BlessedMommy

It appears that duck sauce is likely to be safe, but of course, all ingredients should be read every time. Is the restaurant good about providing ingredient lists to people who need them?

If you're unsure, you could bring along a bottle of your own duck sauce.

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So here's the question, other than steamed veggies and rice, what CAN I eat? Is duck sauce gluten free? I know some things I can't eat, but there's many things I'm not sure about. (Chinese isn't my favorite food, so it's not been on my "need to research" list)

My suggestion is to go as simple as possible. I once went to a Chinese place without a gluten free menu and I simply ordered tofu, veggies, egg, and rice noodles--all plain without any seasoning whatsoever. I checked ingredients of the noodles and tofu with the server just to be sure.

I brought my own San-J gluten free soy sauce packets from home and I really enjoyed the meal. It was simple, but good. The less ingredients, the better. The more complicated the meal, the higher the chance of being glutened.

You could bring along a bottle of your own safe Chinese sauce. I like San-J sauces, they're tasty and certified gluten free.

Woks would not be safe for using between gluten free and regular items anyway. Woks get "seasoned" with regular use, so it seems that they would have the same CC issues as cast iron pans. 

Not Chinese, but I once went to a Thai restaurant and explained that I needed gluten free and asked what they had. They said, "Oh you're gluten free? The curry dish would be perfect for you. That's what we recommend for gluten free people."

I probed a little further on ingredients and they said, "Oh it's great for gluten free people because IT ONLY HAS A LITTLE SOY SAUCE." 

Needless to say, I found the door quickly and didn't get a meal there. Not sure why "a little gluten" is acceptable in a dish for a gluten free person. I'm sure that restaurant employee wouldn't eat a meal with "a little rat poison."

I wanted to be extra safe, so I ran the pan through the self clean cycle of the oven and then reseasoned it. I probably didn't need to, but peace of mind is worth something, I suppose.

Using this recipe as inspiration, I'm going to make a kaniwa salad.

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Depending on the bread, some are pretty nutritious. My teff bread recipe that I use is very nutritious and I think that the nutritional profile of my homemade millet sandwich bread is probably decent as well.

Instead of doing frozen gluten-free waffles, I make my own whole grain waffles out of certified G.F. oats and whatever else I have on hand.

For stuff that isn't very practical to make, I just look for the best deal. For pasta, I do Meijer brand non-gmo corn pasta. It's $1.99 per pound.

Making your own is definitely more economical!

Paying $41 for 25 pounds of gluten free oats and making your own granola will save you a ton over store bought gluten-free granola and lets you control the ingredients as well. Grinding flour is an awesome way to save money too. For example, my favorite bread is millet bread.

Millet flour is expensive but millet is cheap. So I ordered 25 pounds of certified gluten-free millet for around $34 and will be grinding my own millet flour. I grind it in my Vitamix and then use a flour sifter on it as well.

The only thing that I eat that has soy in it is my mayo and not sure what to substitute for that. But I need mayo!!

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Is the food there generally considered okay, as long as there are no gluten ingredients? Or is CC much of an issue? Are the items there pretty much from the same suppliers as the ethnic items that you find in your supermarket?

What things do you get there, if any? 

I have been wanting to try this grain for a long time and finally I found it in my health food store! Does anybody have any recipes or suggestions? I'm excited to try out something new! 

It's also very nutritious, it has like 60% of RDA for iron in one serving.

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If your bloodwork is positive, you can be fairly confident that you have celiac. Bloodwork is more accurate than a biopsy. A negative biopsy often means that they missed the damage.

I've found that my anxiety and OCD symptoms have improved greatly on a strict gluten free diet. (avoiding sources of cross contamination) I hope that it works for you as well!

That restaurant sounds amazing! That is awesome that they have a separate kitchen for gluten free stuff only!

^That, exactly.

The media has somehow painted a picture that everything is black and white, either you have celiac or gluten free is a fad diet and you can go eat pizza and bagels without fear. Don't be afraid to go gluten-free, even if you don't have celiac!

You mentioned gluten ataxia. Have you had a history of neurological issues with gluten or are you worried that you may develop them in the future?

I'm strictly gluten free despite lack of diagnosis, due to neurological complications from gluten. The risk of having a stroke is concerning enough to me, that I'm quite strict in my gluten-free diet.

The fad diet comments are pretty ridiculous for someone who's gluten-free for medical reasons, especially if they've been on a gluten-free diet long term.

I've been gluten-free for 4 1/2 years.  I'm pretty sure that if it was a fad, I would've quit by now.

Yes, I eat hard boiled eggs from the breakfast buffet. I rinse them off before eating, just to be sure.

That was weird that the article was titled like it was about a new blood test and then the blood test wasn't even described at all. 

Yes, it is more related to your health than the biopsy results.

Not overdoing the gluten will also give you the best chance of finishing the gluten challenge and not having to quit early due to severe reactions.

I wouldn't worry about what other people think. I can never confirm a diagnosis of anything due to stroke risk from headaches (challenging gluten is way too dangerous for me), and I just eat 100% gluten free and people can think what they may. They don't have to live in my life or pay the hospital bills if I go to the hospital. 

I agree that the tests may have been falsely negative. You could either try to do a gluten challenge or you could commit to simply living gluten free.

Best wishes in whatever you decide to do! 

1 or 2 servings of something with gluten as a predominant ingredient should be plenty. Take care not to overdo the gluten.

Oh okay, I actually did know what SAD meant.

That is kind of neat that your little ones have the same birthday. My kid #3 was actually due on #2's 3rd birthday, but she was a week late, so his birthday is February 27 and hers is March 5th.

I ended up buying a bulk box of raisin bran at Sam's Club, so looks like we're going to do breakfast cereal for our gluten source.

What they tell you to do post DX is to put your cast iron pans in the oven on the self cleaning cycle. The self clean cycle will get up to 900 degrees and will burn off all the gluten on your pan. Then you reseason it and it's safe for use. 

I'm wondering if since only a contaminated spatula was used on my cast iron pan (instead of actually cooking something gluteny in it), washing is sufficient, instead of starting all over with the self clean cycle of the oven.