Best/worst gluten and dairy substitutes?

[OakLeaf]

I know that there's some controversy in the medical field about food allergies and histamine reactions, but as I understand it, it's really a definitional controversy. There's no question that many people have histamine reactions to many common foods; immunologists just quibble about whether it's truly an "allergy" in the technical sense of the word.

There's really no downside to just TRYING a challenge diet. It's a hassle for sure, but it will give you valuable information that you really can't get any other way (serum IgG yields lots of false positives, intracutaneous skin prick yields lots of false negatives, monitoring systemic reactions after subcutaneous injection just isn't that sensitive).

[KnottedYet]

Maybe I'm a big meanie for saying it right out loud, but here it is:

Some of us really like paying lots and lots of attention to what we eat and especially to what we don't eat.

Maybe it makes us more special.

I'm already special...

The only reason I talk about gluten intolerance/celiac when the topic comes up on the boards is because I have it, most of my family has it, and I've got years of experience dealing with it.

I don't talk about it this much in the real world, because quite frankly there's nothing more tedious than listening to a list of unrelated ailments. I do the listening all day with my patients.

Yes, folks who are focussed on their sensitivities and allergies like it's a hobby are a challenge sometimes. We all know the person who comes charging into a room, announces loudly to the whole room that someone is wearing a perfume that is setting off their allergies, oh noes they can feel their face swelling up, gonna have to take a pill, where's the water fountain, my goodness my allergies are sensitive... yadda yadda yadda. Then there's the person who calmly notices their situation, quietly slips a pill into their mouth, and no-one ever notices a thing.

[lph]

(...)
Both should avoid gluten.

There is absolutely NO benefit to avoiding gluten if you are genetically able to produce the gluten-digesting enzymes. In fact, such a person is missing out on a valuable protein source.

Thanks, Knot, that made a lot of sense. I don't know why these people I met avoid gluten. They're also trying to lose weight so maybe there's something there.

[malkin]

We made GF playdough with the kids yesterday at work!

It turned out great, and I didn't see anyone eating it (always a risk with the Kool-Aid variety). On a dare, I did take a taste of the mix and I regretted it for quite a few minutes.

1/2 C Rice Flour
1/2 C Cornstarch
1/2 C Salt
2 tsp Cream of Tartar
1 tsp oil
food coloring if you want something other than light yellowish
(This is actually why I ended up tasting it. A kid said it looked like milk, and I said I didn't think it would taste like milk, and the kid said it would be macaroni and cheese, and I said I didn't think so. He asked what it would taste like and I guessed that it would taste a lot like salt and he seemed interested, and then I tasted it, and I think the look on my face eliminated any interest he might have had in tasting it. Hey--just because he has autism doesn't mean he's stupid!)

Mix it all together and cook on low heat.
We ended up with a few burned spots in ours (I guess they really mean LOW heat), but they disappeared when we mixed them in.

[shootingstar]

Thanks, Knot, that made a lot of sense. I don't know why these people I met avoid gluten. They're also trying to lose weight so maybe there's something there.

Sounds like maybe they are confusing things abit ..that some high glycemic foods (such as bread) just happen to have gluten. Important not to oversimplify the world of food, especially whole food in weight control/loss diets.

[Trek420]

We all know the person who comes charging into a room, announces loudly to the whole room that someone is wearing a perfume that is setting off their allergies, oh noes they can feel their face swelling up, gonna have to take a pill, where's the water fountain, my goodness my allergies are sensitive... yadda yadda yadda. Then there's the person who calmly notices their situation, quietly slips a pill into their mouth, and no-one ever notices a thing.

And Knott's like that latter person. On dinners out or in with my family, everyone knows she does not eat wheat. Her motto is "there's always delicious food I can eat" and there always is. I end up thinking "why didn't I order that?"

[yamincornor]

One of the most difficult things about being diagnosed with Celioc is the negativity- our mind seems to run constantly on what we can't eat. We've found that one of the most helpful things that we can do for our self is to sit down and make a list about the things that we can eat. Some of the regular foods that we can still eat, without doing any gluten free baking at all. We have to try and then try it again and must not use a regular recipe by exchanging hours, Use recipes those are moist already , If we have any problems with lactose, use the recipes free from lactose including buttermilk rather than milk