Allergy — Gluten Allergy / Gluten Free Diet / Yeast Allergy / Asthma / + other Allergies — Page 37

Gluten Free Bread Experiment

by Allergy Guy

Gluten-free bread, good bread, is a truly amazing food if you haven’t had any bread at all for over 20 years.

That’s the situation I’ve been in – I only just started eating bread regularly about a year ago. What passed for gluten-free bread 20 years ago was so bad, that I decided I was better without bread entirely.

Now things are different. New breads have been developed for the ever growing gluten-free market. The quality has increased dramatically. Modern bread for a gluten-free diet is just as good in taste and texture as what I remember wheat-based bread being.

The main problem with gluten-free bread is the expense. At $7 or $8 per loaf, it adds up. I’m out of the habit of eating bread on a daily basis, but my consumption has increased since I found good bread I can actually eat.

A few weeks ago, Mary Mazzullo very kindly gave me several packages of gluten-free bread mix that her husband had secured at a food trade show. She didn’t know this, but I’ve been thinking about making gluten-free bread for a while. With this bread mix sitting there on the counter, I’m inspired to finally doing something, I’m looking forward to trying this out!

I just bought a bread machine. I didn’t feel I had the time to make bread the old fashioned way. The bread machine should make all the difference. I’m hoping for bread with great taste and consistency, just like what I’ve been buying.

I’ll share the results of my experiments with making gluten-free bread.

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Yeast Allergy Diet vs. Yeast Infection Diet

by Allergy Guy

Yeast allergy diet vs. yeast infection diet – are they the same?

Someone asked me this question recently. This is a good question. There are many thousand types of yeast in the world. Only a few affect human health.

Also, a yeast allergy is very different from a yeast infection.

Here is the full question, followed by my answer:

Question:
I’ve recently gone to an allergist to get a food allergy test and one of the items that I’m allergic to is yeast. I’ve been asked to go on an elimination diet, but I’m having a difficult time trying to figure out what I can and cannot eat. I’ve found a lot of information on yeast-free diets for yeast infection, but would it be the same diet for a yeast allergy?

[click to continue…]

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Gluten-Free Grains

by Allergy Guy

Gluten-free diets are easier to follow when you know what you can eat as well as what you must avoid.

Grains are edible seeds from the grass family.  The grass family is enormous, and includes such diverse plants as bamboo and your front lawn.  They also include problematic foods like wheat, and gluten-free grains like rice.

This article lists many gluten-free grains.  It also lists grains you must avoid.

There are several foods that can be confusing because they appear to be grains, but they’re not.  Are they gluten-free or not?  I will list some of these also.

This article does not include non-grain foods such as peas, beans, pulses and tubers.  It also excludes grain-like foods such as quinoa and amaranth

Gluten-Free Grains

Here is a list of gluten-free grains.

They can be bought and used whole as a breakfast cereal, the basis for stuffing, added to soups, and many other uses.

The flours from any of these grains are great for baking.

  • Canary Seed
  • Fonio
  • Forage, Grain and Broomcorn
  • Job’s Tears
  • Maize, (corn in North America)
  • Millets (various kinds)
  • Rice
  • Sorghum
  • Teff
  • Wild rice

Gluten-Free Pseudocereals

Pseudocereals are similar to grains, but are not actually from the grass family.  By the time they reach your kitchen, this may not seem like an important difference, but they are listed separately here because they are not true grains.

  • Amaranth
  • Breadnut
  • Buckwheat
  • Cattail
  • Chia
  • Cockscomb
  • Kañiwa
  • Pitseed Goosefoot
  • Quinoa
  • Wattleseed (also called acacia seed)

Gluten-Containing Grains

Here is a list of grains to avoid.   Besides the obvious four, wheat comes in a number of varieties, and this often confuses people.  Some of the varieties are tolerated to some degree by people avoiding wheat, but this varies from one individual to another.

All of these grains must be avoided by celiac.

  • Durum
  • Einkorn
  • Emmer
  • Oats
  • Rye
  • Semolina
  • Spelt
  • Triticale
  • Wheat

Grain Confusion

There are certain foods that seem like grains, but are not.

Some of them are made from grain. 

Some contain gluten, others are gluten-free

Gluten-Free Non-Grains

  • Tapioca

Gluten-Containing Non-Grains

  • Bulgur
  • Couscous
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Gluten Free

by Allergy Guy

Gluten Free food is the basis of managing celiac and gluten allergies.

This section contains information about gluten free food.

For specific information about gluten free food and the gluten-free diet, see articles listed below.

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Quinoa article expanded

by Allergy Guy

Quinoa is a very nutritious food, and an excellent addition to most people’s diet, especially if you are on a restricted diet such as gluten-free.

The quinoa article on this website has just been expanded and now has much more information about this great food.

