Your mission, if you choose to accept, is to increase your awareness of gluten: why it negatively affects many people, what the symptoms of celiac disease are, and what foods contain gluten.
Level of Commitment: Baby Steps
I continue to run into people, both online and in real life, who have celiac disease or cannot handle gluten, including an elderly neighbor who was just diagnosed for the first time. This topic was confirmed when I heard Elisabeth Hasselbeck, host of The View and former Survivor contestant, describe how she was diagnosed with celiac: when she started Survivor: The Australian Outback, she had been feeling so sick all the time, and she was shocked to find that after some time on the show, eating little but white rice, she actually felt better. The gluten-free diet did it! (See her book, The G-Free Diet)
Her emphatic recollection of the pain she had been feeling hit home with me. Celiac is an oft under-diagnosed disease for a variety of reasons. It can make people feel awful and eventually become life-threatening, and I think it’s important to be familiar with these symptoms in case anyone in our lives runs into a gluten problem.
Symptoms of Celiac Disease
The small intestine is the casualty in people with celiac disease, who cannot eat gluten without consequences. The scariest thing about celiac is that sometimes people can consume gluten and have no noticeable ill effects, but their intestine is being damaged anyway. Here are the major symptoms, according to WebMD:
- gas, abdominal swelling, bloating
- abnormal stools or diarrhea
- weight loss
- also weight gain!
- fatigue and weakness
- (some) vomiting
Some large scale negative impacts include:
- osteoporosis
- anemia
- infertility
- delayed onset of puberty
- frequent respiratory infections.
- problems with memory and concentration
- cancer
Gluten-Containing Foods
It’s easier to remember the gluten grains than I expected: wheat, barley and rye. Just make sure you include variations of wheat like spelt, Kamut, triticale, and durum. There are lots of grains that don’t contain gluten, like corn, quinoa, rice, millet, sorghum, teff, amaranth, buckwheat and oats. Oats are a tricky one, because they’re almost always contaminated with wheat flour, so a celiac would need gluten-free certified oats. (source)
Get the Gluten Out Carnival
I’m thrilled that Amy of Simply Sugar and Gluten Free is hosting tomorrow’s Spring Cleaning: Get the Junk Out! carnival and will share her story here at KS. You can also link up any post that is related to being gluten free:
- your story
- research
- questions you have
- recipes that are GF (you probably have more of these in your cache than you realize!)
There will be a giveaway of Tropical Traditions coconut flour here for anyone who links up or comments either here or at Amy’s. Free is a great way to test something out!
More Resources
A reader directed me to this amazing site: Catholic Celiac Children – be sure to read a few posts; I really got a sense of what it feels like to be part of a family with someone with celiac disease.
I have to admit that my ears perked up when I discovered celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder. We’re unfortunately familiar with those at my house as my husband has Crohn’s Disease (thankfully symptom free for nearly 7 years now). I’m always trying to figure out what his “trigger” foods for digestive issues might be, and I have never really suspected or watched out for gluten. I wonder, though, what would happen if he went GF for a few weeks.
Please check out Free to Feast, a brand new blog written by a college student about her harrowing experience with Crohn’s Disease, gluten-free life, and the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. Denise is a wonderful writer and has much to say!
My Holy Week Mission
I’m taking things one step further and learning what it’s like to live gluten-free this week. There were such nice comments on the mental mission when I announced this personal challenge. Just so I don’t make myself out to be a superhero, I want you all to know just what I’m really doing:
I am going gluten-free, but more as a discipline or sacrifice than a truly dietary feat. I will eat oats and pretend they’re certified gluten-free. I am not going to buy any fancy flours or xanthan gum, common in GF recipes, partly because I’m frugal and already made my health foods store trip for the month and partly because it’s only one week. I have some buckwheat flour that I’ve never used in my freezer – time to find a recipe for it!
Recipes I might try this week:
- Buckwheat pancakes – but I will have to try honey or maple syrup instead of brown sugar since I already gave up sugar for Lent!
- Coconut Flour pancakes
- Gluten-Free coconut muffins – they sound so simple and yummy!
- Could I make these tortillas with garbanzo beans run through my new grain mill? Is that chickpea flour?
Recipes I won’t try:
If I was really gluten-free, these would be great to try out, but way too many fancy ingredients for this week!
My own recipes for a carb fix:
- Mexican Rice and Beans
- Granola and Granola Bars
- Rice Pudding (recipe coming in my Healthy Snacks eBook!)
Please Vote!
Loading…
———————————————
I’d love to see more of you! Sign up for a free email subscription or grab my reader feed. You can also follow me on Twitter or get KS for Kindle.
If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.
Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.
