Episode 55: Barium Swallow Testing for EOE, Bon Appetit Goes Gluten Free? and Xolair

In this episode, Jules and Erica dream of a day when health professionals are more compassionate during difficult GI tests (like barium studies for EOE and GERD). The girls attempt to unpack BCI investments trying to find a celiac disease cure, and highlight the FDA's new Xolair drug approval for food allergies.
Oh, and they're still looking for a way to contact Bon Appetit. Tsk tsk.

RESOURCES
Learn all about gluten-free sourdough
Are oats gluten-free?
BCI - Beyond Celiac Investments press release
Xolair press release from the FDA

Contact/Follow Jules & Erica

• Tweet us @THEgfJules & @CeliacBeast
• Find us on IG @CeliacandTheBeast & @gfJules
• Follow us on FB @gfJules & @CeliacandTheBeast
• Email us at support@gfJules.com
• Find more articles, recipes & info at gfJules.com & celiacandthebeast.com

Thanks for listening! Be sure to subscribe!
**some links may be affiliate links; purchasing through these links will not cost you more, but will help to fund the podcast you ❤️

Transcript

Erica [00:00:13]:
Hey. I'm Erica.

Jules [00:00:14]:
And I'm Jules. Most people have at least one thing that they can't or won't eat.

Erica [00:00:19]:
Now we're definitely like that.

Jules [00:00:21]:
We started this podcast to talk about the gluten free food industry,

Erica [00:00:25]:
Like new products and some of the stories behind your favorite brands.

Jules [00:00:29]:
And living life with especially diet and also some important health care topics.

Erica [00:00:34]:
Since we're basically both broken inside,

Jules [00:00:36]:
you had me at eat. Wake up, Erica. It's time to record a podcast.

Erica [00:00:48]:
Oh my god.

Jules [00:00:52]:
Welcome everyone to another episode of You Had Me at Eat. I'm Jules, and I'm awake. And this is Erica. Wake up.

Erica [00:01:00]:
I only had one thing of coffee this morning. Clearly, it wasn't enough.

Jules [00:01:03]:
Should we take a pause while you get another cup? Oh my god.

Erica [00:01:06]:
I don't know. I just yawned and then just started crying.

Jules [00:01:08]:
I think that's just how we that is the state. Does that does that kinda sum up how your week has been going, Erica? Seriously. My god. So How's your week been going, Erica?

Erica [00:01:20]:
Great. If you've been following my Instagram, celiacandthebeast, I have been doing some testing some upper GI testing, which is so different than my lower GI testing, which I usually have. We're screening for eosinophilic esophagitis, and GERD Gastro some reflux disease, whatever the hell that is.

Jules [00:01:42]:
Say AOE, like, 3 times really fast.

Erica [00:01:45]:
That I can do. I can't I don't even know what GERD stands for. Something about a reflux disease. Anyway, whatever. So things have been getting stuck in my throat and or my esophagus, I should say. And then I also have reflux after things have been getting stuck in my throat. And I have had several instances of this happening, and it, like, happens and it flares up and then it goes away. But the last flare up, I finally called Mayo Clinic, and I'm like, hey.

Erica [00:02:10]:
Can we please do something about this? Because this is not, like, normal. I should probably get screened for this. And you said that you'd screened for it several months ago, and nobody's called me back. So they're like, yes. We're gonna schedule you for every test in the book for it immediately, which is lovely, but, also, like, it's a lot to put on your plate. So for the past 2 weeks, I've been doing, barium swallow studies, which are pretty gross. Yeah. Yeah.

Erica [00:02:36]:
And traumatizing.

Jules [00:02:37]:
It's it's amazing actually how many people I don't know if EOE especially has been something that they're diagnosing more recently, but I've met so many people I have met and who write into me who are like, oh, yeah. My kid has EOE, and that's why, you know, he's on a gluten free diet or or whatever. So there's there's a lot more people who have been diagnosed with that or have have realized that they have this problem lately. And it's it's really amazing to me because I remember just a few short years ago. Yeah. Nobody knew it.

Erica [00:03:10]:
It was super rare.

Jules [00:03:12]:
Yeah. But you got a whole conference is now on EOE. I mean, it's just it's, I mean, it's a real thing. It's and I can't even oh, it just sounds terrible.

Erica [00:03:20]:
And it's really, it's pretty common for people with celiac disease. Yeah. So, you know, my doctor's like, yeah. Of course, it it runs concurrently with celiac, so wouldn't you be a surprise if you had it? I was just, like, kinda taken aback by, like, how So many things do. She's like, oh, yeah. We're blessed in that way.

Jules [00:03:38]:
Aren't we like, oh, that also comes with celiac.

Erica [00:03:41]:
But so does GERD. So, honestly, it could be either, and I don't really know. They're both fighting for attention. So we'll see if I can get one free both. Yeah. Yeah. Maybe just for fun, throw 1 in for funsies. So, they do a couple different types of testing for EOE before they do the final test, which is an upper endoscopy where they take biopsies to look for eosinophils lining your esophagus, or they'll see damage from, acid reflux from either GERD or EOE.

Erica [00:04:10]:
But the 2 prior tests that they like to do just to check for strictures and structure abnormalities, meaning, like, your esophagus has been eroded so far to where it has scar tissue around it, so where you can't swallow. Don't know why I made that that thing. Your esophagus maybe become

Jules [00:04:28]:
tight and stroking.

Erica [00:04:29]:
Not appropriately. Swallow things appropriately. Put your hands down, Erica. So how can I describe this without any sort of sexual innuendo? I just choked up my own spit. That's part of it. So, this barium swallow study uses X-ray to have you swallow food, swallow liquid, and then they'll see, is it a problem swallowing in your upper part of your esophagus with, like, a swallowing mechanism? So there's, like, a little flap there's flappy doos. Here you go.

