|
NW Iowa | I thought I would start my own little informative (to me) post in regards to the post below about the organic food craze. To start out, neither my wife or I belong to the organic club if I can call it that. We both believe we are just as healthy eating GMO derived food grown with chemical herbicides and fertilizers as we would be eating organic. Gluten should not affect the large majority of the population either.
However, we do have a gluten problem, my wife has Celiac disease, an auto immune disease kicked up by minute amounts of gluten in anything she breathes in, puts in her mouth or applies to her skin. I am gluten intolerant, not as bad as my wife but I do have to read labels. We are among a minority who is healthier by far staying away from gluten. You can google celiac disease if you are interested.
Most folks would wonder how beef can be labeled as gluten free and until my wife and I were afflicted we thought the same way. Why should good old beef be labeled gluten free when it doesn't contain gluten? Well, it can indeed contain gluten in very small amounts if the cattle are fed wheat or barley. It's a minute amount but for a very sensitive person it can cause a small reaction. The main gluten culprit in beef comes from what is injected into the beef in the preparation stages. The other day I bought a pound of sliced beef at the super market. I watched the lady slice it off, nice pure beef. My wife made a sandwich with it and her arm almost immediately broke out with purple splotches. I too had a sandwich and the next morning I was in the bathroom more than once. The meat counter folks at the super market puts a label on the package listing the ingredients and after reading the label sure enough, maltodextrin derived from wheat was injected into the meat. We are so careful but we still get caught sometimes.
Breath mints can contain gluten. One time my wife broke out fifteen minutes after popping a breath mint in her mouth. Antacids can contain gluten, toothpaste can contain gluten, skin creams can contain gluten, when we buy yogurt we have to be very careful to read the label because most yogurts contain gluten. I love yogurt but I have few choices to choose from at the super market.
We have found that even though a food is labeled gluten free it might not be completely gluten free. Only foods with the little universal gluten free circular stamp are truly gluten free and that stamp can be hard to find on a label. My wife called a major food company, asking about a certain food, if it was truly gluten free even though it was labeled gluten free but without the official stamp. She was told foods labeled gluten free can contain a certain small percentage of gluten if the label doesn't have the official gluten free stamp. That small amount of gluten is enough to set off a person with Celiac.
We can all find a study somewhere to support our beliefs. I read a study that claimed gluten free people tend to gain weight because the body goes into a defensive mode derived from a lack of certain nutrients. My wife and I can personally attest this study is not true but I had to throw it out there anyway. OK, I'm off my soapbox.
| |
|
Gluten free
