Dumb, Da-dumb-dumb

Please note that the following statements only apply to me and may not apply to your specific situation or some other CYA statement as such. Consult your doctor or healthcare provider before reading, because your doctor knows the ins and outs of cross-contamination at every company and whether the products are appropriate for you, yada, yada.

Things I've learned in the past week:

1. Don't eat Lundberg Rice Chips unless you aren't very sensitive. (Now I'm going to get scathing emails from their marketing people... but I'll refer them to the forums at celiac.com for more info.) I finally figured this out after I had nothing to eat for an entire afternoon and evening but these and an apple.

I know I might be intolerant of fructose, but seriously, chips=death. I actually made the connection over the past few weeks, it was only too obvious looking back, only to be confirmed by numerous people on the forums. Sigh. Goodbye, salsa.

2. Don't restock your spice cabinet until you know the spices are absolutely safe. For example, I could have sworn that I had seen a GF claim for Simply Organic spices on their website awhile back when I first discovered their cake mix (Pumpkin cake... Mmmm...). I made a mental note to buy some if I ever came across them. I bought three different spices the other day- chili powder, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper.

I made beef stew in my Crock Pot last night and it needed some flavor, so I threw in a handful of each. I also threw in some questionable bay leaves (I thought- it's a leaf. How much can you really process it?).

You know where I'm going with this, right? I was SO tired immediately after eating it for lunch today. Part of that may have been from the 5 gallons of blood I had drawn today (taking bets on my tTG antibody, I'm guessing high!), but that doesn't cause fatigue AND DH... Crap-ola.

So I emailed them today and got your typical email back, which I will post here for your reference. Who knows whether it was actually their stuff or the dumb bay leaves. Either way, I have a huge container of beef stew sitting in my fridge, awaiting rot, and nothing to eat for lunch tomorrow. What a crock. (heh, heh)

Thank you for your inquiry. Frontier is not an allergen free facility, thus
we do not state that any of our products are allergen free. We follow
strict GMPs (Good Manufacturing Practices) to minimize the potential for
cross-contamination, but do not test for the presence of allergens in our
final products.
Gluten is present in our facility, so we are not able to state positively
that our products are gluten-free. We do have full ingredient disclosure on
our products.

However, we have just added a few products (baking mixes) to our line that
are now gluten free.  Our baking mixes are in an area that is enclosed.
The area is scrubbed down before blending and no other products are blended
at the time the baking mixes are being packaged.  They test before and
after blending for the presence of gluten.  The list of mixes are below.

Item #  18933 – Organic Banana Bread Mix
Item #  18934 – Organic Carrot Cake Mix
Item #  18935 – Organic Chai Spice Scone Mix
Item #  18936 – Organic Cocoa Biscotti Mix
Item #  18938 -  Organic Cocoa Cayenne Cupcakes
Item #  18940 -  Organic Fudge Brownie Mix
Item #  18941-  Organic Pancake/Waffle Mix


Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.  If there is anything else we
can assist you with, please let us know. Have a great day !!

Thank You,

Deb Strong
Customer Care

3. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY, it probably has something useful to tell you! I always thought that people who said stuff like this were quacks. Honestly.

Something I have learned the hard way- if I don't feel like eating it, DON'T. I have had this happen countless times (ONE glutening, ha ha ha, TWO glutenings, ha ha ha... crash of thunder... maybe I'll enlist The Count's help on this one).

Anyway, I make food and possibly suspect gluten after eating it. I eat the leftovers later and WHAM, I'm instantly re-glutened. Sudden fatigue, even the DH flares in the blink of an eye. It's like my body knows what it just got itself into. I promise it isn't all in my head, either. Sometimes, I do force myself to eat leftovers.

Internal dialogue:

But it can't have gluten in it, I checked all the ingredients!

Sure it can. Have you not heard, all things are possible with Gluten.

But, I made it from scratch!

Did you really? I didn't see you make the chicken broth from scratch.

But, it says GF right on it!

Really? How long have you been doing this? Shouldn't you know better?

But I can't just throw out perfectly good food!

When you feel nauseous just thinking about eating the leftovers, even if they tasted fine, perhaps you should just leave it alone, you cheapskate. Wouldn't you pay $10 and deal with being wasteful to avoid a glutening? Yes? That's what I thought.

[End scene]

Ok, I see you yawning. Need to wrap this up. I am learning. It is just an awkwardly slow, surprisingly painful process. I was starting to feel better as of this AM, but I'm now back to where I was. Ugh. Must stop being dumb. Amen.

Fructose.... Hmm...

Went to a new doctor this week. Wasn't sure how it would go. Told her most of my story, she wants to do some labwork, it was exactly what I expected, big surprise. The part I didn't expect was that she didn't offer that any of my continued symptoms might be from other food intolerance. I asked whether they may be, and she mentioned (of course) lactose intolerance. Yeah, pretty much figured that one out after ice cream consistently made me quite balloon-like.

The one I wasn't expecting was fructose intolerance. There isn't a whole lot of information to be found, and she certainly didn't offer more info, but it is an interesting prospect. I'm pretty much convinced that I do have issues on and off with lactose, and all the time with soy and high amounts of sulfites, but fructose? How would that possibly manifest?

Looking back, maybe that is why my apple was left in the bottom of my lunch bag every day last week. Or why I have a perfectly good organic pineapple rotting away in my fridge. Or why the thought of a banana makes my stomach churn...

Or something else that I probably shouldn't make public, although I will anyway (pardon the graphic-ness). Why when I run to the bathroom with ED (clearly not erectile dysfunction, but my abbrev. for explosive D) does it often smell like rotten fruit? Seriously, I know that is gross, but I always wondered why?!

Fructose- are we not friends anymore? Do I have to cross yet another perfectly acceptable GF option off my list?

I had a waffle this morning (Thanks, Pamela!) with blueberry "syrup". Seems ok so far... tasted spectacular. I'll post my recipe probably around the time I post my secret easy mac and cheese recipe!

I'll post any good EBM (evidence-based medicine) articles on fructose intolerance as I find them. There must be some if I found out about it at a large teaching hospital.

Hmmm... I say...