Bellingham Gluten Intolerance Group: Community Awareness Event
I just got back from attending an inspiring two-day event with the Bellingham Gluten Intolerance Group ~ what a fantastic group of people who are truly passionate about getting out life-changing information to anyone who needs to know more about how gluten is impacting their bodies and what to do about it.
Attendees ranged from those who have been gluten free for many years to the newly diagnosed and their supportive family members. There were cookbooks for sale, taste-testing of gluten free foods from local vendors/restaurants, a silent auction of gluten free gift baskets, and fantastic speakers to share their knowledge and answer questions.
Having been a gluten-free advocate for two and a half years now, there was a few golden nuggets of new information for me to learn as well:
- Wheat is now the number one allergen in the US (despite all the press-coverage that lethal peanut allergies get).
- Doctors are now being advised to check for celiac disease when they come across patients who are allergic to dairy since the two conditions often go together. This is true of iron deficiency anemia patients as well due to the poor absorption of iron from the atrophied villi of celiac disease.
- Be careful of wheatgerm oil in shampoo, lotion, or massage oil because any small break in the skin allows entry of wheat into your system. Also check your toothpaste box for gluten ingredients, ie. barley or malt flavoring. Wheat ingredients can be found in fingerpaint and playdough too, which we know makes its way into kids’ mouths quite often.
- Consider separate toasters for gluten free breads and wheat breads to prevent cross-contamination. There were also reuseable toaster bags for sale as an alternative tool to address this. Another recommendation was to have separate peanut butter/jam jars for gluten free followers as cross-contamination can occur if peanut butter is spread on regular wheat bread and then re-dipped in the jar a second time. Note that this applies to those who are extremely sensitive to gluten and may not necessarily be indicated for every gluten intolerant individual.
- Many cruise ships will make gluten free items for you if given 90 days advance notice before the trip.
- Starbucks has discontinued their gluten free Valencia Orange Cake and now have the pre-packaged “Kind” bars as a gluten free choice at their coffee shops instead, which is a poor substitute in my mind. Check out this blog post for further explanation about what happened.
- The Catholic church has made a compromise with its gluten free congregation members: you can ask your church to carry the new gluten free communion wafers that are only .01% gluten concentration, which apparently the Center for Celiac Research has “determined as safe for most celiacs” in preliminary results of their Gluten Threshold Research Study. Completely gluten free communion wafers are also available from Ener-G Foods. Living Without Magazine wrote a good gluten free communion article to further investigate this topic.
- One hypothesis on why gluten free diets benefit autistic children is that it allows the GI tract to heal so that folic acid and B-12 can be absorbed, thus correcting underlying deficiencies contributing to autistic symptoms in some children. Note that this is still anecdotal and a lot of discussion was had about the lack of funding for further research on this topic.
- Common vitamin deficiencies in celiac patients are: A, D, E, K, B-12, Folate, and the minerals Calcium and Iron. However, you first have to remove the gluten dietary irritants so that these deficiencies can be corrected.
- There appears to be an increased incidence of pro-inflammatory bacteria in the guts of celiac disease patients, so probiotic/prebiotic supplements may help to rebalance intestinal flora.
- One hypothesis for the increased incidence of food allergies is that early man used to eat seeds/grains in their whole or stone-ground forms, which would pass through our bodies minimally digested. With the advent of milling and food processing technology, we began to eat finely ground grains, which more readily exposes us to the protein in the grain and hence possibly increases allergen exposure, according to Dr. Joan Stevenson at WWU Dept. of Anthroplogy. Also, the typical American is mildly constipated, hence increased intestinal transit time may be allowing more time for gluten exposure to irritate our GI system.
- As for new gluten free products and resources, I loved the Tomato Rosemary Focaccina from Alternative Grains, Inc. and also the recipes from the Whole Life Nutrition.