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| Gotta love the dress, huh? I think the rubber band in my hairdo was too tight. |
Fast forward to 2003/4. A bad bout of the flu a year earlier left me with bruises all over my body, pretty close to bedridden. Every time I ate a bagel I would almost collapse and be unable to move. Doctors wondered if I had leukemia or severe diabetes. Yikes!
Fortunately, in the loosest form of the word, blood tests and biopsies revealed my body wasn't processing vitamin B-12 and I was allergic to wheat and corn. A celiac disease blood test turned up negative. Trips to the nutritionist got me on the road to "clean" living with no bread (whaaaaa!) and no processed food since most contain corn.
For ten years I've done pretty well, but still deal with osteoporosis, anemia and other absorption issues. With our medical fun this year, turns out it's a good year to have anything done that I've been putting off (nothing like reaching your out of pocket medical expenses by April). My doc and I decided it would be best for to re-visit my wheat allergies since those celiac tests of a decade ago and even allergy panels were notoriously inaccurate.
Guess what? For a month, I got to relive my modified childhood dream. I got to eat things like this every day:
I didn't go overboard. After all, it wasn't just celiac we were looking at but how allergic I was. A cracker one day, a roll in San Antonio, a pancake at the local breakfast place. Why, you ask? Well, gluten in wheat affects the small intestine villi that absorb nutrients. Doing a biopsy is the only way to tell if you have celiac since the blood test can go false negative. As much as I eat carefully, if I do have celiac, then I need to go extreme on the clean eating, the whole separate pans for cooking, no cheating on eating route.
I didn't notice much, except bloating, when I started. By the end of the month, I couldn't move. Deja vu all over again! Did you know a sign of a food allergy can be extreme fatigue? I was never so happy to have my last meal of a croissant and bacon scone from the local french bakery. An aside: One of the employees told me they discovered he had a gluten sensitivity after he developed pneumonia from working in the back with the flour.
I'm still waiting for the biopsy results but whether I turn out to have celiac disease or gluten sensitivity in addition to a wheat allergy, I'm sticking with my diet of extremely "clean," no-processed foods unless they are wheat and gluten free. So I will eat things like this:
And this:
And this:
As you see, living wheat, corn and gluten-free could be a lot worse. Looking forward to exploring gluten-free fall recipes with you in the coming weeks.
So, if you could eat anything you wanted for breakfast, lunch and dinner, what would it be? Have you ever had to give up one of your favorite foods for health reasons?
Thanks for torturing me and posting that cheesecake. It's my all time favorite. Yum. So many people have celiac issues. I sometimes wonder if I should get tested since it seems I get sick every time I eat too much when we go out to eat. I always wonder what is it that's upsetting my tummy. Hope your test results bring back great news. It looks as if you've already figured out what works for you. Winning!
ReplyDeleteIt's a crazy disease but then there is also gluten sensitivity or allergies. If you have family members who have celiac, it is likely you do too. I didn't realize 1 in 130 people in America have the disease.Thanks for the good wishes.
DeleteGetting ready for tests myself I think...physical at work has liver counts out :-(. Dunce they were a but Hugh at physical last year I'm going to dr today. Hope it's nothing sigh. I've never really understood the food allergies..when I was growing up even peanut allergy was rare but now some schools ban peanut butter and nuts even from your own kids lunch. But I figure a person knows what they can eat and what they want to eat and who knows I probably have stuff I'm allergic to since I'm tired a lot. One quilt friend I'm discovering is very insensitive and opinionated..she says all the msg and gluten allergies along with depression are bull. Not sure how long I can try this friendship but she seems to be a good person just sorta set in her thoughts. My first run in with gluten stuff was another quilt friend and what confused me with her snd a coworkers egg allergies was sometimes they would eat the stuff they were allergic too. They both told me that they have to be careful and the one with the egg allergy never eats plain egg..whites are ok and in cake but no mayo.
ReplyDeleteGlad you retested and know what works for you. I had no idea it was that common either!
Susanna
I know people like that. I sort of laugh because since I have an msg allergy, I've seen how a blind test can be. For example, if I unknowingly eat something with msg (it's hidden in a sauce or they say it doesn't have it but it does) my face will go numb, then I lose partial vision. Within about 15 minutes, I'll get a raging migraine so painful I vomit and can't speak. (I'm pretty tough. I've birthed five kids naturally.)
