Problems with sweet brown rice/flour?
 

About a month ago, I bought a bunch of sweet brown rice from a bulk bin at our local health food store. I ground it into flour using a VitaMix. It gave my pancakes such a nice texture when mixed with regular brown rice flour, and I really liked the taste. I've been using it pretty regularly since I bought it.

However, I'm going through a really bad spell right now with lots of fatigue, pain in my upper center to upper right side of my stomach area below my ribs, and other digestive pain and problems. I've also started to break out with some eczema patches. To me, it feels like I injested gluten because the symptoms are pretty severe.

I've eliminated this now from my diet, as well as other things that might be a problem (coconut milk, gluten free bread w/xanthan gum, etc.) to allow my system to heal. I figure that once I feel better, I'll try to add a few things back to my diet one at a time to see what the culprit was. If it seems like anyone else has had problems with this type of flour, I will probably wait to add it back after other food that might be easier to digest.

I would definitely appreciate any input you might have on this :)
Jenny

Hi Jenny,

Bulk items like that can have cross contamination issues. Many times the scoops can be used in other glutenous items - either by customers or by store employees stocking the bins. Were there any non gluten free bins near that?

If you're new to the GF lifestyle, go back over your foods, meds, supplements, etc to see if there's some hidden gluten there.

It may also be other food intols. It's not uncommon to discover more food issues once you remove one of the biggest offenders [gluten]. My mention ezcema - you might consider the dairy - which is common to have issues with.

Jenny,

I'm so glad you posted this! I buy my organic brown rice from the bulk bin at my nfs. I always wash my rice before cooking it, so I figured it was "safe". But I too have been grinding it into flour lately, and we're noticing some problems. I don't wash it before I grind it. I wonder if it is cross-contamination? Hmmmmm ... can you wash it, let it dry, then grind?

On a side note, it may be a moot point for me. I made the decision a couple of years ago to get a k-tec champ instead of a vita mix. Unfortunately, its already been in for repairs once and needs to go again.:rolleyes:

The store doesn't use a scoop for their whole grains, you just have to pull a lever and the grains come out. I stopped buying bulk brown rice flour because it used a scoop that could also be used for the semolina flour right next to it. I figured the the sweet brown rice would be safe since I didn't see obvious signs of possible cross contamination from other bins.

The only thing I did question was whether or not there could be other grain kernels mixed in with the sweet brown rice. I figured it might happen during processing. The kernels seem to look a little more like other gluten grains and less like rice to me. I thought I had read somewhere that this was possible, but am not sure. Has anyone else heard this? I also don't wash my grains before grinding them. I don't know if you could wash, then dry, and then grind them, but it would probably work. It just might be hard to dry them thoroughly enough to avoid any mold growth, but I'm not sure. Good idea :)

I've been gluten free for about a year and a half, but have been finding areas of hidden gluten the deeper I look. Some recent things were that I licked some envelopes, and wore lipstick that I haven't verified as being gluten free. I only recently found out that those are possible sources. I have checked all of my vitamins and supplements and they are supposed to be free of gluten, so that's good.

I also do have a number of other food intolerances and have been dairy free for over 3 years now. It seems lately that I'm uncovering more such as coconut and corn. It certainly could be that I'm also intolerant to sweet brown rice since it is so starchy. If nothing else, my system might be so sensitive right now that anything hard to digest might cause it problems.

My husband and I just love our VitaMix! It was pretty expensive at first, but we have had no problems at all and have been using it at least twice a day for the last 3 years. It was definitely worth it for us :)

Grains are not well tolerated by many people... whole grains in particular.

I now only eat wholegrain rice if I feel like having a headache, getting all achy and flu-like and fatigued. If I really feel like doing myself in... I mix it with potatoes in a 'suicide dish' like homemade perogies.

I bet you can figure how often I eat whole grains once I put this together. ;):D

I used to be the whole-grain queen because I had bought into the "it's better for you" message. Took me ages to figure this all out. Finally, one Ukrainian Christmas when I finally got the wherewithall to try and replace our old gluten perogy dough recipe with a gf one (and was successful) - I paid for it for the whole week after Christmas!:(

This year I used refined white rice flour and stuffed half the perogies with meat. I ate about 4 of the potato perogies, all the rest meat... and I was just fine! Hooray!! 'Cause I love perogies! :)

Groan!:eek: Now I hold the title.:o

Don't forget the possibility of changing bins for holding various items :( They don't rinse between changes. That leads to mold growth.

And, of course, there's the potential for contamination when its being loaded up. I used to feel that the upright pull tab bins were safe, but now I feel they're only safer...and still not perfect. There may also be a potential for mislabelling. (Some newbie doesn't know his rice from his barley groats...)

I think if you washed, dried, and then froze the mold issue would be mostly moot. Would kill off any little eggs waiting to hatch in there too. (Ew)

LOL!!!

For a very long time I wondered why dd and dh loved polenta so much when it made me feel so rotten. My dr explained that it was just taking my body time to adjust to my new, healthier way of eating.

Then I discovered I was allergic to corn. Hmmm. You don't think *that* had anything to do with IBS, do you? *batting eyes innocently*. No one is allergic to corn. (Really, the FDA says so...according to the FAAN)

I think all grains have lectins in them, so perhaps you're very sensitive to them?

I have actually wondered if I'm sensitive to all grains. Right now the only grain I'm eating is brown rice flour. I'm still having pain, but to a lesser extent than the past few weeks. Sometimes its hard to tell if I just need to wait for healing in my digestive system to take place, or if I have another sensitivity. I'll definitely keep the whole lectin thing in mind.

Thanks for everyone's input :)
Jenny