Ask Your Gluten-Free Questions! - Part 2
Dec 16 2009

Are Pickles, Mayo and Mustard Gluten-free?

Condiments in general seem to stump some people on the gluten-free diet due to some old information about vinegar floating around online. Several years ago, vinegar was finally proven to be gluten-free as long as it was 1) not made from malt vinegar and 2) it was distilled. Malt vinegar is made from barley. It is not distilled and it is not gluten-free. It is not true that only apple cider vinegar is gluten-free.

Most pickles, mayos and mustards are made with vinegar. The vinegar is often distilled from gluten grains and the distillation process renders it gluten-free. Since this news is less than ten years old, you can find online warnings about vinegar containing gluten all day long. That is why I highly recommend people on this diet for health reasons invest in Shelley Case’s book on the subject.

Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide is exactly that – a truly factual, comprehensive guide regarding all things related to the gluten-free diet. The book covers ingredients, hidden gluten, products and labeling laws in the U.S. and Canada. There is a section explaining what nutrients one eating a gluten-free diet might be deficient in and how to rectify that. There is a listing of gluten-free stores and 100% gluten-free restaurants – yes, a few do exist!

It’s very hard for people to learn this diet and lifestyle and it does not help when so much incorrect or outdated information will just not go away. Instead of trusting someone on a message board who tells you that you have to drink potato vodka (not true, by the way), why not go directly to the most trusted guide about this challenging to learn diet? Shelley’s book is the best investment anyone can make when trying to learn the many intricacies of this diet.   

Generally speaking, pickles are gluten-free but label reading is required with those and all products not marked gluten-free. There are some mustards that list wheat as in ingredient. They tend to be high end gourmet products and there are only a few of them, but they do exist. French’s, Heinz and Hellman’s make some gluten-free mustards but at last check, only Hellman’s was labeled gluten-free. Hellman’s mayo is also labeled gluten-free. Most mayos in the stores are gluten-free but you can find homemade mayos in restaurants that can contain gluten. Don’t ask how they get gluten into the mayo but they do it somehow. As always, READ the labels of every product you buy that is not labeled gluten-free.

References: Gluten-Free Diet: A Comprehensive Resource Guide, Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic.

Have a question about the gluten-free diet that we haven’t covered yet?  You can now submit your questions here! (Note: All medical questions should be directed to your physician)

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Dec 15 2009

Can Celiac be Misdiagnosed as IBS?

YES! Not surprisingly, several readers recently sent in this question. This is likely due to the fact that Dr. Oz’s popular TV show aired a show (or part of one) about celiac disease last week. Though there were some glitches in the celiac segment, most of the information shared was factual. All of the information shared by Dr. Peter Green of the Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University was completely accurate, of course. Dr. Green’s book “Celiac Disease: A Hidden Epidemic” should be required reading for every doctor in this country. 

When Dr. Oz’s guest, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, mentioned that for years she’d been diagnosed with IBS many years prior to her finding out she actually had celiac disease instead, internet Google searches about celiac lit up the world wide web – at least in the U.S. The day after the show aired Google reported an increase of over 360% for the term celiac disease. That is fantastic news! Think of the millions of Americans suffering with IBS who are getting very little, if any, relief from their IBS medications. Hopefully, anyone who fits that profile and missed Dr. Oz’s celiac show has a friend that saw it who will tell them about it.

Also of note on the show, was an important comment Dr. Green made about fertility issues. He mentioned that many times he sees celiac patients that are about to undergo fertility treatments but he suggests they wait to see if they are able to get pregnant after starting the gluten-free diet. Dr. Green said that in some cases, the person is pregnant in a year or so. Do you know how much money fertility treatments cost? Do you know how many fertility treatment centers routinely test patients for celiac? Less than 10% of them do even though in Dr. Green’s book, he explains that roughly 10% of people who have fertility issues might have problems with celiac or gluten intolerance.

