Gluten in Medications

I heard from someone from the GIG Ocala branch from a source they trust that Armour Thyroid has gluten in it. I checked with the GIG home office to see if they'd heard anything, and was told this (pasting):

This website is a good resource on medications.   Armour thyroid is listed here as gluten-free; I would trust this information.  However, just as is the case with foods, ingredients (fillers) may change at any time, so an individual with doubts should be advised to contact the manufacturer.

http://www.glutenfreedrugs.com/list.htm

SO, overall, just a good reminder that if you take medications or supplements, it's always advisable to check with the manufacturer to see if there is gluten in the fillers.Things change, unfortunately sometimes at the speed of light! Even more specifically, since not everyone knows from "gluten," specify any fillers derived from wheat or barley or containing malt (rye pretty unlikely!). 

Just a friendly reminder. I've had more than one conversation over the years with people who were sickened by medications.

Thanks, All!

Janet

Summary of Gluten Free Living conference talks that I attended

Hello Everyone,  am simply pasting below the email I just sent to the Gluten Intolerance Group, Gainesville FL Branch. Please email me at GIGgainesville@gmail.com if you'd like the notes (see caveats below!)

Hi all,

Still working on getting notes scanned so I could email them, but the talks I attended were these, so let me know if you'd like me to try to get you the notes.  Caveat:  they're the notes I took, so may not all be complete/accurate, due to interruptions, things I missed due to them talking fast, child crying, etc.

1. Expect the Unexpected:  Be Prepared for Any Nutritional Challenge that Comes Your Way, by Pam Cureton, RD, LDN.  She's worked with Dr. Fasano for over 20 years. Her talk touched on what if you're gluten free and not feeling better; being GF in healthcare facilities; gaining weight on GF diet; and GF disaster planning.

2. The Do's and Don'ts of Raising a Gluten Free Kid by Amy Leger, the Family Editor of Gluten Free Living magazine. This was looking at ways you can empower your child to advocate for themselves at various ages/developmental stages, and touched on 504 plans and what you can expect when you have to get the school involved in meeting your child's dietary needs.

3. GF Diet: Should We Be Concerned by Anne Lee, Ed.D., RD, LD, who is director of nutritional services at Schar. In a nutshell, she touched on the changing market in gluten free breads/products; labeling laws; and practical points

4. Dr. Alessio Fasano was the Keynote: Spectrum of Gluten Related Disorders: People Shall Not Live by Bread Alone. He went over the major milestones in the research in terms of the diagnoses of celiac disease. Way too much to try to summarize, but the takeaway is that more research is increasingly pointing to gut microbiomes as a key player in who develops celiac and who doesn't, when the genetic predisposition is there. If you ever get a chance to hear this man speak, I highly recommend it!

5. Dispelling the Myths of the Gluten Free Diet by Amy Ratnor, Editor of Gluten Free Living magazine. Went over several myths about the diet. I'm not sure if it was her presentation or my listening and note-taking skills, but my notes are the sketchiest here. Happy to share, regardless, as long as you understand there may be some gaps.

6. Panel of Experts:  Most of the above and more answered audience questions. I've jotted notes on it all, and it covered a variety of thing from Gluten Free Certifications to when family is not gluten free, to travel, to baking.

The editor did tell me they hope to do this conference annually, and probably in Florida around this time. VERY cool. :-)

Thanks for the RSVPs to the May 12 meeting. I now have about 12 folks committed to attend, which makes me feel better about having a speaker. Hope you all can make it! Please let me know, as Dr. Smith will want to know how many are coming.

See you soon!
Janet

Great email and video by Dr. Tom O'Bryan

Hello Everyone! If you have not visited www.thedr.com I encourage you to do it. It's the webstite for Dr. Tom O'Bryan, who is a HUGE advocate for individuals who need to be gluten free. The video in this email I'm pasting below is well worth the three-minute watch. A good reminder to us that optimal health requires diligence (and sometimes detective work). Wonderful holidays to all!

Janet

Remember: No gluten! Not even a crumb!

 

In this religious week of Easter and Passover around the globe, it's important for those with a gluten-related disorder to remember a phrase I often use, "You can't be a little bit pregnant, and you can't have a little gluten." Your immune system does not forget how to react to gluten! But, there are options.

 

First, for those celebrating Passover or the commemoration of liberation from slavery in Egypt over 3300 years ago, gluten-free matzah is readily available.

 

And for those celebrating Easter, I'd like to remind you of a case study I often reference often about a 34-year old woman who was not healing from a gluten-free diet for over 2 years. Her specialists couldn't figure out why her symptoms remained despite her change in diet. Turned out she was a nun in street clothes regularly accepting communion. In other words, though on a gluten-free diet she was still consuming the wheat found in the communion wafer, and that was the possible reason for her continued symptoms.

 

When I was a boy, nuns often wore what's called a "habit." In Catholicism today, these religious garments aren't as prevalent outside of the church as they once were, so most of her doctors didn't realize she was of a religious order.

 

In Catholicism, the wafer signifies the body of Christ. According to Canon Law (the official rules of the Catholic Church), the "Bread of Life" must contain wheat in order to be valid. No substitutions allowed.

 

You've all heard me say it, "NO GLUTEN! NOT EVEN A CRUMB!"

