<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
I suspect that celiac can (at least at times) make you much more
susceptablie to bacteria, viruses, etc. on foods.   Unless you grow your
own, just think of all those vegetables & fruits have been thru on the way
to your table:    In many cases hand picked, passed thru dusty warehouses,
sitting exposed on grocery shelves with people squeezing, sneezing,
coughing etc. on them.         In addition, it just may be that
occassionally we are short on enzymes needed to break down cell walls (that
would have been broken by cooking).       At any rate, I have found that
when I am having trouble with raw vegetables, a very light steaming seems
to solve the problem.    (Possibly by killing any bacteria, or breaking
cell walls, whatever)        Anyway, if done with a very light touch it
affects nutrients very little if at all and sometimes seems to help.
 
Incidently you CAN overdo the raw bit.     Some foods are MORE nutricious
cooked than raw, either because hard to break down cell walls are broken,
chemicals that block enzymes are destroyed (true with many seeds - the
chemicals help "freeze" metabolic funtions until it's time to grow),
chemicals evolved to protect the plant against being eaten are broken down,
etc. etc.    The key, as always, is knowing what's best in the particular
situation.    I have seen extreemists who insisted that ALL foods were best
eaten raw - and who were raving about all the weight they had lost while
obviously suffering from frank malasorption.       Most foods are more
easily digested raw, so if your digestive system can't seem to handle
something raw, try cooking it at least lightly.
 
RE:   Honey.   The best bet for gluten free honey is honey in the comb.
(This means the stuff that's actually IN the comb.   Not the stuff poured
around it.)    But even honey in the comb may have, for example, corn
proteins if the bees have been fed corn syrup AT THE WRONG TIME OF THE YEAR
(i.e.:  when they're actively storing honey, they'll add it directly to
the honey stored).   Since honey in the comb is a quality product,  most
manufacturers of comb honey won't do this.      EUROPEAN honey is safe -
it's TESTED for adulteration.    The US seems to still be hooked on
political dogma about so called "self-regulation*"  (an oxy-moron if there
ever was one!).
 
Jim Barron
Chapel Hill NC
__________________________________
"*Self-regulation":   1)   What YOU don't know won't hurt US.    2)  WE
make the profit.   YOU pay the price.    3)   The ones making the profit
from doing the damage are also the ones responsible for limiting the damage
and, all too often, the ones controlling the information about the source
of the damage.