Friday, March 25, 2011

I can't eat beef I have Celiac Disease

Can't or Don't 

My grandpa, same one that gave me the amazing turquoise belt buckle, is one of biggest beef advocates that I know. He was singing beef's praises and telling the farmer and rancher's stories long before advocacy was the trendy thing to do.

This last week he was at a Health and Food Show in Calgary, Alberta, with his Alberta Beef booth. A lady walked up to him, and said I can't eat beef, I have Celiac disease. "The cattle eat barley, so I can't eat beef."

One of the new calves
back at home.
My instant reaction to her comment was, "What in the world is she talking about, of course she can eat beef. What nutritionist or doctor told her that, or why do people keep on self-diagnosing themselves." However, then I started to do some research and found that "Can a Gulten-Free Person eat Grain-Fed Meat" is a pretty common question. (p.s. If you follow the link you'll see that this lady has been led down the wrong path thinking Grass-Fed is healthier and better for the environment, but she does have the answer I was looking for about Gluten-Free diets and Beef.

According to thesavvyceliac.com when she asked Registered Dietitian and Gluten Free-Expert Tricia Thompson whether or not Grass-Fed Beef was Gullen-Free this is what Tricia said

“Grain-fed beef is fine. Before protein is absorbed it’s broken down into single amino acids or very short peptide fragments-no longer gluten.” — Tricia Thompson MSRD


Awesome! So those with Celiac Disease or that are taking part in a gluten free diets can enjoy all the health benefits of beef. 

And what did I learn/ If I'm going to walk the walk, I need to talk the talk. People have concerns about the food they are eating, where it comes from and how it is raised. Questions that seem obvious to one person might be confusing to others.

9 comments:

  1. Good afternoon,

    As we own a custom butcher shop (The Chelmsford Meat House) and service a large gluten sensitive population, we also run into this misconception.

    We are asked every question the media suggests that consumers ask from age, breed, location, diet specifics.. you name it!

    We have also observed that while many ask questions that have detailed answers, the querent does not always possess the educational background to process the details of the answer. Knowing this has changed the way we educate and interact with our consumers.

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  2. Great share, Crystal! I never thought about that! I will pass this along. We sure are in a learn-by-doing industry, especially in public relations and advocating. I've learned the most when I've had to say "I don't know, but will find out." I've found that it's those questions and misconceptions that have driven me to learn the detailed reasoning.

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  3. The actual answer is "yes and no." Most of my Celiac clients come to me believing they're doing everything right, and following their doctor's recommendations to the letter. Yet, their symptoms persist. The single biggest problem is the meat they're eating, but not because it's grain-fed, as some people think. The grain isn't the problem, and the vast majority of cattle feed doesn't utilize grains that contain gluten anyway (corn doesn't contain gluten, neither does soy, which are the primary feed components of most CAFO cattle and poultry). It's because almost all the meat available in supermarkets is injected with a moisturizing solution that contains gluten. As much as 12-15% of some meat's weight is made up of this solution, which is clearly an issue if you have Celiac disease. So, they need to look for meat that is labeled as non-injected (often available at higher-end grocers), or purchase locally from a farm or butcher that doesn't inject.

    This single change has solved the issue for almost all of the Celiac clients I've had come to me with continuing symptoms who were already following a gluten-free diet.

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  4. I know so little I could never have formed the question much less answered it. Your post was interesting and enlightening. I hope you have a great weekend. Blessings...Mary

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  5. I think its great that more people are taking a greater interest in what they eat. Due to our daughters health issues we have taken a greater interest in our diet and have reverted to eating more like the used to a generation or so ago. Less processed, more straight from the land and the animal. Takes more time and money but its quality time. My city slicker, wedding photographer wife, now has a milk cow and can't wait to get her chickens.

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  6. I think lots of people get misinformation on the TV. I was watching a show this week and the host had a vegan who blasted totally wrong facts about chicken. And of course we all know the other talk show host which has guests that speak of what they really do not know about on beef. People just need to get right information from their doctors and guit depending on TV and friends to give them medical advice!

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  7. This is nice to know. My little brother was just diagnosed with celiac disease. So we were debating whether or not to butcher a grass fed steer (nasty tasting by the way haha) and give it to my my parents for him. I hadn't gone so far as to research it like you did, but clearly I should have. Thanks :)

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  8. My husband has celiac disease and we ate beef for a long time, but eventually it started making him sick. to this day when we try to reintroduce it into his diet he gets sick. I have been told that gluten can hide in red food coloring, and that beef has red dies added to it to make it look fresh for longer at the grocery store.

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  9. My husband has celiac disease and we ate beef for a long time, but eventually it started making him sick. to this day when we try to reintroduce it into his diet he gets sick. I have been told that gluten can hide in red food coloring, and that beef has red dies added to it to make it look fresh for longer at the grocery store.

    ReplyDelete

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