BlessedMommy

Don't worry, tomatoes are fine for a gluten free diet.

But some people have problems with nightshades as well as gluten. (tomatoes are part of the nightshade family)

Thanks for your reply. I think that I will avoid doing so in the future, because I want to be careful.

I'm not an expert, but I would say that DH doesn't "have" to be in any particular area in order to be DH. Sure, certain areas are more common, but it sounds like it could be DH.

Will your dermatologist do a DH biopsy?

A dietitian friend claimed the the generic term "spices" on an ingredient label could indicate hidden gluten. Is this term, or is "spices" always used to refer to pure spices with no additives?

^Yeah, that exactly.

I would do the blood test. 

Okay, curious to know what y'all think about this....

I normally avoid condiments that gluten eaters have used.

Occasionally there's been a circumstance, though, where somebody dipped only a little bit of margarine from one end of the container and the whole other side of the container hasn't been dipped into at all. I got mine from the untouched side. 

Is this a bad idea for any reason? Is there some reason that the other side of the margarine that hasn't been used could be already contaminated?

If you get set up with gluten free flour, you can make her some really great cookies.

Enjoy Life chocolate chips are gluten free and are produced in a gluten free facility.

Congratulations on finally getting a diagnosis! How great to finally know what's going on and have it be something that is treatable with diet.

In the meantime, do know that it's okay to grieve and mourn the loss of spontaneity. I've been gluten free for quite awhile now and I still have days where I feel kind of sad at the loss of spontaneity and freedom. It's a huge change to just go from eating whatever to all of a sudden having to analyze every single thing that you eat. Do know that it gets better and easier the longer you stay at it, though, as you grow to know which products are safe and learn more safe recipes.

It's hard also to get rid of things in the kitchen, but I was happy to be able to get new shiny kitchen things instead of the old scratched up ones that I was using and the peace of mind of having a gluten free kitchen is worth it.

As far as replacement cost, I went through and discontinued using the old things right away but I didn't replace everything all at once. I did without some of them and gradually replaced things one or two at a time (I also told people I wanted kitchen things for my birthday) until my kitchen was mostly back where it needed to be, equipment wise. That eased some of the financial pressure of having to buy so many new things.

So essentially if a person is "less sensitive" it means that their body is not finding or recognizing that miniscule amount of gluten that's there? 

I was beyond thrilled to find Minnesota grown wild rice for only $1 per 12 oz bag!

Now, I need to figure out what to do with it.

Anybody have any recipes?

Can you get a DH biopsy done? Many people with DH test negative on blood work.

Did your test cover the alpha and beta parts of it? Do you mind if I ask you what your results were?

If someone can "tolerate" 20 PPM of gluten, does that mean that your body essentially doesn't recognize that small of an amount? Do people's body's abilities to "recognize" gluten vary?

I talked with my mom on the phone and I again asked her to please consider celiac testing. Crossing my fingers and hoping that she does eventually--for her sake as well as for mine.

I've been wondering that very thing as well and I'm not looking for permission to cheat either, so I understand where you're coming from.

Thank you! For years, I'd been overly careful about vanilla and vinegar, now I can possibly have more options. So good to have a community where we can ask questions and learn.

So, the generic term "vinegar" always refers to white vinegar and if it's malt vinegar, that's clearly specified.

Okay, something that I don't understand, if you just see the word "vinegar" on a salsa label or salad dressing label, can you assume that that vinegar is gluten free? Or not? I've heard such mixed reviews (and I know that vinegar is typically made from grain) so I play it safe and don't buy any salad dressing or salsa with vinegar unless it's either labeled gluten free or I've checked elsewhere to verify.

I'd like to feel less restricted though and be able to know a products status by reading the label. Is that possible?

Is the term "vinegar" generally used to describe distilled vinegar? What about when it says "white vinegar?" 

Thanks in advance.

I see. So it really isn't very helpful, because it can't rule it out?

What is the disadvantage of only testing for the beta?

I don't go to doctors much at all.  I even had home births with all 3 of my kids. I don't get routine check ups of any type at Dr's. I only go if there's a dire need (like UTI or 2nd degree burn or something) or go to the ER in an emergency, like when I had my TIA or when I cut my finger badly and needed it stitched.

Being uninsured makes it financially tough, too. 

Does it do the complete testing, though, alpha and beta?

You know, something recently occurred to me. If I got to a celiac potluck, should I even eat the food there? Or should I find out what the celiac's practices are who cooked it? There are many celiacs who will do stuff like discard the bun and eat the burger. I also don't really know if they cleaned their house out and got rid of old pans and utensils after getting dx'ed. What would you/do you do? 

Gemini, which lab or provider did you get your test through?

No offense to anyone else who feels differently, but personally I feel fine with going along with the University of Chicago research. Being that they are the leading celiac researchers, I will accept their findings. And as of now, they're saying that unless you have either HLA-DQ2 genes or HLA-DQ8 genes, you cannot develop celiac. Perhaps in the future, they will develop more research and come to different conclusions, but as of right now, this is the most current research.

So I'm going with that, and if it turns out that I don't have those genes, I'll assume that "all" I have is NCGI and not a life threatening auto immune disease.   Either way, though, I'll still going to be faithful to the diet. 

For thriftiness sake, I usually use white corn tortillas in the place of something a gluten eater would use a flour tortilla in, like soft tacos or burritos.  White corn tastes less corn-y than yellow.  I like Rudi's gluten-free fiesta tortillas, but because they are about a dollar apeice, I only use them for quesadillas.   Yellow corn tortillas are good for use inside things like enchiladas or casseroles, and I will bake them into taco shells to save on fat.

 

As for the non-gmo part, I have seen organic corn tortillas, but it may take some looking.  Bob's red mill has non gmo masa harina.

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll look into getting it on Amazon. I have a tortilla press and have made lots of corn tortillas in the past, but prefer to switch to organic or non gmo masa harina and it's much harder to find than the regular.