The More Likely Culprit: Coconut Milk or Guar Gum?

[TREESE]

Yes, I made a mistake and added two new things at once without realizing it.

I had been eating safely Ener-G Gluten Free White Rice Loaf Bread. I noticed Ener-G also had a Tapioca GF Loaf, so I bought it and have been enjoying it daily (4 slices each day, same as the other), but hadn't noticed it had guar gum in it. The White Rice Loaf did Not.

At the same time as that new GF Bread, I also tried to add extra calories, so I made Coconut Milk in my Blender using 1/4 cup of coconut (medium shredded), a cup of water, and a chunk of banana. I added that to my breakfast cereal. Good, but Filling! Very...

2 days after the coconut milk began, and I'm hearing those ocean sounds in my stomach again. Had a BM 2 days in a row, too. That's too close for me. I had been using Coconut Oil to cook with, but very little and not daily.

QUESTION: Which of these two (guar gum or coconut milk) are more likely to be the Culprit?

Please share your thoughts...thanks!
TREESE

[tex]

Hi Treese,

It's very unusual to react to coconut oil. On the other hand, not only do many of us react to guar gum (a legume), but some of us react to tapioca-based products, for some unknown reason.

Tex

[Sheila]

I'd say guar gum as well. I also avoid tapioca because of a positive result from mediator release testing. With this crazy disease you never know what will cause a reaction.

Sheila W

[TREESE]

OY - I have like 10 loaves of Tapioca and guar gum ingredients breads in the house from Vitacost, now. I ordered a lot for the discounts they offered.

These are the 4 GF Breads I have been trying, with their Ingredients. Anyone wanna give me Warnings about anything they see in them BEFORE I eat them?????

GF TAPIOCA BREAD THIN SLICED - 16 SLICES – 1 LB
Ingredients: Filtered Water, Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch, High Oleic Safflower Oil, Pear Juice Concentrate, *Bamboo Fiber, Yeast, Methylcellulose, *Guar Gum, Orange Citrus Fiber, Salt, Calcium Phosphate, Baking Powder (Glucono Delta Lactone, Calcium Carbonate & Magnesium Carbonate). Enriched with Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Niacin, Iron, Folic acid and Vitamin D.

GF CORN LOAF – 12 SLICES - 8OZ.
Ingredients: Filtered Water, Corn Starch, Tapioca Flour, High Oleic Safflower Oil, Pear Juice Concentrate, Sweet Rice Flour, *Bamboo Fiber, Yeast, Modified Cellulose, *Guar Gum, Salt, Orange Citrus Fiber, Glucono Delta Lactone, Calcium Phosphate. Enriched with Thiamine (VitaminB1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Niacin, Iron, Folic Acid. (No Baking Powder)

GF WHITE RICE LOAF – 16 SLICES – 1 LB
Ingredients: Filtered Water, Rice Flour, Tapioca Starch, High Oleic Safflower Oil, Pear Juice Concentrate, Yeast, Methylcellulose, Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose, Salt, Orange Citrus Fiber, Calcium Phosphate, Baking Powder (Glucono Delta Lactone, Calcium Carbonate & Magnesium Carbonate). Enriched with Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Niacin, Iron, Folic Acid and Vitamin D. (No Bamboo fiber) (No *guar gum)

GF YEAST FREE WHITE RICE LOAF – 1 LB
Ingredients: Filtered Water, White Rice Flour, High Oleic Safflower Oil, Leavening (glucono-delta-lactone, sodium bicarbonate, calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate and monocalcium phosphate), Methylcellulose, Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose, Salt, Orange Citrus Fiber.
(No Baking Powder or Guar Gum or Pear Juice Concentrate or Orange Citrus Fiber)
(Uses WHITE Rice Flour, not any tapioca starch or flour)

[TREESE]

Instead of GF Breads, are Corn Tortilla's safer? I have the Mission White Corn Tortillas - ingredients below.

Ingredients
Corn masa flour, water, cellulose gum, propionic acid (to preserve freshness), benzoic acid (to preserve freshness), phosphoric acid (preservative), guar gum, amylase.

Are there White Corn Tortillas without the guar gum? What BRAND and Where do you buy them, please?

Thanks,
TREESE

[brandy]

Hi Treese,

I see you are in NYC. I believe there are several dedicated GF bakeries in NYC. Google GF bakery NYC. You might look into bread from them. Price will be more, quality will be better, they will have a lot less ingredients and no preservatives. Have bakery slice bread and freeze when you get home.

Also, I have not tried these but we have an artisanal bread recipe and french bread recipe in our very own Dees kitchen. I think several have successfully made the french bread recipe.

In regards to your question above....I generally test the item with the least ingredients and the fewest chemical sounding names.

Brandy

[Gabes-Apg]

many here can not tolerate too much processed flour products

the issue may not be the ingredients per say, it might be that you cant have them every day....

I can only have processed flour type products (GF/DF/SF) about 3 times a week. Any more than that and I start to have issues.

[brandy]

I agree with Gabes on this. I'm ok having 2 slices of Udi's bread say once a week but not ok if I have it on a daily basis.

[HappyBird]

Yes, I made a mistake and added two new things at once without realizing it.
QUESTION: Which of these two (guar gum or coconut milk) are more likely to be the Culprit?
Please share your thoughts...thanks!
TREESE

Hi Treese,

I added coconut milk the other day and reacted immediately. I tried it mainly because I enjoy white tea & coffee - I read it was quite a good substitute for dairy milk.

I have been GF since 2010. In the beginning I made huge efforts to bake my own bread using gluten free mixes and found I reacted to them. One by one my SO brought home every conceivable GF product on the supermarket shelves and on the whole I found it was a lottery - sometimes I wouldn't react but so often I did. I stopped eating bakery goods eventually and now don't bother to bake either. I feel better on low carbs anyway.

I have since read somewhere that gluten free products from supermarkets are not really suitable for folk with gluten intolerance - I tend to agree.

[tex]

I had the same experience with bread mixes. I switched to corn tortillas about 10 years ago, and haven't eaten any bread since.

Tex

[Marcia K]

I don't eat gf bread often but I bought some gf hot dog buns to have on hand this summer to take along to a picnic with my gf grassfed beef hotdogs. After I ate it I had pain in my stomach. In reading the label I saw it contained tapioca flour, which I have always avoided. I'm not positive because I watched my husband let my food touch his so it could have been cross-contamination but I wasn't taking any chances so I didn't eat the rest of the buns.