Gluten Free Living
December 3rd, 2009 -- Posted in living without wheat, shopping | No Comments »I often am asked “so what can you eat”? or “what does it mean to be gluten-free”? I admit that I was a bit intimidated when I was first diagnosed. My doctor’s instructions were to “experiment” and when I asked him what would happen if I ate gluten, he said “you will probably feel uncomfortable. If you choose to have gluten from time to time you may end up feeling the consequences.”
By this time I had already learned that I was negative for Celiac. If I had been diagnosed with Celiac I would not have had such an option. From what I understand about what is understood for people with Celiac is that they are at a much higher risk of developing digestive cancers. Because gluten actually stays in our bodies for at least two weeks once it is consumed, if you cheat a couple times a month you are never fully ridding your body of the gluten response.
One of the gluten responses is inflammation. Not like the swelling of the neck that some people get when they eat peanuts or are stung by a bee. It causes inflammation of the digestive track and joints. My fingers used to ache pretty frequently and because arthritis runs in my family I thought that was what the problem was. When I went gluten-free my achy joints went away.
It was quite a learning process to figure out all the things I needed to avoid. There are still some that sneak up and surprise me. It is the most concerning eating out or at someone’s house. The more gluten has been removed from my diet, the stronger my bodies response has become. Gluten is not welcome here anymore.
For example, initially I continued to eat at Chinese restaurants. You may not know it but gluten is in soy sauce. I always had that “not quite full, odd feeling in my stomach” when I ate Chinese food but I didn’t think anything of it. When I eliminated breads and other obvious gluten foods I found that my response to Chinese food became stronger. I would feel like maybe I was getting a stomach bug with some cramping and discomfort and then usually diarrhea within 12-24 hours and then my joints would be achy again. When you make the association like that, you find the cravings become easier and easier to resist.
So what do I avoid? ALL wheat products including breads, flour tortillas, pastas (Semolina and Durum are types of wheat). Other grains I avoid are: barley, rye, graham, oats (they are cross-contaminated with wheat unless specifically listed as “gluten-free” and I found over time I developed a reaction to them as I got other gluten foods out of diet), spelt (some gluten-free people eat this but it gives me a reaction and it is a type of wheat). Standard foods I avoid: noodles, cornbread (because it is almost always cooked with a portion of wheat flour), breaded foods (like deep-fried veggies), soy sauce (unless wheat is not an ingredient), and licorice (yes, it has wheat in it about 98% of the time), gravies, sauces that are thickened, beer (Red Bridge is my favorite gluten-free beer).
What do I read the labels on or ask the person who cooked it? Soups, salad dressings, casseroles, cheese spreads, sauces, vegetarian meat substitutes, supplements, protein or meal bars, snack chips (Doritoes have wheat in them as do Pringles), pretty much any processed food. You would be surprised where wheat shows up.
That said, there are lots of things I eat. I will cover that in a new post.