 

Watch this short, informative video about why

even a milligram of gluten can be bad for you!

 

Now, for those celebrating Easter, ask your church if it has low-gluten communion. Even my sister was embarrassed to ask her church, but then read about the new offering in the church bulletin! If communion has been the hindrance to your gluten-free diet and you have access to a low-gluten wafer, mark Easter as the resurrection of your savior and, possibly, your health!
 

So, to all of you working hard to learn how to be healthy, Happy Easter! Chag Same'ach (Joyous Festival)!

 

Sincerely,

Dr. Tom O'Bryan

Gluten Free Living conference

Hi Folks,
The people with Gluten Free Living magazine did a terrific job with their conference. I have TONS of samples for our next meeting, mostly snacky stuff, but it's still good to know what's out there if you want a treat. I have tons of business cards, and I took notes on all of the talks that I went to. I have some obligations that will be taking me away from the computer for about a week, but as soon as I'm caught up and find the time, I will list who they were and what the talk was, and if you'd like me to email you my notes, I can do that (with the glaring caveat that these are just my notes, not to be taken as gospel-- sometimes they went fast, sometimes there was  a screaming child, so I didn't get every word they said!)... but it's always re-energizing to see how much investment there is by the folks with a personal stake in promoting gluten free awareness and health. Just about everyone involved either has celiac disease/gluten intolerance, or a loved one who does. I renewed my subscription to the magazine. It's $20 for the year, come on...   And the conference organizer told me that they are looking doing an annual conference, somewhere in the region, so it's totally awesome that if you missed this, you can perhaps do it again next year!

The Gluten Intolerance Group of North America (of which we are a branch) had a booth there. They are also working tirelessly our behalf. If you are not a member, please consider it. You can see all that they do for us at www.gluten.net. In fact, there is a program going on now called Chef to Plate which is all about getting restaurants in your area who are gluten free friendly to promote it. In fact, it's in May, so I will do my best to get more info out to you soon, so if you want to be part of it, you can. But please do check out www.gluten.net.

More soon!
Janet

Effects of Roundup

Scary. Seems to me it makes sense to buy local and organic as often as you can!

http://www.sott.net/article/274113-Roundup-linked-to-global-boom-in-Celiac-Disease-and-Gluten-Intolerance


Above is the abstract for a much longer paper, which is very thorough
and discusses what Roundup does specifically.  If you skim the second and third pages they talk about the different sections in case you prefer to read about a particular aspect
of this (reproductive problems, anemia, thyroid, cancers etc)

The link to the paper is here-

http://sustainablepulse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Glyphosate_II_Samsel-Seneff.pdf

Meeting on Cross-reactive foods

Hello Everyone,
We had a pretty lively meeting last week talking cross-reactive foods. I'd encourage you all to visit www.thedr.com and see if you can still get access to the videos from the recent Gluten Summit, b/c what we discussed was Dr. Peter Osborne's talk. In a nutshell, cross-reactive foods are foods that the body essentially interprets as gluten, and hence they cause some of the same autoimmune/inflammatory effects.  He finds that 100% of his patients have foods other than gluten to which they react. If you're new to gluten-free eating, don't despair. Most of us take this in stages. Take your time to learn what it means to be gluten free and do it well, and then you can evaluate how you feel and if you want to take the next step to explore this.

Per Dr. Osborne, the biggest cross reactive candidates can include dairy, corn, soy, and coffee, but there are many others. If you visit the website for Cyrex Labs, they have an entire array looking at cross-reactive foods. It's definitely emerging literature, but particularly for those who are diligently eating gluten free and certain of  no cross-contamination (NOTE that I just said cross-contamination, not cross-reactivity), then cross-reactive foods would be something worthy of consideration. Several posts back, I talked about my Cyrex Labs results. I have since cut out nearly all foods to which I reacted, per their results. I feel terrific! I will eat some high quality, raw dairy, and occasionally some cheese that's not so high quality (I confess), but it is not a daily indulgence.

Dr. Osborne noted that he endorses a grain free diet consisting of high quality (e.g,. pesticide free) meats, fruits, and veggies. He also talked about GMOs and noted he expects to see a lot more in the research about negative effects of these as well. 

There is a more technical explanation of cross-reactive foods here, if you're interested:

http://www.thepaleomom.com/2013/03/gluten-cross-reactivity-update-how-your-body-can-still-think-youre-eating-gluten-even-after-giving-it-up.html

In an upcoming meeting, we'll be joined by a local psychologist, Dr. Mary Smith, who was kind enough to join us to hear our concerns about the difficulties that go along with a chronic disease diagnosis and a subsequent radically altered lifestyle. She'll be coming to do a presentation for us, probably some time in April. Stay tuned!

Be well,
Janet

FODMAPS

I'll be the first to admit I haven't listened to this yet, but someone from the Gluten Free Gainesville Facebook page posted this, and it looks interesting. Especially since we're talking about cross-reactive foods at our upcoming GIG meeting this Thurs (see prior post), it's yet another reminder that sometimes just removing gluten may not be enough for optimal well-being!

http://www.glutenfreeschool.com/2014/02/10/calm-ibs-gluten-free-fodmap-diet-patsy-catsos-gfspodcast-034/