Are Mary Kay products gluten free?

I just started using Mary Kay products about 2 months ago and I love the way it makes my skin look and feel!

After my recent issue with gluten and bladder inflammation, I thought I'd better take a closer look at all products I've been using.

So far, I'm not finding a lot online and will have to contact my Mary kay friend but I did find this link and I don't think I am using any of the products that do contain gluten.

So many things to pay attention to with Celiac Disease!

Almost two weeks and no bladder pain!

This is a first for me in almost a year! I am able to drink brewed coffee with no problem but no more Starbucks Mocha Lattes! The end of a 10 year+ addiction! My body and my wallet are happier!

Dominos introduces gluten free pizza ...in Australia

Well, here's yet another country that acknowledges the presence of Celiac Disease - Australia. Dominos is introducing gluten free pizza there. No explanation on why the U.S.A. is left out: www.franchise.net
In the long run, I won't complain. Baked goods are fattening, whether they have gluten or not.

Have you had issues with Celiac Disease and bladder problems?

It's been quite some time since I have posted here. This is largely due to the many things going on at my home and my job. That's another story.

I'm writing today about a recent discovery I believe I've made, more or less on my own, regarding the connection between bladder issues and gluten.

I've been struggling with monthly bladder infections and/or pain since January 2009. All along, I wondered if there was a connection to this with gluten in my diet somewhere.

Luckily, I stumbled upon this article at www.wellbladder.com tonight. The author, an RN, wrote about her issues with gluten and bladder pain/illness here: www.celiac.com

Right now, I am trying to figure out what the source of gluten is in my regular routine. I remembered that I actually had a bladder infection just before I had my hip replacement surgery at the end of July 2008.

I have wondered all along if I should be giving up my daily Starbuck's mocha latte but I didn't know for sure that a simple flavored drink like that could have a connection to gluten.

I'm going to try to look deeper at some of the information found at this link at www.celiac.com and see what happens if I make the change and drop the mochas from my diet.

If this works then there must be some cross contamination issues going on.
link
It is interesting for me to note that Starbucks introduced the Vivano drinks in July 2008:

Gluten Free Living magazine

My friend, Talova, picked up a copy of Gluten Free Living magazine for me recently. I just subscribed to it.

Thanksgiving and Celiac Disease

I'm facing my second Thanksgiving living with Celiac Disease. I guess I should say ...knowing I have it and living with it! Last year wasn't so bad because my husband helped me prepare almost everything gluten free since we had dinner for family at our place.

This year is going to be a little bit difficult since we've accepted a dinner invite at a dear friend's house. I know I am going to be making gluten free pumpkin pie and we are bring turkey.

I also found a good suggestion to bring my own gluten free salad dressing at healthy-family.org where you can read their "Top 10 Celiac Survival Tips for the Holidays".

Happy Thanksgiving and healthy eating!

Video: Celiac Disease and Gluten Free Foods

Starbucks is listening to customers about gluten free issues!

Take some time to read the comments about gluten free issues at the link below. The comments in orange are from Starbucks with some ideas that they may be announcing soon for customers with gluten free needs! Hats off to them for listening to their customers! Starbucks

October: National Celiac Disease Awareness Month

Celiac disease affects an estimated two million Americans and makes them unable to tolerate the protein gluten, found in wheat, rye, and barley. David Elliott, MD, PhD, director of the celiac and inflammatory bowel disease clinic at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, talks about celiac disease:

What happens with celiac disease? What does it do to the body?

Let me first state that celiac disease is actually fairly common. We think about one in every 150 people or so has celiac disease and most of these people are completely unaware that they have the disease. That’s why it’s really important to get these messages out.

A person with celiac disease develops intestinal inflammation, which is like a rash that involves the lining of the intestine. When they eat anything containing wheat, rye, barley, or, for some people, oats, this rash damages the cells that line the intestine and causes problems ranging from bloating and abdominal pain to severe diarrhea and wasting illness.

What causes celiac disease?

Celiac disease occurs when a person’s immune system reacts to proteins—what we call gluten—present in wheat, rye, barley, and, for some people, oats. The immune system acts as if the cereal grains are dangerous pathogens and tries to rid the body of them. In performing this attack, the immune system damages the tissues that make up the intestine.

Is someone born with celiac disease? Is it genetic?

People are not born with celiac disease, but it does have a very strong genetic component. It tends to run in families. What happens is normal variance of certain genes that help control the immune response are required for a person to develop celiac disease. But most people with those gene variations actually don’t develop celiac disease. There’s no genetic test that will help diagnose celiac disease, but we’re investigating closely to see what genes are involved in contributing risk for celiac disease.

What are the classic and typical symptoms of celiac disease?

The classic symptoms of celiac disease are profound diarrhea and wasting illness; however, the classic symptoms are really quite rare. Most people don’t have that. The typical symptoms of celiac disease are bloating, abdominal pain, irritable bowel-type symptoms, and fatigue. Some of the signs, or some of the problems that people have if they have celiac disease, are unexplained anemia, thinning of the bone (something that we call osteomalacia), and a mild irritation of the liver. Another one of the classic symptoms of celiac disease is something called dermatitis herpetiformis, which is a skin rash that’s intensely itchy and develops in some people with celiac disease.

If celiac disease is not diagnosed, what long-term conditions can develop?