The list of celiac symptoms is long (read the Celiac-Disease.com post about them here) but possibly two of the most overlooked health problems that can be directly related to celiac or gluten intolerance are IBS and infertility. If you think you might have issues with gluten, take the symptoms checklist test on the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness website. It’s free and only takes a few minutes to complete.

Due to the publicity about celiac that Dr. Oz’s showed generated last week, this is a great time to be a Gastroenterologist in the U.S. For those of us who’ve been around the gluten-free block so to speak, keep in mind that the more people that follow the gluten-free diet, the more food options we’ll have. As with anything – even big screen TV’s – more product options bring lower prices overall. The gluten-free diet should not be viewed as either a weight loss diet or something to undertake lightly. But for the 95% or so undiagnosed people with celiac, a gluten-free diet is most certainly called for.

Have a question about the gluten-free diet that we haven’t covered yet?  You can now submit your questions here! (Note: All medical questions should be directed to your physician)

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Dec 14 2009

How Do I Explain to My Friend that I Can’t Go Off My Diet for the Holidays?

Great question! In the beginning of someone’s gluten-free journey, they might need six months to a year to learn their new diet. All things considered, how can they expect those around them to understand the intricacies of this challenging lifestyle? It is actually quite common for friends and family members to say things like “you’re not going to stay on your diet during the holidays are you?”, as happened to the person who had this question. You might come across a well meaning church member that comments “surely one little cookie isn’t going to kill you” Of course one little cookies won’t kill you (unless you have a wheat allergy) but untreated celiac can actually lead to some cancers, including non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. One could argue that eating gluten can eventually kill someone who can’t tolerate gluten.

First of all, consider that as hard as this new lifestyle is for you, it’s also a little hard on the people in your life. Think about it for a moment. Many of our social interactions with others involve food. For some people almost all their social activities revolve around food. Then one day you can’t eat what you always have and that means you can’t eat the food that others love to share with you. As odd as it sound, this can be taken as an insult by some of those people. All you’re trying to do is keep from getting sick and a dear friend is upset with you because you won’t try her lasagna at a party. Sounds crazy right? It does to me too, but since I’ve lived it myself, I know it happens way more often than it should.

Take yourself out of the equation for a minute and think about what is really going on. You are in effect, changing how you interact with friends, family members and even co-workers. Your new diet is being imposed on others in a way, even though they can eat anything they want to. Even something as simple as your annual goodie swap can create problems between you and long time friends. Do you remember when Coke introduced New Coke? It didn’t go over well and the company eventually killed New Coke. The company spent millions of dollars creating and rolling out the new product but they didn’t take a very important fact into consideration. People in general don’t like change, period. This applies to all types of change, including you changing your diet and therefore changing how you relate to other people in your life.

More often than not, friends and family will eventually come around and warm up to your new gluten-free life. It might take some people a while to get with the program, but if they care about you enough to be included in your life, they will figure out a way to respect your needs. Consider that if someone you know is extremely unhealthy and maybe food is in large part contributing to their own health problems. How do you think it makes them feel to see you taking your health seriously while they continue to do things that contribute to their own poor health? It might make them feel pretty bad about themselves. Try to have some sympathy for them and maybe the relationship will survive. It also might not last. By the tenth time you’re invited to someone’s home and it’s made clear to you that there will be nothing for you to eat, you might want to evaluate the relationship and decide if it’s worth saving or not. One thing is for sure – you should not be made to feel bad, guilty or like a nuisance just because you can’t eat gluten. Anyone who makes you feel those things is someone who needs a serious attitude adjustment themselves.

Have a question about the gluten-free diet that we haven’t covered yet?  You can now submit your questions here! (Note: All medical questions should be directed to your physician)

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Dec 11 2009

Where Can I Find a Gluten-free Pie Crust?

There are several ready-made gluten-free pie crusts on the market. Gillian’s makes a crust which is sold at Whole Foods and many health food stores around the country. Gluten-Free Bakehouse, a Whole Foods brand (only sold at Whole Foods), also makes a gluten-free pie crust. Like most ready-make gluten pie crusts, the ready-made gluten-free crusts are stocked in the freezer case at the store.

