Explaining Gf As Lifestyle Choice.

[dogear]

OK, part of what I said is a half truth. Rationally, gluten-free was the last thing I was willing to consider.

But I had some bad hunches about wheat bread, pasta, and other gluten filled stuff for years. I didn't want to face them because of the following false assumptions:

1) That a gluten-free diet was in effect an Atkins diet with nothing but meat, meat, and more meat. (I've never been a big meat eater.)

2) That one could find few filling gluten-free meals that weren't extremely high in fat. And that virtually all gluten-free meals were bunless burger with baked potatoes and things like that.

3) That the only grains one could have on a gluten-free diet were corn and rice. I thought that millet, sorghum, amaranth, quinoa, teff, and all that good stuff were forbidden. (And I think this was the belief by some doctors at a certain stage.)

4) That getting things like gluten-free bread, gluten-free cookies, and xanthan gum required a doctor's prescription. (I'm really embarassed at this one!)

5) That all starch flours such as potato flour, tapioca flour, and cornstarch contained sulfites. (And I have a potentially very dangerous allergy to sulfites.)

Now looking back, I see that all these notions with the possible exception of 5#, were really dumb misconceptions on par with the idea that vegetarians subsist primarily on lettuce, carrots, and tofu.

I've actually managed to go to restaurants with people who don't know I'm gluten-free, and it's surprisingly easy to get all the needed information by using the sulfite allergy and the additive sensitivity, as a pretext to just get the complete scoop on what's in a certain dish and if it shares a frier with anything else. (Half the time the gluten-free foods and those without any of my problem additives are the same things on a menu, so it works surprisingly well.)

For me not wanting made a big fuss out of the no gluten, is because I'm afraid that if they think my being wheatless is a "fad diet", that it will plant that perception in a waiter's mind for the next person who comes in looking for a gluten-free meal. I'm also afraid that it will make them not take my sulfite allergy (which could potentially kill me) seriously.

I may be a bit of a fool for the embarassment factor. But I think those two concerns are fairly legit.

[skbird]

Dogear - I think what you're saying is wise. I don't see a line between diets because I believe as you do, that perhaps people get on board certain fad diets because in truth they feel better avoiding something they might not realize effects them poorly. I only ended up on a gluten free diet because I first started a hypoglycemic diet, which was basically Atkins. Then I did the Eat Right 4 Your Blood Type diet which taught me about wheat. Being on those two diets at the same time weaned me off most gluten grains and when I would consume the small amounts I did after that, I would feel noticably bad.

It took me some reinforcement to truly understand this problem, but now I am feeling so much better and so comfortable with this diet, it is amazing. I encourage you to keep learning about it - it won't hurt you.

Stephanie

[Guest BellyTimber]

All power to you people!

Having been diagnosed "gluten & wheat sensitive" which to the uninitiated doesn't sound very serious and wasn't based on a lot of tests, I'm in some ways in a similar position.

No way do we have to prove to anyone how "bad" certain stuff is for us. But if we find it helps people to help us when we do, that's good.

We just ask for what we know we need. We go by what our bodies tell us and what the knowledge we have been given tells us.

People who are worthwhile then cooperate and provide us with what we have asked for. What ways we have found of asking and what ways of asking are effective for us, may develop uniquely in each of our experience.

[mick66]

] Hi everyone,I hope I am posting in the correct place. I am new here, but not new to the gluten-free diet. I was dx'd about a year ago. My true friends are really supportive, it's the family that doesn't have a clue. For example, just yesterday one of my family members called me and said they were going on a diet. I told them that was great. When I asked what diet they were going on they replied, it's very similar to yours.

They read a book about eating right for your blood type. Since we are related, we have the same blood type . Meanwhile they go on to tell me that I shouldn't eat half the things that I am eating ( fruits and veggies mostly). I was pretty upset about this, needless to say, as it is us celiacs are so restricted in the first place why would this family member say this to me and tell me if I eat potatoes those will make me sick and is not allowed if you have this blood type. What a nerve! I told them that I already couldn't eat and absorb many foods( not to mention I am underweight and have been in the hospital to have a port with a catheter to feed me surgically embedded into my upper chest just below my shoulder.

Anyone care to comment on this, Does family really mean to be mean, or do they not even realize it! thanks for reading! Mick

[penguin]

To me, the blood type diet seems to be a load of crap. A huge load of crap, and it's just another diet fad like the cabbage diet or the three day diet. I wouldn't put much stock in what they say.

For my blood type, A, I'm supposed to eat a lot of grains and starches. Heellllooo, I have Celiac disease, not going to work. The type A is common in European lineages, and so is Celiac.

Your relative probably meant well, but doesn't realize that you have to stay away from gluten because of a real-life diease, not a fad diet.

Hope you're doing ok!

[corinne]

I have collagenous colitis, not celiac disease. It kept getting worse (D for a large part of the day, thyroid damage, damage to the teeth from lack of calcium, anemia) and the doctor wanted to put me on steroids. I said no way. I'll try changing my diet.

There is some evidence that c. colitis might be related to gluten intolerance so I tried a gluten free diet and finally the specific carbohydrate diet and things are finally getting better.

There are very few foods that I can eat right now, so lots of questions from family, friends etc. I just tell them that certain foods make me sick and leave it at that, no explanation. Some people want to know more + I answer their questions. I feel so much better that it doesn't matter too much what others think.

[lau]

Maybe you are celiac or carry the gene. Were you ever tested before you went on a gluten-free diet? I was diagnosed with celiac in my 40s. But after my diagnosis, and learning what foods are and are not gluten-free, I realized that many of my favorite foods since childhood wre gluten-free (potatoes, puffed rice). I was never a big bread eater--even as a toddler my mother recalls that I ate hot dogs without a bun. I guess my body was telling me for years what it needed to know--that gluten wasn't good for me. (Don't get me wrong, I wasn't totally gluten-free before my diagnosis--I'm just emphasizing my strong likes and dislikes lead in the gluten-free direction.) So if your body is telling you to be on a gluten-free diet, maybe it's what you need. You can be tested for the celiac gene, and that result would not be affected by what you currently eat (but a blood test result for the presence of the disease would be affected).