Apology to My Gut

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Dear Gut,

I owe you an apology.

I am sorry that I pumped foods into you for 44 years that made you congested, bloated and very unhappy.

I am sorry that I was a sugar addict and might have permanently endangered your structure.

I am sorry that I like alcohol and you have to deal with that as well.

I am sorry that I am a carb Queen and that I never met a potato that I didn't love.

I am sorry for all those times I sat on the bed watching a TV show and eating Cheetos.

I am sorry that I never liked vegetables much.

I am sorry for all the pastries.

I am sorry for the chocolate, too. I really love chocolate.

I am sorry most of all that I ignored my "gut instinct" for too long.

I hope you will forgive me and that you are willing to give me a do-over.

If you are, I promise you that I will:

• eat whole, real foods

• eat no food that has more than 5 ingredients in it

• never knowingly eat gluten, corn or dairy casein again

• give you daily probiotics and Omega Oils

• boycott sugar, in all her forms

• avoid alcohol and caffeine

• spoil you with ginger and green teas

And my most important promise, I will listen to my gut.

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Sick Again!

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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!

Can the Weight Loss Continue?

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As you may have read here yesterday, I lost 8 pounds in ONE DAY. I did it (I think) by using commando eating tactics to nearly guarantee I was not ingesting any gluten, dairy (casein) or corn. I am going with the theory that one of my not fun reactions to ingesting any of those items makes me bloat up and feel fatigued and some might even say grouchy. I am trying to get to an ungrouchy and thin state of being, or least get to a non-bloated state of being.

I have to say that my energy is OUTSTANDING today! I feel healthy! The scary thing is that who knows how long that feeling will last since it seems that I have a pattern of gaining energy and then losing it all too quickly. I also wonder how long I can continue to be this disciplined with such a strict diet. I will never knowingly consume the foods that I know I have an allergy to but I do have some yummy gluten free treats in the pantry that are calling my name!

I did not lose another pound overnight, but I don't see the need to get greedy. :-) I also didn't gain any weight. I did add in a few brown rice crackers and a brown rice protein bar last night. I am now starting to wonder if anything like rice or potatoes will cause me to swell up?

Don't worry, I won't bore you with telling you what I eat every day but so many of you have asked and I am on a quest to figure out once and for all what is making me feel so bloated and if it helps you on your path to healthyville, I am happy to share this struggle.



Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast

• big Red Delicious apple

• almonds

Snack

• gluten-free deli turkey

• black olives

• almonds

Lunch

• Chicken Stir fry with onions, green peppers, water chestnuts, and pineapple. YUM!

Snack

• applesauce

• gluten free deli turkey

• almonds

Dinner

• big Red Delicious Apple

• almond butter and brown rice crackers

Snack

• Pure organic Wild Blueberry bar

• ginger tea

8-Pound Weight Loss in ONE DAY

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I went to my knowledgeable Doctor of Osteopathic medicine (DO) this week to complain yet again about my weight gain issues. I wanted her to rule out possibilities such as any kind of ovarian tumor or parasites or please just give me any reason why I am STILL packing on the pounds after giving up sugar, corn and anything with gluten or caseins in it. She felt I didn't have tumors or parasites based on an exam and previous blood work.

The doctor felt that I am having an issue with my thyroid meds. I am currently taking Nature-throid and it is true that my hair had returned to a brittle state, which is indicative of not getting enough thyroid, even though my blood work shows I am getting too much thyroid. So I am switching back to Armour Thyroid, though the compounded version to avoid any fillers such as lactose. Plus I did not do well on the "new" version of Armour last summer, which is why I switched to Nature-throid in the first place. (See Are You Switching to Nature-throid? Here's 10 Good Things to Know.)

I told my DO that I keep reading on-line that some folks do gain weight when they remove all the toxins from their diet. There are different theories as to why but one is the idea that I am only now absorbing nutrients properly and that adds up in weight. That theory confuses me a bit since all my previous bloodwork shows I had very normal vitamin and nutrient levels, though I have always been anemic. Another theory is that when you go off gluten, you tend to stock up on gluten-free breads and other high calorie, gluten-free foods. I did do that; it is hard not to at first because you feel sorry for yourself and you load up on what you can safely eat.

