Food as Medicine, part one: Get rid of the Gluten

Okay. This is news to me.

I don't know if it's because I grew up in the 80s, or if it's because we lived through the oil field crash, or whatever, but growing up I believed that if it was in the grocery store, it must be good for you. And if you bought it, you better eat it.

I never questioned it.

Maybe I'm just uninformed. Blissfully ignorant. But I lived 38 years (haha that's a good one. Don't do the math...) and I just assumed that all grocery store items were safe for human consumption. Now, don't get me wrong. And while I knew Cheetoes and Pop Tarts aren't a healthy choice,  the question of the safety of their ingredients NEVER dawned on me.

Until Hannah got sick.  And then my whole world stopped.

Dee (our naturopath) told me to get Hannah off of gluten and dairy right away. What the heck is a gluten? I'm pretty sure we don't cook that.

So off I went to learn about what gluten is and what Hannah can't have anymore.

Was I SHOCKED.

Here's a list of gluten. Oh yeah. The food industry knows that many people are "in the know" about the toxic effects of gluten on the body, so they don't come out and say I CONTAIN GLUTEN!! Instead they have about 3 dozen names for this trash. See below:

Names of GLUTEN:

Barley: (in many types of alcohol and instant coffees)

Barley grass

Barley malt

Barley groats

Bran

Bulgar (used in tabouli)

Couscous

Durum flour 

Eincorn

Emmer

Farina

Flour:

Bleached flour

Bleached flour

Self-rising flour

Unbleached flour 

Whole-grain flour

Graham 

Kamut

Malt:

Malt flavoring

Malt syrup

Malt vinegar

Matzo (used in Jewish food)

Modified food starch

Orzo (used in Italian food)

Panko (used in Japanese food)

Rye

Seitan (in tofu)

Semolina (pasta)

Spelt

Udon (Japanese noodles)

Vodka (uses rye)

Wheat:

Wheat bran

Wheat fiber (used in GUM!)

Wheat germ

Cracked wheat

Wheat starch

You've got to be kidding me.

So now what? No pasta, no bread, no carbs, no life!
At least that's what I thought.

Come to find out, there is a huge gluten-free wave in the food industry. I thought I was saved. We started searching out all products that had the label:

 I made lists and charts and checklists of what stores had what gluten free options. We found bread, pasta, cookies, crackers, and all of our favorite JUNK FOODS. We thought we were eating so doggone healthy. I was thrilled.

Take THAT gluten-hiding food industry! We got our junk back. BOO-YAH.

And so we ate like that for several weeks. But as I continued on this health journey, I realized that even though food might be labeled as "gluten-free," it doesn't mean it's necessarily HEALTHY. 

I have several friends that are gluten intolerant and some that have Celiac disease, a condition that causes an immune response in the small intestine. Over time, this reaction produces inflammation that damages the small intestine's lining and prevents absorption of vital nutrients.  So for these friends, having gluten-free options like cookies and brownies are amazing because if they were not available, they would never get to have a nice treat once in a while.  

But for a person like me who is new to all this food-is-medicine, I just replaced all my gluten-filled JUNK with gluten-FREE junk, and thought we had arrived. HEALTHY!!!!!!

Now I know better.

As we travel this road to health, my eyes are continually opened to the ingredients list on food. I used to think I read labels. I did not.  Next time we meet, I'll go over how I changed the way I read labels. 

Until then, have a great week!