GlutenFreeSpot.com » Celiac Information

Importance of a Dedicated Facility

Eric — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:41:41 +0000

Here is a video from Youtube that shows how a company that offers a dedicated Gluten Free facility made this facility happen. This video shows the tear down and gluten decontamination of waffle equipment purchased by Kinnikinnick Foods.

Importance of Dedicated Gluten Free Facilities & Equipment

Firefly Vokda Confirmed Gluten Free

Eric — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:18:20 +0000

There was an event for Mardi Gras in Eugene last night and Firefly’s Sweet Tea Vokda was promoting it for their drink specials and I was curious to see if their vodka was Gluten Free. A fifth of this vodka is about $20. After some research I found a very good post on Celiac.com.

Here is the set of e-mails that were posted:

Here is the response from our chemist:

To: Namelss

Thank for your interest in Firefly products. My name is Truman Cox and I a chemist for Firefly Distillery. To the best of our knowledge, the distillation does remove or denature the proteins and gluten associated with the starting grains in the vodka. The vodka used for our Firefly Tea products comes from corn. The flavors we use do not contain the allergens listed in the FALCP act which are wheat, milk, tree-nets, peanuts, shellfish, fish, eggs, or soy.

We have had many requests by celiac patients and have never heard of an adverse reaction to our products. As I am sure you know, please check with your doctor before consuming any alcohol products.

Truman Cox

Dan
Dan Williams
Director of Sales – Pennsylvania
THE SAZERAC COMPANY

====================

From: Sc’Eric (aka sc’Que)
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 3:49 AM
To: Scott Newitt
Cc: Dan Williams
Subject: [Fuji & Jade] Firefly: gluten content?

Scott~

Question for you… I have customers who have concerns related to gluten intolerance / Celiac disease. While it is generally understood that most caramel colouring and maltodextrin in the US are produced from corn, the recent trend toward corn-based ethanol fuels has spawned a resurgence in wheat-based sweeteners and colouring agents. I have also posited that since Firefly distills its own wheat, yes?, that it is entirely possible that you may produce your own caramel colouring from that wheat.

Celiac disease is a condition that ultimately results in malnourishment due to an auto-immune response to wheat, barley and rye glutens. Ingestion (even in seemingly negligible quantities) can lead to immediate intestinal damage that takes weeks to repair, and perhaps longer for gluten build-up to be removed. While this is occuring, you are essentially starving while eating hearty meals: you become anemic. If left unchecked, you risk permanent damage to the intestines, liver and limbic systems. The only trusted treatment at this time is to completely remove gluten from the diet.

And while distillation does seem to remove gluten from the final product, the addition of dextrins and colouring agents prior to bottling could mean the difference between a night of enjoyment and several weeks of illness.

Can you please confirm whether Firefly is a gluten-free product? Depending on how your faciliy is laid out, this would also necessarily include the possibility of cross-contamination of the final product with any of the initial wheat ingredients via airbourne dust.

Regardless of your response, rest assured that Firefly will remain in popular repute in our establishment due to it’s quality flavour and smoothness. It may may also behove you to include this information on your website for the 1 in 150 persons estimated to have gluten intolerance / Celiac disease.

Thank you for your time and honesty!

~Sc’Eric, bar manager
Fuji & Jade Garden, inc.
State College, PA

It sounds like they are very confident that their drink does not contain any ingredients that could cause harm.

If you have not tried it, I suggest you do! It is very good. If you are interested in trying it here are some recipes:

Firefly on-the-rocks

* Old-fashioned glass, filled w/ ice.
* 3-oz Firefly original sweet tea vodka
* Splash of water
* Stir well, and garnish w/ Lemon.

Kentucky Iced Tea

* In an Old-fashioned glass, mascerate mint leaves w/ a teaspoon of sugar and a thick slice of fresh lemon. (Alternately, fresh raspberries also work really well with mint.)
* Fill w/ ice.
* 3-oz Firefly orginal sweet tea vodka
* Dash of Zen green tea liqueur (opt.)
* Splash of water
* Shake well, garnish w/ mint sprig.

Carolina Sweet-tini

* In a cocktail shaker add ice and…
* 3-oz Firefly original sweet tea vodka
* Dash of triplesec
* Splash of Clementine juice (You can substitute OJ–extra pulp is always best!)
* Splash of Water (This really is key!)
* Shake vigorously for one minute. Strain into a chilled martini glass.
* Garnish w/ Orange wheel.

