Not everyone avoiding wheat has celiac disease. I recently found out I’m allergic to wheat (not just gluten) and it gives me hives. My allergist told me that there are five major allergens in food (soy, corn, dairy, wheat and eggs) and I did an elimination diet to find out which was mine. If those are the five most common allergens then I bet there are other people like me who have vague allergies to wheat and don’t even know it until and unless they have a major flare-up and consult an allergist. So, there may be a lot of people who will feel better after going gluten-free who never had a “medical diagnosis” but who nevertheless have a wheat allergy.
Exactly. Bob’s Red Mill makes both regular and gluten-free oatmeal. The difference is that one of them is produced in an environment that is free of gluten ‘contaminants’. It’s also made in smaller quantities, so the price is higher.
Plenty of naturally gluten free food is cheap - fresh vegetables, for example. The price goes up with grains (have to prevent cross-contamination) and processed foods (may need alternative ingredients).
Because people will pay for it.
Recipes have gotten better over the past few years. I have a niece with serious celiac disease and my sister-in-law (her mother) has gluten sensitivity issues. Last Easter I made yeast-risen GF cinnamon rolls that were pretty good – had brown rice flour, potato starch, corn starch and lecithin subbing for the wheat flour.
I also made some GF brownies that were amazingly good. So much so that I made sure she took all the leftovers home so I wouldn’t scarf them all down. She told me later she had to freeze them to keep from eating them all in a day or two.
The price is being partly buffeted by the increase in demand due to more people eating gluten-free not because they’ve been medically determined to have celiac disease but simply because it’s perceived as healthy like organic food.
Regarding labeling…one of the things that stood out to me in Brazil the last time was there was that every single product is clearly labeled “This product contains gluten” or “This product does not contain gluten”
It was neat to see that they were far ahead of us in labeling. Made shopping quite easy too.
Sadly, it is difficult to diagnose–my wife’s gastro MD explained that in order for the tests to indicate if she truly has celiac disease she would need to eat enough gluten that she would get sick again, if that’s the cause.
I’m not ready for her to spend another 6 months without eating any food, being fed TPN through her arm; she has done that twice already. So she eats gluten free.
The doctor agreed. He didn’t want her to risk it either.
There is nothing quite like the desperation of trying to find out what makes you or a loved one sick–you try this, then try that, then go to a new doctor, then … always hoping that this time you won’t get sick. I imagine that quite a few people who do not eat gluten fit this description.
All cuts of beef, pork and chicken are gluten free. It is when you turn them into sausage or other processed items that you may end up with gluten involved.
I have a friend with a wheat allergy, and another with gluten sensitivity. Through shopping with them, I’ve learned that the number of seasoning mixes containing wheat flour is ridiculous. Beef jerky, potato chips, mixed nuts… So many products that would seem naturally gluten-free are actually a gluten and wheat minefield.
People weren’t willing to pay anything in my city, we had a gluten free
bakery and it didn’t last very long. Your answer sound right to me.
All cuts of meat are certainly gluten free, but not all of them are also cheap.
I don’t understand why only certain cuts of meat would be gluten free. Meat does not contain wheat, rye or barley (as mentioned in the post for the UCLA study) so what difference would the meat cut make. I agree on the other vegetables of course.
Bob
Like I already said above, ALL cuts of meat are gluten free, but only certain cuts are both CHEAP and gluten free.
no, all cuts are gluten free, just make sure they are not preseasoned. I buy dirt cheap dead cow and pig slabs and grind to make my own sausage and other ground stuff [I make a killer meatloaf with no added crumbs, just egg to hold it together and add some fat and richness, and herbs and spices.]
You are responsible for your own budget … I never claimed price point for anything, just that animals are by nature gluten free when parted out.
Did you even read what I wrote?
I’ll just leave this here: Scientists who found gluten sensitivity evidence have now shown it doesn’t exist
Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity could be the new Chinese Restaurant Syndrome.
So what cuts of meat are cheap and contain gluten?
Unless you’re saying “The sky is always blue, but only parts of it are sky-blue” - or some such.
Villi aren’t individual cells; they are very small, finger-like extensions on the wall of the intestine. They are, as you say, responsible for nutrient absorption, and in a person with celiac they are reduced in size and effectiveness by ingestion of gluten.
As others have said, the proliferation of people who pursue a gluten-free diet without actually having celiac has increased the number and the variety and the quality of gluten-free products available on the market. The range of gluten-free products available today is far, far superior to what it was 20, or even 10 years ago.
The downside of this, for people who have celiac (like my mother, diagnosed as a kid), is that some restaurants and food providers take requests for gluten-free products less seriously than they should. They roll their eyes at the new diet fad, failing to distinguish between the faddists and the people who have a serious medical need to avoid gluten. It sometimes makes life a bit hard for the true celiac sufferers. This article talks a bit about the phenomenon.
None, but plenty are gluten-free but decidedly not cheap.
WTF? Is it really that hard to understand me when I say that all cuts of meat are gluten free?