Friday, July 9, 2010

Gluten Free--Never Say Never!

So I believe I've mentioned that one of the things I most want to see is my oldest daughter overcome some health issues she's had pretty much her whole life.  She's had stomach pain and problems associated with it (such as gas, constipation, and some other embarrassing symptoms) since she was a baby, she's also is very prone to blood sugar fluctuations, has vision problems (for which she wears corrective glasses), headaches, shoulder and neck pain sometimes, hay fever, and randomly breaks out in hives for seemingly no reason at all.  She got the poorest start in life compared to the other children because she lived the longest without the benefit of decent real food on a regular basis--I didn't start looking into nutrition until she was almost 3. 

When I first ransacked my kitchen and dumped any and all processed and refined foods she experienced immediate improvement in some areas, mainly her moods and temper tantrums.  Taking the sugar out really seemed to help her.  At that time I also switched to soaking all my grains, using raw milk and cream, natural sweeteners, more organic and grass fed meats and wild caught seafood, and plenty of fresh veggies and fruits.  I look back on that time as a time I never felt healthier or had more energy.  I've never really been able to recapture that feeling fully since. 

I've been searching the internet and books, reading, reading, reading....and listening to interviews ect...and I have to say I'm coming more and more to the conclusion that we need to go gluten free.  To me, this would explain why I did so well on Fat Flush the first time I did it when I was quite a few years younger.  I experienced such good results but since then it seems to take longer and longer every time I try it.  I think it may because the longer I keep eating certain offending foods, the more damaged my digestive system has become.  Just a theory anyway.  The other factors that I can't get away from are taking a look into my family.  Celiac itself is an autoimmune disease that contributes to a host of other autoimmune diseases such as diabetes (on both sides of my family), arthritis (rheumatoid, my grandmother), thyroid disease (on both sides of my family), Alzheimer's (on my mom's side) and more.  Celiac is very often never diagnosed and underlies so many of these conditions that I'm now very suspicious of our genetic predisposition of gluten intolerance whether it's truly Celiac or not. 

So when Eva gets back from her grandparents' house I'm taking her to see our local natureopathic DR. so we can hopefully get to the bottom of all this once and for all.  I could go gluten free on my own, but for her I think she will do much much better with it if she has a doctor explain it to her.  On the one hand I don't really want to go for the full fledged gluten free life, (which will NOT be just for Eva or even for her and I but for the the whole family) but on the other I'm already familiar with plenty of great recipes and have experimented a lot with gluten free cooking and baking.  I already make several cookie and muffin recipes that are gluten free, and even always make gluten free pasta and lasagna when we have it.   

And all this just after I said I wasn't giving up bread haha!  Oh, but I'm NOT giving up bread, I've already discovered a gluten free recipe for sourdough buckwheat rolls....and I have many more delicious alternative ideas percolating.... Once thing I won't do is use those gluten free recipes that I find nutritionally very weak or use weird and complicated ingredients.  Whatever we eat will have to be richly nourishing, extremely delicious, and simple to make!

Check out this great interview with Dr. Thomas O'Brien on Underground Wellness Radio on celiac disease and gluten sensitivity for more information on all this.

3 comments:

  1. And you can buy my ebooks which are gluten free!! haha............and I agree, there's a difference between just gluten free and nourishing gluten free - no box mixes for me either!! My kids eat gluten free at home and don't even realize it at all!! ;)

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  2. Hi Julie,
    I really sympathize with your daughter as I had similar symptoms to hers: digestive issues, blood sugar fluctuations, hives, allergies, vision problems, migraines and muscle pain. I've been able to bring myself to a mostly recovered place at the age of 54. I think she has a good chance of recovering since she's still so young.

    I may have written to you before and if I have I don't mean to annoy you.

    I wanted to let you know I have developed gluten free sourdough recipes around my own food allergies and sensitivities, gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, yeast, sweeteners, and also do not use chemical leaveners or xanthan or guar gums. I use only pure, minimally processed ingredients and the recipes are very low on the starch flours.

    I offer a free download of the starter recipe and a pancake recipe. Here is the link:
    http://www.sanctuary-healing.com/food-recipes.html

    I also offer for sale on my website, The Art of Gluten Free Sourdough Baking, which is full of technical info on gluten free sourdough baking and many recipes.

    I will be offering an online video course to be used as a companion to my books this coming fall.

    I am very committed to getting my word out to strongly health minded people.
    I wish you and your family well with your health.

    sincerely,
    sharon a. kane
    www.food-medicine.com

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  3. I am so glad you posted the link to that webcast on gluten the other day. Marc and I listened to it and were pretty convinced as well. The kicker for me I think was knowing that my symptoms scream "gluten sensitivity" and it really doesn't matter how well I eat if the gluten disables the vitamins and minerals....! Glad to know I have friends who I can find support and recipes from :)

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