Jules [00:05:06]:
Your hands again. Yeah. There's flappy doos.

Erica [00:05:08]:
Flappy doos There are certain mechanisms on how you swallow, how to swallow properly, and your body just naturally knows how to do it. But on some people, either elderly people who have, like, a dysphagia where they don't necessarily feel the urge to swallow fully or maybe they're swallowing half or maybe they're storing liquid, in the underside of their mouth and they're not swallowing it. There's so many different things that you can see on an X-ray. Well, also Parkinson's and ALS. For sure. Other types of, dementia and things like that. So the first test is a barium swallow study, and it just is really looking at the first maybe quadrant or 2 of your esophagus.

Erica [00:05:51]:
And you'll dip food. 1st, you'll take sips of barium and swallow it, and so they'll see how the swallowing mechanism works. And then you'll take you'll dip food into the barium, and then you'll swallow that or chew that up and swallow it. And then you'll see it as goes down the top of it.

Jules [00:06:08]:
Like dipping your fries in the very end?

Erica [00:06:10]:
Yes. But it is like You brought your

Jules [00:06:12]:
own fries too, didn't you?

Erica [00:06:13]:
It's like dipping food into, like, a really gross pudding because it's a pudding consistency, and I'm like, this is far grosser than I thought it would be. And so we get into the room, and weeks ago like, months ago, actually, my doctor said, they will not have gluten free food. You have to bring your own. And, like, nobody warned me of that again. So if I had forgotten that one thing, I would have just gone in and they wouldn't have food for me. How how messed up is that?

Jules [00:06:42]:
I just I can't I don't even know where to begin. They have But it's so not surprising. No hospital does. It's just crazy.

Erica [00:06:48]:
They're saltine crackers out, and I'm like, that's don't give me that.

Jules [00:06:51]:
No. And and when you go and you have, like, you know, any of these procedures and you wake up from anesthesia and they're all like, here, have a saltine. Here, have a graham cracker. Like, no. No. There's there's just there's they've never contemplated the fact that, you know, a a large swath of the population cannot have a saltine cracker. Yeah. I'm sorry, but they can't have it.

Erica [00:07:19]:
Things too. I mean, so I had the first taste of barium, and I didn't swallow. I go, can I please check the ingredients? Yeah. As I have barium in my mouth. I'm like, can I check the ingredients to make sure this has none of my allergies in it? And it's just chemicals. So I'm like, that's fine. Whatever. I'll swallow radium.

Erica [00:07:37]:
I don't care at this point. Just figure out what's going on with me.

Jules [00:07:40]:
So, my jaw will fall off, but I don't care really.

Erica [00:07:44]:
I had, I brought cookies. I brought French fries from the night before. So stale French fries. Oh. Just guess dip them in barium. But because fries are the one most likely to get stuck, I brought those so I could show them that's what it's like. And then you have to, like, swallow this barium pill. But, anyway, you can see most of it actually, which is cool because I've never seen an X-ray of myself swallowing, and I'm like, this is crazy.

Erica [00:08:12]:
So I did it, and they could see that food was getting stuck. But with water, it was going down. But I'm like, is food supposed to get stuck like that? And they're like, yeah. You have dysphasia, like, some sort of, like, delayed swallowing and some motor gastric stuff, meaning things just aren't functioning the way that they're supposed to be, but they don't know why yet. That's why they're doing more tests. So that was the first test. And it was not traumatic because it was just a light amount of barium. You ate, like, barium pudding.

Erica [00:08:40]:
It wasn't that bad. So I'm like, oh, that was not that bad. Like and the the person was super, super nice. She was a speech pathologist, and she was like, yeah. Does it feel like it? Because I can kinda see on the X-ray that's what it would feel like. I'm like, yeah. Thank you. Amazing.

Erica [00:08:57]:
She had bedside manner to where I could, like, talk to her, and I could tell her what I felt. And she's like, yes. I see it on the X-ray. Perfect. Great experience. Besides them not having food, that was shitty. But besides that, great experience.

Jules [00:09:11]:
I'm just a small. Okay.

Erica [00:09:13]:
And then the next week, she's like, okay. Well, then that's the full barium study. I'm like, okay. And I thought I was just gonna drink barium, and they would just, like, lay me down. But Yeah. I've had that. That's not fun either. Well, like, that's fine.

Erica [00:09:28]:
I would be fine. I would have been fine with that. That sucks so much. I would rather have that any other day than what I just went through. So I'm drinking barium, and I'm, like, drinking a lot of it a lot of it. And they're watching it go down. I'm like, cool. I'm like, okay.

Erica [00:09:44]:
Well, now we're gonna give you, Pop Rocks. And I'm like, pardon? I'm gonna give you Pop

Jules [00:09:52]:
Rocks to explode.

Erica [00:09:53]:
And you're gonna watch it. You're gonna drink it, and you're gonna not burp. And you're gonna then you're gonna drink some barium. And I'm like, is this, like, a joke? Like, is it and I'm like, no. This is a procedure. And I'm like so, like, you want me to drink dry unflavored Pop Rocks and then drink a bunch of barium and then a gap, but don't burp. And I'm like, that seems dangerous. So I'm already a stomach full of barium because I was like, okay.

Erica [00:10:19]:
I you made me chug barium. I have a stomach full of barium. I had the pop rocks. I'm like, oh, immediately, I'm gonna barf. And so she's like, drink barium. I'm like, and then I burp once. She goes, I saw that burp, and I'm like, oh. She said, don't burp.

