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Hi Everybody,

I received a number of excellent, comprehensive replies to my question
about gluten containing cows:

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It may simply be that your system, after 10 years of vegetarian diet, is
reacting to the reintroduction of meat, not to gluten.  That's a huge change
for your system to handle all at once.

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How do you do on pork and lamb? If you are not reacting to them, but you
are reacting to beef, then you may well be onto something. Gluten peptides
have been identified in cow's milk. So they must be in the blood too.

Free range poultry should be okay too. Have you seen the Lutz article on
Civilizatory diseases? He mentions a previous study he participated in.
They compared grain-fed chickens to free-range chickens. The grain-fed ones
developed atherosclerosis while the free range chickens did not

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The bad news is that the answer to your question is a partial
yes. The good news is that with some precautions you can eat beef as a
protein source.

Some CDers (usually advanced cases) have trouble with non lean cuts of
beef, probably for two reasons. First is the grain feeding (animals
retain traces of the foods that they eat for up to 6 months) and second
the use of growth hormones (which I find can cause an intestinal
inflammatory response that mimics a classic gluten response). Very lean
cuts seem to cause less of a problem than fatty cuts with some CDers
(possibly because growth hormones or gluten is somehow concentrated in
the fat). The safest way to eat beef is find a source (usually
organically grown) of lean beef that does not use hormones and/or try to
find grower (Amish or Mennonite) that tends to graze rather than lot
feed their steers. This approach has worked for my family. If you can
find a farmer that is willing to grow a steer for you then all the
better.

If you are still having problems with beef after taking the above
precautions, then your problem is probably due to not enough HCL
(stomach acid) production. HCL is used to break apart the long amino
acid chains of proteins into small enough pieces that can be properly
absorbed without causing an immune response. Low HCL production
increases the likelihood of an immune response as you eat more protein.
Increasing your vitamin B-12 and C along with Calcium and a bioflavinoid
called Quercitin can help. B-12 increases HCL production, Quercitin and
C counteract histamine production (the inflammitory agent in the
allergic response process), and Calcium is used in the digestive process
to counteract the HCL after it enters the intestines. Caution: do not
take the Calcium within 1-2 hours of eating as its presence in the
stomach when eating will neutralize the HCL causing even greater
problems with long chain amino acid digestion.

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I'm from Israel so maybe what I tell you is irrelevant in your country ,
but in Israel it's been said  that while processing the meat water is added
to it and sometimes gluten is added to keep the water in the meat.
I dont know if this is common , and it probably depends on the manufacturer
of the meat.

anyway I believe this can be true only for frozen processed meat and not
for  fresh meat you get from the butcher .

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It took me three years before I could eat beef again after being a vegie for 3
years.  I found that pork was much easier to digest than beef during that
time.  After being a carnivore for 15 years - no meat (except deli meats)
bothers me now.  You also might try "organic" beef - available at a lot of
gourmet "health" food stores.  My only piece of advice is go easy!!!!

Enjoy - I don't know why I ever gave meat up!!!!

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My husband will have instant diarrhea after eating a lean roast beef.  He
turned out to be fat intolerant.

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I am the wife of a celiac, and have a biology degree, and from these
experiances I can offer two suggestions as to your reactions.

1.  It is common for butchers to flour their boards and knives when they cut
their meat.  Any red meat you buy should therefore be washed thouroughly
before cooking, and don't buy ground beef.

2.  It is common for people to stop producing and excreting certain enzymes
necessary for the breaking down and subsequent digestion of the proteins in
meat if they have not needed to produce them for a while.  It is a similar
phonominon to what happens in people who stop drinking milk - they usually
becaome lactose intolerant!  If this is the case, start with small portions
of red meat and work your way up to larger portions.  Avoid fat in the meat
because it is often a storehouse for toxins which you may have difficulty
digesting (from pesticides etc).

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Have you considered hunting and fishing? :)

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I agree with you one hundred percent.  Grain is fed (stuffed into) almost
all animals. The only gluten free protein  exception that I can fit in my
budget is to get some ocean fish like cod, which I assume gets no grain!

The prices on wild meat are astronomical. I even checked with a taxidermist
and yes he gave me some once but I feel awkward continuing to beg it off of
him. (It is against the wild game laws for me to pay him for it)

I am in the exact same boat as you are.

I like paleo and agree with Ray's theories (in Neanderthin book):
http://www.sofdesign.com/neander/nmain.html
However, I am finding myself slipping out of frustration (nothing to eat!)
Sometimes the grain fed  meat even makes me itch.

I think the only way to get gluten free meat would be to become a hunter
gatherer oneself and believe me I thought about it, but how and when, I live
in  a huge metro area.

Does anyone else notice the grain/gluten in the beef and other meats?

There is one mom on the autism list who has her child on a wild game diet
which she buys from a legal wild game  purveyor, her food  budget runs into
the  thousands.

There is some grass fed beef out of Colorada, I need to buy a freezer for
this, will try it after the holidays are over.This beef would be too
expensive for you, Susan, with the current exchange rate of the CDN dollar.
Maybe there is some grass fed beef available somewhere in Canada?

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Thank you again for all the very interesting! replies.

All the best,
Susan