My DO suggested I try a two-week cleanse. I agreed to do that and started yesterday. The brand name is Life Choice RX. She also said I should try the HCG diet, the one where you exist on 500 calories a day and you give yourself a shot daily that tricks your brain into thinking you are pregnant. That sounded like mutant science to me so I declined that option.

When I went to the doctor on Wednesday, I weighed 188 pounds. I am tall so while I don't look obese, I technically am obese at the weight. Today I weighed myself and I weigh 180. There could be a few pounds difference in the scales but we have a very good scale at home. How in the hell do you lose 8 pounds overnight?

Here is how I think I did it: I kept to a very minimal diet yesterday doing my dead level best to avoid anything that I might have an allergy to. I felt that most of my added weight was water weight that felt very bloaty, which to me means that I was still ingesting something my body cannot process. I did also start the cleanse yesterday and the doctor says some patients lose up to 10 pounds on it; that is over two week however, not in the first day. Here is what I ate yesterday:

Breakfast

• Orange and banana

Snack

• almonds

• applesauce

Lunch

• gluten free deli turkey

• almonds

Snack

• half an orange bell pepper

• black olives

Dinner

• large steak

• green beans

• applesauce

• I also did not have my nightly favorite treat -- wine.

I seriously doubt that eating what I did could cause me to drop 8 pounds in a day. I do feel that by NOT ingesting any of the food toxins, I lost a lot of that bloat. I intend to eat this way until I feel the bloat is under control.

Stay tuned . . . and here's hoping that another 8 pounds falls off by tomorrow!

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Traveling on a Special Diet

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My wonderful Mother Pat recently sold a Texas beach house that has been in the family for more than 30 years. Family and friends gathered in Port Aransas, Texas to pack up Pat's belongings and send them to her where she is now living with my Step-Father, Lee. Lee is gravely ill and she cannot be away from him for long. Between that and a fast closing time, we had to hustle to pack up years of artwork as they are both fine art collectors as well as artists themselves. My Step-father's studio required 4 people packing for 3 straight days to get out all of his incredible sculpture. We packed up the entire house in just three days, which was no small miracle.

My Mother is a very warm and friendly person and she has tons of friends and they all wanted to help, some by having us over for dinner. I brought down three large Whole Food bags of food for me since I can't eat anything that has gluten, corn or casein in it. I figured I would eat mostly what I brought but attempt to get some non-buttered veggies and yummy fresh fish while out down at the Texas gulf coast.

I did quite well until we went to a friend's house for dinner. She was also gluten free and made a lovely and safe salad and a gluten-free lasagna. I ate it and it was GLORIOUS! I also ate it because she was very happy to present it to us and it felt odd for me to decline it (won't make that mistake again!). Only later, in the middle of the night when I woke up shaking did I remember why it was so damn good: the cheese! I was so tired from packing and so interested in the dinner conversation that I ate without thinking about it. Once you know you have massive food allergies, you can never again put anything in your mouth without thinking about it. I paid for that mistake for a full week, feeling lethargic and bloaty.

I asked on my favorite Yahoo group -- SillyYaks@yahoogroups.com -- how long the general recovery time was for your guts to heal after you were poisoned and the heartbreaking response was six months! That is very depressing. I don't know that I have managed to go an entire week yet without getting an accidental poisoning so I have at least six more months to go before my gut heals. Part of the reason is my learning curve but the other reason is that corn, gluten and caseins are in just about anything but whole foods. I even worry about the meat I eat as that cow was fed corn . . . .