Erica [00:10:32]:
She goes, that's fine. Just don't burp again. And then it's it's an automatic

Jules [00:10:36]:
was she gonna beat your knuckles?

Erica [00:10:38]:
I just so imagine having pop it's like the Mentos Coca Cola commercial.

Jules [00:10:43]:
I can't imagine it.

Erica [00:10:44]:
And then I just have the stomach full of barium pudding, and I'm just like, I'm gonna barf I'm gonna barf. I'm gonna barf. So she's watching it, and she goes, you didn't like, you burped again. I'm like, okay. I'm so sorry. Like, it is a natural thing. My body is, like, wanting to expel all these things, and it's either gonna burp or vomit.

Erica [00:10:59]:
And I don't know which one and, like, so I'm choosing to burp. I'm sorry. So she's like, we're just not giving you the imaging. And I'm like and then she's like, we're gonna lie you down. And I'm like, I'm sorry. What? She's like, we're gonna lie you down. So they take the standing x-ray and they tilt you down. And I'm like, oh my god.

Erica [00:11:14]:
I'm so uncomfortable right now. And she goes, we want you uncomfortable because we wanna see if it's coming back up. I'm like, oh, it's coming back up. It's there. So she first lies me on my bath.

Jules [00:11:24]:
Oh, sounds so freaking miserable.

Erica [00:11:26]:
And then she makes me drink, and I'm like, oh my god. I'm so uncomfortable. I have bury them in pop rocks. So I'm like, oh my god. I'm gonna barf. I'm gonna barf. I'm gonna barf. And then she goes, lay on your stomach.

Erica [00:11:36]:
And I'm like, still lay on your stomach? I'm like, this is and I just kept repeating, this is so uncomfortable. And, like, zero bedside manner from this person. Like, was, like, not nice, was not friendly, was not like, oh my god. I'm so sorry. And so I lay on my stomach, and she goes, now you have to chug this. And I go, I'm laying on my stomach. I have a belly full of pop rocks. Yeah.

Erica [00:11:59]:
And then she's asking me to chug, bury them through a straw. Oh. So I'm, like, taking small sips. She goes, you have to take bigger sips. I go and I finally stop. I'm like, I cannot do this. I'm just, like, yelling. I'm like, I can't do this anymore.

Erica [00:12:11]:
This is so uncomfortable. I can't. And she goes, okay. Well, it take a minute. And I'm just like, I'm gonna I'm gonna because I'm laying pressed against my stomach. Yeah. And I'm just, like, so uncomfortable. And she's asking me to chug more and more and more, and I'm looking at the screen, and I'm just like, bro, it's gonna come back up.

Erica [00:12:29]:
So I'm just, like, chugging I'm chugging lightly because I cannot chug. I can't chug, period. Like, that makes me wanna if like, water even comes up now. So you're asking me to chug barium after I've had Pop Rocks?

Jules [00:12:40]:
It was brutal.

Erica [00:12:41]:
Yeah. So at some point, I'm just like, lady, I I laugh, and I go, lady, I cannot do this anymore. And she goes, okay. So I stand up. I go, that's so uncomfortable. And she goes, she goes, I need you to take another try. I go, I am for like, I just was like, I'm an adult. I know what I'm doing.

Erica [00:12:57]:
I cannot do anymore. And so she was kinda taken aback, and I'm like, that is really uncomfortable, and I want you to know that that's really uncomfortable. She goes, and she she knew that she kinda wasn't having the best bedtime here. She goes, I can understand now that that's uncomfortable, and I'm sorry. And she was just like she said something to where she acknowledged the fact that that was not great. I hear you so nice. And I'm like, I'm sure it's uncomfortable for everyone, but she could have at least walked me through and guided, here's what I'm gonna do. 1st, you're gonna do this, then you're gonna take Pop Rocks.

Erica [00:13:30]:
It's gonna suck. But then we're gonna look at this, and then you're gonna lay in your stomach, and we're gonna ask you to, because it just seemed like she was just asking me to do more and more and more and more and drink more and more, and I'm like, I I wanna vomit. Like, I wanna vomit. I'm gonna vomit. I cannot do this. Mm-mm. And I'm to the point of, like, crying because I'm so, like, full of just, like, I wanna barf so badly, and I cannot barf. If I could barf, I would barf, but I cannot.

Erica [00:13:55]:
So I get out of it, and she's like, we're done. I'm like, great. And I'm just like, where's my prize? And so I'm like, that's so effing uncomfortable. And then I just kept burping as I'm getting out. I'm like, please let me not barf right now. And I'm just, like, on the verge of an anxiety attack because I hate vomiting. It's, like, one of my least favorite things to do. I have, like, severe emetophobia.

Erica [00:14:21]:
I cry every time I barf. I have so much anxiety around it. I have a full fledged panic attack when I throw up. So I'm like, don't do it. Don't have a panic attack. Don't do this. So I walk in my car, and I'm just like, don't barf. Don't barf.

Erica [00:14:32]:
Don't barf. And so I started recording, and I'm just like, I'm here recording because I don't wanna barf. And I walk through it. I'm just like, tell me that this isn't the most traumatizing thing you've had today. I would rather have a 1,000,000 speculums. You know? I'd rather have a 1,000,000 OBGYN visits and just be, like, fully naked in front of a 1,000 people having an OBGYN speckled visit than ever how that does again. Like, this is so uncomfortable. And so and, like, and then you leave, and you have a belly full of barium.

