Good.
Because as a Gluten Free-er, that's all I really wanted in the first place. Attention.
Or at least so it goes in the minds of the digestively gifted intolerance-intolerant folks out there.
As if the banging and clanging that goes on in my belly is after all.. just in my head.
It has been a long time since I posted to my "break an egg." blog. Ten months in fact. A lot of changes have been put into place on my plate since my last post titled, "Oh Hell No....!", in which I explored the fear that, in addition to my lactose intolerance, I may also have been experiencing symptoms of a blossoming gluten sensitivity. In the beginning, the idea of eliminating gluten was overwhelming. Like dairy, it seemed to be in everything. Unlike when I began my abstinence from dairy, where I went it alone and it took years of honing to get the hang of permanently living that way, this time I turned to the internet for immediate guidance. I found tons of information and not all of it clear. Recipes that eliminated one irritant inevitably, it seemed, included the other. Even in popular resources, like the blog of Shauna James Ahern, The Gluten Free Girl, which was extremely helpful in understanding gluten intolerance(her blog is a veritable gluten free jackpot), still many of her innovative recipes called for dairy. Straddling the two major dietary restrictions was not a graceful feat for me, at first. For a month, I ate only bags of gluten free pretzels and hunks of watermelon for every meal until I could find my bearings. It wasn't pretty. And it wasn't cheap. My b, as I often refer to him, intervened and provided me with complete meals from the one cafe that gracefully handled my tall order. I couldn't have afforded eating that way on my own. It added up fast. The truth of the matter is that I needed all of these last ten months to work this new lifestyle out. It is not one for the faint of heart or economically challenged. It was hard. It still is. Thanks to the generous efforts of my boyfriend, I was well taken care of but not everyone with gastronomical woes is so fortunate. So it's been of much interest to me that there has been a tornado of blogosphere backlash in the realm of gluten free eating as a cultural shift. Yay-sayers and Nay-sayers are clashing over the subject of gluten like internet titans....
The blog that inspired me to jump into the conversation after ten months of self imposed silence, was one that a friend posted on Facebook. Oh, Facebook. The opinion's playground.
The article was emblazoned with a title that made me stop in my thumb scrolling tracks, it was called "Gluten Free is Dumb and Gluten Intolerance May Not Exist".
Before I read the article I became aware of a tension already present in my body. I was already set in defense mode, which is by no means a helpful position to begin to process information--or opinions-- in, rationally. To counter, I took a big breath to help assist my mind into the open-position instead.
I clicked on the article titled, "Gluten Free is Dumb and Gluten Intolerance May Not Exist", by Casey Chan. The article opened to a photograph of pizza and chocolate chip cookies with the sentence, "Being Gluten Free is Stupid" pasted across the front.
My know-it-all ego smirked at the opening line,
"If you're Celiac then this doesn't apply to you"........
Ok, pause. Doesn't this get-out-of-jail-free opener completely contradict the flashy, attention-begging headline? If Chan acknowledges the inability of Celiac sufferers to tolerate gluten in the very first sentence below the "Gluten Free is Stupid" box, then gluten free as an option couldn't possibly, perhaps, be all that dumb..could it...?
I stopped for another big breath to clear away my inner smart-aleck.
Chan goes on to deliver a crushing "truth" to the masses he perceives to be inflicted with Münchausen Syndrome and not Gluten Sensitivity.
"If you don't have Celiac there is no reason to be gluten free", "you are wasting your time", "Even the scientist [Peter Gibson] who started this craze thinks it's useless".
Uh-Oh.... Chan dropped science on this.
"Seriously.", he writes, "People, the Father of Gluten Free thinks it's bullshit.".
Suddenly I was transported back 10 months ago when with each meal I ate, I was consumed by severe bloating and cramps that lasted for hours, gnawing fatigue, when my acne had acne, and when I felt suffocated by allergies. At the time, Veruca Salt had nothing on me. And, I remember the freedom I felt after giving up gluten. That when I ate, without including the stuff, I felt light and could go on about my day without being crippled by cramps and having to nap. I realized that Chan, safely tucked away behind his keyboard, may be right and that transition I experienced may have been in fact, "Bullshit".
Well, so much for keeping my inner smart aleck at bay. I kept reading.
As the crux of his rant, Chan cites the second study of Peter Gibson, professor of gastroenterology at Monash University and the director of the GI Unit at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne Australia, A.K.A. the original gluten whistleblower. In an effort to further investigate his original Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity findings in his 2011 study, he set up a second experiment in which 37 subjects with IBS were tested.
To take another pause, all of the subjects had Irritable Bowel Syndrome to begin with.
The study showed no specific reaction to gluten in the participants based on a series of three diets they were fed. In the simplest terms, one diet with gluten, one with low gluten combined with whey protein and one with only whey protein(the study's placebo diet). The IBS sufferers were also given reduced FODMAPS. The response to low FODMAPS foods was the only time that the subjects reported experiencing any relief. According to the study findings, they complained of intestinal distress as a result of eating the former diets. Gibson suggested the condition was largely psychological, changed his position on gluten and the result was a media frenzy that burned up the internet with headlines like, "Gluten Free is Bullshit".
As Chan proudly states in his article, "The problem wasn't with the gluten--it was with their brains".
My mouth hung open at the brazen decree. I didn't know where to begin.
I started by doing some research which included reading articles published by, The American Journal of Gastroenterology, PubMed.gov, and Real Clear Science. What I found gave me a few points to mull over.
