Hidden Ingredients

[Anonymous]

I’ve been soy, dairy, citrus and wheat/gluten for two months now. I feel like I’m starving all the time, and I have the worst craving for cheese, bread, butter and pasta. I’m so careful to read labels and check everything I eat, but Blake is still throwing up (but not as much). I’ve been eating bacon as a fat source, and I recently heard that that it contains wheat, although this is not listed as one of the ingredients on the package. This would explain why Blake threw up three times in one day after I ate the bacon. Then I tried to eat a can of tuna in spring water. I had no idea that there was vegetable broth in the can that was made with soybeans. I am so frustrated! Does anyone know if pepperoni is off limits too? I think it might have some type of dairy in it. My GI said that it’s normal for Blake to still throw up once in a while (even once a day), but I feel like it I must still be eating something that is off limits. Does anyone else have this issue?

[Anonymous]

bacon doesn’t have wheat in it unless it is listed on the ingredients—-since it is one of the top 8 allergens, it has to be listed on the ingredients. same with the tuna in spring water, there shouldn’t be any vegetable broth in it since it is packed in spring water—and if there is vegetabale broth in it with soy ingredients, it would have to be labeled because soy is also one of the top 8 allergens.

it is normal for reflux babies to throw up numerous times a day—regardless of treatment or diet.

tinkyada makes a really good brown rice pasta that we like to use—-you can’t even tell the difference from wheat pasta. this is our favorite kind to use, but we also use the rice pasta that you can get pretty inexpensively at alot of stores. it is stickier, but it tastes good.

kevieb2009-01-25 20:45:48

[Anonymous]

Hi Christine,

Thanks for the info. I shop at a gluten free specialty shop and the owner has been dealing with gluten/wheat issues her whole life. She told me that foods such as bacon and sausages are often a hidden source of gluten. She gave me a handout from the Dieticitians of Canada which lists some hidden sources. She said that the bacon often lists “flavoring” as an ingredient, and this is where the gluten/wheat is hidden. She said I have to look for bacon that actually says it’s gluten free. She’s had several stomach surgeries, and been on numerous medications, because of “hidden” ingredients. I asked her how you can ever really know if there is gluten in something, and she said that many times you can’t, and that’s why she gets sick.

I think I was unclear with my tuna comment. The tuna is in spring water, but the ingredients says vegetable broth (soybeans). It does list the soy, I was just surprised because I thought it was just tuna and spring water. I didn’t even think that I needed to be concerned about soybeans in there. I guess I was wrong.

I will definitely look for that brand of rice pasta. Thanks again for your help and insight.

[Anonymous]

US laws on labeling are different than canadian labeling laws. if a product is made in the united states, wheat HAS to be listed as an ingredient—-even if it is part of “flavoring”. it used to be that you could not trust certain things on labels such as: flavoring, modified food starch, caramel coloring—there are some others, but i can’t remember them off the top of my head. we no longer worry if we see any of these things listed on ingredient labels because the new labeling law went into effect in 2006. there should be nothing left on the shelves anymore that contains any of the top 8 allergens without it being declared on the ingredients list.

i have a friend with celiac disease, and she was still holding on to old information and had not kept up to date with the new things they were discovering about what is safe and what is not. when my girls were first diagnosed, i searched and searched for info so that i could keep my kids healthy. before long, one of my girls told me that i knew more about celiac than my friend did—-and she had been diagnosed for 8 years.

i think that sometimes the people who have been dealing with wheat and gluten problems for a long time fail to keep up with the most recent news and don’t realize what the new studies and labeling laws are. i am friends with another gal that was the first person in this area to be diagnosed with celiac, and she was still holding on to some old info. also, i have my kids blood tested on a regular basis, which will tell us whether or not we are getting any gluten in their diets. molly, who does not cheat on her diet, always has good blood work—-so i know we are keeping her gluten free. the twins are another story!!!! they were both cheating on their diets and had raised Ttg levels—which means they were eating gluten. kassie gets sick—which should help to deter her, but she still cheated anyway—her levels were 40-something. (20 and below was normal on the test that was used) tianna does not get sick, so there was nothing to stop her. tianna’s levels were through the roof—–204!! as of last testing, kassie was down to 21 and tianna was down to 40-something. they were both working at fast food establishments—-but not anymore.

products that come from outside of the united states are another story, since they do not have the same labeling standards that the US has—so you need to be more careful of those products. even before the labeling laws came into effect, modified food starch was more than likely to be made from sources other than wheat—so we had quit worrying about it.

i still occassionally buy something by accident that is not safe for the girls because i didn’t read a label.

i don’t mean to sound like a know-it-all, but i really put a lot of time into reasearching when my girls were diagnosed and i feel like i have a pretty good field of knowledge when it comes to avoiding wheat and gluten.

there are a couple of things that people get confused about, such as monosodiumglutamate—-it is gluten free, but doesn’t sound like it because of the “glutamate” part—(but it probably isn’t good for you anyway for other reasons). maltodextrine is also safe, but sounds like it might not be because of the “malt” at the start of the word. rice crispies are not safe because they use barley malt or “malt” flavoring. buckwheat sounds like it is a form of wheat, but it is actually a member of the grass family—–and don’t let anyone convince you that spelt is safe for a gluten free diet. some people that are allergic to wheat can tolerate it, but it contains gluten.