Celiac in Glamour Magazine

Eric — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:22:54 +0000

I heard of a good article about Celiac Disease and Gluten more specifically. It talks about Gluten and that it might be reasons why you are feeling ill. A lot of people are giving up Gluten to see if that is what was causing them to feel sick.

“Something you’re eating may be killing you, and you probably don’t even know it,” cautions Mark Hyman, M.D., in a blog post on the Huffington Post.

“A recent large study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that people with diagnosed, undiagnosed, and ‘latent’ celiac disease or gluten sensitivity had a higher risk of death, mostly from heart disease and cancer,” he writes.

Gluten: A Friendly Ingredient in Bread or the Evil One That’s Killing Us All?

Article From MSNBC

Eric — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:10:58 +0000

I stumbled across this article from a major news source MSNBC. It talks about potential reasons why people may be having bloating, cramping or general GI discomfort” and say “your diet may be to blame”. They give 2 potential reasons:

1) Lactose Intolerance

2) Reaction to Gluten

They give a pretty basic description of Celiac Disease

People who have a condition called celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease affecting the digestive system that is triggered by a protein found in wheat, barley and rye called gluten. When a person with celiac eats gluten, the body’s immune system responds by attacking the walls of the gastrointestinal tract. If you or your doctor suspects you may have celiac, you can be screened using a simple blood test. If the blood test is positive for celiac, your doctor will likely take a tissue biopsy of your small intestines to confirm the diagnosis.

Individuals diagnosed with celiac disease need to eat a gluten-free diet for the remainder of their lives in order to remain symptom-free and prevent additional damage to their gut lining. That means they have to completely avoid wheat, rye, barley, and any ingredients or food additives that contain these grains. Individuals with celiac cannot eat standard bread, pasta, or baked goods made with wheat flour (or any condiments or other processed foods with gluten-containing ingredients or additives). Thankfully, because celiac disease is now recognized as a common condition, there are lots of new gluten-free versions of our favorite foods available on the market to make life easier.

They also give some product ideas for those looking to go Gluten Free.

CEREALS
Nature’s Path Gluten-Free Whole O’s, Crunchy Maple Surprise, or Mesa Sunrise
Arrowhead Mills Organic Maple Buckwheat Flakes
Erewhon Gluten-Free Crispy Brown Rice Cereal (Regular or Mixed Berries)
Health Valley Organic Blue Corn Flakes
Barbara’s Bakery Puffins (Honey Rice flavor only) or Organic Brown Rice Crisps
Corn or Rice Chex
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Mighty Tasty Hot Cereal

BREADS
Ener-G Bread: Seattle Brown Loaf or Brown Rice Loaf
Food for Life: Wheat & Gluten Free Whole Grain Brown Rice Bread, Rice Almond Bread, or Raisin Pecan Bread
Food for Life Whole Grain Brown Rice Tortillas

CRACKERS
Mary’s Gone Crackers
Crunchmaster Multi-Seed Crackers

PASTAS
Deboles Pastas (multigrain varieties)
Hodgson Mill Gluten-Free Brown Rice Pastas
Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pastas
Le Veneziane Corn Flour Pasta

SNACK BARS
Lara Bars
Kind Bars

BAKING MIXES
Arrowhead Mills Gluten-Free All Purpose Baking Mix
Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose Gluten-Free Baking Flour
Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Pancake Mix
Pamela’s Baking & Pancake Mix

If you are looking for some more product ideas make sure to check out my Product Reviews!

Is Caramel Color Safe?

Eric — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:05:54 +0000

I have seen many ingredient labels in my life and one ingredient that I always think twice about is Caramel Color. I have heard from some places it is fine if the product was manufactured in the United Sates and some say it is unsafe. I did some research on this topic and here is what I was able to find some helpful information on Celiac.com:

The problem with caramel color is it may or may not contain gluten depending on how it is manufactured. In the USA caramel color must conform with the FDA standard of identity from 21CFR CH.1. This statute says: the color additive caramel is the dark-brown liquid or solid material resulting from the carefully controlled heat treatment of the following food-grade carbohydrates: Dextrose (corn sugar), invert sugar, lactose (milk sugar), malt syrup (usually from barley malt), molasses (from cane), starch hydrolysates and fractions thereof (can include wheat), sucrose (cane or beet). Also, acids, alkalis and salts are listed as additives which may be employed to assist the caramelization process.

