Confused

[twe0708]

So I have a post called "Holiday Visitors" and most replies say they allow wheat products in their kitchen when they have visitors. So is it ok to have wheat products in your kitchen or not? Or does it just depend on each person? I allow my kids to have cereal, is this ok? I guess if you find yourself getting sick then you could ban wheat from the kitchen. What are others opionions? Example: When guest come over then it's ok for them to make toast (in a special toaster) or make a sandwich with regular bread?

Also, so if they make a regular sandwich or I do for them, does anyone worry about touching the bread then touching the mayo jar, packaging of all the other items? Doesn't that contaminate everything? Or am I getting too picky about this?

[GottaSki]

I posted on your holiday visitor thread -- just thought I'd clarify our gluten system.

as for allowing gluten in our kitchen -- we have to non-celiacs and two-celiacs in our house right now -- so we evolved into the system we have now, which is...gluten eaters still eat wheat filled bread, regular flour tortillas and cereals. Everything we cook or bake with has gone gluten-free.

We do have separate toaster/cutting board/frying pan for the regular tortillas. We also place foil or plates under items that could normally be placed on counters. Oh we also have separate butter, peanut butter, mayo and jam - on those items that are gluten-free we place neon green stickers to indicate -- my gluten eaters know that if they have to steal some of the gluten-free items for their bread they need to use a clean knife with no double dipping!

This has worked for our family thus far - I can't trace any cc to my kitchen since the first weeks of eating gluten-free.

-Lisa

[twe0708]

I posted on your holiday visitor thread -- just thought I'd clarify our gluten system.

as for allowing gluten in our kitchen -- we have to non-celiacs and two-celiacs in our house right now -- so we evolved into the system we have now, which is...gluten eaters still eat wheat filled bread, regular flour tortillas and cereals. Everything we cook or bake with has gone gluten-free.

We do have separate toaster/cutting board/frying pan for the regular tortillas. We also place foil or plates under items that could normally be placed on counters. Oh we also have separate butter, peanut butter, mayo and jam - on those items that are gluten-free we place neon green stickers to indicate -- my gluten eaters know that if they have to steal some of the gluten-free items for their bread they need to use a clean knife with no double dipping!

This has worked for our family thus far - I can't trace any cc to my kitchen since the first weeks of eating gluten-free.

-Lisa

Thanks for the information. So you don't worry about it when they make a sandwich and touch the bread and then touch everything else like the fridge, outside packaging of the lunch meat, mayo jar, etc.? We have a squeeze mayo jar so no knife needed but if I went to use it wouldn't the outside be contaminated just from their hands touching it? I tried to keep flour tortillas in our house for taco night but my husband would heat his flour tortilla on the stove and then place all the ingredients on his tortilla. This required him to touch the spatula for the hamburger meat, cheese, tomatos and then if I came back for seconds I touch everything he touced, so wouldn't that raise my risk of getting contaminated or am I over reacting?

[Ahorsesoul]

I tell guests they can not bring gluten items into my house. Sorry but it's for health reasons. My dh is now gluten free but he did have gluten bread and snacks in the house. He had a cabinet for these items, he made his own lunch because I wouldn't and he had a section of the counter that was his and which he kept clean. Oh, he had is own toaster for his contaminated bread. Now that he also gluten-free there isn't anything in the kitchen with gluten. He's been gluten-free just over 4 weeks now. He must feel better because he won't even eat the snacks people bring at work.

One year for Christmas I thought I'd make breads for dh work. I purchased regular flour, whipped up 20 batches of banana bread. I got so sick I will never knowingly allow gluten into my house.

[jststric]

I think it totally depends on the individuals. I, personally, can still touch the foods I cannot eat. I don't think it's fair to expect my husband and son (grown) to be limited by my needs. I take the responsibility of cleaning counters, pans, etc that I need to use and SO FAR it works for me. I had lived so long without the need of a toaster and when I finally found some gluten-free bread I can live with, bought my own toaster. My inlaws were visiting recently and they found a post-it on my toaster that my son had thought to put on it saying, "MOM'S TOASTER ONLY! GLUTEN-FREE ONLY!" lol. Bless his heart....even I hadn't thought that far ahead.

