Get Off Gluten!

Long before our family went gluten free, we knew our youngest had some sort of GI issues. Looking back, I now think she probably was reacting to gluten (via my diet and her nursing) from the day she was born. Of course with exclusive breast feeding and lots of holding/comforting her obvious discomfort was kept to a minimum and her frequent crying could be managed. (Boy how I wish I fully understood about gluten what I now do and how I could have simply avoided it myself to keep her from getting it.) By the time she was verbal, she was reporting tummy aches many times each week -- but they were never so bad as to really slow her down. Our family doctor kept assuring us that tummy aches are very common in little ones and usually related to how they are handling emotional issues. Since she seemed emotionally volatile to me -- his explanation made sense. (Of course now I see it all a little differently. Once our daughter got off gluten, her emotional functioning improved dramatically!)

It wasn't until her tummy aches got much worse (when she was about 8) that I started to seriously doubt my doctor's reassurances. By then I thought I might be noticing a correlation between bread-eating and her pain. What threw me off the track however, was the fact, that even when we completely avoided wheat, she still had them, but they usually weren't as bad.

I was completely clueless about gluten, and had no idea that she was also still being exposed to gluten when I made things with rye, barley, or oats. Failing to see clear improvement from a wheat-free diet, we went back and forth on letting her have it. I remember my mother's reaction too, when I told her my daughter might have a problem with wheat. She said something about hoping it wasn't Celiac Disease, and although I didn't really know what Celiac Disease was, the way my mother said it made me feel like it must be a diagnosis like leprosy, so I made a mental note that whatever it was, that would not be what we were dealing with.

When a friend tried to explain to me about gluten and what it was and what all it might be in, I clearly remember telling her, "Oh forget that -- we are NOT going there!" I was absolutely certain at that time that by force of will (keeping our heads in the sand) we could avoid exposing ourselves to something as disruptive as eliminating gluten from our daughter's diet.

Of course you can guess the rest of this story, eventually we had to come to terms with reality, and now that we have, it's really not hard at all -- especially since after becoming more educated on this topic, our whole family went gluten-free, and with our kitchen being entirely GF, food prep is as simple as it ever was.

So what was it that persuaded us all to go gluten free? Upon doing more research, we learned for example that most people carry the gene that allows them, (for reasons not well understood at the present time) to become gluten sensitive as a result of environmental triggers (also not well understood -- but viruses, pregnancy, stress are some of the suspected triggers). We also learned that once one's body starts having an immunological reaction to gluten, it appears to be for life -- if and when they are exposed to gluten. (And trust me I looked long and hard in the medical journals trying to find some research that suggested otherwise -- that perhaps given time it would go away, or with certain nutrients, of by having good homeopathy or acupuncture treatment, one could overcome gluten sensitivity -- but I never was able to find this!)

Then I discovered even more damning things about gluten. Like the fact that as long as the immune system is reacting to gluten (and this may be happening in many people without them even having any obvious symptoms) they are at increased risk for all sorts of cancers, and autoimmune diseases, thyroid dysfunction -- even the development of allergies much later in life.

As if that all wasn't bad enough, More recently there has been a flurry of reports linking gluten consumption with a variety of mental/emotional difficulties and illnesses. Autism, ADD, Depression, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder -- many people with these are reporting a lessening of symptoms when they get off gluten. (And some doctors are concurring with this too.)

I am a good example of this. I thought that I had no symptoms of gluten intolerance. I initially went gluten-free mainly to support my daughter and to model for her that going GF was not that hard. (ok -- so I did take the Enterolab test after learning that my daughter was having an immunological reaction to gluten -- never dreaming that it would come back positive -- but it did!) I had been GF for over a year, when I stumbled upon some study that said that people who went GF showed improvement in psychological well-being a year later when pre and post tested with psychological tests.

I remember thinking at that time, "Where was my benefit?!" I was not feeling any improvement in my well being. But then I stopped and reflected. During this same period, we had moved homes twice, lived in a rental while constructing a home (and had that process not go well) went through the sickness, loss and grieving of two members of our extended family, had another family crisis, and our daughter was attacked by a dog. Given that I have struggled with mild depression many times in my life, the fact that I made it through this period without feeling "the cloud" hanging over my head, and actually functioning quite well, I realized THAT was my benefit.

Not too long ago I decided to test all this. I wondered if now, after being GF for close to two years, what would happen if I ate some gluten. Would I notice anything obvious? While I was out-of-town at a fun event, I ate a sandwich on whole wheat bread, that contained one of those gluten-based faux meats. About one hour later, this profound cloud descended upon me. I suddenly felt like I was extremely sleep deprived, and my thinking wasn't as clear. It lasted for about 24 hours before it gradually lifted.

I don't feel any need to test gluten on myself further.