Jules [00:15:01]:
Yeah. And you're like, now what do I do with this? Oh my god. I'm so sorry. I mean, I've I've had to drink very, and I've had to lie down on the table and shake you and all that kind of stuff, but didn't get the Paparax treatment. So

Erica [00:15:15]:
I don't know how that's legal. I mean, that's a it's and so the best part was is that I got so many responses back that people have had to do it. And they're like, I don't know how you didn't vomit because everyone that replied to me threw up. Either they threw up during the test or straight after the test, or they one of them threw up on the attendant, which I'm like, they probably expected.

Jules [00:15:41]:
You were, like, you were awesome. I don't know why she didn't give you more high praise. I mean, you didn't vomit. You didn't vomit on her. I just Like

Erica [00:15:50]:
The whole thing was, like, I think if it would have been handled slightly better Like, I understand that she must do 1,000,000 of these, but this is my first time doing it. Right. I have told her I have not done this before. She goes, have you done this before? I go, I did the swallow study. And she goes, okay. So it's gonna be similar, but we're gonna do a lot of other things, and you're gonna lie down.

Jules [00:16:13]:
Similar, but so very different.

Erica [00:16:16]:
So the was just kinda like, is this real? And then and then she's like, we're gonna lie down on your stomach. I'm like, oh, I already won't have our thinking about that. And then she's like, oh, belly full of pop rocks, and then we're also gonna chug this. And I'm like, I must have eaten so much barium. I'm like, if you just tell me, like, this is what we're gonna walk through, I feel like I would have been more prepared and less anxiety prone. I don't know. I don't know if anything actually could have done that, but I think a better bedside manner as far as, like, walking me through things and understanding that, like, it's a challenge to do this.

Jules [00:16:50]:
That's that's kind of across the board, though. I mean, so many people in the medical profession. You know, thank you for your service, but so many people need that lesson of you know, I know you do a million of these, but this is my first time as a patient. Right? Like, you gotta understand it's a very traumatic experience from the patient side of things. Like, even, you know, anything from just the swallow study, which wasn't that bad, but still it was not fun. It made it so much easier for you. But, yeah, the somebody was great outside manner.

Erica [00:17:25]:
The tech the speech language pathologist that walked me through like, we had an appointment 2 hours ahead of time. It's like, hey. I just wanna walk you through the test, and I'm like, perfect. I brought my own French fries. You know? Like, that was beautiful. And then I walked into the second test. I'm like, alright. Stand there and drink this.

Erica [00:17:42]:
I'm like, okay. And then she's like, Pop Rocks. I'm like, pardon me? And I don't know why it was a pop rocks that really threw me, but it was just like, I know how uncomfortable this is going to be, and I wasn't prepared for it. Yeah. I think I was just I thought I was just gonna continue to drink barium. And, yeah, I'm sure I'd be uncomfortable lying down, but, like, I didn't know the second step. And I think that's what really triggered my anxiety, but also, like, I'm uncomfortable. Yeah.

Erica [00:18:06]:
So uncomfortable. And I'm sure when I do my next test, I'm gonna be just as uncomfortable with the other side of my body. But, like, just let me be prepared for it, I think. And, like, be gracious.

Jules [00:18:20]:
Like For help. I I acknowledge the fact that you've been uncomfortable. Yeah. This is this is a real bummer, and I'm sorry. But, yeah. So you don't feel so alone.

Erica [00:18:32]:
I just felt like the whole, like, I needed to take a breath and try again. May and she goes, maybe next time, it'll be easier. And I'm like, I'm not a child. I know your tactic right now, but it's not gonna be easier But I still want, as a patient, someone to just be, like, I guess, more understanding of, like, this is really shitty, and I'm so sorry. Yeah.

Jules [00:19:02]:
Mhmm. Yeah.

Erica [00:19:05]:
I'm not hearing you. I just wish I had a recording of what I said.

Jules [00:19:09]:
That was really shitty, and I'm I'm so sorry. For hearing me. I I hear you, and and I am so sorry that you had to go through that.

Erica [00:19:18]:
My god. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Anyway, so I have dysphasia or something. I don't know. And then we'll see, I guess, on the upper endoscopy that maybe it's GERD, maybe it's not, maybe it's EOE, maybe it's whatever. Who knows? Who knows what it is? But it's something. Honestly, it does make me feel better when I have that swallow study, and they're like, oh, we see it.

Erica [00:19:44]:
Like, it's Yeah. Clearly not doing what it's supposed to be doing in your esophagus.

Jules [00:19:48]:
Well, I mean, as with anything, like, when when I was diagnosed with celiac disease, I was like, thank you so much. Like, not that I wanted celiac disease, but I wanted something.

Erica [00:19:57]:
I wanted to know if that was wrong with me.

Jules [00:20:00]:
Like, oh, that's why I've been sick for 10 years. Like, it's not all in my head.

Erica [00:20:05]:
And, like, having anxiety is so hard because sometimes your symptoms can manifest to physical symptoms. Right? So you're like, oh, I'm having so much anxiety. Oh, now it feels like I'm having a heart attack. Right? That's anxiety manifesting in symptoms. And so I'm just like, am I doing this to myself? Like, is this one of those, or do I have an actual thing that's happening with my body that's making me do this? So that's kind of what I'm trying to figure out, like, what is what's going on. So we'll see. And then, hopefully, I can get on some sort of medication or something that works for me, whatever. So that's what I'm doing.

Erica [00:20:39]:
That's what I'm doing, Jules. And I have an upper endoscopy next week, and then we're gonna figure it all out. What have you been up to?

Jules [00:20:54]:
I have been mired in sourdough, which is I mean, it has its pros and cons, but, like, I'm trying to find much. I feel so much sourdough. Yeah. I'm I've been trying to find, new ways to use sourdough discard. So I made, I made, lemon blueberry sourdough scones this weekend. So for me,

Erica [00:21:22]:
it's so good at scones.

