With the rise of the internet and webMD the condition has spread far beyond the range of second year med students. Everyone now has the capability to be hypochondriacal (still maintaining originator claim and rights) or at least attribute everyday symptoms to rare and exotic diseases.
On that note, convinced that we have Celiac disease or wheat allergies or both, our house has gone gluten free.
At the outset, I made the stipulation that no products explicitly labeled "gluten-free" were to be purchased. I wasn't going to pay 6 bucks a loaf for some pseudo-bread. So we've been doing pretty well with rice, potatoes and corn. In some ways it almost feels like Atkins, but with french fries. And Doritos.
But the one thing I've come to realize is that in a world of convenience and portability, gluten is often the edible wrapper that holds it all together. Pizza, hot pockets, sausages and burgers all rely on gluten to keep it all together. Anything remotely considerable as "car-food" comes bundled up in a gluten package. Even chicken strips.
Taco Bell has been my sanctuary as I learn to adjust. The hard corn shells are the last refuge in a wheaty world. But even that selection is minimal. Tacos is all. Everything else comes in a flour shell.
But I'm finding other work-arounds. Today I had a cheesy beef and rice extravaganza and ate that thing like an oversized Go-GURT tube filled with Mexican goodness.
Necessity. The mother of invention.
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5 comments:
Years ago, my father became convinced that he had Celiac disease. My mom started making his bread. It didn't rise. At all. It was like an inch and a half high and tasted like feet. After about a decade of that, she found a mix that was considerably better, but still nothing I would ever eat.
A few weeks before he passed away, he was talking to the hospital dietician and it turns out, he never had the disease. Can you imagine? 20 years of crap bread for nothing.
My point? Don't eat crap if you don't have to.
Oh... you had me at Doritos. That sounded great and I was SO hungry... and then I hit the Gogurt Burrito and *POOF* it was gone.
We're giving it four weeks, just to see if certain symptoms go away (or at least lessen a bit). We're at week 2 and a half, with no real improvement, so I am *counting the days* to my next cookie. (On a sidenote, your mum deserves some real kudos for baking that bread for 20 years. Something about that makes me all fuzzy.)
And.
If you get turned off by the Go-Gurt burrito, you probably don't want to know about 2 pairs of empty double cheeseburger buns sitting in the backseat of my car.
Hey. A guy's gotta eat.
I was convinced I had celiac disease when I was pregnant with my first... still think I have SOME kind of wheat allergy. I feel SO much better when I cut wheat out of my diet - unfortunately, I'm usually too lazy to change my diet to make myself feel better. :(
I do have some great gluten free cookbooks to recommend if you're interested.
The actual test for celiac disease is pretty intensive (and rarely done) so I doubt a dietician would have known if your dad had it, or not Tara - Maybe your mom's bread did do some good :)
I didn't notice any difference cutting out wheat, but I seemed to notice a difference bringing it back in. But now everything's back to normal: blah but full of processed flour goodness.
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