Hashimotos Thyroiditis and Gluten Cross Contamination

You would think we have enough to worry about just watching the test results of our TSH and antibodies having Hashimotos Thyroiditis – but there is a “new” kid in town – and one that might be even more important to watch when you have this disease. I doubt many of us would be surprised to hear the answer but what I am talking about is gluten ingestion. Yes, the evidence is mounting leaps and bounds that our antibodies can be a direct result of ingesting gluten! If you do the deep thinking, this brings us to the question, which came first, the Hashimoto’s or the gluten intolerance? I will leave that as a separate post for another time.

Today I want to concentrate on the most difficult part of going gluten free (for me). Honestly, going gluten free has had its challenges but none as great as the very real and in some cases, daily, risk of cross-contamination! Let me give you an example: You walk into a restaurant (especially when you are just starting this journey of gluten free) and you ask if there is gluten in certain dishes.  The waiter or waitress asks the chef and comes back to tell you “no, no gluten in this dish”.  Okay, hold it right there! You asked the wrong question or at the minimum, did not include the second important part of the question. Here’s where it can get frustrating. You need to ask them not only if the dish has gluten containing ingredients but also, you have to know if it is prepared in pans, utensils, grills, etc. that are also used for gluten containing foods.

In other words, just finding out that the food/dish itself is free of gluten is ONLY the first step. It becomes essentially important to let them know that you either need a gluten free environment for your food preparation (P.F. Changs, for example, has a gluten free kitchen section) OR they would need to take precautions to keep your food from being cross-contaminated. Now, this is where most restaurants fail the test. In fact, this is when a serious gluten free person, becomes all too familiar with one or two restaurants and that’s about it, when “out on the town”. I found this video very helpful and hopefully you will too (even though she describes the life of a Celiac, we need to see ourselves this way):

But what we need to keep in mind, is that we do this for our health and to stay out of trouble health-wise. If you haven’t seen my other post on the connection between thyroid antibodies and gluten, you will find it very informative as this subject is discussed in the interview with Dr. Thomas O’Bryan and how this link has been proven.

Gluten cross contamination could be the biggest set back we have to healing. I hope this post has been helpful for you. I know I have felt 80%-90% better going truly gluten free. I hope you will too!

Disclaimer: All posts are describing my personal journey through health issues and are in no way meant to guide anyone towards any method in particular. I am not a medical practitioner or have a dietary or medical license, and this blog is not intended to be taken as authoritative advice. Please see your doctor, or health professional before making any drastic diet changes! Also, occasionally I find others to partner with whom I have had tremendous help from and therefore, there may be paid advertisements and links to support them and help me financially run this website.
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One response to “Hashimotos Thyroiditis and Gluten Cross Contamination”

  1. […] time. The following picture of me is from September of 2011. This was 4 months after starting the true gluten free diet and learning traditional food preparation (based on the ideas in the book Nourishing Traditions by […]

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