True Gluten Free

Hi,

I thought I was going to be able to share about the "coconut oil" experiment, but I'm not yet convinced either way on that one, yet. I'm not much into taking the spoonfuls straight as I had thought I could do. It's just too much, so I cook my eggs with it and I make a little concoction for a snack that seems to help my appetite, which I eat about once a day and that is about it. What I started off doing was using some dry unsweetened coconut, about an equal portion of coconut oil and baker's chocolate, with a little sprinkle of xylitol and vanilla to make a kind of thick coconutty chocolate syrup. I only used the xylitol about twice when I switched to plain white Stevia.

I don't really like Stevia that much, but the xylitol was simply too sweet for my palate. After I ran out of desicated coconut, I switched to walnuts, and when those were gone, I simply ate the syrup. The only thing I think I can see from this is that I just don't seem to get any cravings for forbidden foods when I eat it, once day. If I eat it about 30 minutes before a meal, it does set my mouth to water for the food I am preparing but the food seems to satisfy me and I don't even recall when I last had a craving for something that I should not have. So far so very good.

In my investigating different diet programs I think I got way off track again. I keep believing it when some expert says that a little oatmeal is good for you. Well I should know better by now. A little oatmeal is not good for ME! I actually started to put weight on with one serving a day of oatmeal. When I got back up to 330 pounds and the complete frustration of watching the scale go up every day, I put a stop to the oatmeal all together. Perhaps I was eating too much oatmeal at a serving. I started off with 1 cup of uncooked old fashioned oats, as was recommended in something I was reading at the time. This makes a pretty huge amount of oatmeal. The next time I cooked only 1/2 cup of oatmeal and it still seemed like a lot to eat.

I don't like it the way my mom used to make it, which is pretty much like it says in the recipe on the box. I never pour milk or anything over it and I season it with garlic, pepper, curry powder and real salt and relate to it like it was a sort of soft meat loaf without the meat. I just like it that way. I learned to do that when I was a vegan for a while a few years ago. At that time I, of course, did not eat meat, but wanted something like meat loaf so I just made the oatmeal with real rolled oats which are firmer and seasoned it like I would a meat loaf and tried it. I really liked it and have eaten it that way ever since -- that is, when I eat it. I hope I never eat it again.

I started reading about the true gluten free diet and realized that I really need to get back on my original protein and raw veggies with occasional cooked veggies plan. Turns out my plan is actually gluten free. I did that about four days ago and have lost weight every morning since I stopped eating the oatmeal. Thank God!!  I'm back down to 325 with hopes of going lower.

I had clicked on a link from a trusted e-mail source and went to: http://www.glutenfreehealthsolution.com/index1.shtml  which is the "infomercial" for the book on true gluten free eating plus another book with 103 true gluten free recipes. They sell it for $49 which seemed like a lot to me, so I tried the "leave the site method" to see if they had a better offer and I got it for $29 which seemed much more reasonable to me.

I have found the e-book to be packed with good information about gluten and true gluten free eating. It explained a lot of things, is easy to read, and I think that everyone should read it -- especially if you have some sort of chronic disease like rheumatoid arthritis, or other autoimmune diseases. It also explains the difference between Celiac disease and gluten sensitivity.

It seems that gluten sensitivity is not a disease but it causes other diseases, especially ones that are hard to nail down, like thyroid functioning that is "off" and even acid reflux, irritable bowel syndrome, and asthma or osteoporosis. It is written by Dr. Peter Osborne who is a nutritionist and chiropractor who has helped thousands to go what he calls "true gluten free."  He calls it that because the traditional grains that were thought to cause Celiac disease and other gluten sensitivities were wheat, rye, barley, and sometimes oatmeal. But he points out that every single grain there is has some kind of gluten in it. There are different kinds of gluten and even rice has another form of gluten that is different from the gliadin of wheat, but still affects certain individuals by causing mystery diseases.

He even lists all the ingredients that can be found in not only food but cosmetics, too that can affect the body in adverse ways. I've witnessed the problems that a good friend of mine who has full blown Celiac disease goes through. It even sometimes affects her personality making her very sensitive and hyper. This is no joke and it is no fad diet. She suffers from abdominal pain and all sorts of problems if she even touches wheat flour. It severely limits her life, but she makes sure to carry clean food with her and keep herself on track most of the time. I feel for her.

Dr Osborne explains how you can tell if you are gluten sensitive and where to get the right kind of testing -- DNA testing -- so you can truly find out if you should go this route to heal yourself or not.  There are certain DNA markers for gluten sensitivity that some individuals have and the only way to find out for absolute sure is to do that kind of a test. He shares how to get that testing done at www.GlutenFreeSociety.org

It has a charge to become a member and then a yearly fee, too, so I did not join, but if you find that you need what they have to offer, it seems like the perfect place to find out all you need to know about going true gluten free.

From what I read, you need to pay close attention to the ingredients on the labels of processed foods because there is no legal definition of what "gluten free" means. It is all voluntary and there has been some testing done of foods that say they are "gluten free" on the label but when tested they had gluten in them. My friend even pays attention to see if there are any notices on the label that say where the food has been processed.

His final program is pretty much like my original program that included veggies and animal protein. He also includes fruit, and potatoes, but being glucose intolerant, I need to limit those foods, too.

As far as I can tell, from my own experience and from observing my friend, it is a little difficult to completely give up all the processed foods we are used to, but it can be done. And when it is done, a person simply begins to feel alive and healthy again. Dr Osborne says that if your gluten sensitivity is severe it may take from six months to a year to finally clear everything up, but you can see real improvements after about two months on the program. I personally know that some changes will show up after only six days on the program -- it usually takes about six days of not eating any kind of bread for my pain levels to greatly reduce.

I noticed with eating the oatmeal that my back and hip pain returned with a vengence, so much so that I even had to ice my back a couple of times like in the old days. So that is it for me. I am back on the program that works for me, and glad of it.

One of the things that really surprised me was to discover that there are some mental disorders that clear up when that person stops eating grain.  I had that confirmed by a family friend, with experience in this area, too. So... if you suffer from mystery aches and pains and never seem to find relief, check out the "true gluten free" information and see if it helps you regain your pain-free life back again. If you don't want to buy the books at this time, just attempt to leave the web site a third time and you can get a free PDF and MP3 recording that is very helpful, too, at: http://www.glutenfreehealthsolution.com/index1.shtml

I'm glad it helped me get back on track.

Here's to your good health, Hip Hip, Hooray!!

Be back soon,

Marcia