Sick Again!

Image via Wikipedia

One of the most difficult things on my journey to health is having a set back. It happens all too often and all too easily. It is beyond frustrating to stick to a very strict gluten, corn and casein-free diet and still wind up sicker than a dog. It can drive you down right mad.

I am been retracing my food intake over the past 3 days to figure out just why it is that I became so very ill over the weekend . . . . my husband did too. We eat mostly at home and had eaten many of the same things and since we were both ill (digestively speaking), it was a little easier to track down.

At first I suspected it might be the deli turkey we got from Sprouts Farmer's Market. I called Sprouts to inquire and they confirmed that it was definitely gluten free. Then I looked at the dried banana chips we both love from Sprouts and noticed the ingredients included "coconut oil OR vegetable oil." Coconut oil is fine, corn oil would be NOT okay. I called Sprouts back but they had no idea what oil was used. I will call the corporate offices today to inquire and the banana chips were tossed into the trash.

The only other two possibilities were the herbal cleanse I had started on Thursday. However, I felt fine on that and my husband wasn't doing the cleanse and he felt sick as well, so that let the cleanse off the hook, at least a little bit.

Here is what I think might be the culprit: garlic. We enjoyed a wonderful Mahi Mahi fish dinner made at home on Friday that called for 4 cloves of garlic. That's a lot of garlic! We do eat a fair amount of garlic but perhaps since our guts are in the process of healing from food allergies, it proved to be too much. Or perhaps we both have a leaky gut and we are now both allergic to garlic. I really have no idea but in two days time we were both back to feeling great.

For the time being, no garlic for us. And I have decided to stop the detox for now. I have been reading up on detoxes and I am going with the theory that my gut is just not ready to handle that, yet. And it seems like people either think they work wonderfully or they are a complete hoax.

Meanwhile, my energy level is outstanding this morning and I am happy to feel "normal" again. I haven't lost anymore weight but I haven't gained any either. I am still at 178, which is a loss of 10 pounds since last Wednesday!

Gluten Pootin'

A friend came up with this witty way to, ah, talk about what is the, um, end result of gluten poisoning (or dairy or corn or any food allergy you may have):

Gluten Pootin'.

There is no good way to address this issue. It stinks to have to even talk about it.

But one way we know around here if we been accidentally glutened is, um, er, if we start sounding like an all drum band over here. Really unpleasant, for all concerned.

Here is something scary to consider. Some of you may have a very serious food allergy but you never get to the gluten pootin' part of this problem. For whatever reason, some people just do not show symptoms of this problem until it is too late. That sounds alright and certainly less stinky, right?

Wrong. You are headed towards cancer and an early death if you don't find out for sure if you have a gluten sensitivity problem and you continue to ingest gluten. Or diabetes. Or rheumatoid arthritis. Or liver and kidney problems. Or, or, or and the list goes on until we reach 300 possibilities.

All in all, I will take gluten pootin' over intestinal cancer any day of the week. My apologies to those in the room who disagree.

I did find this great link of information from a writer who found a perhaps more civil way to discuss this issue; she called it a "rumbly tummy." That works, but I bet you will remember gluten pootin for a whole lot longer than you will "rumbly tummy." :)

Don't Mind Me While I Stare at Your Eyebrows (and fat belly)

I have developed a new habit that is rather unseemly.

If we meet one another on the street and you catch me staring at your eyebrows, I apologize in advance. I can't help it! I see the results of gluten intolerance written all over some of your faces . . . and your big bellies.

Gluten intolerance can lead to all sorts of hideous autoimmune diseases, including being hypothyroid. I am hypo, or was hypo until I found a wise doctor who actually believed me and got me on the correct medicines (dessicated thyroid + adrenal support with low dose cortisol). Your thyroid can be run down thanks to a sensitivity to gluten.

If you are hypothyroid, you might very well have lost the outer edges of your eyebrows. I look for that now when I meet people. Those whom I care deeply about I might mention it to, but mostly I am learning to try to keep my mouth shut because I find that many (most?) people do not want to hear that they have an autoimmune problem or that they may, in fact, have to give up bread (and ketchup and cake and cookies and beer and, and, and the list goes on)

A sensitivity to gluten can make you too fat and puffy (as well as it makes some folks super skinny and once was called "the wasting disease"). I watched a very over-sized family near us at the Pappadeaux's restaurant where we stopped on our way home after enjoying Christmas with the family in Baton Rouge.

I once would have thought not nice thoughts about this family's lack of self-control. As I watched them eat two baskets of complimentary bread, followed by fried everything and finishing off with a flour-laden desserts, I felt sorry for their lack of information.

As my wise father tells me all the time, knowledge is power and I thankfully have the knowledge that gluten is lethal for me. Thus, we sent our free bread basket back and didn't touch that poison.

We ordered non-fried food and we left without partaking in floury desserts. We nearly skipped out of the restaurant because we felt good after eating a light meal . . . the overly-large family rather waddled out the door.

Instead of judging them, I just felt bad for them and hoped that one day they learn about gluten and what it does to a body. Nothing good!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Celiac Disease - A Podcast (prep4md.blogspot.com)
• Celiac Disease Awareness Month: October (blisstree.com)

How to stay gluten-free during the holidays

Image via Wikipedia

Here is how to stay gluten-free during the holidays:

Wrap yourself from head to toe in bubble wrap and get an IV for your water intake.

Simple as that!

Not practical?

How about staying in bed from November thru January 1 with the covers pulled over your head?

No, won't work either, you say?

Alrighty then, here are some phrases you might want to rehearse in front of the mirror so they become second nature to you and you don't glare at too many people when you repeat them for the 100th time:

"Why, no thank you, but that Christmas cake (pie, bread, brownie, cookie, dessert) looks delicious. Eating it will slowly kill me." Then add "ha ha ha" to put the person offering you something at ease.

"Thank you, but I have an allergy to wheat the way some people have an allergy to peanuts, so unless you are well schooled in healing my gut after I eat that thing, I better pass."

"Yum! Wish I could partake but gluten inflames my intestines, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid condition, liver disease, pancreatic problem, diabetes, skin rash, anemia . . . ."

"I am sorry but I can't have 'just a little gluten' the same way you shouldn't eat 'just a little arsenic.'"

And if these are just too feisty and not jolly enough for you, you could instead use these old stand-bys, though I find they are not very good at stopping people from getting you to "have just one!"

"Thank you, I would rather not."

"No thanks, I am full."

"Look! Football is on TV, let's go watch!"

"EEEEKKKK! Is that a spider, mouse, bear, cougar, yetti that I just saw pass by your front window?"

Related articles by Zemanta

• Allergycooks: cooking without (free-from.com)
• The G-Free Diet: A Gluten-Free Survival Guide by Elisabeth Hasselbeck (popsyndicate.com)