant looking belly.... Oh yeah... I can't have any more lil ones!  

I just wanted to agree with what you said.  I have tried so many gluten free breads and have narrowed the causative ingredient to be the Xan-gum.

[ksymonds84]

On 1/26/2018 at 8:52 PM, Aerostepn said:

Wow Kathy!!!!

You are Amazing!!!!! Continues Prayers to you and your wonderful family!!!! 

 

I have not been diagnosed however the more that I read on Celiacs- I definitely fit in one of the buckets... With the exception of my horribly 6 month pregnant looking belly.... Oh yeah... I can't have any more lil ones!  

I just wanted to agree with what you said.  I have tried so many gluten free breads and have narrowed the causative ingredient to be the Xan-gum.

Thank you!  I feel amazing most days ? xantham gum seems to be the hidden answer for my continued problems with bread.  Bought some psyllium husk powder and made a tasty bread that so far I’m able to digest!