DeleteIf I can get some special medicine I carry in me in the first fifteen minutes, it's just a three day headache. Otherwise, it's a week or sometimes the ER.
Anyway, I had this all through high school and they tried every kind of migraine med out there. Finally, they had me eliminate everything from my diet an start over. WHAT A PAIN. But we got all the way to the end, right where I started eating salad dressing, top ramen noodles, BBQ potato chips and BAM, it happened.
That narrowed it down.
I've been able to keep it to once or twice every few years, as long as I'm very careful. We don't eat out a lot and I don't eat a lot of prepared food, so that helps.But every now and then, something will slip by, maybe something I get offered and pop in my mouth before I think about it.
The last one was a sweet and sour sauce from a packet that one of my kids opened on our trip. I ate it and within minutes, my face wen numb, I couldn't see. I took the medication and although it did turn into a terrible headache for a few days, it wasn't the knock-you-flat migraine.
Anyway, just my .02 cents!
P.S. I hope everything works out with your tests!
DeleteI read long ago that what you are allergic to can give you a high like a drug...guess that is prior to the reaction that both of you have described. I've been told that a lot of allergies are because of GMO wheat or other immune issues caused by our modern world but I know folks have been dying of allergic reactions for a long time. They are to be taken seriously for sure.
DeleteI wish people would be more sensitive to the needs of others, not like your friend, Susanna. These allergies sound difficult and compassion is needed not judgment. I'm praying that this lates battery of tests will get to what's going on Julie. You've had enough to deal with.
ReplyDeleteI often wonder if there is a reason sci-fi often shows people just eating pills instead of real food. Food causes us the greatest pleasure but also the greatest pain if we can't handle it. Thanks for your prayers, Piper.
DeleteAnd I really do want to know what folks would eat exclusively if they could. Pie for Belle? Cupcakes for Piper? Susanna, you always put up such good food pictures. Hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteWell, if I had to pick something to eat exclusively...it would probably be bread. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteWhaaaaaa.
DeleteBread....hot out of the oven, Piper. Oops...sorry Julie.
DeleteJulie, I hope you get some definitive answers. I also hope you feel better going back to your old diet!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I already feel better. So, Missy what would you eat exclusively if you could?
DeleteJulie, it would probably be brownies or pasta (spaghetti with meat sauce and lots of parmesan cheese). Of course, I would have to have variety! I get sick of foods quickly. So I'd have to say BOTH. :) That way I have a savory and a sweet.
DeleteI always go on spurts of loving the same food and then poof. I'm bored.
DeleteMmm...healthy exclusive food or unhealthy? Healthy would be any number of homemade soups and stews. Love having a no fuss meal ready in the fridge for several days running and there's something so satisfying about chowing down on a heart dish like that. Unhealthy is a whole other story -- definitely sweet and likely involving copious amounts of chocolate. :-)
ReplyDeleteI get so steamed when I hear about folks who are so hard on people suffering with allergies. I have a friend who has severe life-threatening food allergies. A relative thought she was just being a drama queen so she secretly snuck one of the allergy foods into a family meal. The plan was to reveal the food source once my friend hadn't reacted and prove that allergies were all in my friend's head! All I can say is thank goodness for epipens or my friend wouldn't be alive today. Sheesh.
Wow. I can see that little episode in a book. Thank goodness I don't have to give up chocolate!
DeleteKav, that makes me livid. What a terrible "test'. I just can't understand how anybody could play with someone else's life that way.
