Gluten Free Helpful Apps and Links

Here are some apps and websites that I have found helpful since I became gluten free:

• Find Me Gluten Free (App)

This app helps you search for gluten free restaurants in your area. There are reviews, along with the restaurant address, phone, gluten free menu (if applicable) and website.
There are also newsfeeds when you first open the app which have helpful info. (That's how I found out about the Gluten Free and Allergy Friendly Expo I just attended)

• Celiac Disease Foundation: https://celiac.org/

Even if you do not have celiac disease and you are gluten intolerant, this website is very informative!! 

• Dailymed: http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/index.cfm

Search for your medication to find out if it contains gluten (prescribed and over the counter)

• Pillbox: http://pillbox.nlm.nih.gov/pillimage/search.php

This is the US National Library of Medicine. Also search for your medication to find out if it contains gluten (prescribed and over the counter)

• Send Me Gluten Free: http://www.sendmeglutenfree.com/

Send Me Gluten Free is a monthly subscription service that introduces you to new gluten free products. You’ll get full-size and sample size food, personal care items, supplements and household products that support your gluten free lifestyle. 

Gluten Free and Allergy Friendly Expo (Worcester, MA July 25, 2015) - Part 2

As mentioned I attended the Gluten Free and Allergy Friendly Expo this past weekend.
Another class/lecture I attended was "Is My Medication Making Me Sick" by Tom Keogh, R.Ph.

You can go online or call the drug company to find out if your medication (both prescription and over the counter). Tom explained that the best way to find out if your medication contains gluten is to ask your pharmacist.

Ingredients in medications that can contain gluten (depending on source of ingredient)
• Caramel coloring
• Dextrins
• Dextomaltose
• Modified Starch
• Pre-Gelatinized Starch
• Pre- Gelatinized Modified Starch
• Sodium Starch Glycolate
• Tapioca and Wheat

Sugar Alcohol does not contain gluten but may feel like a gluten exposure

There are a couple of websites that you can do a search for your medication to find out if it contains gluten

1. Pillbox: http://pillbox.nlm.nih.gov/pillimage/search.php
2. Dailymed: http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/index.cfm

Gluten Free and Allergy Friendly Expo (Worcester, MA July 25, 2015) - Part 1

Over the weekend I attended the Gluten Free & Allergy Friendly Expo (http://gfafexpo.com/) in Worcester, MA. I thought it was great! I got to try so many products. Some I have seen and have been wanting to try. Some I have never heard of. There were so many vendors!! The expo goes to different locations. I would definitely recommend joining the mailing list and if it comes to your area, you should attend. You can also suggest cities for the expo to come to.

Not only were there a ton of vendors, samples and coupons, there were also a couple of very interesting classes/lectures.

My favorite class was "Gluten-Free Recipe Makeover" taught by Jilly Legasse. Jilly is the daughter of chef Emeril Lagasse, also she has celiac disease. She presented ways of making everyday recipes gluten free. Cooking and baking is trial and error as it is, gluten free is no different! It takes lots of batches and dishes to make the recipe just right!

Some of Jilly's suggestions include:

• Use sparkling water in place of any liquid to make your baking more fluffy
• Xanthum Gum – If you are baking something that calls for Xanthum Gum and it doesn't turn out as you want it, try using double the amount
• Using yeast or cream of tartar to make light and fluffy 
• For meatballs, in place of breadcrumbs, use Parmesan cheese

Jilly also has a website and she has written a couple of cookbooks with her sister. I am very interested in purchasing these:

Jilly Lagasse's Website: http://www.jillylagasse.com/

• "The Lagasse Girls' Big Flavor, Bold Taste--and No Gluten!: 100 Gluten-Free Recipes from EJ's Fried Chicken to Momma's Strawberry Shortcake"
• "The Gluten-Free Table: The Lagasse Girls Share Their Favorite Meals"

Jilly also recommended some other cookbooks by Nicole Hunn. I am also interested in checking these out.