We eat lots of gluten free foods, not because any of us are intolerant to gluten, but my daughter has a wheat allergy and I believe I do too. It took a lot of experimenting, which I love, but I’m finally really comfortable baking and cooking GF. (We are enjoying our GF, dairy free pumpkin bread for breakfast right now.) As for your tortilla question, try basic corn tortillas. Or substitute a little buckwheat flour for some of the corn. You wouldn’t believe how much better homemade corn tortillas taste! And corn flour (in the mexican section of the grocery store) is one of the most inexpensive GF flours. I’m really looking forward to your series this week.
[Reply to this comment]
a gluten-free blog writer who I greatly enjoy is Gluten-free Girl. Check her out: http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/
.-= bibliotecaria´s last blog ..Weaving project from the snow =-.
[Reply to this comment]
We pretty much eat gluten free, even though none of us actually have an allergy. I just think there is way too much gluten in the average diet, even the healthier diets.
I just developed a soaked gluten free buckwheat pancake recipe that I need to post. Thanks for reminding me!
[Reply to this comment]
I have put my family on a gluten free diet. none of us have celiacs disease though I had all the symptoms and was tested for it. I came back negative for the disease. I have changed our whole diet completely. We eat no processed foods anymore and we all feel so much better. I will say finding gluten free oats is hard unless you have found some and could share where! Our story is unlike most because we had a bad exposure to toxic mold that pretty much invaded our bodies and started making us sick. Going gluten free has helped in the detox because gluten is sticky as is mold.
.-= Tonya´s last blog ..Spring Break! =-.
[Reply to this comment]
Rebecca Reply:
March 29th, 2010 at 9:17 pm
Try Bob’s Red Mill. they have rolled oats and steel cut oats.
[Reply to this comment]
Tonya Reply:
March 30th, 2010 at 9:18 am
thanks!
.-= Tonya´s last blog ..Spring Break! =-.
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
March 30th, 2010 at 1:37 am
Tonya,
I just saw GF oats (on sale!) at our local health foods store. They might have been a brand name, maybe Bob’s red Mill?
What a story!
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
Tonya Reply:
March 30th, 2010 at 9:18 am
Thank you I just checked out his website! I just wish I could it at a store. The Whole Foods I go to didn’t have it.
.-= Tonya´s last blog ..Spring Break! =-.
[Reply to this comment]
Ok, really, I’d like the granola and the granola bars recipes, okay?
Actually, I’ve always considered myself untouched by this kind of problem, except that both my husband and I have some odd autoimmune issues-and once you have one, others seem to pop up as well. Going gluten free seems like a huge task (and kind of a hard one here in France where we eat bread all the time–3 times a day). But I love quinoa and buckwheat crepes, so maybe I could learn to make a few gluten free meals a week. . .
This may be a silly question, but does the sourdough process help out with the gluten in bread or is it unrelated?
.-= Simple in France´s last blog ..Sustainable, recession-proof restaurants near you? =-.
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
March 30th, 2010 at 1:48 am
SinF,
Katie
It does! My research on sourdough’s health benefits found that sourdough preparation does break down gluten, which MAY result in more tolerable product for gluten-sensitive individuals. Certainly not for people who actually have celiac, but it’s got to be better for the rest of us!
Good question!
[Reply to this comment]
Shannon Reply:
March 30th, 2010 at 9:46 am
SiF – Yes, sourdough does wonders. There are many studies that show that sourdough bread (properly prepared, long soaked of course) that the gluten is broken down in the process.
In fact I was speaking with a lifetime baker who sells the most amazing sourdough breads – including the rye similar to what those in the Alps from Dr. Price’s book would have eaten. He was telling me how he sees the gluten strands being broken down over time in the texture of the bread dough.
.-= Shannon´s last blog ..What Real Food Bloggers Really Eat: Meg of Cracking an Egg with One Hand =-.
[Reply to this comment]
I have been reading a great book on this topic called The Gluten Connection. How Gluten Sensitivity may be sabotaging your health. And what you can do to take control now. Shari Lieberman. Most testing for GF is inaccurate. The only accurate test is a stool test. (My daughters pediatrician looked at me like I had three heads when I asked her about it. Our daughter is over weight and does not have the usual symptoms. No Diarreha. Hoerver, the book explains that symptoms are all over the place…) Unfortunately, there are not very many labs that do this test. http://www.enterolab.com or http://www.ibtreflab.com are two that do. Unless you are at the GF stage you will not test positive with the blood testing. You can be gluten sensitive and not test postive because the villi in the intestine have not shrunk and allowed the gluten to pass into the blood. However, if you are sensitive to gluten and keep eatting foods with gluten your body will eventually reach its max and then GF is the end stage. It is intersting in the book all the symptoms that can be attibuted to gluten. It may not always be gluten but it is worth checking it out….
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
March 30th, 2010 at 1:50 am
Cindy,
I am so glad you took the time to add this! I thought I had read somewhere that everyone has their “gluten limit” and when you reach it, whatever age you’re at, you’re going to have problems with gluten. This makes me wonder about all the whole wheat breads that call for added gluten – will we all hit our limits sooner because we’re trying to eat healthy bread?!
Thank you!!