The very best tasting crusts are generally made from gluten-free baking mixes. Our favorites are Pamela’s Pancake and Baking Mix, Gluten-Free Pantry and Breads by Anna. Pamela’s mix contains almond flour so people with nut allergies would want to avoid that product line. Almond flour tends to bake quite similarly to wheat flour in many recipes. The Pamela’s and Gluten-Free Pantry pie crust mixes both yield excellent tasting gluten-free crusts.

The mix from Bread by Anna is unlike any other gluten-free pie crust mix we’ve found because it does not contain any rice flour. There is no difference in the taste of the Breads by Anna crust, compared to gluten crusts. In fact, everyone I’ve served it to agrees that the crust is much better than the Pet Ritz gluten crusts I used in the past. It’s kind of exciting when you find out that one of your gluten-free replacement foods is better than the gluten version you ate before going gluten-free!

Omit the sugar when making one of the above pie crust mixes to make a crust for quiche or other savory dishes. We prefer the Pamela’s Products ‘easy pie crust’ recipe sans sugar for quiche crusts. The Pamela’s website also offers a savory crust recipe to use with their excellent Gluten-Free Cornbread mix.

An easy way to make gluten-free pie crusts is to use crushed gluten-free cookies and butter (or butter substitute). There are tons of such recipes on the Recipe Zaar website and you just sub out gluten-free cookies for the gluten cookies the recipes call for. Pamela’s Ginger Snapz and Trader Joe’s gluten-free ginger cookies both make perfect pie crusts. Jo-sef Gluten-Free, The Grainless Baker, Kinnikinnick and Sunny Valley Wheat Free all make gluten-free graham crackers. Those work great for cheesecake and other pies. Kinnikinnick K-Toos are perfect for making cookies-n-cream  pie crusts.

Before I really got into gluten-free baking, I often made crustless quiche and pies. You can bake most pie fillings in individual ramekins, which hold slightly less than one piece of pie – in a round form. This works well for apple pie, pecan pie and cold pies like key lime and coconut. Happy holiday baking everyone!

Have a question about the gluten-free diet that we haven’t covered yet?  You can now submit your questions here! (Note: All medical questions should be directed to your physician)

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Dec 10 2009

Are There Any Gluten-free Pound Cakes?

Ener-G makes a gluten-free version of pound cake. It’s really more of a small loaf cake and is sold in some stores and online. I’ve heard good things about the product, but have not personally tried it myself. The only store I’ve seen it in was Mother Earth in Ocala, FL, but it’s sold in many other places as well. Check the Ener-G website for availability details.

The absolutely best pound cakes we’ve tried are made from mixes. Sylvan Border Farm and 123 Gluten Free both make exquisite gluten-free pound cake mixes. The Sylvan Border Farm cake is actually called lemon cake but it makes a bundt cake sized lemon pound cake. 123 Gluten Free pound cake also had a hint of lemon flavor. Both of these cakes are indistinguishable from gluten containing cakes!  

Sylvan Border Farm products are sold in some health foods stores and online. Recently the company was sold but the new owners are set up to fulfill orders, after a brief suspension while the business was for sale. 123 Gluten Free products are sold online, at some grocery stores (Kroger, for one) and many health food stores, including Return to Eden in Atlanta.

The odd thing about the cakes made from Sylvan Border Farm and 123 Gluten Free is that the pound cakes hold up really well for several days. This is certainly not the case with many gluten-free cakes we’ve made. Most are best if eaten the day they are made or the day after, at the very latest.  

Several gluten-free cook books offer pound cake recipes, though most of them will call for three to six (or more) flours. By the time all those flours are purchased, one could just buy a mix instead. It’s seems that only die hard gluten-free bakers enjoy buying, blending and storing all those flours. Thankfully, for the rest of us, the amazing mixes from both Sylvan Border Farm and 123 Gluten Free make is easy to have gluten-free pound cake good enough to serve the most finicky glutenoids we know!

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