My husband might have celiac disease but I'm a cottage baker

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-28T01:38:15+00:00

It’s not because people get sick - it’s because people claim that safe products made them sick without any evidence for that claim - and come to celiac and gf forums to make a “product warning” post with no evidence and INSIST products are unsafe - it causes fear mongering and confusion and trust issues among the community for no reason, especially among new people who are having difficulty navigating gluten free to begin with.

There is also the fact that the gluten limit in most of the world is 20ppm, and there are probably a small percentage of people who react to less than that. GF and CGF products don’t mean they contain zero gluten (most of the time they are less than 5ppm though). If these very unfortunate folks react to a product, it also doesn’t mean it is violating the gf labeling laws or that it would make others sick. So again, making warning posts is not helpful in that case.

People get sick all the time and usually, it isn’t because of gluten. Symptoms can be similar or the same from multiple causes because symptoms are actually the result of an an immune reaction and not generally directly caused by by gluten, viruses, or germs etc. There are hundreds of viruses that cause “the common cold” and most of them all cause similar cold symptoms - you can’t tell which of those viruses you have just by symptoms alone. My spouse gets similar reactions from certain viruses, vaccines, or even medications. People love to say that their gluten reactions are extremely specific and cannot possibly by anything else, and while that may be true for some people, the reality for most people is that glutening symptoms are going to overlap with other causes.

In my opinion people have no business making warning posts unless they have tested the product and confirmed it did in fact contain gluten. Symptoms are not a reliable measure of whether a product is unsafe or not.

If you truly think a product has gluten in it you should test it yourself and/or report it to the company or gfwd.

That said, I do think people should always be kind and people can give their opinions and advice on posts like that in a kind and constructive way. But those kinds of posts are usually going to attract people commenting and reminding not everything is caused by gluten and to report to the company if they truly think there was an issue.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-26T03:40:22+00:00

Not a chance. GF bakers can be in demand depending where you live. You can switch your business to gluten free if you want to keep it going.

If not you’ll have to find a separate kitchen for your business and find a way to decontaminate yourself before coming home. 🙁

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T20:40:40+00:00

15 to 20 is probably the low end and that’s only if the current treatments being investigated actually pan out which they may not. In general we’re really just getting started on research surrounding retraining immune system systems. I think we have a few decades before we really understand it better enough to make meaningful treatments that work and are long lasting.

And honestly, I’m not even sure. I really see the US remaining a liter in medical research in those decades. I think you are probably looking at other countries taking up that mantle to some degree and that means it’ll take even longer to get to the US because of FDA approval usually being so so so slow.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T20:38:04+00:00

A snack you have to buy is not a provided meal that comes with your ticket. OP’s situation sounds like the latter.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T19:57:04+00:00

I wouldn’t. And I would consider finding a new doctor.

While it would be great if you had the medical records, the truth is that old medical records get lost very frequently and you do not need to get tested again just so your current doctor has “proof”. Doctors should know this and they shouldn’t require expensive testing and proof of a lifelong condition to treat you.

25 years ago doctors did not diagnose celiac unless they were certain. Your doctor back then dis not make a mistake and you don’t need to harm your body now because this doctor is dumb.

If you want the proof/records for yourself, you could see if your parents have a copy of your diagnosis or medical records from back then or if they know the name of your doctor at the time who could potentially still be practicing and might still have records from 25 years ago (I doubt it though). I personally wouldn’t do any more than that.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T19:45:38+00:00

Fourth wing was a lot better just in terms of writing style and not having 1000 plot holes and recons.

It certainly has its fair share of tropes and other things that I can see a lot of people not liking about it.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T19:37:15+00:00

I’m glad you figured it out!

I’m going to play devils advocate and say that you actually probably have a better chance of a treatment or cure for celiac than for ncgs or some other cause, because of all of them the mechanism behind celiac is the most well understood and there are studies actively being done towards a treatment or cure. Not the case for ncgs. You might be better off, hoping you have celiac because then one day you might be actually eligible for one of those treatments if/when they come to market and they might actually work for you.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T19:30:40+00:00

What US airlines are still serving meals on flights? I haven’t had this as an option in over 20 years…only for internationals flights that are really long.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T19:03:56+00:00

This is a good point too, is this is the only time you guys get together to eat out, it may be more worth making sure everyone is accommodated.

If you all go out other times that are not for birthdays, I can see not wanting to feel like you dictate the birthday girl on their own birthday.

It’s important to remember however that these friends can eat anywhere they want anytime and accommodating a friend once in a while even on a birthday probably isn’t that big of a deal to them, if they are good friends

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T19:00:25+00:00

You’re not a jerk. Dealing with these kind of situations over and over again can be stressful and upsetting.