do you know if the owner of that store has ever been tested for celiac, or if she has just figured out that she has gluten/wheat issues by trial and error? it sounds like she might have something more going on with her health. there is no medication that will help with celiac if you accidentally get “glutened”—-except maybe to relieve the symptoms. also, celiac does not damage the stomach, it damages the small intestine, so there isn’t a stomach surgery that would help with it, either.

bette hagman has a book called “the gluten free gourmet bakes bread”. she gives a number of gluten free flour mixes in it and it has alot of different bread recipes. alot of the recipes have variations for various allergies, such as milk and egg. you might be interested in it since you have been craving bread! the basic featherlight bread is the first bread one of my twins tried baking. when it came out of the oven, i cut a piece and put butter on it while it was still hot. it tasted just like regular wheat bread fresh out of the oven—–i quit crying after that!

i wish we had a gluten free specialty shop near us—-i have to buy specialty gluten free products here, there, and on the internet. our health food store carries more products all the time, but they are a little higher priced. if you like the tinkyada pasta, you can order it in bulk through azure standard for a cheaper price. also, walmart specifically labels all of their store brand products that are gluten free. we also buy some of their things that are not specifically labeled, if the ingredients list looks safe—-and molly’s blood tests stay clean.

can you tell i took my meds a little while ago—–i have rambled on and on!!! i apologize ahead of time if anything i wrote sounds offensive—it is not intended to be that way.

[hellbennt]

jen: how are your babies stools and gas? I would look at this, more than throwing up, as a sign of what if anything you’re eating is effecting him- stools, gas and of course screaming in pain/having an ‘acid attack’ after nursing from you after it’s been 3 or 4 hours since you’ve eaten something that might’ve bothered him

[Anonymous]

Christine,

I e-mailed the woman I know to relay the information regarding the new labeling law. She still hasn’t gotten back to me, so that is why I haven’t posted anything. I’m just so confused about why she would tell me that because she is always researching and holding monthly support meetings for her customers. It just seems so strange that she would be so misinformed. I’m not doubting what you wrote, I’m just confused about why she still thinks there are hidden ingredients. I’m hoping to get a response from her soon.

Laura,

There hasn’t been any blood in his stools lately (according to testing by the GI). His stools are usually a mustard color (not green, and no mucous) but they never smell so great. He has gas sometimes, depending on the day. It just seems like if I eat certain things like anything with soy, he starts to throw up a lot, even if he doesn’t seem to be in pain. Then I ate the pizza (as I posted on Monday morning) and he was screaming for hours without throwing up at all. Strange.

[Anonymous]

jen, it is amazing what some people will believe, regardless of what the scientific info from new research actually says, maybe sometimes they just have a hard time letting go of old info.

on saturday i attended a class at our church that was supposed to be about using herbs as medicine in emergency situations. i was floored by the misconceptions and outright wrong things that these supposedly “knowledgeable” women told us. for the most part, i kept my mouth shut, but when one woman told everyone that it was alright to give their babies honey, i couldn’t keep quite. actually, several people objected, but after she told them that raw, pure honey cannot grow bacteria and that it is the honey that has been heated that is the problem, i pointed out that heating should kill bacteria and that botulism grows in oxygen free environments. i actually told the woman that i thought we should leave this one alone—-and then there was another woman who raised her hand and pulled the spiritual card saying we needed to pray about what is right for our own families. later, i did my research and learned that it is true that raw honey does not grow bacteria very well, BUT, it can contain the spores of botulism. when an infant ingests the spores, their body then provides the oxygen free environment, and the spores grow into botulism bacteria. the more i thought about it, the more angry i got over how irresponsible and dangerous the info was that that woman was giving out. she also told everyone that diabetes was a sugar allergy. i kept my mouth shut and didn’t tell her that it is actually an autoimmune disease. there were a couple of other things that were said that bothered me, also. near the end, one woman said,”can we do this every month?” kevin has already informed me that i cannot go to another herbal class if they have one—-i think he didn’t want to listen to me rant about it anymore!!!! i am already skeptical about these kind of things, but have considered maybe trying alternative things when i am really struggling with my fibro—-but listening to zealots just turns me off.

i would just like to be able to talk to someone who hasn’t crossed the “weird line” when it comes to this kind of stuff. i don’t really know where the weird line is, but i’m pretty sure there is one!LOL!

i know i got totally off subject here, sorry, i guess i am still ranting about the whole thing.

kevieb2009-02-05 01:21:36

[Anonymous]

Hi Christine,

That’s crazy! I can’t believe the things those women were saying. You really seem to know so much about this topic. Maybe you should hold your own meeting/class (seriously). I think it’s important to get the correct information out there. Now that I think about it, Blake didn’t act like he was sick when I ate the bacon, he just threw up a lot that day. Laura and Erin told me that throwing up is not the best sign that he is having trouble with something I ate (reflux babies just throw up). So maybe the bacon didn’t really bother him (regardless of the ingredients). I’m going with what you said…if the allergens are not listed in the ingredients, I am going to assume it’s safe (nothing hidden). Thank you so much for informing me.

[hellbennt]

christine: rant away!!! I know what you mean about the ‘weird’ line, LOL!

maybe that’s all of here, ROTFLOL!!!!

Jen: I think all that you’re doing is beyond GREAT!! whoa.

[Author]

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