Gluten (The X-Files)

I call this:
Gluten (The X-Files)
Because in Home Made Health - this is the First things you should cross off (X-Out) of your shopping list!

Many diseases react with Gluten so the first step in getting Home Made Health is to get rid of the Gluten!
It is not as easy as looking for Wheat, Barley and Rye! For example, most oats, unless specially processed are cross contaminated with gluten when other Gluten Grains are processed on the same machines!

One of the most sever Gluten Reaction I have had, after becoming Gluten Free, was eating corn grits (Cebuano: bugas mais or "rice corn") that was boiled in a pan that had been used and washed for cooking rice noodles (bihon).

None of those things should have gluten! Here is the story of what happened...

The company that makes the bihon also makes pansit (wheat flour noodles) on the same machines! The pansit contaminated the bihon, the bihom contaminated the cooking pot, that even though it was washed still had enough Gluten to contaminate the corn grits - and that is what gave me the worst gluten reaction since I became gluten free!

I take two ounces of pure chocolate each day to help control my Blood Pressure. It is made from the seeds of the Cocoa fruit and is quite bitter if not mixed with something sweet. All was fine when my mother-in-law made it for me. However, buying some at the market was another matter altogether!

Some unscrupulous vendors at the market may mix in 25% white flour (some also use peanuts, but that is a different story). The white flour is made from wheat and loaded with Gluten! The unscrupulous vendors do it to "stretch" their product and earn more money - Cocoa beans are much more expensive than white flour.

My Honeybun, who loves me so much, said that we should make our own Chocolate if we cannot get it from someone we know and trust (like her mom!). We have come to realize that even then, mom (or my Honeybun) has it ground at a local vendor; who maybe just ground chocolate from a vendor with white flour, presenting a possible cross contamination point!

Geeze, now we need our own grinder!

It was a revelation! I am not sure if it came first to my Honeybun or me, but REAL Home Made Health comes from what we make ourselves - at Home!

Only when you make it yourself can you be really sure of what you are eating and take responsibility for your own health! That is where we came up with the idea for Home Made Health!

-aLan