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Jul. 25th, 2007 01:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatArticle in NYTimes about Gluten Free diet in NYC.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/25/dining/25glut.html?ex=1186027200&en=6239b35ac3aaef32&ei=5070&emc=eta1
(The below isn't quoted from the article - that's just me sharing what I've learned about the disorder the past few years from a variety of sources, including the internet, Jax Peters - The Gluten Free Bible, and a celiac support group I've attended. Oh - since I've written this on the fly at work - it's just what is in my head. I'm certain I've misspelled things and I might be off about a few items. If you want more info - check out the article above - which provides useful links!)
Gluten-Free by the way is for those of us who get *really* sick if anything has glutens in them. It's not a fad diet. It's not an allergy. And it's not to lose weight. Actually most celiacs lose weight and can't keep any on until they go gluten-free. Celiac disease was historically referred to as the wasting disease, even though not all celiacs and gluten intolerants have that symptom.
In recent years, with such fad diets as Atkins and South Beach - it got easier for gluten-intolerants, gluten-sensitives and celiacs to avoid glutens, but when those diets lost favor, it got more difficult again particularly when people confuse it with those diets.
What is the difference between gluten-free and South Beach and Atkins?
Well glutens aren't carbs. They are a protein - you can find "vital wheat gluten" in a health food store. And it is derived from wheat, barely, and rye. It can also be found in oats and certain other wheat by-products if cross-bred. So when you go on a gluten-free diet - you are NOT going off Carbs. You can still eat things like potatoes, corn, rice, buckwheat, quinoa, and fruit or sugar. Gluten-free is not a carb free diet.
What is the difference between an allergy to wheat and gluten-intolerance?
An allergy - you can get a shot for or grow out of, normally. Also allergies cause an antihistimine response. Hives, swollen glands, breakouts, sneezing.
And can much more easily be diagnosed and treated. It is possible for someone who is allergic to wheat to eat spelt - which a gluten-intolerant can't eat.
Or eat rye or barely. A wheat allergy is a virtual picnic next to gluten-intolerance.
Gluten-Intolerance fits into the "food sensitivity" category. What does this mean? Ah. It means that when you eat something your body is highly sensitive to it rebells. In the case of celiacs - glutens destroy cells inside their small intestine. The cells grow back. But they mutate. And mutating cells causes cancer and other ailments. They aren't as strong and are defective.
Much like a scar on your arm. The new skin is more tender than the original or different. In the case of sensitives it is a bit like ingesting expanding glue. Our systems rebell. Our body acts like we have put poision in it.
To a gluten-intolerant or gluten-sensitive - glutens are poision. Given glutens to someone with this condition is no different than giving someone
a poisionous chemical. If you can think of it in those terms, it may make more sense to you.
So how do you know something has glutens in it? Ah.
Well - if it says wheat, rye, barely, or vegetable starch, or a by product
of those things - it is gluten. If it is processed? Probably has glutens.
What happens to the gluten-intolerant if they eat glutens?
* osterporosis - bone's don't get enough calcium and break down, becoming fragile
* depression
*anxiety
*tremor
*chronic fatigue syndrom
* frequent colds and flues
*ibs - irritial bowel syndrom
* cancer of the esophagus
* cancer of the small intestine
*chronic acid-reflux disease
*bloating
*break-outs
How do you know if you are gluten intolerant?
You have to be diagnosed by a doctor. There are different tests you can take.
One is a blood test - which states whether your gluten blood count is off.
(That was how I was diagnosed as gluten sensitive.) The second - is a colonoscopy - or the tube down the throat - they scrape a sample from the small intestine and determine if there's been any cell damage. This is not an exact science and it is possible to come up with false negatives. Most celiacs believe if you've experienced the symptoms and had negative results on the blood test - you are gluten intolerant. The most exact test and most expensive - is a DNA test. Few doctors give this one.
Is Glutent-Intolerance an easy diet to live with?
No. It wrecks havoc on one's social life like you would not believe and going to work is not easy. Think about it. How many social events have you been to that you served or were served something made from wheat flour as the main dish or dessert? Then imagine being unable to have those things?
Yes, gluten free cookies, cakes, pies, pasta, pizza, and bread can be made.
But they aren't easy to find and most people don't serve them unless they are gluten intolerant.
I have however just discovered frozen cookie dough via the Gluten-Free Pantry. A rare find. And the article above describes a few restaurants catering to gluten intolerants.
It is a disease that is more prevalent among the Irish and Italian ethnic groups. Rarely seen in Asia - since the main product is rice.