Your best bet will be to contact the manufacturer and confirm what they use to make their caramel color. In the US the most common is high dextrose corn syrup which would make it fine.

Here is another excerpt I found from Glutenfreeclub.com.:

Caramel coloring is what gives Coke, and other dark colas, the coloring. And caramel coloring is used in other food products too. For example, caramel coloring is in soy sauce, cookies, juices and some seasonings. Caramel coloring can be manufactured using different grains. In the United States, it is normally made with high dextrose corn syrup. But it is also infrequently made with barley. Dextrose is sugar and is safe. Barley is an unsafe starch for a Celiac.

This can be very confusing for people, and I’ve seen it in various forums and in my email box. Some people believe that many of the Coke products are safe to drink. Others think you should stay away from any product containing caramel coloring…..
So how do you know if caramel coloring is safe? It always goes back to the same procedures I followed for the above product. I ask! If a food product has caramel coloring listed as an ingredient, I need to call the company or check their website and ask them to tell me the parts per million of gluten. If it is over 20 ppm, or they can’t tell me, I don’t eat or drink it.

After doing this research and reading various articles I have come to the conclusion that if I am unsure where the product was made or if it does not say “Gluten Free” on the package I will either

a) Call the manufacturer
b) Avoid it

I hope this helps clear up some confusion on what to do with this tricky ingredient!

Gluten Free Grocery Store: Deby’s Gluten Free

Eric — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:28:56 +0000

I came across this Gluten Free grocery store on the internet. They are located in Denver, CO. I have never been to an entirely Gluten Free grocery store like this one (I plan on visiting one day). All the stores that I have been to have sections for Gluten Free items or have some shelf space for these items. I think it is great that there is an entire grocery store dedicated to the Celiac community. This allows them to specialize in Gluten Free products for those living in the Denver area. Do any of you know anyone living in Denver? I think it would be great to have someone describe what it was like.

This is from their website:

Deby’s is a Completely Gluten Free grocery store and manufacturing facility. We produce over 400 gluten free items, including heat and eat entrees, snacks, bread, take and bake pizza, cake slices, gluten free flour mixes, and more.

All Deby’s products are made on site, in a gluten free, peanut free, and shellfish free environment.

They also have an option for shipping items locally or out of state! Click here to Order from Deby’s

Also, here is the allergen statement from their website:

Allergen Statement

Our entire facility is wheat-free, barley-free, and rye-free. We now carry Gluten Free Oats grown in Wyoming. These oats are specially grown and tested to assure they are gluten free. If you don’t see oats on our sellf, just ask and we will get some from the back. We stock an oatmeal cookie dough in our freezer. Otherwise we don’t cook with or use oats our of respect for our customers who cannot tolerate the protein in oats.

Our facility is used to process all other allergen foods such as peanut, egg, dairy, etc… If you have food intolerances other than gluten just let our staff know and we will prepare your order (if possible) without these ingredients.

IF YOU HAVE LIFE THREATENING ALLERGIES, PLEASE NOTE THAT WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THE ABSENCE OF ANY FOOD OTHER THAN GLUTEN.

This is a very cool website, they have baking tips, they offer cooking classes, provide you with Celiac information and also have recent news about this items being featured on TV or in ballparks.

Here is the link: Deby’s

Great Article From NY Times: Genetic Testing for Celiac Disease

Eric — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 17:48:30 +0000

I came across this article from the NY times. I think it is a great read and provides a lot of good information.

Dr. Sheila Crowe, a professor in the division of gastroenterology and hepatology in the department of medicine at the University of Virginia, recently joined the Consults blog to answer reader questions about celiac disease, an often overlooked digestive disorder that causes damage to the small intestine when gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye, is eaten. In previous posts, Dr. Crowe exploredthe varied symptoms of celiac disease and confirming a diagnosis of celiac disease. Here, Dr. Crowe responds to readers asking about the disease running in families, genetic tests that may help confirm a diagnosis, food allergies and thins that set off the ailment.

