THE GLUTEN WARS
The enemy appears, disguised as a trusted friend. Sept. 21, 2015
When I began to
blog, my main interest was to share my weight loss journey (s) in the hope that
I could help somebody else. Pretty simple.
My focus has
changed. So has my weight. Since being diagnosed as “gluten sensitive” or in
other words “gluten intolerant”, although not celiac, I have had to radically
change the way I eat. My doctor directed me to the Internet, where I would find
“lots of information”. Either he neglected to tell me that there was also lots
of MIS-information, or I did not hear him. I have read a few dozen books on the
subject of “eating gluten free”. The cheapest ones are the ones that are the
least useful, or the most harmful, depending on how you look at it. My mom
always said, “You get what you pay for.” True.
Internet
websites, blogs, books, magazines – what is a person to believe? And how does
eating gluten-free fit in with eating healthy foods and maintaining (wait – too
late!) or achieving a healthy weight? AND how does a person manage to NOT feel
totally deprived of all socialization with humans that are not eating
gluten-free? Or healthy. That is my focus now.
I think that the
best book I have read on celiac disease and eating gluten-free is Jennifer’s
Way by Jennifer Esposito.
It would make
sense to start at the beginning, but that would take too long. Here is where I
am now. I have been glutened! AGAIN! Despite my near-constant vigilance, I made
a mistake the day before yesterday and was sick yesterday, and am sick today,
and expect to be sick for a week to ten days, and then to have a “sensitive
stomach” for another couple of weeks. SIGH.
*SWEAR*.
This time, my
husband tried to warn me by saying, “Are you sure you should be eating that?” (“That” being a handful of delightful
chocolate chips, which my daughter-in-law had provided to my delightful
grandchildren.) I mindlessly grabbed and ate some. He tried to warn me. I said,
“Of course I can eat these. I eat them all the time.” True. In Miami. When the package says “gluten
free”. Now I am not in Miami and the
package is not there at all and the chips are likely from Bulk Barn and could
not say “gluten free” if they tried. What an idiot! Just because they look like
something I eat from time to time, I automatically assume that they are the
same. NO, no, no. And that is the subject of today’s blog: How eating gluten-free products ruins you for
the real world. I suppose people who have better impulse control than I do may
not encounter this problem very often.
When I began my
war against gluten, I bought various gluten-free flours and followed various
gluten-free recipes in an effort to make and eat food that looked and tasted
like the “real” foods that I loved, and yet would not make me sick. The upshot
was that, as a result of eating various flours and other things high in carbs
and low in nutrition and fibre, I began to gain weight. The more I tried to “eat
right”, the worse it got. I tried going carb-free. So far, that has not worked
out well for me. Years ago, it was hard to find anything gluten-free in a
restaurant; now there are many options that claim to be gluten-free. I don’t
know if they are or not, but let’s assume for now that they are. Sometimes they
are just made from the same nasty flours that I should be avoiding, as in “gluten
free pasta”. I guess “pasta” is just another word for “weight gain”.
I cannot seem to
maintain two containers of every livin’ thing in my cupboards, one for me and
one for everyone else, so I spent a LOT of time discarding everything in my
house that was not gluten-free. Then somebody brought some salad dressing, and
left it in my fridge, and I ate it. It was not gluten free. I was sick. I felt
I should not have to read every label every time I eat something, especially in
my own gluten-free home. Wrong again. My
husband buys things – for his own consumption – that are not gluten-free. They
look the same. They get put in the same place. But they are not gluten-free. My
daughter-in-law buys gluten-free products when I visit, but since she herself
eats “gluten-reduced” out of choice, a lot of her things are not gluten-free.
Of course the children do not eat gluten-free. And I have tried so hard to find
treats for myself that are gluten-free. BUT impulsively I might eat without
thinking. Well, I did. This is a warning to those of you who must be
gluten-free, to maintain eternal vigilance. And it is a stark reminder to those
of you who think that eating gluten-free can’t be that hard – it IS that hard!
Now that I have
been glutened, and as part and parcel of my spectrum of symptoms, I am feeling
depressed and hopeless. I will never be able to go anywhere again or go out
with friends or have any fun or eat anything. At all. And I will starve to
death without ever losing weight and be very sorry for myself (wait – I am
already doing that part!) boo-hoo.
In a few days my
mood will improve, and I will go back to living a quasi-normal life with
renewed resolve to be more careful. It seems that for a few weeks after one of
these episodes I need to eat a bland
diet, until the inflammation in my innards heals; so far I have not been able
to find a bland diet that does not pack on extra pounds at every meal. Once I
can tolerate high fibre foods again, and have enough energy to do more than
type a rant, I can resume my weight-loss journey.
And that is today’s
bulletin from The Gluten Wars.