Nicole Hunn's Website: http://nicolehunn.com/

• "Gluten-Free on a Shoestring: 125 Easy Recipes for Eating Well on the Cheap" 
• "Gluten-Free on a Shoestring, Quick and Easy: 100 Recipes for the Food You Love--Fast!" 
• "Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread: (Biscuits, Bagels, Buns, and More)"
• "Gluten-Free Classic Snacks: 100 Recipes for the Brand-Name Treats You Love (Gluten-Free on a Shoestring)"

Celiac Symptoms

Gluten Free Foods

Foods that contain gluten

COMMON FOODS THAT CONTAIN GLUTEN

 Barley (and anything with the word barley in it, such as barley malt)

 Beer (all types)

 Bleached flour

 Blue cheese (sometimes made with bread mold)

 Bran (also called wheat bran)

 Bread flour

 Bulgur

 Cake flour

 Communion wafers

 Cracker meal

 Croutons

 Couscous

 Durum

 Farina

 Farro

 Flour (this usually means wheat flour)

 Gluten, glutenin

 Graham flour

 Groats

 Kamut

 Malt (and anything with the word malt in it, such as rice malt, malt extract, or malt flavoring)

 Malt beverages

 Matzo

 Oats and oat bran

 Orzo

 Pasta (all varieties made with wheat, wheat starch, oats, barley, rye, or any ingredient on this list)

 Rye (and anything with the word rye in it)

 Seitan

 Semolina

 Soy sauce (check ingredients—it’s often made with wheat)

 Spelt

 Suet

 Tabbouleh

 Teriyaki sauce

 Triticale

 Triticum

 Unbleached flour

 Vital gluten

 Wheat (and anything with the word wheat in it, such as wheat grass, wheat berries, wheat germ,      wheat  starch; buckwheat is okay and is the only exception)

LESS COMMON FOODS AND FOOD ADDITIVIES THAT CONTAIN GLUTEN

 Abyssinian hard (a wheat product)

 Amp-isostearoyl hydrolyzed wheat

 Brewer’s yeast

 Cereal binding

 Cereal extract

 Dextrimaltose

 Dinkel

 Disodium wheatgermamido Peg-2 sulfosuccinate

 Edible starch

 Einkorn

 Emmer

 Filler

 Fu

 Granary flour

 Mir

 Udon (wheat noodles)

 Whole-meal flour

FOODS AND FOOD ADDITIVES THAT MAY CONTAIN GLUTEN

If a favorite food contains one of the following ingredients, contact the company and ask questions. Depending on the manufacturing process, these suspect ingredients can sometimes be gluten-free.

 Artificial color

 Artificial flavoring

 Bouillon cubes

 Brown rice syrup

 Caramel color

 Coloring

 Dextrins

 Dried fruit (may be dusted with wheat)

 Flavored coffee

 Flavored vinegar

 Flavoring

 Food starch

 Glucose syrup

 Gravy cubes

 Ground spices (wheat is sometimes added to prevent clumping)

 Hydrolyzed plant protein (HPP)

 Hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP)

 Maltodextrin

 Maltose

 Miso

 Modified food starch

 Modified starch

 Monoglycerides and diglycerides

 Monosodium glutamate (MSG)

 Mustard powder (some brands contain gluten; check ingredients)

 Natural flavoring

 Processed cheese (check ingredients)

 Processed meats (cold cuts, hot dogs, sausages, and canned meats that contain wheat, barley, rye,  oats,   gluten fillers, or stabilizers)

 Rice malt

 Rice syrup

 Seasonings (including powdered flavorings and dustings on chips, nuts, popcorn, rice mixes, and  rice  cakes)

 Smoke flavoring

 Soba noodles

 Starch

 Stock/bouillon cubes

 Surimi (imitation seafood)

 Textured vegetable protein (TVP)

 Vegetable starch

 Vitamins

Gluten Free Helpful Info

Thankfully, there are more and more items and brands that are gluten free. Some name brand items that are good are Chex, Tostitos, Boars Head, Hershey (most products). You can go on any of the manufacturer's website to get lists of what is gluten free.

If you want a decent burger or hot dog roll that doesn't crumble, I would suggest Udi's. For other bread products (sliced bread, rolls, bagels), I have found Udi's or Rudi's to be good. For either of the sliced bread, I would suggest toasting the bread.

