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Dear listmates,
Sorry for taking so long. Work & life have been very busy lately. People
were extraordinarily helpful and a lot of really kind, supportive people
wrote to me.  Thanks a million for everything.
I received over 40 replies to my posting of Oct. 26 asking for help with
finding the cause for some reactions I'd been having to different foods. It
was really fantastic sitting here in Warsaw at work on the afternoon I
posted the letter and hearing a beep from my computer every 15 minutes as
someone in the US woke up and sent off a quick reply to what I wrote.  This
list has been a major help to me for the last several months, especially as
I feel double cut off since most any info available locally is in Polish
and that's my second language.  The list also helped me get in touch with
other people in Germany, Turkey, UK, etc. and even right here in Poland
(Czesc Wojtek).

To recap my previous message briefly:
I am celiac, lactose intolerant  and apparently also allergic to corn and
soy. Aside from usual gastric complaints, when eating problem foods my
hands swell up and for months have stayed swelled even weeks after avoiding
the food that apparently caused the reaction.
I had questions about three things I'd eaten.

1. GF pie crust.  GF flour mix was rice flour, tapioca starch, potato
starch, other ingredents included a little wine vinegar, margarine.

2. GF cookies using only certified GF brown rice flour. AND brown sugar
(which I didn't put in my original posting) I now understand that the
problem may have been caused by  non-GF molasses or the caramel color in
the brown sugar.
I thought that maybe the problem was caused by the margarine since it was
the same margarine used in the pie crust.  Only ingredients listed are:
refined vegetable oil.

3. GF bread using a mix with the following ingredients: potato starch, rice
flour, glucose, guar gum, dried yeast, salt

Replies about what could be causing reactions were as follows. Answers not
arranged in order of importance.

Dan Winters
Warsaw, Poland

Re Margarine/Oil/Soy:

6 people wrote that margarine contains soy
1  wrote that this margarine is clearly no good for me
1 margarine can have milk products
1 the problem could be the casein in margarine
2 most veg oil has soy
3 don't use canola oil, celiacs have trouble with it.
1 margarine may not have been GF
1 use butter not margarine
1 restaurant foods grilled with soy oil
1 avoid "vegetable oil" use sunflower or canola
1 use ghee (clarified butter, used in Indian cooking) instead of butter
1 maybe reaction to canola oil - use olive oil or sunflower

Allergies:

1-2 also have reactions to GF foods
several people also have other food allergies
several people also have corn/soy allergies
1 get blood tests for allergies
1 dairy intolerant from casein not lactose
1 wrote that her son is allergic to rice as well as soy
1 chemical sensitivity to products used in food processing
1 suggestion to try whole foods individually to see if there is a reaction
to the suspected allergen
1 the problem is food color or preservatives
1 celiacs get more allergies than others
1 celiac who's also developing more allergies as time passes
1 gets reactions from yeast
1 gets reactions from guar, xanthan gum
1 wrote that by lowering the level of allergens a person can then tolerate
more as the overall allergen level is not above the tolerance level
1 described the pulse test for allergies -  Don't eat a suspected food
group for a week. Then, on an empty stomach, take your pulse and record it.
Eat a small amt of the food, 30,60, 90 min after taking your pulse.
Anything above a 10% rise indicates allergies and how much.  This will help
give you a handle on the problem,  this info is found in Dr. Cocoa's Pulse
Test for Allergies, a book that has just been re-released

corn:
1 glucose could be from corn syrup
1 had problems with corn, can tolerate it now

vinegar:
1 gets reactions to sulfites in wine and wine derived products like vinegar
1 thinks it could be the vinegar, has reactions unless it's cider or rice
wine vinegar. Theory: Is distilled vinegar used to dilute other types of
vinegar like wine vinegar?

helpful suggestions:
1 make sure to exercise
several people wrote that it takes time for the system to heal
several people eat fresh fruit, meat, fish and veggies and feel better for
it
1 on organic veg diet and feels good
1 it's the iodine in salt and potato chips. avoid seafood and eggyolks,
check multivitamins for iodine
1 eats no fat, spices, lactose
1 take GF multivitamin, extra-B vitamin, glucosamine (sulfate)
2 try a rotation diet - only eat foods once every 4 days for example
1 Leaky Gut syndrome is the problem,  check archives to research this
1 take acidopholus to improve digestion, L-glutamine to help heal the
intestines
1 try using sweet rice flour in cooking, available in asian markets
2 try a paleolithic diet.   One wrote: I had the same symptoms! Then I went
to:
http://www.sofdesign.com/neander and ordered Neanderthin.
The author, Ray Audette cured his own rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes
eating meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds. It is the refined
agricultural products that are affecting you adversely.
Also, The Paleolithic Diet Page:  http://www.panix.com/~paleodiet

Nightshade Vegetables (tomato,potato, peppers, eggplant)
2 nightshade vegs problem for people with arthritis
1 nightshade vegs often cause allergies
1 white potatoes have lectin, some celiacs are sensitive to it
1 potatoes are a common allergen

Arthritis/swelling:
1 GF diet helped sender's rheumatoid arthritis
1 flour, sugar bad for people with joint inflammation

Books to read:
"Breaking the Vicious cycle" Intestinal health through diet by Elaine
Gottschall, B.A., M.Sc.  i.s.b.n.  is:  0-9692768-1-8 It is a diet for Celiac
disease and many other intestinal diseases.  It advocates cutting out all
rice (and rice flour) products, potato (and potato flour) products, as well
as corn, and all the other grains that are considered o.k.  for celiacs, as
well as sugar (honey is o.k.).  Basically, these grains (and flour) you are
eating can trigger allergic reactions, even in someone who previously could
tolerate them.  The diet involves eating meat, vegetables and fruits, and
once things heal up, ground nuts (which can be used as a flour to make baked
goods).  It is a wonderfully healing diet that is very easy on the intestines
because there is less work involved in breaking down these foods.

Protein Power, SugarBusters!, both books about low carb diet concentrating
on veggies and protein mostly.  The theory being that our bodies were not
intended to eat grains and they are what is making us fat and causing a lot
of intestinal and auto immune diseases!

"Eat right for your blood type" by Dr. Dadamo or go to www.dadamo.com
I am type A and i have found by just staying away from wheat is not
enuff.Find out ur blood type and go to the list and stop eating the
foods on ur list. Type is not suppose to eat any potatos wat so
ever.

Other:
 A couple people agreed that ordering food in restaurants can be a real
pain in the neck
2 continued eating foods even after knowing they were causing reactions
(like I did)
A few people dont try to make GF baked stuff and have basically given up on
breads, cereals and crackers
1 wanted to know what the prevalence of CD in Poland is
1 The problem is neither celiac nor allergies
1 cross contamination such as bread crumbs in kitchen could be the problem
1 Sugar is the problem
1 has reactions to things besides just food. Has a toxicity self test you
can take to see if you are over-exposing yourself to some types of
chemicals. http://www.myfreeoffice/cleansafe
(I tried this site a couple times and was never able to get through.)