DeleteI don't think I could eat anything exclusively. I like variety though I do tend to get on a kick and eat the same meal or similar meal several in a row. Virginia I try to do more like you and eat at home but I don't plan well enough yet and get so tired with this shift that the plans don't hold out enough times. I think MSG has given me 2 major headaches but I know I've had it in other foods without the headache so maybe it's the amount for me. It who knows what the smaller amts are doing and I'm just not feeling. This same insensitive friend posted on fb once that MSG was yummy and natural...um IMO any ingredient with the word modified in front of it is NOT natural. God created not god modified. And on another note something that bothers me is that the company I work for (chemical manufacturing) has a number of customers but the major one is Monsanto. Sigh. It's a bother to me though my part doesn't make the gmo just the stuff that aids the roundup. The argument is you ant fee the world on organic and gmo has everything built into the seed so no pesticides are neede or fewer or needed. I wish this country hadn't gotten rid of so much farmland :-(
ReplyDeleteSusanna
Oh, my gosh, that story that Kav just told is so frightening. Both of my kids had food allergies that sent them to the emergency room. Restaurant eating is treacherous. I asked if a pizza crust had egg in it, and the waitress said, "I don't think so." I said, "I can't risk my child's life on 'think so.' Could you please talk to the chef?" I didn't trust her, so we ended up not ordering the pizza. Meanwhile, here's this sweet little girl (my daughter) being so patient while this waitress is playing games with her life. Grrr... Very fortunately, we live near Disney World. Every single cash register for a fast food place there has a book of ingredients in every item. Every sit-down restaurant has a chef on duty who has his own part of the kitchen where he cooks to order for food allergies and sensitivities. They can handle gluten-free with their eyes closed, by the way, so don't hesitate to visit Disney World! :)
ReplyDeleteGlad you don't take chances. They say staffs are trained in food allergy but I think service staff aren't necessarily. And to be able to go to Disney on a local basis. Wow. And they have so many things down to the science. I can't tell you how many five star restaurants I go to because their chef has no trouble coming out and talking to me. But my most recent bad experience was a restaurant that claimed to make it's own gluten-free pasta. I asked if it also contained corn products because I am allergic and corn flour and starch are big substitutes in GF. What I learned is when you ask people about corn, even with qualifiers, they think kernals. Sick. Sick. Sick. BTW PF Changs uses tapioca starch instead of corn because so many people are allergic to it. That tells you something too.
DeleteSo many people have so many food allergies today and I can only assume that it has to do with so much processed food. And others need to be sensitive to that, even if they might not understand.
ReplyDeleteWhat chaps me though, is when those who've chosen alternative eating lifestyles, such as vegan or vegetarian, are in your face about it. I remember being in a Thai restaurant one time and hearing this chick order. She was very rude to the waiter. She ordered something that the menu said was vegetarian and got somewhat belligerent about making sure it was indeed 100% vegetarian. I told my husband that if I were that waiter, I'd slip some chicken broth in her dish just to spite her. :P I understand if you have specific needs, but that doesn't give you the right to be a jerk.
If I could have anything I wanted without having to worry I'm not sure what it would be. Like you, Julie, I'll get on a kick and have something over and over again until I eventually burn out.
And yes, I've had to give up something for healthy reasons, albeit temporarily. You know how I missed chewing. Then again, I have cut sugar out of my diet, which, in the big scheme of things, could be considered for health reasons. Just not because a doctor told me to. At RWA I allowed myself to indulge a time or two and, when I got home, I found myself craving sugar again. Just goes to show how addictive sugar really is. At least for me.
Yeah, I thought of you. Chewing is kind of a big deal. And I am trying to give up sugar yet again. I fell into the same trap you did. Sugar is such a drug.
DeleteThanks Julie! I am celiac and used to nearly cry when I had to turn down the bread. But, after being unintentionally 'glutenized' a few times lately, I no longer yearn for the rolls and buns. I just know what will happen if I eat them and I no longer want to! Looking forward to your gluten-free recipes on Yankee Belle - and cute pic!
ReplyDeleteIt is a literal pain isn't it, Cindy! I have been clean living for almost a decade but sometimes we need a reminder we've slacked off.
DeleteAddictive foods are truly more than habit forming!
ReplyDeleteIf I toss sugar overboard completely, I barely miss it... but if I just try to control my urge to EAT SUGAR NONSTOP I'm doomed to failure because our taste buds get sensitized.... the little brats!!!..... and then we're never quite satisfied.
And with so much time writing, I'm spending more time inactive (butt in chair syndrome!!!!) so now I have to pay extra attention to what I'm eating....
Oh, cabbage????? where are you??????
I guess I shouldn't mention that post about Abbotts. But then they are seasonal. Sugar is evil.
DeleteA lovely picture of you, Julie. I keep seeing more and more of everything gluten free these days.
ReplyDeleteI used to drink coffee at home, bring my own carafe to work and then drink it after I got home. Sigh. Those days are gone. One or two cups a day now. Early. Or no sleep.