The first, is that all of the folks tested, all 37 of the world's population, had IBS. Second, the study didn't include people who were just suffering from joint pain or depression, commonly linked to gluten sensitivity. The third consideration is that this study was funded by George Weston Foods. If you are not familiar with their products already, I'll summarize; breads and flours mostly.
Breads and flours....
Allow me to break it down, the second study was funded by a corporation whose main product list is almost entirely gluten based.
The study suggests, that beyond the subjects' brains, FODMAPS or Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols were perhaps the real culprit.
So, what does that mean in words that are pronounceable? The acronym refers to foods that are high in fructans. A fructan is a polymer of fructose molecules(fruit sugars).
For example, foods such as wheat, rye, barley, apples, honey, pears, lactose foods, onions and--a whole chart's worth--of commonly consumed foods. They are short chain carbohydrates that ferment in the digestive tracts of some and are not easily digestible.
They--foods high in FODMAPS-- have been known to cause, nausea, pain, bloating, diarrhea and constipation. Similar symptoms to a gluten sensitivity. Whether the problem is gluten, FODMAPS, dairy, yeast, sugar, dyes, aspartame, acid or corn, the unfortunate reality is that there is no clear road map for those of us ruled by our tract. There is no Eat This and Get That Result--One Size Fits All--Food Manual. For most of us it becomes a long muddy road down the process of elimination. The big ones are the easiest to start with. Eliminate dairy and then reintroduce it. See what happens. Eliminate gluten, reintroduce it and see what happens. Take out sugar, see how you feel. Repeat with FODMAPS. It takes time. It takes patience, it takes money and it takes tears. Gastronomical powerlessness is a special kind of purgatory. It triggers feelings of helplessness and panic--to name only two-- that you may never quite be able to find the piece of the puzzle that will quiet the war going on inside you.
But according to Casey Chan(and many others), my symptoms, all stem from my broken brain. Nothing more.
Intolerance.
It is a provocative word. And when used in association with foods it has the power to really get folks heated. The mere mention of the word is apt to cause a physical and emotional stir in some.
Like in Casey Chan.
The politics of what goes on a plate, for Chan, seems to have little to do with helping to create a constructive conversation about the new ways in which to eat that, we as a people, now have available to us so that we may be able to eat more efficiently and responsibly. To help inspire people who may be suffering with unpleasant and largely impolite symptoms, despite trying a gluten free lifestyle and getting little to no relief. To relay to them, that there may be something else causing similar symptoms, like FODMAPS, that may need their consideration. No, for Chan, it became an opportunity to serve up and dish out his hostility and resentments toward gluten free living, rather than display any measure of empathy or compassion. Why should it matter to Casey Chan what other people eat. What's he so upset about? Why is his case brimming with aggression? What is it that he is after with a title like "Gluten Free is Dumb and Gluten Sensitivity May Not Exist"? Could it be as simple your attention? Because, after all, who is getting helped when Casey Chan uses his social media platform to publicly shame people trying to live a gluten free or maybe more importantly, pain free lifestyle, by calling the movement "stupid"?
To the Chan's of the internet let me just say that I love food. All food. I mourn the days when dinner could be as simple as,"Let's go get a pizza!". How delicious those days, how uncomplicated. These days 85% of what I eat I make from scratch from whole foods. It's complicated, it takes a lot of time, research and dismal failures, and it can cost a chunk of change. Why would I elect to maintain a more expensive, inconvenient dairy free and gluten free diet if it wasn't on some level working for me?
What I've found over the course of the last ten months is that, I generally feel better, the closer to a plant based, dairy free, gluten free diet I consume. My skin is better, I can breathe, my weight is low and I have more energy.
In addition to experimenting with gluten free I've also been paying attention to sugar and processed foods.
I do have cheat days.
I am not perfect. But this new lifestyle that I am undertaking is about sustainability. If something is too strict I will inevitably rebel. So I make each decision, one at a time. And if I accidentally find myself face down in a pile of gluten-laden doughnuts, I try not to beat myself up. I attempt to treat myself with care and move on... to a better decision next time.
And it seems to be working.
For me at least.
No digestive system is exactly alike, they are kind of like snowflakes in that way. I can't tell you what will help you lose weight, clear up your skin, or solve your IBS. No one really can. It's a process. But I can help open up a conversation about food that may be able to help someone who is struggling. Someone who may be feeling overwhelmed by all of the contradictory information out there. A person that has no idea where to begin or what is worth spending their hard earned money on. A person who has experienced a doctor's shrugged shoulders or that gets intimidated by the eyeball rolling and heavy sighs of the Casey Chan's of the world. If that sounds like you, please know that you are welcome here. This is a place for all things food and community. You are welcome to follow along with me on this journey, to see what works for you and just leave the rest behind.
You are what you eat, so eat beautifully,
Maggie
Note: All of the photos included in this post are gluten free, dairy free and apart from the eggs, plant based. The Lasagne, with cashew cheese and gluten free noodles. The re-imagined Eggs Benedict are crave worthy. The Chocolate Doughnuts made with dairy free and gluten free chocolate are high in protein and omegas. The Mac and Cheese is heavy on flavor, vitamins and minerals but feels light and delicious.
All of these foods, that I made in my kitchen, with my two hands, defy gluten and dairy and are good for you. It's possible to eat your favorites like this without guilt.
And I've got the pictures and recipes to prove it!
No comments:
Post a Comment