Jules [00:21:24]:
Yeah. I love scones. They're so easy, and I love that lemon blueberry combination. So I whipped those up this weekend, and I feel so good about myself when I'm not throwing away the discards. So Yeah. Like, oh, look. You go in this recipe. You're harboring discards.

Jules [00:21:40]:
Fun. Exactly. And, yeah. So I did that. And then so I I put that recipe up this weekend. I've got so now I've got the gluten free sourdough pancakes and the banana bread and the scones for the discard recipes. And then I've got, you know, regular I made sourdough baguettes last night, which were super yummy. And I've got breadsticks and artisan bread and, of course, like, the regular sourdough loaf.

Jules [00:22:14]:
So I'm like, I'm all in with the sourdough.

Erica [00:22:17]:
You're sourdoughed. I'm sourdoughed.

Jules [00:22:20]:
Mhmm. Yeah. So I've been I've been doing a lot of sourdoughing. But yeah. So that's that's kinda what I've been doing. But then,

Erica [00:22:29]:
then I got

Jules [00:22:30]:
my latest issue of Bon Appetit Magazine, which

Erica [00:22:34]:
Hotdoggy.

Jules [00:22:36]:
Yeah. It's got a giant, nasty looking hotdog on the front of it. I can't say that's very appetizing, and I don't know how one would eat it. It's got a pickle almost as large as the hot dog. I love

Erica [00:22:45]:
I love pickles on

Jules [00:22:46]:
a hot dog. I love pickles, but, like, this is not in terms of food styling, like, it's attractive. It's got lots of colors, but, like, come on. You can't hardly eat that. It's kind of anyway. But so I was like, okay. Yeah. Whatever.

Jules [00:23:01]:
And then I

Erica [00:23:01]:
I looked on the bottom.

Jules [00:23:02]:
It says gluten free baking for everybody. Oh, cool. Bon Appetit is tackling gluten free.

Erica [00:23:08]:
Let us see how they do. Yay.

Jules [00:23:10]:
And I open it up, and, of course, I'm like, Yeah. This this is okay. So y'all you have to understand. Erica and I come from, like, a magazine background. Right? So we were editors in a magazine, wrote articles for magazines, still write all the time. So we're probably a little bit overcritical when we read other magazines. But I'm I swear to you this article was written by AI. I mean, back in could have been.

Jules [00:23:40]:
It and but it has someone's name on it. It actually has a byline. Like, there's a real person. I looked her up on LinkedIn

Erica [00:23:46]:
Oh, no.

Jules [00:23:47]:
And she has no information on LinkedIn at all, except for the fact that she writes for Bon Appetit. And, she, you know, apparently went to culinary school and got an associate's degree. But she ain't no writer. It's bad. Like, really, really bad. Like, it's so disappointing when you pick up a magazine like Bon Appetit, and you're like, wow.

Erica [00:24:11]:
And they're finally talking about me.

Jules [00:24:14]:
And then

Erica [00:24:14]:
you see that, and you're like,

Jules [00:24:16]:
ugh. I mean, it's just a first of all, it's all all of, like, 2 paragraphs, and they couldn't pull off, like, decent writing. It's really bad. And then so then you open it up, and there's some recipes in here, and you're like, okay. Whatever. And then I start looking into it, and one of the one of the recipes is oatmeal cookies. Now okay. Yeah.

Jules [00:24:45]:
All of a sudden, Erica's face is like, oh, boy. Here we go. And and so it just says oatmeal. Like, you just add and in fact, in the article, it says old fashioned oats. That's the ingredient that you add is old fashioned oats. That's all it says. And, so that's kind of troubling. And then it says baker's notes.

Jules [00:25:09]:
I'm like, okay. Maybe she's gonna say something about, like, you can't just use regular oats. Yeah. Nope. It it doesn't talk about that. It talks about don't overmix it or something. So then at the very end, it has this section called gluten free pantry, and it says, you know, these are the things that you need to have in your gluten free pantry. And I'm very disappointed in what they chose.

Jules [00:25:36]:
And, again, I think they literally just type something into Google and said, you know, what what do people, you know, bake with or something. And it's just it's so poorly researched. I can't even go there, but, like, I don't know. Get me started. I I got really riled up, obviously. But the they have 6 things, and the 6th thing is oat flour. And it literally does not say anything about buying gluten free oats. Nothing.

Jules [00:26:06]:
So if you were someone who found out you needed to eat gluten free and you picked up this magazine because you think it's a trusted resource, and you're like, oh my gosh. I can have oats, and I just need to buy old fashioned oats. And I can just buy oat flour, and I can just bake with the best of them, you would be getting sick. And and it's it's very, very, very disappointing to see that, that they're doing this. And you Like And go ahead.

Erica [00:26:39]:
The the people who read Bon Appetit. K? So these could be the people who are like, I work in a restaurant. I love food. I wanna be a baker. I wanna bake out of my home. Cool. You're a home baker. You make gluten free.

Erica [00:26:51]:
Right? Like, that kind of stuff just, like, really, really focuses on the fact that, like, you're not baking for someone with celiac disease. You're baking for this idea, this concept of gluten free when in reality, like, there's so much that goes into gluten free baking for someone who's on a medical diet, which is what gluten free was made for. Yep. Like, there is zero discussion about that in any of that. Like Nope. And it worries me because those are the people that are gonna read this, and those are the people who bake, who own restaurants, who are part of the culinary scene. Just reinforces a stereotype that it's not that serious, that it's just the use of different flours. Yeah.

Erica [00:27:30]:
Nope. Okay. There's not even one side note that's like, if you're bake like, baking for celiac disease requires blah blah blah. Like, that could have been something. How did how did that not get passed

Jules [00:27:43]:
by? Nothing. There's nothing.

