Gluten Free Environment

Creating Understanding about your diet in those around you

A Gluten Free Diet requires many lifestyle and household changes. Often the hardest thing to overcome is the misunderstanding of those around you. People with this condition are not faking, just because they don't have such an immediate reaction like those with a peanut allergy for instance, does not mean their life is not threatened by the wrong foods. In some the reaction is almost immediate, the malaise is just only apparent to themselves. In others, the damage is done almost imperceptibly a little at a time. Often by the time a person is actually diagnosed, this damage has already progressed to a critical stage.

Symptoms also differ between people, some are exceptionally thin due to not being able to absorb nutrients properly, some are puffy and appear obese because foods are not properly digested, they are in fact starving, though they don't look like it. Their bodies are holding onto whatever food they can assimilate!

Some symptoms make the person feel ill, are very noticeable to them and others, some symptoms are less noticeable and some people it has been learned recently have very few symptoms or are called asymptomatic until a trigger, like too much gluten or stress can trigger a full blown case.

Patience and understanding is very much needed both by the person and those around them. One mother who had taken her child off gluten for three weeks and noticed a great deal of change, asked if one of the symptoms like, clearing the throat because of too much mucous was now only a habit and should be treated accordingly. Alas, the child was most likely not doing this out of habit, it takes much longer to actually heal. This clearing of the throat, sort of a gagging sensation of too much mucous all of a sudden is one way my husband knows he has been accidentally 'glutened' and must go into treatment mode again.

People whom we have talked to have begun with symptoms such as eating a piece of bread and then having to sleep for a few hours. The mucous catching in the throat, that little cough, making you feel like you are choking. Swollen hands and feet, arthritic-like pains in joints, and intestinal problems and either diarrhea or constipation. Depression, brain fog, ….There are as many as 300 symptoms, and associated illnesses occurring when the diet is not regulated.

We don’t want to dwell too long on all these negatives though, it is important to get yourself back to your happy self, healthy, active, living a full life. Astoria Mills would like to help you get there!

Someone Gluten Free is coming for Dinner!

Preparing a gluten-free meal for a friend is not impossible it just takes a little more care. Special care should be taken to avoid contamination with products which contain gluten. Prepare foods away from gluten containing foods, use only dedicated prep tools and work surfaces. You can use parchment paper to prepare or cook on if you do not have a dedicated area.

You cannot just pick the wheat croutons out of the salad and expect it to be ok!

Preparation should be done on very clean, sterilized surfaces, utensils, pots and pans. Items should be cooked separately from those containing gluten. Even cooking something in the same oil as a wheat/gluten item will cause contamination. Appliances such as toasters that come in direct contact with foods can cause contamination. As can happen in a mixed gluten/gluten free household when dipping into the jam jar.

There are plenty of safe items in the Gluten Free Diet. Let’s concentrate on the positive side of things. Many will tell you all about what you cannot have on a gluten free diet, Astoria Mills,  Health & Nutrition book, by Trina Astor-Stewart,  the Encyclopedia contains hundreds of foods and their nutritional values, that you can eat!

Continue to Gluten Free Safe Foods and those to avoid