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

Hi everyone! It's been raining in Scotland this weekend. Yesterday went to a motor show and froze my tail off with high winds...I was starving (think it's getting on to that TOM...I am always hungry before it starts. Doubt I have lost any weight but I am comfortable in my current reduced clothes. I know I ate too much yesterday - too much. Another week of good eating and yesterday - oh oh! Struggling but not giving up. Today going for a walk to the garden centre - ran out of compost and have a ton of seed packets so needless to say will be placing another delivery order. Might drag my wheely bag with me and get some smaller bags of compost that I can drag home...and of course if there are any plants that need to be rescued! Today is a new day and I have to get outdoors, get moving and get planning some soup for the next few days, get some lighter meats out and have some yogurt. Really did not want to post yesterday after everything...I felt so bad about myself afterwards but this morning I thought - get yourself back on the board, be honest, get it off my chest and get moving today. I have lost 14 - 17 pounds which puts me at the halfway point of my overall goal and struggling to get things moving. Here we go - glad to read everyone is still sticking with it and making progress. No matter how small the steps are they still put us one step ahead of where we were. Looking forward to the garden centre, going to get moving and scrubbing things today. Biggest challenge next week - staying active mentally at work - some days are boring and I could munch all day - so I drink lots of water and go to the loo a lot. Have a fabby day today! McPeg

Hi Everyone, going to the doc's on Friday morning. I have suggested the perimenopause but there is not much they can do but I know I have the 'classic' symptoms - especially having to stick my feet out off the bed. I go to bed FREEZING and in the middle of the night I am roasting. Of course we are having NOVEMBER weather in the UK - it's not nice out, it's cold and windy and the house is still being heated a few hours each night but...my body is changing for sure. The sleep patterns being out of sync is normal for me - could be perimenopause, could be the parasites (yep), could be the brightness at night (still) or could be my SAD/hormones....geez that's 2 strikes for hormones - head and body ones! What's a gal to do! I want so bad to get on my stepping machine at night but I am sooooo exhausted by the time I get home (for no reason) - I can barely keep awake to make it through dinner. Erica, I think you are doing just fine. Do treat yourself for all your efforts - I have a great earring collection and lots of new shirts for work - my treats for sticking with it. Keep putting one foot in front of the other - if ya fall down, dust yourself off and stick a foot out. What about getting that shirt and wrapping it up for yourself as a Santa gift? I do this sort of thing for inspriation. In the meantime - do something to treat yourself and let us know what it is! Even if its a hair job, manicure, a bubble bath with the nicest stuff, pedicure or even some fun, fuzzy house slippers that put a grin on your face. Alice - you are motivating me to get with it - your weight is right where I want to be as my old 'normal' weight. I know bodies change with age, I would be jumping for joy if I could hit 135 right now. Keep us posted with your activities and keep posting when you hit goal because the maintenance takes awhile to become routine. Anyway - I would just love to keep in touch with you! Wildchild - I too used to lose weight when ill or if I missed dinner. Not anymore. Sometimes I think illness was mother natures weight maintenance programs....thanks for the info on the 'parasites' - never considered the garden aspect - and I do a lot of it with bare hands - and we do have many, many, many cats around here (which I love). I don't chase them from the garden because they are such little characters and I love animals - even DH (just kidding, just kidding!). Yellowhair, sorry to hear about your tooth. Ouch! Wish I could have gone with you to Nashville. I sooo miss good country music over here. I keep ordering CDs and listen to them often. I would also love to join a club for swimming but none are near/convenient to get to and would really cost a fortune adding on the transport. I am thinking of getting one of those small trampolines to make home exercise a little more fun. Well, loaded up my desk with good foods today. Have my 2 litre bottle of water open (strawberry - yum) and hoping to behave today. Let's make today count. If you fall over, get up and get with it! Cheers everyone, glad to see the posts - was feeling a little lonely! McPeg

Hi everyone, Well day 1 went well for me diet wise. I really cut back on the junk and was feeling really god about myself and then........ My left arm has been giving me a little trouble over the last few weeks. I 've figured it to be just a little tendonitis so I've been taking a couple of aspirin at night. Last night the pain became unbearable and seemed to be radiating from my shoulder. I actually cried out and I'm pretty stoic usually. Ended up driving myself to the ER at 5:00 AM. Yep. Torn rotator cuff of the shoulder. I'm loopy on Vicodene (hate hate hate the stuff) and taking anti-inflammatories. See my regular doc tomorrow. So there goes any exercise for the time being. I hurts to roll over, it hurts to move anyhing. But I intend to stay on course with eating right. Of course all the meds are "take with food" :0( I'm happy to hear everyone is off to a good start. We can do gals! Pam, Glad to see you're better. Stay warm and dry. Soup is good. Tikanas, I will call soon. Drinking water is hard for me in the winter too. I really have to work at it. Take care, eat well and and keep moving on fellow losers.