Good Intro Video

[CMCM]

This is a really good video on Gluten Sensitivity, Gluten Allergy, how Celiac disease fits in, and so on.  All the explanations will really clear up confusion that someone new to this might wonder about.  

https://www.glutenfreesociety.org/questions/is-there-a-test-for-gluten-sensitivity/

 

[Scott Adams]

I have issues with many of the claims made on their site...as I recall, and correct me if I am wrong, but that site claims celiac can't eat corn.

[CMCM]

I watched some of Osborne's videos and liked them enough that I'm now reading his book "No Grain, no Pain", and it synthesizes an enormous amount of information in a beautifully organized way that is easy to grasp.  I've absorbed bits and pieces of some of the same information from multiple other sources I've read lately, which is why I see that this book brings it all together so perfectly for ME.  In fact, after all the reading I've done the last two months (at least 10 books, tons of online things) in my current endeavor to bring myself as up to speed as I can be in 2021 on gluten sensitivity/celiac disease, Osborne's book is the very best I've come across in terms of possibly resolving my own health issues, which of course, will obviously be different those of any other person.  

Osborne takes things a step farther with his conclusion that while the usual gluten grains have been studied and proven to be problematic over the last 50 years, the other grains haven't been studied nearly as much in terms of potential sensitivity and possibly contributing to similar damage as wheat/rye/barley gluten.  This book is resonating with me in terms of corn is because I have a terrible time with corn, always have.  Since birth I've also had issues with dairy and a few other things.  My reactions to dairy and corn are more immediate, whereas it seems that my gluten reactions are more insidious and hidden until a certain tipping point, at which time I pull back from gluten for a time.  But while I don't eat a lot of the alternative grains (sorghum or rice to give one example), the descriptions of the various grasses and their growth, composition, glutens, and all the general similarities common to all grains make a lot of sense to me as being potentially problematic as well.  Worth testing out, at the very least. And I already know corn is a big problem for me:  for decades I've know I will pay for eating it in the following day or two.  Same with dairy.  Not so with rice.  And oddly, I could eat gluten and not necessarily get sick, at least not immediately, but that was not true of corn.

BTW, I don't remember him saying celiacs CAN'T eat corn.  He did suggest it might be problematic in similar ways as wheat for SOME celiacs as well as others with gluten sensitivity, and if corn clearly presents digestive problems to a person, one should take that into consideration as a possibility.  After all, corn is a grain and corn also has gluten of its own type.

Ultimately, what I'm taking away from the information I'm reading is that virtually ALL grains have POTENTIAL to be problematic for SOME people, but the precise effects of the other grains is as yet weakly understood and not really studied well, and therefore no incriminating conclusions have been drawn for them as offenders.  So I'm reading and evaluating what he says in terms of my own experience, and I find that a lot of it possibly provides missing pieces of the puzzle to my own particular situation.  

Another thing he talks a lot about is how those with celiac and also gluten sensitivity can give up gluten and eat lots of the gluten free products out there now...the breads, pastries, donuts, cookies etc.  They get better from eliminating gluten, but still don't completely recover, and in fact, quite a large percentage don't entirely recover.  I was actually surprised to read this.   He believes the offending ingredients are things like rice and corn flours and all the numerous starches that are used in these products to produce a good facsimile of the similar wheat products.  These products are extremely difficult for me to digest, and actually give me worse immediate and day-after reactions than eating the gluten product did.  If I eat gluten-free ANYTHING I get digestive woes either very soon, that night, or the next day.  I always wondered why, and now through Osborne's discussions I have a better idea of why I don't digest them well and why I might be better off eliminating them, at least while in healing mode. 

Therefore, my current strategy and one that I've never tried yet is a diet of zero grains of any kind, zero dairy, zero sugar, and that also means zero gluten free foods.  I just stick to eating eggs, meats, limited mostly green vegetables, a few berries and occasional orange or banana or something like that. This is an experiment for me, and  I'll see how it goes and re-evaluate after about 6 months on this type of diet.  I'm only a week in, but so far so good.  Prior to starting this a week ago, I had eliminated gluten for 8 weeks but still had a fair amount of digestive upset, and for those 8 weeks I was getting very small amounts of dairy (mostly in the form of whipped half and half in a cappuccino each morning), I was eating occasional rice and sometimes cream of rice for breakfast, and occasional corn.  That was enough that I still had problems.  I can already say that just one week without those things and I already feel a LOT better suddenly.  

For ME, there's something to all this.  Of course, what we all know is that every single one of us is different in terms of our sensitivities and reactions, and as they say, YMMV (your mileage may vary).  

I still think the book might be a good read for the relatively unformed as it's extremely readable in its approach and it provides a lot of good information.  He also cites a lot of very interesting patient histories, too, some of which are quite astounding in their recoveries.