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Gluten-Free Starting with Simple Baking. When I started learning about my daughter’s gluten-free sensitivity I decided to bake. A simple loaf of bread since I want to buy some ingredients to bake from scratch. I did buy a couple of different baking ingredients gluten-free flour, almond flour, cornmeal, etc. Then, I can make different things from French toast to a sandwich.

I found a very simple recipe. Unfortunately, once I mixed everything together and baked it the next day it gets crumbly. I couldn’t apply any types of spread on the bread. It was tough. I never knew without gluten it would make that big of a difference. And, the rice makes the bread crumbly. I attempted different recipes but they all seem to do the same thing. Maybe I need to try different types of flours. It was quite stressful how a simple loaf does not turn out the way I want it.

For now, I just buy my loaf from Costco they seem reasonable in price. I’ll attempt a loaf again at another time. At home, I mostly bake gluten-free breakfast items they really didn’t require non-crumbly texture or texture is not as important. I make banana chocolate chip muffin, banana loaf, pancake, cornbread, and quiche.

What I want to attempt the next time for gluten-free baking are blueberry breakfast oat bars. The recipe use gluten-free oats and gluten-free oat flour. I have never used oat flour before. It will be interesting to use something different.

In gluten sensitivity, health

Food With Gluten You Didn’t Know About

adminSeptember 17, 2018March 3, 2021Leave a comment

Food With Gluten You Didn’t Know About

There are everyday foods that you didn’t know that can contain gluten.

Gluten Product:

You might want to look more carefully at the ingredient list. Any product you purchase while doing your grocery shopping. You might be surprised what contains gluten.

Barley, Breading, Brewer’s yeast, Bulgur, Durum, Farro or Faro, Agraham Flour,

Hydrolyzed wheat protein, Kamut, Malt extract, Malt syrup, Malt flavoring or malt vinegar,

malted milk, matzo, matzo meal, modified wheat starch, oatmeal, oat bran, Oat flour,

Whole oats, Rye Bread and flour, Seitan, Semolina, Spelt, Triticale, Wheat bran, Wheat flour,

and Wheat Germ.

Products to Watch for Gluten

You might be surprised how almost everything you use contain gluten from sauce to seasoning.

Beer, Bread, Broth, Cereal, Cookie, Cracker, Chocolate, Flavored coffee,

and tea, Imitation bacon bits, medication, processed foods, Salad dressings,

Sausage, Marinades, Gravies, Seasoning, and Soy sauce.

Staying Gluten-free Can be Easy

Non-celiac intolerance does get easier. Some do get sensitive with slight gluten. Some do react badly with a larger amount of gluten. The best diet for someone with gluten sensitivity for a better health. It is best to eat gluten-free, vegetable, fruit, dairy, lean meat, fish, seafood, beans, and nut. With starch options, there are many choices. They are potato, corn, rice, soy, quinoa, millet, flax, chia, and nut flour. It is best to have fresh unprocessed food for a better health.

Household Products with Gluten

There are many manufacturing products you might not know that contain gluten. You will be surprised even non-edible can contain gluten. Wheat is an very important binding ingredient. The everyday products you use at home can contain hidden gluten you may ingest depending on what they are such as lip balm, toothpaste, mouthwash, products, etc.

In the beginning, it might be a lot to process to know what has wheat and what doesn’t. Over time, you will learn to know which products are safe to use. And you will learn which brands are safe for someone with gluten-free sensitivity.

In gluten sensitivity

How to Narrow Down Allergies

adminSeptember 7, 2018March 2, 2021Leave a comment

How to Narrow Down Allergies

My daughter reacts to gluten products and now she might be sensitive to something else. My Doctor told me to keep a food diary to write down everything my daughter is eating to narrow down what is reacting to. I didn’t really know how to approach this unknown allergy my daughter might have. I found a diet online to help me determine what my daughter might be allergic to the elimination diet.

What could this elimination diet do

What you do is to remove foods you have a sensitivity to. And you reintroduce them to your body, later on, to watch for how your body reacts to the food.

How to Get Started with the Diet

When you test your body’s reaction to the food your body might cause bloating, rash, and itch. Once you find out what you are allergic to you can avoid that item.

Step 1

For two to three weeks, you remove the item you think might have a negative reaction to. You remove items people tend to be allergic to such as nuts, corn, soy, dairy, citrus fruits, nightshade vegetables, wheat, food with gluten, pork, eggs, and seafood.

Stage 2

What you do next is to re-introduce the food you avoid for two to three weeks. You have one item at one time for 2-3 days to watch how you would react to the item. Some of the symptoms could be skin reaction or rash, joint pain, headaches, feeling tired, trouble sleeping, issue with breathing, bloating, stomach pain, and bowel habits.

