'going Gluten-Free Will Not Make You Thin': Celiac Disease Sufferer On Out-Of ... - Daily Mail

[Scott Adams]

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Open Original Shared Link Daily Mail Following a new report that 29per cent of Americans are trying to cut back on gluten, a woman with celiac disease has launched a plea for people to stop giving it up without a viable medical reason. Elissa Strauss, who was diagnosed with the immune ... Open Original Shared Link The Independent Florida Alligator (blog) Open Original Shared Link Hometown Focus Open Original Shared Link

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[Takala]

I was wondering where the latest propaganda with the Wheat Council/GMO plant breeders talking points was going to show up this week, now we know. This Daily Mail anti - gluten free food article, which is horrid, is based on another truly wretched piece in "Jezebel"  by professional neophyte writer "Elissa Strauss, who suffers from celiac disease."  biography here from her own website : Open Original Shared Link

 

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Elissa Strauss is a journalist, essayist and blogger who writes about gender and culture. Her work has appeared in a variety of publications including Salon,Slate, the Village Voice,  Jezebel, MarieClaire.com The American Prospect and the Forward, where she is a contributing editor to the Sisterhood blog. She has interviewed a range of personalities including Vicente Fox, Suze Orman, and Sarah Silverman.

She is currently the co-artistic director of LABA, a non-religious Jewish house of study for culture-makers at the 14th Street Y in New York City. Open Original Shared Link 

She holds a BA in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and an MA in Latin American Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Elissa is represented by the Open Original Shared Link literary agency in New York City.

 

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I don't know exactly what sort of "culture" she is trying to create by slagging her own people's availability and consumption of medically necessary, safe, gluten free food, but it is a very ugly, ugly example of what people should not write about for money, even if they need it.

 

Daily Mail:

 

She explains that ever since gluten-free dieting has become trendy, 'Waiters, thinking I am just another ankle-boot wearing Gwyneth wannabe, no longer take me seriously.'

What's more, people who give up gluten when they don't need to could be cutting out healthy foods from their diet.

'Fiber is one of the most important things you can eat for health's sake,' she says, adding that a slice of whole wheat bread is 'by no means worse for you than a slice of teff, garbanzo bean and brown rice fiber bread.'

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indeed, Ms Strauss notes that it is normal for her to shell out $12 for one whole grain gluten free loaf of bread.

 

 But there is growing concern that people are using a gluten allergy to mask their real eating disorders.

 

Hits all the Wheat Council Registered Dietician talking points I've pointed out the past month.  Because wheat is the only substance on earth which contains fiber, right ?

 

More from Strauss, in Jezebel-

 

 

"I've been a celiac for 14 years....  it is just a diet that is medically necessary for some of us, and no better and probably even a bit worse for the rest of you." 

 

Considering that many gluten-free goods are higher in fat to substitute for the missing gluten — which literally holds baked goods together — a gluten-free diet can actually leave us worse off, weight-wise.

 

 

And I've been merely gluten intolerant for about 10 years officially, and more likely my entire life, which is obviously over double of yours, and there's now more of "us" than of "you," (much to my shock, but at this point no only are there $ BILLIONS in American gluten free food sales, there has got to be somebody eating it, so it's going to be about 5 to 7% of the population, roughly ) so do you really want all the gluten free consumers to get into some sort of sorority chick challenge over which deserves the gravitas ?  Shall I explain what is wrong with statistical interpretation claiming a third of the population is doing this, based on a self reporting telephone survey done by a consumer marketing group which was asking about people's attitudes towards a food category ? 

 

Obviously this person does not cook, because she thinks bread is supposed to cost $12 a loaf, she repeats the false canard the gluten free diet is WORSE for people, and she thinks fat is what is holding bread together.  Good Grief.  This is pathetic.  Perhaps she needs to comport herself like a mature adult and stop trying to blend in with the teenybopper "Sisterhood" herd, and then maybe other people would take her seriously. 

 

Oh, and thank you for telling us Yanks that Canadians spend a lot on gluten free food !  Canadians have a colder climate and spend a lot on heating, too, should they revert back to the cheaper ice igloo and seal oil lamp, and stop being so trendy with modern furnace technology ?   At least the freaking Canadian government acknowledges that they have a segment of their population that deserves safe gluten free labeling standards AND affordable gluten free bread !  Haven't you ever heard of Kinnickinnick ?  But the last time I saw Canadians eating, they ate other, regular foods, too, like fruits, vegetables, meats.... they don't live on take out pizza....   you aren't fooling anyone by waving around the cost of a bag of gluten free Canadian pretzels.  And btw, the last time I picked up a bag of gluten free pretzels, they came from the middle east !  

 

Also, this life is expensive! Literally, on average, 242% more expensive, according to researchers from the Dalhousie Medical School in Canada. Let me break this down for you: pretzels can run $5-$6 a bag, individual sized pizzas around $15-$20 at restaurants and even $11 for crappy tasting ones from the market, and cupcakes and muffins are in the $4 range. I just spent $12 on a whole-grain gluten-free loaf the other day and didn't think twice about it, because this is just my life. But it doesn't have to be yours.

 

News Flash -  eating gluten free is not going to turn you normal glutenoids into a celiac !  Film at 11 !   99.9% of people ARE NOT celebrities and don't care one whit what they do ! Telling gluten intolerants to stop eating gluten free, because you don't like it -  absurdity taken to new heights !   

 

My favorite comment:

 

"Has Jezebel completely stopped editing and fact- checking? Not only is this written so poorly that it is difficult to follow the author's train of though, but fiber is not difficult or expensive if you are gluten free.  Beans, popcorn, fruit, vegetables, brown rice... LENTILS: cheap and full of fiber.

 

And this comment is also interesting, claiming that comparing blood samples from the 1950's to today, show an increasing amount of gluten sensitivity, 4x as many are now likely to carry gluten antibodies, and 30% carry the genes for gluten intolerance (remember that celiac is the highest form of gluten intolerance)  Open Original Shared Link

 

It remains to be seen whether American agriculture will start to adapt to what the population needs to eat to stay healthy, or to what it thinks the chemical companies need in farm budget subsidies to keep farmers spraying herbicides over every crop.  But if you are now  able to go shopping at your local neighborhood market, instead of driving 50 miles, and have a small selection of basic gluten free necessities like a bag of certified gluten free rice pasta or a box of basic gluten free pancake mix, you can thank a gluten intolerant who kept asking for it, and the store manager who might have a celiac relative who put in the order, without having to see somebody else's medical charts !