Oprah talks about gluten intolerance.
This quote made me confused:
“Just limiting your gluten intake (once a day, once a week) can have dramatic benefits for those of us who have mild reactions. My symptoms are noticeable, but not terribly severe, so I’ve tried to limit gluten to special occasions. You may find this to be your perfect solution too. However, for those with a real gluten allergy, complete eradication is the only answer.”
Uhhhh, question!
Why would you limit something that makes you sick to SPECIAL occasions? Just asking for the logic on that one. That’s like saying: “Oh, well, normally I don’t feel good after I eat this poisonous thing, so I only eat it around friends and family during the rare times we get together, you know, to celebrate.”
This paragraph was really helpful though:
“Getting gluten out of sight and out of mind is your best bet if you want to make your home a safe, gluten-free environment. You may come up against resistance, especially if you have a spouse and kids who don’t want to give up all their favorite things along with you (although, chances are some of them suffer from gluten intolerance themselves, given the hereditary linkages prevalent with this disease). To coax everyone on board, assure them it will only be while you get your bearings. You can tell them that once you understand how to eat gluten-free, it won’t have to be such a strict environment. You will, however, have to try to avoid cross-contamination as best you can by using different utensils, cutting boards, etc.”
The article was thorough and helpful. Go, Oprah! (P.S. I only somewhat enjoyed her recent interview with Sarah Palin. The poor woman sounded so ridiculous so many times (Harry Potter, for instance, was written in 1998, right in the middle of her four-year stint as mayor).)
Ok, back to gluten!
Sorry, Italy (not).
“Projected climate changes in this region, in particular rising temperature and decreasing rainfall, may seriously compromise wheat yields.”
-Jonathan Leake of Times Online
Climate change is still bad, people.
Ok, so I’m all for a pill that makes it so that I can eat slightly cross-contaminated food (say, a salad in a restaurant), but pizza? Made of real wheat? That takes “splurge” to a whole new level - one that I am not prepared to go to just yet.
According to the researcher, my “ultimate goal” is not to eat whatever I want whenever I want.
I’m going to have to think on that for a while…
In the mean time, please keep researching, folks.
Come on Sobeys, I want results! I didn’t give away my beloved island grocery store for this kind of inefficiency!
What? My standards are too high?
… Maybe. That’s not the point, though.
Thrifty Foods’ brown rice is just a slight be over the sketchiness line, apparently. I called them last night to ask them if it was gluten free and they couldn’t answer me right away (first hint). This morning, I woke up to this e-mail from Toronto:
Hello Claire.
Please see the response below from our supplier of Thrifty Rice.
Technically, Rice is gluten free.
However, we do have some wheat based product inventory at the warehouse in Toronto.
Although highly unlikely, there is the possibility of contact between the non Gluten Rice products and other wheat based products.
So, although you can claim that the rice product itself is gluten free, the manufacturing and warehousing facility does handle some other products with Gluten content and I would think a reference would need to be made to this fact.
Claire I hope this answers your question and please email me if you need any additional information.
Thanks,
Lee Ann Jessop
Director, Private Label Brands
Thrifty Foods
6649 Butler Crescent
Saanichton, BC V8M 1Z7
Phone: 250-483-1775
Fax: 250-483-1695
So sad. I luckily didn’t eat any brown rice last night even though it was coconut and smelled delicious. That one per cent chance is just not worth it, especially in mid-November.
This morning, I’m finishing my discussion part of my thesis. That means that I will have a synopsis of results and insights done by 2:30 this afternoon.
Or else…
Best quote:
“Suddenly, it’s not like you’ve got a medical condition, but that you have an alternative diet like a vegetarian. You can look at it as just being part of the human race again.”
…Thank God, because until now, I considered myself an alien.
Yay Monday Magazine for writing about gluten-free awareness, and yay Eric for letting me know about it. Home town high five!
Sitting drinking gluten free Bard’s Beer and writing about CD and physical activity.
There’s nothing ironic about this situation.
I went to a pro-life/pro-choice debate the other day and was not only fascinated by the crowd (many who were holding pro-choice posters when the pro-life spokesman presented), but suddenly became interested in the gluten content of Plan B, a popular contraception pill. Above is the manufacturer’s response to my phone call. They were quite quick to reply, but were not prepared enough to be able to give me a quick yes/no response over the phone. This e-mail came within 24 hours.
To be effective, Plan B has to be taken as soon as you get it, or within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse. Because you have to take it quickly, it may be stressful if the packaging does not explicitly say “gluten-free,” especially if you have to take it on the weekend, when Paladin does not take phone calls.
This is just an example of the many medications that should be labelled “contains gluten” or “gluten-free.” Plan B is the perfect example because it must be taken very quickly. A simple label would increase the quality of life for many people.
When I talk to people about the gluten-free diet, the first thing that often comes up is how hard it is. The second thing is how healthy it is. Unfortunately, though, the general public may have got it wrong. The diet requires much more than simple elimination techniques.
This Swedish study has come to the conclusion that people with CD who have been gluten-free for ten years are still not meeting their dietary needs:
The results suggest that Swedish coeliac patients living on a gluten-free diet for several years need to improve their dietary habits. To this end, regularly visiting a dietitian could be helpful to introduce oat-based options and increase the intake of fresh fruits and greens.
I went to the health food store the other day to pick up some gluten free items for breakfast. I ended up buying three main items: cocoa flakes, vanilla cream cookies, and quinoa cereal loaded with sugar. I also bought yogurt and fruit, but I could have bought those anywhere else, for cheaper.
Therefore, here is my new rule: “alternative diet” is never synonymous with “healthy diet.”
This also applies to “health food stores.” Who are they kidding? Cookies are not health food.
Also: If you have CD and are going to see a dietitian, I would try to go to one who has a lot of celiac patients. That way there will be less misunderstanding about what and why you eat (or don’t eat) certain things outside of the medically defined “gluten-free” diet. I spent the a moment this weekend telling my godmother how awful her dietitian coworker was to talk to. Apparently this woman sees no other people with CD - not at all shocking.
(and sugar, but I’m not writing about that today.)
If I eat a meal without cheese, I still crave cheese. According to the internet, it’s because my “leaky gut” lets lactose peptides through directly to my brain:
“Both casein in dairy, and gluten in wheat, contain food peptide opioids which, in people with certain, ( “leaky”, as a result of chronic auto-immmune reactions to foods, candida infection, etc ), gut conditions, can pass directly to the brain. They can have a mild to strong euphoric effect, to which become addicted, but after years of “use” can become depression/alienation, etc. Short term effects can include brain-fog, spaced-outness, etc.”
-Ouinon @ wrongplanet.net
When I’m done writing today, you can bet I’ll be looking this up in some legitimate medical journals. Until then, I’m going to start on step 1: admit that I have an addiction that I cannot seem to control and that I have allowed this addiction to take over my life diet.
Tally, ho.
