Lucy wrote:Hi Mike,
Just that little bit of flour is all it takes to set off a big time reaction. Was this the same pot roast that you had a second time later? Then, I noticed the chocolate listed NATURAL FLAVORS as an ingredient. That's a BIG no-no unless a product clearly states that it's GF and Free of whatever else you've tested positive to.
Umm... yep, I'm a bad boy.
The roast was so yummy I had to have a second time. Stupid.
Yeah, Natural Flavors is usually a warning sign that I don't always heed.
Would you believe it, I've already forgotten which foods you tested with Dr. Fine except I do remember something about not showing up on the tests as positive for dairy casein. That right? It would help if I could remember that, so please list it for me now.
I've tested POSITIVE for Gluten. NEGATIVE for soy, casien, egg (not sure which protein), soy. That's it. I haven't been tested for anything else in dairy, anything in corn, rice. I'm guessing gluten is the only one, but I swore I had the gluten out for a while and still had stomach problems.
Also, you've gotten soy throughout this time period, and since I couldn't remember whether you'd tested for that, was wondering if that were a problem for you. The gf soy sauce DOES have SOY, and there's soy in the chocolate as well.
I don't like soy, for taste or estrogen, but I'm not intolerant.
You may have to find a store in addition to WFs that has a reliable butcher to tell you whether the meats are injected or not.
I think Larry's might be good for that, but that's a good idea. I wonder if CostCo does this. Guess I need to email them.
There's probably at least one store that carries a line or two that are not injected, so if that's more convenient, less expensive, etc. that'd be a good place to shop.
I almost never find any safe meats, "allergen"-wise at the discount or lower end stores, unfortunately.
Also, remember that just because something states that it's "natural" doesn't mean that it's free of any allergens as everything we react to immunewise, IS natural.
Yep. There are lots of bad "natural" things as I'm finding out.
However, it seems that the "natural" things that I've found at grocery stores tend to not be injected, but ask the butcher and TRY to dicipher the labeling system in your state. (See if you can find the legal requirements in Washington state on the net.)
Good idea on looking up the labeling system for WA.
I haven't found too many meats that are MARINATED unless they're "half-prepared" things that you just have to cook, but until you've gotten a little more experience, particularly with any one store or product, I'd ask the butcher about everything, including marinades or seasonings or broths that might've been included in the meat. What you want is PLAIN, but tasty cuts of meat so you'll have some taste to begin with.
By the way, I've heard that WF's buffalo meat is really good. Do you like it? I've not gotten up the nerve yet to thaw out my initial dose? Ha!
It was excellent! I added garlic salt, pepper, and dried minced onions. I should have added a bit more salt. But it tasted very good.
Also, watch out for the seasonings out of bottles. Easy ones to find are the McCormicks in the glass bottles. Their company states that if there are any " common allergens"
they will be clearly included in the ingredients section.
Cool, I'll keep McCormicks in mind. Seems a lot of seasoning mixes have "natural" ingredients.
Welp, let me know what your KNOWN "allergens" are, and also, which you've NOT tested for, ok.
Going with SIMPLER foods right at first really just makes it a little easier on you, in reality, cause then you don't have so much to figure out about what's safe and what's not, but if that's too boring for you, then if some things, like lettuce, for instance, NEVER bother you, then that may not be the problem. That I know of, I never seemed to have a problem with lettuce either, but there were LOTS of people on the old board who sure seemed to, but it probably wasn't an "allergen" to them, just irritating.
Good idea. Simpler to start.
Would it be possible for you to just get organic meats for a while from WF's, and have either plain white rice or sweet potatoes or potatoes as your main two starches. If you tolerate them, you could occasionally substitute plain corn or sweet peas for your main starch, just to name a few.
I think so. I'm pretty good at being able to eat the same foods over and over again for a while. But I do get bored after a while.
I highly suspect that if you'd had a WF's roast without the flour, and left off the chocolate (soy) and gf soy sauce that you might never have started feeling worse.
Yeah, I think you're probably right. Perhaps other times have been related to gluten that snuck in as well.
Course it could be some of the other meats also were no-no's if you didn't get them somewhere where gf, other-free, non-injected meats are sold, and do not include ANY broth.
I've found the meats to be a real problem for me, particularly at restaurants as so many of them get things delivered "half-prepared" in those big trucks that deliver so much of their food.
Yeah, it's so hard to eat at restaurants now. Especially since they usually come back with "we don't know" if it contains gluten. Der!
At places where the food comes from those places, I usually end up having unmarinated seafood (shrimp or fish, unmarinated and without bottled seasonings other than salt and pepper).
Of course, you have to get the kitchen supervisor to watch everything the chef or cook does to make sure the grills are thoroughly scraped, and all pots and other utensils and surfaces are not contaminated -- need to be washed since last use.
Again, it's good to find a few places where they're especially good about working with you, and where you don't seem to get reactions. After a while, you'll begin to recognize which restaurant managers and chefs have had allergy training, but still, often times they need more instructions from us as there's just sooo much to learn about sources of gluten other than obvious wheat as you yourself now know.
I wish that you had a copy of all the mystery words that can mean gluten. There's one of those pages every issue in the magazine "Living Without" that many of us read.
Taking a list of these to the grocery store or even a restaurant makes it so much easier to pick out things in the ingredients on the label that are no-no's.
Also, there's a similar list for dairy casein, but think you said you don't react to casein, sooo..
Yeah, according to enterolab casein is ok.
Lactose, I would avoid as long as you're having the smelly stools that aren't yet normal, at least until you're back to normal stools.
Think you know how to handle that though.
Mike, could you handle meats like I've suggested with sides of, say mixed veggies each day, and one of the starches like I mentioned above?
You wouldn't be stuck in this mode forever, just until you have more time to figure things out in order to get yourself more variety. You could probably easily tolerate canned pears or peaches if the ingredients are simple. These can be found in lots of stores, not just the expensive ones, but it's best to check out ALL the stores around you, and when you find a keeper, get a couple of extra cans.
Are fresh pears or peaches ok or canned are better?
What I did was to make a product book. If you did that, you could list the name of each product that you purchase, where you got it, the ingredients, etc.
Remember, it's not at all unusual to begin to react even more strongly to much lesser amounts (contamination or accidental ingestions) of gluten or whatever, once you've eliminated most of it. I think this eventually subsides, but in a way, it's better to be able to tell if you've ingested something, otherwise, you could continue harming your gut without even knowing it.
I think I agree.
Better if you can just eat at home, especially while you're still not up to par. Also, you'll eventually find that eating at home greatly increases your choices. I have a real variety in my freezer and frig.
Yeah, eating at home is easier for so many reasons.
At restaurants, I'm frequently held to only a few choices. To me, it's just not worth going to a restaurant where I can only eat a salad and a baked potato, but if it's for the social aspect of it, that makes it worth it if the group or friend wants to go there.
We do have ONE diner where the chef is soo helpful and tried to add taste to things without making me sick. Problem is that I can only have the shrimp and catfish there.
OK, this is way too long. Hope you're better by now.
Yours, Luce
Thanks Luce! Feeling a bit better.
Mike
But got to "sleep in" til 8:30 or so.
So I hopped in the shower, got dressed and met them at the amusment park and had fun with the family. What in the world is going on?
