This morning, a friend posted on Facebook about stocking up on ketchup (that’s catsup to some of you folks). Rather humorously she referred to “the great ketchup scare of Feb ‘16”, mentioning that she now keeps several bottles of ketchup in her pantry.
My initial reply was to state that I might use one bottle of ketchup in 2 years. It is in the refrigerator and it is gluten free. When I want ketchup I have to search for it! I didn’t even notice that I had cut down on ketchup use until one day I had to search the house for ketchup.
I must admit that I used to use quite a lot of ketchup….. I was not even aware that my eating habits had changed that much, this was another reminder of my dietary metamorphosis and health issues.
Over the course of 10 to 15 years I had stopped eating certain food items. This began as a response to a health issue, at a time when I did not have health insurance. (Meaning that I did not want to have to pay doctor bills.) I had a health issue,…. I won’t describe it here. I simply started to read, and research digestive health.[this was pre-google, before I owned a computer at all.] The effects of modern foods (read store bought, not made from scratch in the home) on the body. This was not really in depth research, just a search for possible answers to my particular problem.
Initially I settled on not eating bread, at least not at home every day. I still had things like bagels and tortillas…. (remembering a friends husband talking about tortillas being “better for you” than bread)….and I ate bread in other people’s homes and in restaurants. (Eventually this led to consuming large amounts of bread in restaurants. And then wondering why I felt so lousy.) …. Yes, this will turn into a story about issues with wheat and gluten….. but I digress.
I stopped eating as much bread, and I did feel better,… for a few years… Unknown to me at the time: I had a lot of other symptoms that were related to wheat. At the time I was in complete denial, and the idea of gluten being the problem was not even considered. I am glad that I was on the right track: food, consumables, and everything from shampoo to laundry soap can cause health problems for some of us. And I have heard, countless times, an opinion that I hate: “I have never been allergic, that cannot be the problem.” Here is a thing: your body goes through changes, and you can go from never being sick a day in your life to being sick every second of every day. Allergies can be brought on by any number of things…. or simply by being alive! (open your mind)
A few years later a symptom that I had been experiencing every winter for many years became intolerable –that was itchy skin. No dryness, no scaliness, no hives, nothing to see! But OH did it ITCH! Burning, itchy spots, and wherever I managed to scratch was never exactly where the itch was –like it was moving around in the layers of the dermis. I even learned that there is a known symptom described as feeling like “bugs moving around under the skin” –yes it is a very creepy and frustrating feeling.
At this point I decided to try a kind of 4-day rotation diet, in which I consumed far less “wheat”. That was how I described it. I only at bread, pasta, etc. every 4th or 5th day, avoiding “wheat” for 3 or 4 days at a time. This did relieve the itching completely, however the following winter avoiding “wheat” in the same pattern did absolutely nothing to relieve the symptom.
This led me to have a medical test, that I asked for –it had not even been suggested to me in many many years. The point is that the medical test revealed a condition that I have (celiac disease) that means that I must not have any GLUTEN. This is why I have previously put wheat in quotation marks…. It was not simply wheat that was the problem, it was gluten, which is an ingredient in more things than we realize.
This diagnosis led me to the realization that I had, in fact, been pushing gluten out of my diet without thinking about it, without analyzing it. Anything that made me feel “lousy” or nauseous was missing from my kitchen. The biggest clue should have been when I did not have pizza for more than 11 months straight…. Me! I used to eat pizza weekly…. Why was that not the first wakeup call? Who knows,…. Who cares. My next trip to the grocery was a revelation! I could have all of the things that I was missing…. Pasta (rice), pizza (rice crust), gluten free bread and donuts! I went on an extended gluten free food orgy! Sadly, I also gained 25lbs…..
Part of my point, here, is that I truly do not understand people who continue to stubbornly consume foods and drinks that are making them sick. Especially when it has been suggested that they try avoiding certain foods. What harm is there in trying? If you feel bloated and lousy after eating some food item –try avoiding that food item for a period of time (I am talking about weeks here), and see if you don’t feel better! That doesn’t necessarily mean that you can never have that food item again….. it’s a state of mind, and of determination to feel better. Don’t you want to feel good?
In the last few months I have had a chance to be home every day, and to start cooking again. It is so nice to have a meal at home, and not in a restaurant. I am in complete control over my own food. (well as complete as possible when one purchases all consumables from a grocery store.) I control that I do not consume gluten in my home. I control how flavorful my meals are….thus there is little need for ketchup….. and now? I feel great!
( as an aside to this article: there is gluten in so many things, as I stated above gluten is in more things than we realize…. Everything from soup to shampoo to laundry soap….. you really have to do your homework to keep up with all of it. My main focus is to not eat/drink anything that I know contains gluten.)
–I want to include a special “thank you” to those I spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with for trying so hard to maintain gluten free meals for me –I love you.
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Learn more about gluten (in particular) at https://www.celiac.com/
Where I am a member of the forums, which is a huge collective of people with questions about celiac related issues, and a few, very knowledgeable advisors.
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