Other than the one cheese poisoning, I did alright on the road. One night we all enjoyed butter-free Mahi Mahi and that was worth the drive down to the coast just for that! The packers all wanted Whataburger for lunch most days because they were a dedicated crew and they didn't want to stop packing long enough to head to a restaurant. I ate from Whataburger as well, getting two hamburgers sans the bun and cheese and with the veggies and I have say they were quite good. I also ate the french fries and that may or may not have been a mistake. There is quite the raging debate in gluten-free communities about whether or not fast food french fries are safe or not because they are usually fried in the same batter as things like breaded onion rings. Once I looked up the ingredients, I felt sick and now have ruled out fast food french fries. I suspect I have an issue with dextrose but even if I didn't, when you look at the ingredients of these fries, it is apparent that these are not what I consider to be real foods:

Medium French Fries: Potatoes, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, dextrose, disodium dihydrogen pyrophosphate (to maintain natural color). (Note: Deep-fried in ZTF Whataburger liquid shortening and seasoned with Whataburger fry salt. Menu items that are deep-fried may come in contact with other products that contain gluten, wheat, dairy, egg, soybean, fish, or animal products.)

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I love, love, LOVE Sprouts

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I do love Sprouts!! Not bean sprouts, silly, but the grocery store chain called Sprouts Farmers Market. This place REALLY understands food allergies of all sorts, not just gluten issues. I found yogurt that I can eat at Sprouts! YOGURT!!!! It is a soy yogurt and it is YUMO!

There are so few things to get really excited about when you have major food allergies and you seemingly can't eat like the rest of America does, so I am jumping for joy now that I found Sprouts! A big shout out to my Texas friend Linda (who is actually a Yankee but that's okay, we Texans like Yankees these days, especially smart, funny and good food lovin' Yankees like Linda!) who not only told me about Sprouts, she brought over their very informative gluten-free brochure. Thank you, Linda.

I found so many corn-free, casein-free and gluten-free things that my husband and I can eat that I dropped $450 at Sprouts today. I plan on spending that or more every week because I want to stay healthy and Sprouts is the place that will enable me to stay healthy.

Even though I have praised Whole Foods in the past and even though it began right here in Austin, Texas, it is behind the times when it comes to providing enough choice with reasonable prices for the multitudes with food allergies. I even find Whole Foods to be pretentious.

Yes, that's right, I called a grocery store pretentious. I actually find the produce at plain ole' HEB tastes better than the produce at Whole Foods. They also have too many gimmicky things that aren't healthy for anyone there. The aisles were not made for shopping carts at Whole Foods, as though you are expected to go in and drop a small fortune but please only shop with a dainty basket. Well it takes me an hour to get to Whole Foods and I am coming out with more than just a basket's worth when I visit.

No matter, Sprouts has nice large aisles and there is nothing pretentious about that store. Love, love, love Sprouts!!!

Ataxia

What is ataxia? It is defined as a lack of coordination while performing voluntary movements, which may appear to be clumsiness, inaccuracy, or instability.

I have had ataxia in the past and I still have it from time to time. It manifested itself in me by making me unbalanced when I walked and I would literally smack right into walls. That would make me cuss and later, bruise. I am sure that the cussing wasn't gluten-induced. I just like to cuss. I had no idea why my balance was so off . . . . until I got myself educated on some of the harmful effects gluten can have on a person sensitive to it.

I know there are worse problems that can manifest in gluten sensitive people; for example, I could have developed schizophrenia, as my maternal grandmother Mimi did. All in all, I will take falling into walls over schizophrenia, and it is my bet that you would as well.

I have been off gluten (mostly -- I still get accidentally glutened now and again) for more than 10 months and I am happy to say that I have hit nary a wall in the past few months. I still can't pull socks on my foot without falling over . . . that one may be a life long side effect. It's okay though as I find socks to be a lot softer than walls.

I read the article below and I found it to be quite alarming. I always assumed that once I got on the straight and narrow and removed the harmful gluten (and dairy and corn) from my diet, most if not all of my gluten-related health issues would slowly begin to clear up. This article, "Research: Celiac's Connection with Neurological and Psychatric Symptoms," questions that theory.

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Gluten-Free Fast Food (It IS Possible!)

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Well slap me silly!

I found out today that Wendy's has many gluten-free options on their menu! Hooray for Wendy's! My husband Googled the Wendy's chili for me from home when I called home to check in after a full day of shopping. I am happy to report that Wendy's chili is gluten free and delicious!

I also know that McDonald's french fries are gluten free so if you are out and about and need a quick (but unhealthy!) treat, get some fries. They are the best of the best.