Erica [00:27:44]:
This diet originated as a medical diet. That's what's so wild. It's not like we're talking about veganism, and you're like, oh, well, we're someone needs to talk about dairy free for allergies. That that's not what the vegan diet started as. The gluten free diet will start as a medically necessary diet for those people with celiac disease. When you're talking about gluten free diet, you should not be separating that from the medical entity that it is. I'm just like, come on.

Jules [00:28:10]:
I know. I just I I was I I was really upset when I read this. And so then, of course, I'm like, okay. I need to write to the editor. I need to write to this author. There's no way to contact them. None. Like, there's literally nothing in the magazine.

Jules [00:28:27]:
And and I'm a subscriber. Okay? So I go online, and there's no way to contact them online. The masthead has zero emails. There is no way to contact anyone. The only way to contact anyone is to write a letter to Bon Appetit Magazine in New York.

Erica [00:28:45]:
Oh, we're gonna write a letter.

Jules [00:28:47]:
That is it. So I reached out to the editor on LinkedIn, and I'm sure I won't hear back from her, but, like, I did. There's, I mean, the the person who wrote this article, if it's not an AI person, like I said, doesn't really there's not she doesn't go on LinkedIn. There's no point in me even contacting her. But, yeah, it's just this is not the way to run a magazine, first of all. Like, you can't you can't comment. You can't write a letter to the editor. You can't like, there's literally no way to contact people? Like, that doesn't make any sense at all.

Jules [00:29:23]:
Anyway

Erica [00:29:23]:
have to go on social media. This is gonna have to be a social media campaign now. Now it's just frustrating.

Jules [00:29:28]:
In my free time, here we go.

Erica [00:29:30]:
I would love to take that on, Jules. I would love to get people pissed off online. That's my favorite thing to do. Can't wait. You go, girl. I'll go

Jules [00:29:39]:
back to my sourdough, and you go back to pissing people off.

Erica [00:29:42]:
I know. Well, I mean, in all my free time. I know. That's what I love to do.

Jules [00:29:46]:
It's just it's just very upsetting because, you know, we had a great magazine.

Jules [00:29:56]:
we tackled issues. We tried to keep people safe, and we also wrote well. I think we wrote well well written articles.

Erica [00:30:05]:
And then we get, laid off, and that's why we have a podcast now.

Jules [00:30:09]:
That's right. That's right. Other people took our jobs. So Oh, you know what? Funny thing. I published, a picture in one of my, Valentine's posts. If you'd scrolled through one of my carousel posts on Instagram and Facebook, I found a picture of a cover of our magazine where the, gluten free cookie cups that I made Yeah.

Erica [00:30:36]:
Around the cupcakes day

Jules [00:30:37]:
ones. Yeah. Yeah. Of, our magazine, and it was from 2015. Yeah. I

Erica [00:30:43]:
still have that issue.

Jules [00:30:45]:
Oh my god.

Erica [00:30:45]:
That's so old. I do still have that issue.

Jules [00:30:47]:
But I I had it, an electronic version of the cover probably because I had to preview it or review it or approve it or something. I don't know why. But so I put that in the carousel. And I had people reach out to me that they still have that issue as well.

Erica [00:31:01]:
It's great. All of our recipes in there. I have a giant bin of, all of our magazines. Yeah. If I just wanna cry one day, I just wanna sit and cry one day at this bathroom.

Jules [00:31:11]:
It's great. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Anyway, it was good times. But it's it's just disappointing when mainstream media dips its toe in the water of something like this and treats it like a fad diet. And it happens all the time. Yeah.

Jules [00:31:25]:
But it's dangerous because there are new people who are being diagnosed and, going gluten free, realizing that for whatever the medical reason is that they need to go gluten free all the time. And people are baking for others Mhmm. And realizing that, you know, oh, there's someone in my family or in my restaurant. I'm gonna be introducing these things or whatever. And I I, deal with this a lot in, you know, consulting and other things too where, you know, chefs think that they've taken a, you know, some requisite course and, you know, they think that they have it covered. And you wouldn't believe the number of chefs who think that you can kill gluten because it's like a bacteria. I mean, there's just there's so many things that people don't understand, and just don't go there. Like, you don't know what you're talking about.

Erica [00:32:18]:
And it's dangerous. Proliferation of just straight up oat milk and everything is just

Jules [00:32:23]:
It's everywhere. It's so frustrating. And And and oat flour is a fantastic flour. I mean, it does work great, and that's why people like to use it so much. And oat milk is a really great milk for making a latte. That's why people like it so much. But you can't put it in everything and expect that, you know, people aren't going to get sick if you're not using safe oats for people who need a medically, you know Yeah. Prescribed gluten free diet because conventional oats are contaminated with gluten.

Jules [00:32:58]:
So I'll just put that out there as a fact.

Erica [00:33:03]:
And Yep. It's been they're tested. They're far over 20% of the volume and considered unsafe. It's just everyone's stance on it. That is everyone's stance on it, period. Yeah. In fact, some countries go above and beyond and just say no oats of any kind are gluten free. So that's that's not controversial.

Erica [00:33:20]:
Yeah. And it's frustrating because no one's mentioning that fact. And maybe it's maybe I mean, I don't want the onus to ever be on us to be like, hey. It just it's it's so frustrating that we're always have to be the one to be like, hey. Just so you know, this isn't technically labeled gluten free. Or, hey. Just so you know, like, when you're serving this in the coffee shop, these this is not a gluten free latte or whatever. Like, you know, that's it's the onus is always on us, and that's it's frustrating, and it's or it it is just a more mental and emotional labor for us to go through every freaking time we go out.

