Yes, I'd be concerned with cross contamination as well - just as sushipup explained so well. I use a different mill for gluten-free flours (grains/beans/seeds) to avoid cross contamination and never use gluten-containing grains in it. I was hired to make a selection of GF cookies for Christmas for a person who has celiac disease, as a surprise from her husband. I wouldn't mill flour containing gluten in the kitchen for a week prior to making the GF foods, and throughly wiped down every surface in the kitchen before making anything GF. I use stainless steel bowls, rather than plastic to make sure there's NOTHING to cross contaminate things. My mother (now deceased) had celiac disease and I did a lot of food prep. to stock her freezer for her BEFORE there were so many things so readily available. There are a number of ingredients used in gluten-free baking that you're better off having than trying to substitute. These additional ingredients help to reduce dryness, increase volume and tenderness, and enhance flavor in baked goods and other foods. I was challenged to come up with cookie recipes, for a sorghum mill outside of town, that were made with "common" ingredients. WHAT, no xanthan gum, potato starch, arrow root, guar gum....??? But I did it! Instead of potato starch or potato flour I've used dried potato flakes (used for instant mashed potatoes), BUT, I made sure I found a brand at the health food store that didn't contain a lot of questionable ingredients. FYI - Potato FLOUR has a strong potato taste and I don't use it as much as potato starch. Potato STARCH, however, is often used in GF baking, especially in combination with other flours. I consider potato STARCH a staple ingredient for GF baking. Combining gluten-free flours with NUT FLOURS will increase protein and help mask the gritty texture often associated with GF flours. Nut FLOURS are made AFTER the nut oil has been expressed from the nuts and is a fine flour. Nut MEALS are made from the ground nut (oil included) and are more gritty than nut flour. You'll find the names are often interchanged, so buyer beware.... Ground almond meal can replace dry milk powder in recipes as a dairy-free alternative. You can also make your own nut milk at home to use as a dairy-free alternative. You'll find some great information and recipes at the link below. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Ener-G Foods

This was so much information! Thank you! I want to pull out what I found to be the most interesting and post it on it's own. "Just as the body was formed and operates on a priority basis, so it heals on a priority basis. This means that the most important parts of the body get the healing attention before the less vital tissues. We can't force the body to place its healing priority on weight loss when in fact the liver is about to die, for example. The liver is more important to your body than the extra pounds. So all the energies of the body go to heal the liver and weight loss will stop. The body will not compromise what health and vitality it does have in one part of the body to bring about healing in another. In other words, the body will not "rob Peter to pay Paul." So you may be eating nutritionally and exercising and you start out losing some weight. But then all of a sudden, you become stuck at a certain weight -- the needle on the scale won't budge anymore. The body is rejoicing on the inside and saying things like, "You know, we have all this extra energy now because Mr. Doughnut here has decided to start eating right and exercising -- let's take some of our new available energy and start the healing process on his congested liver!" So the body will take all the available energy and channel it into the liver. As a result the weight loss stops. The body will NOT take away any energy needed for daily activities and maintenance. It will only take what is left over to start the healing process. It's my belief that the body does not completely heal one part before moving on to the next item on its priority list. Rather, it heals a part to the degree that it is no longer a priority. At that point the healing attention is shifted to the part of the body that is now in most need of repair. In the above example, once the liver has been cleansed somewhat, the body will refocus its attention on other areas... perhaps back to weight loss. During my weight loss period, I would hit plateaus where it seemed like I'd never lose another pound. I lost 10 pounds and then nothing for 3 weeks. During that time I woke up one morning and my arthritis was gone and my blood sugar had stabilized somewhat. If you keep on your diet and exercise program, you will eventually lose all the weight you want. A healthy body is not overweight. Remember, "Always strive for health and the weight loss will happen!"

Meat can be made into meatloaf or pate, or cooked as a braise or stew, which require little chewing. Salads require a lot of chewing. Try soups, terrines, hummus, smoothies, etc. Remember that you need to chew some to stimulate the saliva interaction that's an important part of digestion. Just use the softer stuff when you're really in pain. Quinoa needs to be "fluffy" to be nice to eat. The Kitchn has instructions which emphasize the fluffy. I haven't cooked through this one, but it looks right. The rubbing and rinsing step is important. What are you doing for the TMJ? If it hurts that much to chew, you might try an anti-inflammatory, and since you're talking about changing your diet, you could go towards an anti-inflammatory diet as well. Do you have a "wet" heating pad? (Not literally wet, but draws moisture from the air as it heats.) It's excellent for loosening up the muscles. Do you get any kind of physical therapy? Your insurance should pay for it. Besides traditional PT, chiropractors and Feldenkreis therapists have strategies for helping TMJ. If you're feeling tight, this really helps: Sit up or stand. Holding your head still, look up by moving your eyes to look up. Look down the same way while slowly dropping your jaw. Look up again while slowly raising your jaw closed. Repeat a few times. Now look up while slowly lowering your jaw, and look down while raising it. Repeat a few times. Now do the same side to side: Look to the right while moving your jaw to the right, then look left while moving your jaw to the left. Repeat several times. Reverse: Look to the right while moving your jaw to the left, then look left while moving your jaw to the right. Repeat. This sends the muscles into WTF mode and they get confused about how to overtighten and give up for awhile. Take care of yourself. Work the problem, not the symptoms.

There was a diet article in Woman's World about the 1st or 2nd week of December, 2001 that contained a recipe for a Hollywood type diet drink, but it promised to be better for you. It contained soy milk and yogurt. I wanted to save it but I think my cleaning lady pitched it with some old newspapers! Does anyone have that issue with that recipe? I appreciate your help.