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
I eat gluten free and just wanted to say that we love the buckwheat pancakes. My recipe varies slightly, but I often omit the brown sugar entirely. We also like to add fruit to them- like frozen blueberries or smashed bananas (with walnuts). But I often make these over gluten free pancakes anyway. They are especially delicious with fresh ground raw buckwheat groats. We also really like the coconut flour muffins. They are becoming a favorite for us. At first we thought they were a little ho hum, but now we love them. We recently put strawberries in them and made a frosting of yoghurt cream cheese mixed with more strawberries and a bit of honey which I saw on another blog.
[Reply to this comment]
I try to eat gluten free most of the time. The other times, I soak all my grains. So I feel like I am covered. I don’t have celiac’s , but I do believe I have a gluten and grain intolerance…I love Amy’s blog, she is awesome!
.-= Jenn AKA The Leftover Queen´s last blog ..Seriously Succulent Slow Cooked Short Ribs over Creamy Polenta =-.
[Reply to this comment]
Good luck to you this week. You might find corn tortillas to be useful. One of our favorite recipes is a Mexican lasagna which uses corn tortillas as the noodle layer, but the other ingredients are different also. You can see it here if you’re interested. http://www.glutenfreehomemaker.com/2008/08/gluten-free-mexican-recipe.html
When I was diagnosed with celiac disease I was having constipation which really threw the doctors off. In the end, the GI Dr. said, “You diagnosed yourself. I should give you your money back.” But he didn’t.
.-= Linda´s last blog ..Multi-Grain Carrot Walnut Muffins =-.
[Reply to this comment]
Tonya,
Did you go the blood-testing route? I know that is the medical community’s standard, but I also know that there is a high incidence of false negatives. My local gluten-free support group has a number of individuals who tested negative on blood tests but positive on stool tests… and who definitely react to gluten.
Just something to consider!
[Reply to this comment]
On the chickpeas & grain mill question:
Yes, garbanzo beans/chickpeas can be made into a gluten-free flour. Just be aware that if you run GF grains through a grain mill that has ever processed non-GF flours, you are running a high risk of cross-contamination (there is so much more to be truly GF than most people realize). I have had to throw away bags of “GF flour” that well-meaning individuals ran through their grain mills, complete with residual wheat dust, and gave to me.
For the purposes of your week, probably no big deal. But for a celiac, there are big consequences to little things like that!
[Reply to this comment]
I’m not sure if this was asked or answered yet but does anyone know if Celiac’s/gluten intolerance something that you /could/ develop over time by eating too much gluten or something that you are born with?
[Reply to this comment]
From what I understand it is something that develops over time. Ususally as a result of not soaking our grains to remove the Phylatic acid. Also our liver is responsible for over 500 different processes. When our live become congested we begin to be allergic to many things and have system problems. Some people after consuming a strick glutem free diet for a perod of time may be able to try eating wheat products again. If your symptoms return you will more than likely have to be gluten free for life. http://sigh-chocindy.blogspot.com/search/label/Lemon%20Cleanse
[Reply to this comment]
Four yrs ago after the birth of my son, I started having digestive issues! Mosly after eating fried foods, oils(including salad dressings), and some dairy-butter, cheeses–especially cream cheese. Is this ever a problem related to gluten intolerance? I wouldnt say its a dairy allergy because milk usually doesnt bother me and oils are worse.
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
May 11th, 2011 at 11:56 pm
Sarah,
Could it be soy? I think a lot of fried foods are soybean oil, and so are salad dressings. The cream cheese is a weird one.
I’m not going to be able to add much to the discussion, and what I can say is definitely not medical advice!
One thing I have learned about gluten is that if you have a sensitivity, it sometimes causes “leaky gut” wherein particles of food too large for your bloodstream end up getting through the walls of your digestive system into the arteries. Once there, they can cause sensitivities to those foods. So, a gluten problem is often a gateway to a dairy sensitivity. Food allergies are soooo hard to pinpoint! But an elimination diet of some sort (dairy, gluten, soy?) and then reintroducing one at a time might give you some more information to work with.
Good luck!
Katie
[Reply to this comment]
We have several people in our church who are Celiac. One of the woman told me that the only way to tell if one has Celiac disease is a biopsy – which her doctor order. A sample of the villi were taken for the small intestine to check for damage. If there is a less invasive yet accurate test, that would sure be helpful.
Also, is any one suggesting a connection between vaccinations and celiac disease? Since vaccinations are designed to affect the immune system, problems with the immune system after vaccinations are known. Dr Robert S. Mendelsohn discusses the autoimmune problems in his book, “How To Have Healthy Children in Spite of Your Doctor”.
[Reply to this comment]
Katie Reply:
October 22nd, 2011 at 2:13 am
Lyndi,
Very interesting thought – I know a lot of auto-immune diseases are affected/caused by gluten, so why couldn’t there be a link here?
Thanks, Katie
[Reply to this comment]