Erica [00:33:56]:
We we eat outside the house, and it's frustrating. Yeah.

Jules [00:34:00]:
It is. But, I mean, it feels like a broken record, and I hate that we're always talking about it. And it's it's like, you know, okay. Here we go. One more time. Yeah. But, you know, it's the time when you don't say it. If someone's like, what? I've never heard that before.

Jules [00:34:15]:
Yeah. And if you want more information, I think I have 4 articles on my website all about maybe 5 now. All about those. Yeah. I'm sure you probably do. We'll put some links there for people to go to to find out why oats are contaminated, how they're contaminated, how to find and shop for safe gluten free oats, and how to identify, you know, the difference between safe oats and not safe oats on a gluten free diet. And the fact that 8% of people who have sea life disease, it doesn't matter what oats they are or how safe they are or how segregated they are. They still can't have oats because they're just in that population that is, their bodies are confused by the proteins, and they still can't tolerate it.

Jules [00:35:01]:
So it's just oats are a tricky grain for people on a gluten free diet. And,

Erica [00:35:07]:
And you can't just write a 2 page article with no notes that talk about it for a gluten free diet without mentioning the in the intricacies of oats on a gluten free diet. Is that the word I'm looking for?

Jules [00:35:22]:
Sure. It works.

Erica [00:35:31]:
Yeah. It was really interesting email that I got from Beyond Celiac and a couple LinkedIn posts, and I'm not quite sure how to decipher it because I guess I don't really understand it all. But they sent a message out that says that they are launching the 1st investment program for celiac disease therapeutics. So they have created Beyond Celiac Investments, which is an investment program to accelerate the development of treatments and a cure for celiac disease by leveraging the speed and scale of venture capital in capital markets. So BCI launched with an initial funding of $2,000,000 and additional capital will be raised through donations. And they are using it with funds from Beyond Celiac, and the Beyond Celiac investment team includes Alice Bass, who's president of of Beyond Celiac. So BCI is part of Beyond Celiac, and it's part of their Beyond Celiac Science plan, which is developed in 2021 to drive the search for a cure by 2030. Which I'm just on the edge of my seat about.

Jules [00:36:46]:
I mean, there's a

Erica [00:36:47]:
6 years for me.

Jules [00:36:48]:
Celiac in 6 years. Fascinating.

Erica [00:36:52]:
Yeah. And Beyond Celiac does a ton. We've mentioned this before with, like, funding grants for, research for curing celiac disease. They are the largest 501(c)3 celiac disease research grant funder, and they, did 5 grants totaling $1,600,000 in 2023, which is great. We love that. What I don't understand is they're investing this, so is this like a stock market thing? I don't really understand.

Jules [00:37:24]:
It's it's very How does

Erica [00:37:25]:
investment work? Work.

Jules [00:37:28]:
Do tell. It's very vague the way that they've written it. They make it sound like it's gonna be something that's, like, even on the stock market or something like that, but it's I don't think it is. I think it's, you know, it's venture capital. So it's just it's a different structure for Capital for funding Okay. Investment. Yeah. But it's a it's a venture philanthropy model.

Jules [00:37:54]:
But

Erica [00:37:54]:
So that means that they can give money to, like, private firms or private pharmaceutical companies or something that would be different than, like, funding research?

Jules [00:38:05]:
Well, I mean, yeah, it it's gonna be giving money to pharma companies for sure. But I don't know why it's different than what they were already doing. That's what

Erica [00:38:12]:
I don't understand. It says our plans for BCI are to invest significant resources to identify promising treatments under development, AKA pharmaceutical companies, as well as those that have been investigated or approved by other purposes that might also benefit celiac disease patients. Yeah. I don't know how this is different than what their grant research is. Yeah. I don't know. But hey. But hey.

Jules [00:38:35]:
Go for it.

Erica [00:38:36]:
I mean, it seems like this is a cool thing. They put out some press releases on it. It seemed to be getting a lot of exposure. It's just, really cool that they're fighting for the cure. They always have. They've been working really hard in it. I used to work with them on doing some research for that stuff, and it's awesome. I don't know how this is gonna work by 2030, but, like It's aspiration,

Jules [00:39:01]:
Erica. Okay? We're we're all aspiration. Needs a goal.

Erica [00:39:06]:
Yeah. So if you please help us better understand what this is because I have read, like, 4 things, including Alice's, like, LinkedIn posts, and maybe I just don't understand finances. I don't understand money, period. What is money? You know? What even is money? But, I don't know what an investment program is. Or I

Jules [00:39:29]:
think we don't understand it fully because we don't have any.

Erica [00:39:33]:
Oh, yeah. I think because we are not wealthy, we don't understand what investment portfolios are. Have no investments. I do not understand.

Jules [00:39:40]:
No. I think they're they've been a little vague about their description of it, but, I think it's just a different Funding mechanism. Vehicle for doing the same thing that they were doing Okay. It's probably it has something to do with taxes.

Erica [00:39:55]:
Honestly Yeah. Okay. Cool. But, hey, I love this 2030 goal.

Jules [00:39:59]:
Yeah.

Erica [00:40:00]:
See you in 60 years.

Jules [00:40:01]:
We're standing by. Mhmm. The other thing that, I've gotten a ton of people asking me, what do you think about this? I'm like, it's brand new, so we're all standing by to see exactly how this

Erica [00:40:18]:
shakes out. But they actually so excited about this.