Okay back to work.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/25/dining/25glut.html?ex=1186027200&en=6239b35ac3aaef32&ei=5070&emc=eta1
(The below isn't quoted from the article - that's just me sharing what I've learned about the disorder the past few years from a variety of sources, including the internet, Jax Peters - The Gluten Free Bible, and a celiac support group I've attended. Oh - since I've written this on the fly at work - it's just what is in my head. I'm certain I've misspelled things and I might be off about a few items. If you want more info - check out the article above - which provides useful links!)
Gluten-Free by the way is for those of us who get *really* sick if anything has glutens in them. It's not a fad diet. It's not an allergy. And it's not to lose weight. Actually most celiacs lose weight and can't keep any on until they go gluten-free. Celiac disease was historically referred to as the wasting disease, even though not all celiacs and gluten intolerants have that symptom.
In recent years, with such fad diets as Atkins and South Beach - it got easier for gluten-intolerants, gluten-sensitives and celiacs to avoid glutens, but when those diets lost favor, it got more difficult again particularly when people confuse it with those diets.
What is the difference between gluten-free and South Beach and Atkins?
Well glutens aren't carbs. They are a protein - you can find "vital wheat gluten" in a health food store. And it is derived from wheat, barely, and rye. It can also be found in oats and certain other wheat by-products if cross-bred. So when you go on a gluten-free diet - you are NOT going off Carbs. You can still eat things like potatoes, corn, rice, buckwheat, quinoa, and fruit or sugar. Gluten-free is not a carb free diet.
What is the difference between an allergy to wheat and gluten-intolerance?
An allergy - you can get a shot for or grow out of, normally. Also allergies cause an antihistimine response. Hives, swollen glands, breakouts, sneezing.
And can much more easily be diagnosed and treated. It is possible for someone who is allergic to wheat to eat spelt - which a gluten-intolerant can't eat.
Or eat rye or barely. A wheat allergy is a virtual picnic next to gluten-intolerance.
Gluten-Intolerance fits into the "food sensitivity" category. What does this mean? Ah. It means that when you eat something your body is highly sensitive to it rebells. In the case of celiacs - glutens destroy cells inside their small intestine. The cells grow back. But they mutate. And mutating cells causes cancer and other ailments. They aren't as strong and are defective.
Much like a scar on your arm. The new skin is more tender than the original or different. In the case of sensitives it is a bit like ingesting expanding glue. Our systems rebell. Our body acts like we have put poision in it.
To a gluten-intolerant or gluten-sensitive - glutens are poision. Given glutens to someone with this condition is no different than giving someone
a poisionous chemical. If you can think of it in those terms, it may make more sense to you.
So how do you know something has glutens in it? Ah.
Well - if it says wheat, rye, barely, or vegetable starch, or a by product
of those things - it is gluten. If it is processed? Probably has glutens.
What happens to the gluten-intolerant if they eat glutens?
* osterporosis - bone's don't get enough calcium and break down, becoming fragile
* depression
*anxiety
*tremor
*chronic fatigue syndrom
* frequent colds and flues
*ibs - irritial bowel syndrom
* cancer of the esophagus
* cancer of the small intestine
*chronic acid-reflux disease
*bloating
*break-outs
How do you know if you are gluten intolerant?
You have to be diagnosed by a doctor. There are different tests you can take.
One is a blood test - which states whether your gluten blood count is off.
(That was how I was diagnosed as gluten sensitive.) The second - is a colonoscopy - or the tube down the throat - they scrape a sample from the small intestine and determine if there's been any cell damage. This is not an exact science and it is possible to come up with false negatives. Most celiacs believe if you've experienced the symptoms and had negative results on the blood test - you are gluten intolerant. The most exact test and most expensive - is a DNA test. Few doctors give this one.
Is Glutent-Intolerance an easy diet to live with?
No. It wrecks havoc on one's social life like you would not believe and going to work is not easy. Think about it. How many social events have you been to that you served or were served something made from wheat flour as the main dish or dessert? Then imagine being unable to have those things?
Yes, gluten free cookies, cakes, pies, pasta, pizza, and bread can be made.
But they aren't easy to find and most people don't serve them unless they are gluten intolerant.
I have however just discovered frozen cookie dough via the Gluten-Free Pantry. A rare find. And the article above describes a few restaurants catering to gluten intolerants.
It is a disease that is more prevalent among the Irish and Italian ethnic groups. Rarely seen in Asia - since the main product is rice.
Okay back to work.