[Frances03]

I can't help you because I am struggling with this too, but my gi doc told me NO gluten in the house whatsoever. He told me it's impossible to not get cc'd. I told him my husband still had raisin bran and regular bread and he said NO NO NO. He said it will get in the cracks around the sink, it will fly in the air and stays airborne up to 24 hours and there is no way you could wipe it all away. He said he even has patients that have installed commercial stainless counters because gluten can stick in cracks on countertops etc. I'm not sure if I believe in this or not, but I guess that is where we are heading. As soon as all the gluten containing items are used up we won't be purchasing any more. Dh has switched to chex cereal, and is waiting on me to come up with a Gluten-Free bread that he can use for sandwiches. No way can we afford to buy Gluten-Free bread for a family of 5 so we just haven't been having any bread. My doc said just because you have no symptoms doesn't mean you aren't being cc'd, you can be and not even know it, so he recommends no gluten in the house of someone with celiac disease.

[OptimisticMom42]

Hello, I have to throw this in ........ we have very little gluten in our house. It's just to hard. There are two adults and three teens living here. We have company a lot. It's normal to find a friend on the couch in the morning. We all have work/school and long lists of things we want/have to get done. We can not dash in and grab a bite if we have to stop and worry about gluten.

So we have over time replaced everything with gluten free brands. It took awhile for everyone to get use to the new flavors and textures but they have all adjusted just fine.

One other point, nobody needs gluten. I believe that the non-celiacs in my household are better served by not being served that stuff!

My non-celiacs boyfriend is allowed - one loaf of bread, one can of Jiff, one jar of jam, one box of cherrios that he fixes on the one cupboard top that I never use but spray and wash a couple times a day. He has given up on meat sandwiches, bread and butter and toast because he is out numbered.

[Ahorsesoul]

My doc said just because you have no symptoms doesn't mean you aren't being cc'd, you can be and not even know it, so he recommends no gluten in the house of someone with celiac disease.

You are lucky to have a doctor who seems to know something about gluten! I hope you have posted his name and the city he is in so others in your area can make an appointment with him.

[Shess0816]

So I have a post called "Holiday Visitors" and most replies say they allow wheat products in their kitchen when they have visitors. So is it ok to have wheat products in your kitchen or not? Or does it just depend on each person? I allow my kids to have cereal, is this ok? I guess if you find yourself getting sick then you could ban wheat from the kitchen. What are others opionions? Example: When guest come over then it's ok for them to make toast (in a special toaster) or make a sandwich with regular bread?

Also, so if they make a regular sandwich or I do for them, does anyone worry about touching the bread then touching the mayo jar, packaging of all the other items? Doesn't that contaminate everything? Or am I getting too picky about this?

I think it's possible to do, you just have to be really careful about it. I have a "mixed" kitchen of both gluten and gluten free items. I have yet to get sick from this, but I think it is because we are REALLY careful. I have everything clearly labeled in the kitchen. I have separate drawers for my silverware and cookwear, separate shelves in the kitchen and pantry for my gluten free food. It is all clearly labeled as "GLUTEN FREE SILVERWARE ONLY" or "GLUTEN FREE FOOD SHELF"... My bread stays in the pantry on my shelf, his gluten bread stays on top of the fridge. I have all the containers in the fridge and pantry marked -- we have one gluten free peanut butter jar, a gluten free butter, a gluten free jelly, etc... all of them are marked with permanent black marker and a huge gluten-free on the top and sides.

When we have guests come over, I will make them sandwiches. What I do, though, is I use the GLUTEN silverware and other gluten items. I have a separate container of sandwich meat for me and my boyfriend or guests. When we have guests come over, they are most often people who know about my Celiac and so they are very understanding. We just explain to them that they are more than welcome to make their own food, they just need to use the GLUTEN side of everything. I will oversee them making their food, or I will make it for them if they want that. In order to keep things from cross contaminating chips, we use the single serving bags of chips almost all the time. That way, I get to open the package, it's just enough for one sitting, and I know no one elses hands were in it. I also try to use it as a way to kind of educate people about celiac. Kind of to teach them about how easy it is to CC something. Once we are done eating, we have a hand washing rule every time. I have definitely gotten some weird looks for this one, but once I explain to people the possible long-term effects of Celiac (i.e. infertility, miscarriages, cancer, etc...) they usually tend to understand better.

Hope that helps a little bit. I don't think you're being too cautious at all. It's a really stressful thing sometimes having to deal with non-Celiac people who try to understand but do not necessarily get it. I am probably a little Type-A about my kitchen and the rules, but it's worked for my health so far!!

[tarnalberry]

It's just *SO* individual. When my inlaws are here, there isn't really much that's shared - they don't use condiments on their sandwhiches, no one else uses their tub of oatmeal, and no one else uses the jug of milk for my FIL's cereal. All of their stuff is on the dedicated cutting board or cabinet. Anything we eat together is gluten free. I don't particularly worry about the fridge handle, but it is aluminum, and nothing much sticks to it (not to mention my MIL washes her hands often).

Were the situation different, I might not feel as comfortable with it.