Things to Avoid During the Elimination Stage

Starchy foods: Avoid wheat, barley, corn, rye, oats and, bread. Avoid gluten products.
Meat and fish: Avoid processed meats like cold cuts, beef, chicken, pork, eggs, and shellfish.
Fats: Avoid butter, margarine, hydrogenated oils, mayonnaise, and spreads
Sugar and Sweets: Avoid sugar (white and brown), honey, maple syrup, corn syrup, and high-fructose corn syrup, agave nectar, desserts, and chocolate.

I am going to try this elimination diet on my daughter to determine what she is allergic to.

In gluten sensitivity

Restaurant with no gluten-free options

adminSeptember 3, 2018March 2, 2021Leave a comment

Restaurant with no gluten-free options

It can be stressful eating out when not all restaurants have gluten-free options. It can give you anxiety. Some restaurants are more careful with the gluten-free options such as those part of the GIC Gluten-free Food Services Certification Program. They are detailed and prevent any cross- contaminations. Unfortunately, not all restaurants are as careful.

Some Suggestions for Dining Out

Restaurants with no gluten-free menu. You can have a plain potato instead of a fried potato. You can let the server know of your allergy to gluten and ask the server or chef to cook with a new pan to prevent cross contamination.

Smartphone Application

There are applications to make gluten-free living easier. This application either help you while grocery shopping by allowing you to search for items gluten-free or contains any gluten free or non-gluten ingredient. Also, it allows you to find restaurants with a gluten-free menu.

Smartphone Application for Shopping

Fooducate helps to scan an item to see what ingredients are in each product.
Scanglutenfree.com finds a product that has gluten by scanning the product barcode.
Gardenbaysoftware.com contains a large database of gluten-free products.

Smartphone Application for Eating Out

Glutenfreetravelsite.com is a review of restaurants people from the US and worldwide of gluten-free restaurants
Findmeglutenfree.com helps to find gluten-free options when dining out and it is linked to the restaurants’ menus. You can view the menus before visiting the restaurants.

Dining Out with Different Types of Cuisine

Cuisine:

Mexican

Mexican is a great gluten-free option mostly the food is made of corn. Or this cuisine contains mostly beans. Do avoid the flour tortillas when having a fajita.

Japanese

Japanese is made of mostly sushi rolls. It is safe to have seaweed and rice. The better gluten-free choice and healthier option to have brown rice instead of white.

Thai

Thai food is made of rice noodle and rice. The only thing to watch for is the dishes contains fish sauce rather than soy sauce.

Indian

The dishes contain mostly protein and vegetable. The dishes are mostly eaten on rice. Do avoid Naan bread, it is not gluten-free. There is wheat in naan bread. Just be careful with the sauce.

You can eat at various restaurant with different cuisines but there are little things to watch out for when trying to eat gluten-free.

In gluten sensitivity

More About My Daughter’s Gluten Free Sensitivity

adminAugust 10, 2018March 2, 2021Leave a comment

More About My Daughter’s Gluten Free Sensitivity

The gluten sensitivity was new to me, I had looked at it in the past. A friend of mine has gluten sensitivity. I had learned a little about it, but I didn’t go too in depth into it. I didn’t know what to feed my daughter. I didn’t know what to cook for her. I didn’t know what are the changes I had to make at home. Do I need to completely change my way of cooking? I was definitely overwhelmed.

Now, Looking back to the past several weeks, it all makes sense all the symptoms my daughter was showing. My daughter’s tummy was bloated often and she was gassy. I thought she was sensitive to certain starchy food. Char had a terrible rash on her bum. I was trying to figure out why she kept on scratching her bum. We were using a natural detergent so it shouldn’t have been the clothes or the detergent. There are times where it gets really bad. The only thing I can do is discourage her from scratching and constantly apply ointment. The day after Char’s doctor’s appointment she had a nose bleed which was another symptom. In the past, Char did have constipation, but I thought she was not eating enough vegetable. Also, recently she has been sucking her thumb probably due to she not feeling well due to her body had trouble digesting the gluten. This all seems to make more sense now. Char had gluten sensitivity and her body knows it. It is good to find out early on Char has gluten sensitivity to switch her to a proper diet. I would need to completely change my way of cooking and buy gluten-free products. I do find this a little stressful. At the end of the day, it is better to know than not know.

List of Symptoms for Gluten sensitivity:

bloating
diarrhea and constipation
abdominal pain
headaches
feeling tired
skin problem
depression
unexplained weight loss
iron deficiency
anxiety
autoimmune Disorders
joint and muscle pain
leg or arm numbness
brain fog