I did a little digging on Google and found these helpful links. It is much harder to eat at fast food restaurants if you are like me and can't have dairy, gluten or corn . . .but there are still some decent choices out there:

• Gluten-Free Fast Food (Celiac.com)

• Gluten Free Fast Food (glutenfreefastfood.com)

• Wendy's Gluten Free Menu (glutenfreefastfood.com)

10 Things I Like About Being Gluten, Dairy and Corn-free

1. Give me a minute, I am sure I will be able to think of something.

2. You can't eat mindlessly anymore.

3. I am eating healthier than I ever have in my entire life.

4. Most things with gluten in them are just empty calories with no real nutrition.

5. Okay, there are only five things.

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Ten Things I Hate about Being Gluten, Dairy and Corn-free

1. It is hard to find safe food, fast (you can forget about drive thru's!)

2. I love the smell and taste of fresh bread. Sometimes I think a loaf of Italian bread might be worth the long-term bad health it will bring me. (it isn't)

3. People feel sorry for me, including myself.

4. You can't eat mindlessly anymore.

5. Restaurants are no longer fun but are in fact fairly dangerous to my health.

6. What is left to eat????

7. People tend to think "a little" won't hurt me. (it will)

8. I look normal on the inside but have an abnormal and non-fun reaction to wheat, dairy and corn on the inside.

9. I love baked desserts!

10. I miss yogurt. And cheese.

Here's What We Eat

Every day someone I know tells me they could never go without bread.

Or cheese.

Or corn.

You could, I always tell them, if you knew that it was slowly killing you. And it is slowly killing about 144 million of us.

I also get asked a lot: what the hell is there left to eat when you eliminate gluten, dairy and corn?

I thought I'd share a typical day of food we eat at our house. We do venture out to restaurants now and again but feel safest about the food we prepare at home. I am not going to include recipes since there are countless blogs, websites and gluten and dairy-free cookbooks to find great recipes in. If you see something you like, I am happy to send you a recipe.

Here is what we ate just yesterday:

Breakfast
Omelet with fresh green peppers and onions, hot sauce and bacon

Snack
apple
sweet potato chips

Lunch
Gluten free crackers and peanut butter (lot's of peanut butter!)
mini organges

Snack
pecans

Dinner
Gluten and dairy-free fried Cod
Mixed green salad with strawberries, sunflower seeds, tomatoes + gluten free dressing

After Dinner Snack
Giant Marshmallows (sometimes I put them on gluten free graham crackers)

Not a difficult day of eating at all. In fact the fried cod was better than any I had ever had.

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I Got Glutined

I don't know how it happened but I clearly have gotten some of the nasty stuff in my system.

It is a bit disheartening to have gotten thru all the holidays and not have ingested any gluten . . . only to have had some somewhere in the past day or so.

That's the hardest part of having a gluten sensitivity: not trusting the food you eat and always, always having to be a food detective.

I have wracked my brain trying to figure out what it may have been. I now suspect it could have been the bar-b-cue sauce I had with a restaurant meal yesterday. I now feel stupid for consuming it . . .

It was my fist gluten poisoning of 2010 and I hope it is the last for months and months to come.

Gluten and Dairy Free Restaurant Comes to Austin!

Okay, technically this restaurant is in Cedar Park but close enough to the "big city" to call it an Austin establishment. I heard about it from a Facebook friend and we went to the restaurant on the very day we heard about it.

It is worth the drive.

The owners' son was given a diagnosis of Autism at a very young age. The couple researched and researched and decided going gluten-free and dairy-free was one of the best ways to help their son. IT WORKED!

Their son is now making high marks and attends public school. If that isn't an outstanding testimonial about how harmful gluten and dairy can be to some of us -- as well as a testimonial for how great we can feel off that junk -- then I don't know what is.

Here is a link to their restaurant. They have delicious TV-style dinners that taste amazing:

Jeff and I both immediately went for some Italian food. He had a peperoni pizza and I enjoyed spaghetti and meatballs. It was seriously delicious!!

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How to stay gluten-free during the holidays

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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?"

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