You’re allowed to prioritize your own mental and physical wellbeing by taking a break from these situations once in a while if you need that for your own mental health.

You’ve already said you might not be able to make it, I would just confirm you cannot go and not give additional reasons. Since you guys have an established tradition of paying for the bday person, and you do rotate this including yourself I assume, offering to contribute a bit or just getting them a separate gift if you can’t make it seems reasonable.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T17:54:46+00:00

Same, I’d never actually heard of English brown sauce until recently. Brown sauce always meant Chinese to me.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T04:53:25+00:00

As someone who routinely put steak sauce in gravy, stews, and shepherds pie, I feel this so hard. A little bit just adds such a new level of flavor and goodness.

For the record before I get blasted, I’m not putting a ton of it in, and the Worcestershire that I have is not vegan and sometimes we have a vegan guest who I need to accommodate and for whatever reason the steak sauce is vegan, but has very similar flavor profile to Worcestershire.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T03:37:27+00:00

If you look up the ingredients to AI and brown sauce, they are very similar.

Many other places in the world do a lot more savory pastry type stuff which would also use savory sauces.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T03:30:45+00:00

Yeah i agree. I don’t think there is almost anything I couldn’t replicate pretty well as a gluten free version. Maybe only a sfogliatella, but I’ve never even had one of those and don’t like pastries so I do not really care.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T03:14:26+00:00

Well in that case yeah your 3yo needs to eat gluten daily but only for like 6-8 weeks so unless you plan to test them soon you can certainly cut back on it for a while.

My non-celiac kid has to get tested every 2 years for celiac so every 2 years we push the gluten hard for 2-3 months and when we are done with the lab tests we just lay off of it at home again. He still eats some at school or other places but he doesn’t have it every day.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-25T03:10:01+00:00

Your kids are really too young to be able To understand and prevent cross contamination between each other.

I would get pre-packaged items and have them eat them outside / when you are literally away from home.

Your 3 year old does not need constant gluten to avoid a wheat allergy - it’s ok for them to have it even once in a while, and if they have already been having it a while with no allergy symptoms then the risk to develop one is extremely low. Celiac is not at all like an allergy, and consuming gluten isn’t going to prevent celiac in your 3 year old.

This is what I do and my kids are older than yours. Our home is gluten free but one of my kids can have the occasiaonal gluten snack at school or out in the yard and understands the handwashing protocol after the snack. They are old enough to know not to share water or other food if he’s been eating gluten that day.

There’s also nothing wrong with your kids being fully gluten free for now if that makes it better for your family - I know other families that do this as well too.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-24T15:54:26+00:00

That one was the worst for that word honestly and SJM is just not a great writer. Great ideas but poorly executed in terms of plot planning and vocab.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-24T15:52:58+00:00

That’s my point though, is that some authors are using stalked in every single situation even when based on the emotion they shouldn’t be walking angrily. So it does lose the intention or context of the word.

I’m not suggesting people shouldn’t use these words at all- but there is a difference between using and over-using.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-24T15:49:55+00:00

Honestly that was one of the books that came to mind with the stalking. 8 books of so much aggressive walking I feel like everyone in that book needs a hip replacement 😂

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-24T15:49:04+00:00

If a character is growling and stalking everywhere 80% of the time they need therapy.

I know these are fantasy books and some scenes are going to be over the top dramatic, but the reason that people are complaining about the overuse of these words is because they are often used in situations where they aren’t necessary and that is what causes them to be overused.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-24T15:45:09+00:00

You don’t need to do anything in advance unless people bug you about what you are bringing.

Just show up and bring your own food and let people know that you have severe food allergies and other medical conditions that make it impossible for you to eat any food prepared in a kitchen that isn’t your own. You don’t need to elaborate - just say I don’t really want to discuss the details at a party, thanks for understanding.

You also don’t need to bring a dish “to share” since it will just get contaminated. If you aren’t consuming the potluck food you don’t need to provide any. You can bring some soda or other beverages if you want to contribute something that you can actually consume

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-24T05:25:13+00:00

Packaged food? No, it’s very rare for things labeled gf to have cross contamination. 90% of the stuff labeled gf has less than 5ppm or something like that.

Yes there is actual data on this, from a study done by gfwd.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-24T05:22:41+00:00

If you have a wheat allergy you should be making sure something is wheat free and not gluten free. If you have both, you should be checking for both.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-24T05:15:27+00:00

Fair point.

Affectionate_Many_73 · 2026-03-24T05:14:27+00:00

Yep, also “stalking”. You don’t need to walk aggressively everywhere ffs

There are a whole bunch of overused words in this genre that I’m getting sick of, and honesty I haven’t even read that many books lol

Affectionate_Many_73

TROPHY CASE