Gluten

Summer is coming and fresh vegetables — in the stores, at the farmer’s markets and in your garden — will be plentiful. It’s time for summer salads.

Try this delicious salad as a side dish or even as a main. It’s light and satisfying.

Use the ingredients list as a guide. If you don’t have peppers, use what is on hand. If you don’t like cilantro, it’s fine not to use it at all; many people don’t like it. Use any lettuce, even finely sliced cabbage. See the tip below for how to make your red onion a little mellower. Or see what’s in your fridge, open a can of black beans, defrost some corn, and you have a delicious salad great for lunch or a party. Enjoy! Read More »

[We have been informed Chevys no longer offers a gluten-free menu. 1/1/2017]

The chain is the third to introduce gluten-free items this month

Chevys’ Guac My Way guacamole is part of its new gluten-free menu. Instead of chips, the dish is served with corn tortillas.

Chevys Fresh Mex this week became the latest restaurant chain to launch a gluten-free menu in its company-owned locations.

Is Food That Contains Gluten Really Gluten-Free?

Domino’s Pizza recently announced it would offer gluten-free pizza for gluten sensitive customers. Domino’s made it clear that the pizzas used a gluten-free crust, but are manufactured using the same equipment as the other gluten-containing foods and are not safe for people with celiac disease.

Domino’s worked with the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) and received the NFCA’s new, and now suspended, “Amber Designation.” This designation was to tell people that although the ingredients are gluten-free, the product cannot claim that cross contamination does not occur. The “Amber Designation” differed from the NFCA’s existing “Green Designation,” which tells the customer that the product is tested to less than 10 parts per million of gluten. “Amber” was basically a caution sign.

What Did Gluten-Free Watchdog Organizations Say?

• The Gluten Intolerance Group (GIG) and other organizations called for a recall of the NFCA’s “Amber Designation.”
• The North American Society for the Study of Celiac Disease commented on Domino’s Pizza ‘Gluten-Free’ Crust Announcement as follows,

Read More »

(Editor’s Note: A follow up on Domino’s Pizza Offers Gluten-Free Pizza…Sort Of)

5/8/2012 9:29 PM ET  (RTTNews) – Domino’s new gluten-free pizza should not be eaten by people with Celiac disease, the company said in a statement. Apparently, the first gluten-free pizza being offered by national pizza chain is designed for people with gluten sensitivity, as opposed to those with full-blown Celiac disease.

Despite the fact that the crust are gluten free, Domino’s can’t guarantee that no gluten will come into contact with the pizza, which could be dangerous for those with the gluten allergy. Read More »

PURCHASE, N.Y., April 25, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company LLC is launching two new health and wellness initiatives this month to address health concerns for all customers and their families. In its ongoing efforts to fight childhood obesity and help kids live healthier lifestyles, Stop & Shop announced that the first issue of its brand new Kid Healthy Ideas, a free health and wellness quarterly magazine, is now available in all stores.

The 12-page, full-color publication, is geared towards kids ages 8 to 12 and features health-related educational articles, games and recipes.

Read More »

I have often wondered what percentage of people following the gluten-free diet actually make their own bread.  I tend to use mixes to make sweet breads, but I usually buy my gluten-free bread off the shelf, or from my favorite local gluten-free bakery Pure Knead.

Most of us know that gluten-free bread has come a long way in the last five years, so there are a number of great options to be purchased at local health foods stores that don’t contain artificial ingredients and have the taste and texture of wheat-based bread.

Still, there seems to be a rising percentage of people who prefer to make their own gluten-free bread. Some of my favorite gluten-free bread mixes to use are: Read More »

OAKLAND, Calif., April 18, 2012 — Add Hidden Valley Salad Dressings to the growing list of foods to clearly call out that they are gluten free.

The makers of Hidden Valley Salad Dressings have added a “Gluten Free” logo to bottles and dry packets of its signature Original Ranch® dressing as well as much of its Farmhouse Originals product line. Packages with the new logo should appear on store shelves this summer.

The packaging change is designed to help Read More »

Just last week BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical development company announced successful pre-clinical testing of a potentially revolutionary treatment for celiac disease.  This new treatment may help celiac disease patients reduce their gluten toxins to create an overall healthy body for all celiac disease patients.

Jerusalem, Israel – February 21, 2012 – BioLineRx (NASDAQ: BLRX; TASE: BLRX), a biopharmaceutical development company, announced the publication of pre-clinical results demonstrating that BL-7010, an orally available treatment for celiac disease, reduces gluten toxicity (the negative effect of gluten on the patient’s body). The research was published in the February edition of Gastroenterology.

The findings indicate that BL-7010 (previously called P(HEMA-co-SS)) reduces digestion of wheat gluten, thereby decreasing its Read More »

The FDA opened a 90 day comment period on gluten in medications. One of the things we learned from 1 in 133 is that when we make it clear how many people care about gluten labeling, movement happens.  Let’s give the message that we feel this is important!

Gluten in Medications:

We know that most packaged foods on the grocery shelf in the U.S. will have straight-forward labeling, at least for ingredients containing wheat. However, this is not the case for medications, and finding accurate and timely information is much more challenging.

Standard prescription labels include only the active ingredients. So if your Read More »

Gluten is the trouble-making ingredient you’re supposed to avoid when going on a gluten free diet.  But how do you avoid something if you aren’t sure what it is or where to find it?  I’ll admit, this can be a challenge.  It’s just not as obvious I’d like it to be, but once you learn how to spot it you’ll feel more confident about grocery shopping.  Also, knowing what gluten is and how it works in food can help you understand how to cook with gluten free ingredients.

What Is This Gluten Stuff?

Gluten is the stretchy glue that helps bread, pizza crust, and other baked goods get nice puffy air pockets.  It creates a flexible structure that helps each baked good hang together without necessarily being tough or chewy.  When a baker knows how to properly activate the gluten protein, it will start doing its thing. The presence of gluten has influenced baking techniques for decades, even centuries.   Sorry, I’m not trying to build up gluten as some kind of magical essence that turns good food into great food.  It’s just one of many ingredients with useful properties out there in the world.  It happens that wheat is commonly grown and used across the world, and it affects a lot of food in Western cultures.

Ready for a little science?  Gluten is made up of two types of proteins – one is the Read More »