Note that a small minority of people can not tolerate quinoa, as you will see from the comments.

Most people do very well on quinoa.

Read more about Quinoa.

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Allergy to Lectin

by Allergy Guy

Lectin allergy problems are associated with the protein lectin.

Lectin is found the the nightshade family of plants, including:

  • Tomatoes
  • Potatoes (not yams or sweet potatoes)
  • Eggplant
  • Bell peppers
  • Tobacco

Other Lectin-foods include:

Besides their high lectin content, peanuts, and especially soy have other negative health effects for a wide range of people.

Lectin and Celiac

More common than an allergy to lectin, are problems associated with gluten sensitivity.

If you have a gluten allergy or are celiac, lectin-containing foods are best avoided

Lectin is somewhat similar to gluten, and can be problematic for anyone who is on a gluten-free diet.

If you have a gluten allergy or are celiac, your immune system can confuse lectin with gluten, triggering an immune response to lectin, and possibly causing similar reactions as gluten causes.

Lectin and Autoimmune Disease

Autoimmune diseases such as arthritis can be triggered by lectin. 

For this reason, if you have an autoimmune disease, your health will be much better if you avoid lectin-containing foods such as nightshade family plants, soy, and peanuts.

If you have arthritis, eliminating lectin-containing foods is very likely to drastically reduce, or even eliminate symptoms.

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Allergy Symptoms But Test Negative For Allergies

by Allergy Guy

Allergy symptoms are not always verified with allergy tests.

How can this be?

There are a number of possible reasons.

Allergy tests are not 100% accurate. You may get a false positive or a false negative.

A false positive is when the allergy test shows that you are allergic to something when you are not. This may cause you to needlessly avoid certain things to avoid allergy problems.

A false negative is worse. It can mislead you into thinking that you are OK with something when it actually cases allergy symptoms.

If you are tested for an allergen and get a negative result, there is a chance that you are still allergic to it.

Use allergy tests as a guide. If your doctor says you are, or are not allergic to something, do not take this as 100% fact.

Another reason you may have allergy symptoms but negative allergy test results is that you may not have been tested for the allergen that is actually causing your allergy symptoms.

It would be impractical to test you for every possible allergen. Tests are for the most common allergens. You may have an allergy to a less common allergen.

Related Articles

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Mango Allergy

by Allergy Guy

Mango allergy problems are caused by a reaction to Urushiol. This substance is found in the sap of mangoes. It causes a severe rash, just the same as poison ivy.

This is because poison ivy also contains urushiol.

Mango allergies are often noticed soon after eating a mango. Typical mango allergy symptoms are blisters around the mouth and severe itching. This usually takes several hours to develop, so you many not realize that your symptoms are caused by a mango allergy.

Some time ago, I wrote an article about poison ivy on this website. It now has many comments about mango allergies, because the article mentions that urushiol is also found in mangoes.

Find out more about mango allergy and join in on the comments (or you can add comments to this article if you prefer).

Mango Allergy Management

If you have a mild mango allergy, you may be able to avoid symptoms by washing the mango with soap and water before handling them.

Do not eat the skin.

Do not scrape the flesh off of the skin.

Avoid the mango pulp near the skin.

If you continue to get mango allergy symptoms, you will have to avoid them completely. Hopefully the above tips will help you continue to enjoy mangoes without allergy symptoms.

HINT: Peel the skin with one knife, and cut the fruit with another to avoid contamination of the fruit.

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Blisters on fingers and depression

by Allergy Guy

Blisters on fingers and depression – could it be allergy-related?

I just got a question from Kate, who is experiencing blisters on her fingers, and mood problems.

What she describes could be an allergy, but not necessarily.

Read the advice I gave her. Leave comments if you have your own ideas.

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New Carpet Illness

by Allergy Guy

New carpets are a well-known cause of environmental illness.

Synthetic carpets release poisonous gassed for quite a while after they have been installed.

If you are considering the installation of new carpets, I advise against it.

If you are stuck with new carpets, here are some things you can try to reduce the damage.

I suggest you ventilate your home as much as possible – keep windows open as much as you can (weather permitting). If you have central heating/air conditioning, the system should have a fresh air intake. Make sure it is open to the max and leave the fan running 24/7.

If you have any extraction fans (eg from the bathroom or kitchen) that exhaust to the outside, leave them on 24/7. Note that many kitchen fans do not vent to the outside (crazy I know, but common – go figure) – so check this before bothering to leave it on all the time.

Get an activated carbon filter for your home. Hardware stores often sell HEPA filters with integrated activated carbon filters. The HEPA filter does nothing against the gasses, it is the carbon filter you are looking for.

Sarah has left a comment suggesting that a photocatalytic air purifier is helpful in improving air quality (available from Amazon, follow link in this sentence).

Important Note: I don’t want to scare you but you have to know: new carpets can seriously destroy your health.

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