MISTAKE 5: Accepting that “gluten free” on labels actually means gluten free
Gluten free foods are hitting retail stores faster than bullet trains. 26 billion times faster; over $26B worth of gluten free foods sold in 2011 in the United States alone!
Unfortunately, “certified gluten free” doesn’t necessarily mean the food is gluten free. The same way “fat free” doesn’t actually mean fat free most of the time. Clever lawyers, massive legal loopholes, and mega food manufacturers tied in with government is what makes this possible.
There is a lot of controversy with regards to what is “legally” gluten free right now. The controversy runs in both the legal world and in the medical world with a lot of pressure from food manufacturers on both those worlds to keep the legally accepted amount as high as possible.
It costs a fortune to run completely gluten free lines in a food plant that wasn’t designed to be a gluten free dedicated facility. When I say “fortune”, I mean hundreds of millions of dollars easily plus the extra safety measures that would need to be implemented and maintained, re-training of employees, millions more put into research & development if the recipes themselves need to be changed completely…
While all this controversy is going on, 99% of people who are newly diagnosed will run to the grocery store and stock up on everything that has a gluten free label on it. And it is the #1 reason they will stay sick forever. Between that and the flawed gluten free lists that you can download online for free from various sites, the person doesn’t stand a chance.
When I was first diagnosed (mind you I was a sports enhancement nutritionist), with my naked eye - that means no research at all, I spotted several flaws on the lists I found everywhere that were "safe lists". Of course people never get better! They follow that flawed information.
Even a tiny accidental contamination (like someone double dipping when you’re at a party) will create antibodies in your system for at least 6 weeks and usually for 3 months. Can you imagine the damage being done if you are eating foods every day that have small “legal” amounts of gluten in them? It’s no wonder the mortality rates are as high as they are. And it is the reason Celiacs often say “but I am eating gluten free, why don’t I feel well, why am I not getting better?”
There are easy and completely safe alternatives to everything in the standard food world, it just takes re-learning what to cook with and safest options (as in buying gluten free flour from a company using true gluten free ingredients, like 100% chick pea flour from a GF dedicated facility, as opposed to a company that has a corn mix and running alongside regular wheat flour lines in the same plant).
This report isn’t a lesson in nutrition and food, but just knowing the difference between those 2 gluten free options (both legal, but only one of them truly GF) will make all the difference in the world. It’s “buyer beware” and you have to do your homework. So remember: gluten free label doesn’t necessarily mean 100% gluten free contents.
Do not trust gluten free labels any more than you should trust fat free labels. Both are usually untrue and both are also usually very toxic as far as sugars and synthetic materials go.
Please don't kill the messenger; I'm on your side here. I live with Celiac Disease too.
Now take a look at a shocker:
"Gluten Free" on the front of the label, and wheat listed right there in the ingredients!
That's SO obvious, it's not even what I am warning you about in this section. I'm actually warning you about the not-so-obvious ingredients containing gluten that you would need to cross check against a well researched list like my A to Z.
But the truth is that most people would see "gluten free" on the front of the label and never bother to double check ingredients. Why would you, right? Wrong. Check every label, every time.
The flawed 10 and 20ppm so-called laws are enough to spin off a whole rant but I'll say it in a sentence: if you are reacting to gluten you need to be 100% gluten free.