Jules [00:40:22]:
The FDA just approved an existing medication called Xolair to as what they what they're saying is it averts severe food allergy reactions in people who have more than one food allergy. And so, basically, this is an existing medication. I believe it's been out for, like, 20 years, which is great because that means it's more likely that insurance will pay for it. And it's also been proven to be very efficacious and safe in other things. But they realized in the in testing that it also had other applications. And one being the the fact that when taken in certain amounts, which is you know, they they give it subcutaneously. It sounds like, a couple every other week or every 2 weeks or something like that. It allows people to tolerate very, very small amounts of the food protein that they are allergic to.

Jules [00:41:28]:
And that doesn't mean that they're gonna go out and start eating these foods that they have a food allergy too. What it means is that they can live their lives without the anxiety of having anaphylaxis. And and so that's what's so huge about this is that, and and they saw some incredible results in their their testing. 66 percent, 67%. You know, those are those are really high numbers, of, you know, of an increase for the people who could tolerate just a small amount of the food protein without having a reaction. Whereas before, they couldn't and the people in the placebo group couldn't. So that's they were really, really impressed with those results, which is why the FDA has now approved it for for this, to prevent having really severe food allergy reactions for people who do have severe food allergy. So it's more about, you know, you got a kid who's going off to college.

Erica [00:42:29]:
You

Jules [00:42:30]:
know? Mhmm. You wanna, like, have some measure of, you know, just

Erica [00:42:36]:
Yeah. All for accidental exposure. Just like a For sure. CYA, but just basically, like, if, unfortunately, there is cross contact, perhaps it would not leave to lead to life threatening which I think is really just we wanna make sure that, like, we wanna reduce the risk of allergic reactions, and, obviously, you'd still be prepared with, your EpiPen's, epinephrine, in case of an allergic reaction. But anything that you can do like, you know, you have people going through OIT so they can tolerate small amounts of of peanuts or milk or or other nuts so they can you know, whatever. Like, that's all to make sure that if something happens, it wouldn't lead to deadly anaphylaxis, or they would lessen the response that your body would have. Right. So So this is

Jules [00:43:26]:
an improvement in the quality of life and

Erica [00:43:28]:
in the

Jules [00:43:28]:
mental health. So what I mean by a small amount of the food protein is that, like, what the study showed were, for example, with peanuts, 68% of patients who in this study received the Xolair shots could tolerate about 2 and a half peanuts without moderate severe allergic symptoms, which, yeah, that's that's amazing

Erica [00:43:50]:
Mhmm.

Jules [00:43:50]:
For those those people because a lot of those people can't tolerate peanut dust, you know, without having severe symptoms. And then with regard to milk, 66% treated with Xolair could tolerate at least 2 tablespoons of milk. So that's, again, it we're talking about cross contact. We're talking about, like, oh, there was a a drop of milk in that sauce or what have you. So, it it really is about quality of life and, about mental health more than anything else. And so this is really huge. It's big news.

Erica [00:44:21]:
Yeah. It's it's huge news. And, it is a monoclonal antibody, and very similar to other things that you might see, biologic, drugs for ulcerative colitis or any other GI symptoms that we know of. There are so many amazing antibodies and biosimilars that people can use now for anything, and it's really one of the modern age of medicine is just pretty incredible. You know, we just saw Dupixent, which is another biologic that just got released for EOE. And we're seeing all these incredible, monoclonal, biologics, antibody drugs classes that are being used for IBD that continue to develop and ulcerative colitis, and it's really pretty amazing what we're doing with drug development in this class of drugs. And I think it's just rad. I think it's super cool, and it's something that we've all kind of been waiting for for these certain allergic conditions.

Erica [00:45:31]:
And with Dupixent coming on for EOE, that was pretty rad. They tested Xolair for EOE, and it didn't really statistically significant find, decrease in activity, although I think it did help with symptoms a little. But, to to see that this test is really pulling the weight, I mean, the numbers you gave were were pretty amazing as far as cross contact.

Jules [00:45:57]:
Yeah. It's pretty rad. Yep. So if you are one of those people who suffers from multiple food allergies or you someone in your family does, definitely see your allergist about this to see whether it's something that's right for you, because this could be pretty fantastic.

Erica [00:46:13]:
Yeah. Chances are your allergist is already on TikTok and social media answering questions about it because Yeah. I mean, the day that it happened, everyone sent a message, fair fact, a a a a a a a a I. Four a's in an I. I I mean, everyone is just talking. It's the number one thing that people are talking about, which, you know, there are some biologics or whatever being being tested for celiac disease too? Because wouldn't it be lovely if, like, a biologic and injection could work for us as well? So far, nothing has in clinical trials, but maybe I don't know.

Jules [00:46:49]:
Beyoncela, I said it's gonna happen.

Erica [00:46:51]:
But But

Jules [00:46:53]:
I am.

Erica [00:46:54]:
In 6 years. We'll see you there.

Jules [00:46:56]:
Alright. Well, stay tuned for some other episodes coming up from expo west, our big finds, new product finds that we have Expos coming up, and we also have, the Houseware show coming up. We have a

Erica [00:47:10]:
lot of things coming up.

Jules [00:47:11]:
A lot of things coming up.

Erica [00:47:12]:
So And then we get to find the results of my endoscopy. Probably not my next one, but no. No. We'll see. We'll see what they find in there. A treasure. A trinket. A king cake, baby.

Erica [00:47:24]:
Let's hope not. No. I didn't eat any. I didn't even get any at the store. I'm so mad I didn't go buy 1.

Jules [00:47:30]:
I'll have to make you one Monday.

Erica [00:47:32]:
Don't put any plastic in any of the cakes that you make me, please. Traumatizing enough. Wait. Note to self.

Jules [00:47:39]:
No fuss. No bugs for Erica. Thanks for tuning in to Your Had Me At Eat the number one voted gluten free podcast in the country. Remember to like and subscribe, tell all your friends, And we'll talk to you next time.