A lot of interesting questions are answered such as:

Which Groups Are at Highest Risk for Celiac Disease?
Do a Rash of Symptoms Point to Celiac Disease?
Late-in-Life Onset of Celiac Disease
Here is a link to the article : Genetic Testing for Celiac Disease

I think its great that they did an article about this and I applaud the author for writing a great piece!

Benefits of Oats

Eric — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:11:00 +0000

A few weeks ago I did a product review on Bob’s Red Mill Rolled Oats and then a recipe for Oatmeal Cookies. I recently found an article that explains the health benefits of eating oats. I found the article on Health.Learninginfo.com. It goes into some good detail about oats and how they can benefit the body. Recently I have been eating oatmeal nearly everyday, I am glad I found a breakfast that is both delicious and healthy for me. If you have not tried oatmeal or do not eat a lot, I would at least give it a shot.

According to the article and the American Cancer Society oatmeal can benefit the body simply because oats are a good source of soluble and insoluble fiber.

Here are 6 reasons why oats are good for your health:

1. Insoluble fiber’s reduce toxicity in certain bile acids.

2. Soluble fiber may reduce bad cholesterol.

3. Soluble fiber slows down the digestion of starch.

4. It has been found that those who eat more oats are less likely to develop heart disease.

5. The phytochemicals in oat may also have cancer-fighting properties.

6. Oats are a good source of many nutrients including vitamin E, zinc, selenium, copper, iron, manganese and magnesium. Oats are also a good source of protein.

Health Benefits of Oatmeal

Like to Workout? Check Out These Snack Ideas

Eric — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 19:46:10 +0000

I have been competing in athletics as long as I can remember and in 2nd grade something changed. I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. The treatment for Celiac Disease is to follow a strict Gluten Free diet (Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, barley and oats). Being a Celiac athlete has its advantages and disadvantages. First off, a lot of food that is considered “bad” for athletes contains Gluten so naturally it was easy to stay away from those. Donuts and fast food for example would be something that you would want to stay away from if you were an athlete at any level. Both of those usually contain Gluten. One of the disadvantages was not having easy access to food where ever our teams traveled and I could not just grab food from a friend. Living with a Gluten Free diet forced me to follow a much stricter, healthier diet that helped me out as an athlete in the long run.
I wanted to share some tips for athletes following a gluten free diet preparing for an athletic event or a workout.
Pre-Workout
Prior to physical activity it’s important to have a source of fuel in your body. One of my least favorite things about working out is feeling hungry during it. I need something in my stomach or else I feel lousy. Choices for workout snacks vary among each individual and the type of workout being done but I will share my favorites. I prefer to eat some sort of fresh fruit before working out. Apples and bananas are a great idea. Also a Gluten Free bagel with peanut butter is a good option. There are some Gluten Free protein bars that can be eaten either before or after a workout. You do not want something that is too heavy that will affect your performance so make sure it is something you can easily digest.
Post Workout
After working out it is important to “refuel”. If you are looking for a post workout meal that offers a lot of protein, chicken, burritos (with corn tortillas), salmon and hamburger patties have a good amount of protein in them. I would choose one of these choices over a protein powder with dozens of ingredients I have never heard of but that’s just me. If you are into protein powder I would recommend calling the manufacturer and getting as much information as you can about the production of that product and the chances it will become contaminated with Gluten. If you find just a basic whey or soy pro

tein powder and want to give it a shot try mixing it with fruit to make a good after workout snack.
Final and most important thought….

Drink water! That will be oneof the most important things whether you have a food allergy or not. Again..Drink water!

This was fairly brief but I just wanted to get some ideas out there and see if anyone else has any good ideas about snacking prior and after working out! Let us know!

Trying New Recipies? Here’s a Good Cookbook

Eric — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:19:38 +0000

This morning I found an old package of biscuit making mix and I decided to make them. They were delicious and it reminded how much fun it was to try new recipies and new foods! I am always for trying new foods and if you are looking for some new recipes to try out here is a great cookbook that provides a lot of ideas. Cookbooks are relatively cheap and they can provide a lot of great recipes that you would have not found otherwise. Who knows maybe you will find your new favorite meal or snack in a cookbook.

It is called You Won’t Believe It;s Gluten-Free!: 500 Delicious, Foolproof Recipes for Healthy Living

I recommend every one owns a few cookbooks and if you are getting tired of having the same food over and over again you bring it out and try out a recipie that looks interesting or good to you. Has anyone found any good cookbooks that you would recommend?