Purchase Milled items from Dedicated Gluten-free Facilities

When newly diagnosed, it is tough to figure out what type of products you need to buy from a dedicated gluten-free facility.  I mean, not all products are processed in dedicated facilities, and not all need to be.

One quick rule of thumb is to highlight anything in your pantry that uses flour, or that could be processed with grains.  Flour lands on, gets stuck in, and coats whatever it falls on after it floats through the air, so if you have flour or grains being processed in the same plant as dried fruit or nuts, for instance, your dried fruit is not gluten-free. Facilities that process gluten-based grains, have a LOT of flour in the air.

So, the safest route is to purchase any and all gluten-free flour, and any item that could be milled from a dedicated, gluten-free facility and one that tests and is certified to less than 20 parts per million (ppm).  Bob's Red Mill, for instance, has two factories (watch their video about this), so make SURE to look for their "gluten-free" label.  They  process buckwheat, for instance, which is natrually gluten-free, but it is processed in their regular facility because they may not have been able to find a farming source that is gluten-free. Yes, cross contamination can happen on the farm.

This simply begins our research (sorry), it doesn't end there, because gluten is found in very surprising places, and is not always labeled properly.

Dedicated Dish Clothes

Another place for allergen cross contamination is the dish cloth and dish towel.  Buy new and keep them dedicated to your allergen-free dish washing needs.

Is Gluten Your Beast? When Testing the GF diet, make sure it is REALLY gluten-free

The Tender Foodie speaks to a lot of people about their diet, and their reactions to food. 

CLEAR GLUTEN REACTIONS: With some people it is really clear - as soon as they have a beer, or bread, or pizza - they feel sick or get swollen joints, they feel tired, or have a headache, a runny nose, bloating and other signs of intestinal distress like diahrea or constipation. 

NOT CLEAR GLUTEN REACTIONS: Others believe that they react to gluten, but when they remove it from their diets, they find no change in how they feel.  My first question to them is:  have you REALLY removed the gluten?  Check your beauty products, your medication (can have fillers), personal care products like lotions, lip balms and shampoos, read labels of food and supplements super judiciously for hidden ingredients... and check your toothpaste for inactive ingredients (you might have to call the company who makes your products). And don't cheat.  If you have an allergy to gluten, this is a no brainer.  But if you can "get away with it", your brain tends to tell you that it isn't much of a problem anyway - beacuse gluten is tasty as heck.. and its flippin' everywhere.

But that doesn't mean that you should eat the gluten if it is behaving in a beastly manner toward you.

HOW LONG?  It is not easy to remove gluten, but if that is your issue, you will be glad you tried it.  Some sources say to try it for 3 weeks, others for 3 months.  But it depends upon what's going on in your gut.  Some people feel better after 3 days, others, because of underlying issues or intestinal damage can take longer. 

And if gluten isn't your issue... you can rule something out before you get to the underlying cause of what is keeping you from your beautiful, thriving life. 

Gluten-free Fries? Maybe. Maybe Not.

French Fries are yummy.   But sometimes a little extra yummy is a wheat or corn flour coating.  Frozen potatoes (at home or in restaurants) can be coated with some kind of flour, and the corn flour they are coated with could have been processed wtih wheat flour.  Sigh. In addition (sign again), most restaurants use the same fryers for wheat coated chicken (etc.), as they do their french fries, so the flour gets on the naked potato. 

But don't be blue about your maize dunked potatoes.  There are several restaurants that have a gluten-free fryers. In Grand Rapids, The Blue Water Grill, some locations of Outback are a couple joints that accommodate french fry loving gluten-free folk. And some frozen products mark their taters as "gluten-free".  Read the labels and contact the company to find out more about their processing.

Do you have a favorite restaurant or brand that has truly gluten-free potato goodness?  Tell us.

Keep Gluten-free foods HIGH, and other foods LOW

Gluten-free tip: If living in a mixed household, great care needs to be taken to avoid cross contamination. Keep any gluten containing item in the pantry, for instance, low, and the gluten-free items high (or better each in completely separate cupboards). Crumbs can fall into food - when you close the pita chip bag for instance, when "real" bread is in the freezer above the ice cube trays, or the toaster is above any utensil drawer.