There’s a whole spectrum of illnesses that can develop. Most of the illnesses occur due to longstanding, low-grade malabsorption of key nutrients. So for example, anemia develops because a person doesn’t absorb enough iron; bones get thin because they don’t absorb enough vitamin D and calcium. If it’s untreated for long periods of time, one of the main concerns that we have is that a person can actually cause permanent damage to the lining of the intestine and develop what we call refractory sprue. That is when even when you remove gluten, then they don’t bounce back and it can proceed, causing intestinal lymphoma or cancer of the immune system that normally polices that intestine.

If someone experiences these symptoms, how is celiac disease diagnosed?

If a person wants to be tested for celiac disease, they can start off with a very simple blood test that looks for an antibody called anti-tissue transglutaminase, which develops in some people with celiac disease. Most people with celiac disease will have an antibody against tissue transglutaminase, so they can do a screening test for that. If a person has that antibody, then we would normally go ahead and do a biopsy of their small bowel to confirm that they have celiac disease. There are rare people who don’t develop that antibody, so on occasion we’ll go down and do a biopsy of the small bowel to make sure that a person doesn’t have celiac disease even if they’re antibody negative.

How is celiac disease treated?

The main treatment is strict avoidance of any food that contains gluten: so avoidance of any food that contains wheat, rye, barley, and, for some people, oats. To help people avoid those foods, we give them dietary training—they meet with nutritionists. There are new food laws out now so that most food products are labeled if they contain wheat, rye, or barley gluten, and that’s getting better and better over time. Now that we know celiac disease is fairly common, manufacturers are making many more gluten-free products, so the diet is no longer as restrictive as it used to be.

Does treatment involve medication or is it strictly diet?

We try to treat a person with diet alone as much as possible because that really helps resolve any of the problems. On occasion, we’ll have to treat a person with medications to help combat the symptoms, for example, or help them rebuild bone. But we try very hard to treat them with diet alone.

Can celiac disease be cured?

It depends on what you mean by cure. If a person has celiac disease, they don’t outgrow it; there’s no way to really cure them of it easily. But if a person’s on a strict gluten-free diet, after they’ve been on it for a couple years, they’re perfectly normal and we can’t even tell medically that they have celiac disease. They have normal life spans, normal everything as long as they maintain a gluten-free diet. From UI Health Care

Blue cheese we can enjoy!

About 4 months ago, I found out that blue cheese has gluten in it because it is somehow made with bread. I was not happy. I felt I had managed to eat gluten free only to find out I was eating it in one of my favorite salad toppings about every other day.

Well, I just now stumbled across a post from about a year ago at Sure Foods Living that lists several brands of blue cheese that are not made with gluten. Tomorrow when I go grocery shopping, I will be taking this list with me!

Outback Steakhouse Gluten Alert

Outback Steakhouse cross contamination issues

Happy Labor Day!

Starbuck's Vivanno drinks are gluten free but ...

the protein powder is processed on machines that also process wheat. The suggestion I got was to not have the protein powder added.

That's what I was told today at a Reno, Nevada Starbucks. The Vivanno protein shakes came out well over a month or so ago and I immediately sent an inquiry to Starbucks' website in order to find out about the gluten content after not finding anyone in store who knew. Weeks later, I never got a response.

Well, today I know and, at least, Starbucks has begun educating their in-store employees about "gluten" in their products.

Receive a free Triumph Dining Card to help raise money for Celiac Awareness!

Triumph Dining is giving away FREE American Dining Cards until the end of August. There’s absolutely no purchase necessary. Your readers can simply visit our site to participate and get a free dining card.

The purpose of this give-away is to raise money for Celiac Disease Awareness. If 15,000 people to sign up for free dining cards, Triumph Dining will make a $10,000 donation in support of a national celiac disease awareness campaign. When we hit our goal, we'll ask you and the gluten free community to help us decide which non-profit(s) receives the donation.

We’re trying to build awareness on two fronts: With 15,000 more dining cards on the street, we’ll be educating more restaurants about the gluten free diet faster. And, with $10,000 funding behind a national campaign, we can diagnose and educate more Celiacs.


The FREE dining card offer is available at the Triumph Dining's site and we’ll be posting regular progress reports on our Triumph Dining blog.

"Study reveals piece in the celiac puzzle"

Maryland researchers have identified a key receptor in the intestine that can trigger celiac disease, and they hope their findings can be applied to other autoimmune disorders, such as Type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis.

Celiac disease is a digestive disorder that damages the small intestine and interferes with the absorption of nutrients from food. People with the condition cannot process a protein called gluten - most commonly found in grains such as wheat, rye and barley, but also found in medicines and vitamins.

Common in the general population, celiac disease affects an estimated 2 million Americans, or one out of 133 people, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

In this month's issue of Gastroenterology, University of Maryland scientists wrote that gliadin, the toxic component of gluten for celiac patients, binds to an intestinal receptor called CXCR3. The receptor then releases the protein zonulin, which makes the intestine more permeable.

"We know a lot about celiac disease, but we never understood the question of how the protein gains access in the intestine," said Dr. Alessio Fasano, a gastroenterologist who directs the Center for Celiac Research at the University of Maryland and lead author of the study.

"Further study is needed, but this could allow us to intervene so that less zonulin is released, which may prevent the immune response altogether." Baltimore Sun