You do need to keep the bread items frozen, so what I do is take out a few pieces and place in a Ziploc bag in the refrigerator to be defrosted when I want it. Most packaging for frozen bread products will state that once defrosted you must consume the product within 5 days for freshness.

Barilla has a good gluten free pasta. I have not tried any other brands. When I find something I like I usually stick to it.

Also, you can try using spaghetti squash. You cook it in the oven and when you scrap it out of the squash shell, it has the consistency of spaghetti. I would suggest adding a little extra sauce, but it is really good.

Also you can make a lasagna and replace the noodles with either zucchini or eggplant. I haven't tried this yet, but plan to sometime because it sounds good!!

As mentioned in the first post, a lot of products are trial and error. I try items when they go on sale because they can be expensive. You get half the product for twice the cost. There have been some that are gross (I am not a fan of Enjoy Life). And some that are very good (Kind, Evol, Amy's - just make sure it says gluten free as they also sell products that have gluten)

You can also download the app "Find Me Gluten Free" if you have an iPhone to search for restaurants that are or have gluten free.

It's a little tough at first to be gluten free, but once you get used to it, it's no big deal.

Also, if you have a Pinterest account, there are a ton of gluten free recipes on there!

And if you want to have the occasional treat with gluten, I found "Gluten Cutter". They are pills that help you digest gluten like Lactaid does with lactose. Recently CVS has started selling Gluten Cutter. DO NOT OVERDUE IT THOUGH!! I learned the hard way that if you take these, they work but need to still eat gluten in moderation!!

However if the doctor thinks he may have celiac disease, do not use these pills! 

Also, I would suggest cutting down on lactose, as intolerance for gluten can also mean you have lactose intolerance. Not sure of reasoning but they can go hand in hand.

I use either almond or coconut milk instead of regular milk. I get the vanilla flavor with reduced sugar for my cereal (in fact I now prefer it to regular milk). And I make my smoothies with coconut unsweetened milk. Since I use fruit in my smoothies (fresh and/or frozen) the fruit sweetens the smoothie.

I would suggest not to have soy milk. Soy can actually mess with your body more than do it good from some of the articles I have read online.

On last thing, you may be surprised but some medicine can contain gluten. Most name brand medicines are safe. It's the store brand ones you need to watch out for as they may use fillers that contain gluten to keep the cost down. Again, you can always check the website!

How I became Gluten Free

About a year ago, I started having stomach issues. I was nauseous for over two months. I went to the doctor and she ran tests that all came back negative, so I was sent to a specialist. I had a bunch of tests and an endoscopy. Every test came back as negative or normal. One of the tests that they ran was for celiac disease. My niece, Julia has celiac so I was somewhat familiar with it. When I did some research on it, I noticed I had a lot of the symptoms. When the celiac test came back as negative I was a little surprised. What was making me sick for over two months?

When I was talking to my niece, Laura, who is very knowledgeable in nutrition. She has taken classes and all natural is her way of life. She had mentioned that if it is not celiac then maybe I have an intolerance. The best way to find out if you have an intolerance to anything is to cut it out of your diet completely for a while and then reintroduce it.

I decided it was worth a try since the doctors were no help in finding out what is was.  I cut out gluten for a full month. I also took a natural, vegan, gluten free probiotic to aid in cleansing my system. (Green Vibrance - I found it at Wholefoods. You may be able to find it at any local health food store.)

I took the probiotic every day for the first week, then every couple of days and then down to once a week. I still take it but not as frequently. Mostly when I am feeling off balance digestively. 

About a week after I started the gluten free diet, I started feeling better. After the month was over, I decided to reintroduce gluten over a weekend in case it made me sick again. I reintroduced it and I felt sick again. 

Needless to say, I am gluten intolerant now. Finding gluten free foods at first is very hit and miss. Gluten free products I would try when they were on sale. Gluten free is more expensive and you don't get as much as. And to be honest, some of it is absolutely disgusting. But there are several brands that I have come across that you can't even tell they are gluten free.

Of course all fruits, vegetables and meats are naturally gluten free. Luckily, more and more companies are getting better about coming out with gluten free alternatives.