....my feelings, if nothing else..
Under the suggestion of our new family doctor, I am going to try to follow a gluten-free diet. Well, maybe not gluten FREE at first, but a severely-reduced-gluten diet for a while. I brought up my inability to gain any weight, which to most would be no problem at all, but when you could really stand to gain 10-15 pounds, it's a problem. So, after running the standard thyroid and anemia tests with normal results he suggested this diet. I had mentioned my dairy intolerance before, but he seems to think there is still something going on in my digestive system that isn't quite right. Basically, I pooptoomuch (okay that's a family joke... sorry if it offends anyone!). But for real, my digestive system works WAY too fast for some reason (some might say good genes, or blessed metabolism, or "you are so lucky to be so skinny I hate you!") and he suspects it may be that gluten foods are irritating it and causing it to get rid of food as fast as possible, taking all the good nutrients with it. So, we are trying this. He did not say specifically to "go gluten-free" but he did say cut down on bread and sugary stuff (I'm assuming because most baked goods contain flour), and I laughed out loud since those are my two favorite food groups. In a few months we'll do a blood test to check for gluten-intolerance. Thinking back, I'm not too sure why he didn't go ahead and order it done now. I'm sure there's a reason, I just can't think of it. I figured if I'm going to go gluten-reduced, why not go big and just cut it all out.. that way I can really know if it is making my tummy rumble.
Also, while I'm at it, I think we are going to phase out High Fructose Corn Syrup in our house. It's really a bad thing, and so many things have HFCS in them. I think it'd be okay sometimes, but seriously, check the labels in your pantry and probably 80% of stuff has it, even things that don't need it. What is so wrong with SUGAR? Nothing, but it's more expensive to produce than corn, so we get what we pay for I guess. I don't know, I guess I just feel like we should eat the foods that God placed on this planet for us to enjoy and why do we need to go altering them to fit our sinful lifestyle?
Maybe I'm insane, maybe not. I am not excited about going gluten-free. I do want to try it and see what difference it makes. And it is going to be HARD to get rid of HFCS. But, heck, I'll be reading the labels on everything anyway.. and I like to read. It honestly can't hurt us to eat better. But BLAH!
update: I remembered why the doc asked to cut the sugar.. at least I think. He made a small frown at my blood sugar levels, and then asked me the diabetic history of my immediate family.. none that I know of. (right, family?) Off to do a little [more] research.
Also, after doing a little research, the name of what I was referring to as "gluten-intolerance" is really Celiac disease. I wasn't sure if Celiac referred to intolerance or allergy, but after reading on WebMD (I do not recommend this - you can come up with all kinds of diseases that you never knew you had on that site!) it seems to describe exactly what the doctor suspects. more info here: http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/celiac-disease/celiac-disease-topic-overview
3 comments:
I here ya - Blah! Now I know what HFCS is! You've been educational for me today. Good luck! We're trying to do a fruits and veggies diet, and it is HARD! So far, I've made it about 36 hours.
And yes, there is a "diabetic history" in your family, just none in my generation (yet) and none that we know of in your generation...
Ok, checked my cabinets & not a single item has HFCS, but that doesn't surprise me. I know you aren't doing wheat or flour on gluten-free, but Kashi & All-Bran make healthy breakfast bars & crackers for the kids.
Post a Comment