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Let the Gluten Go -– # 1) Testing the Waters
This article is based on a one-month “test diet change” plan I concocted for a friend back in January, 2011 and posted at www.blog.bookviewcafe.com. Here’s a tweaked version for my personal blog readers.
How food, diet, and dieting affected my writing and my life. And maybe effects yours…
So, all around you people are barreling ahead with life resolutions, grand plans for diet change, exercise, social makeovers, new jobs, new spouses, new lives, for heaven’s sake – and it all makes you tired.
You’ve done pretty much ALL of this – over and over. And none of it has helped you gain energy, lose weight, find your enthusiasm or anything else that you’d like to find. Every attempt has smacked you down.
Well. On the way from recovering from an illness that most don’t recover from, I discovered something important. It gave me back my energy, my higher reasoning faculties, and finally, my creativity and writing. I am improving every single day.
What I discovered has to be shared now. I can’t wait for studies and science scattered all over the Internet to catch up to me. I could not even wait for the tests to come back – that’s how HUGE the difference is for me. Some of you – according to some estimates, perhaps as many as 42% of the US population – also need to know this now.
So I am proposing this: for 30 days, one month – can you do this?
* Give up one group of food?
* Carefully read labels on food packages?
* Ask questions about food in a restaurant – and be brave enough not to eat certain things, if they can’t answer your questions satisfactorily?
* Keep reminding yourself: “This is an experiment. It’s only for a month. I can do this for a month! I can always eat XXX after a month — or after however long I decide to try this — if I still want it.”
* No exercise if you don’t want to exercise now.
* No denying yourself dessert – with one restriction.
* You can even drink modestly – with one restriction.
* You don’t have to count calories – you just have to remember that food is like everything else. It has a use and a price. Your body will use the food you give it – and that includes all liquids. Your body will either burn the food or convert it to something it needs. What your body needs may be brain cells or fat; it all depends on what you really need.
What if you can’t lose weight because your body actually thinks it’s starving, and is desperately holding on to calories to weather the famine?
The secret is simple, and yet a little scary, too. I will give it to you like this: If you think, I’ll bet you either know someone, or know of someone, who “stopped eating bread and lost 30 pounds in six months.” Or “I just stopped eating bread and desserts!” (That second person lost 70 pounds over one year.)
For some people, the magic bullet is wheat.
Your body may be overwhelmed by too much wheat, because wheat is in pretty much every packaged food available. Or you may actually be a little wheat sensitive…or wheat intolerant. You may be gluten sensitive or intolerant – and that includes wheat in all its guises, plus its relatives barley and rye. (Unfortunately for Americans that also includes oats, because around 80% of the oats available in the USA are cross-contaminated with wheat.)
I did this changeover slowly, as my system seemed unable to tolerate certain foods, on my way down into illness and the gut hell that is multiple medicines. Eventually, I went macrobiotic, which slowly healed major systems of my body and mind. But something was missing. I’d even given up wheat several times, although I could see no great improvement with my gut or my joints when I gave it up. And that’s what you hear about – gut (celiac disease) or joint pain from wheat. My gut always hurt. I figured it was medicines and damage, because I’d had blood tests and even biopsy for celiac, and although irritated, I wasn’t rotting away in my gut.
(Celiac is one of the rare diseases where they don’t tell you there’s a problem until they need to remove part of your bowel. Interesting, eh?)
Then, one day, I casually asked a friend what her son’s symptoms were when he accidentally ate gluten. I’d never heard her mention joint pain, or gut issues for him. “Oh, his short term memory is shot – I’ll tell him something and it’s like he never heard me say it, over and over. He’s so ADD…”
I was dealing with no short term memory, ADD, fatigue, insomnia – the last dregs of my illness. I had about decided that this was simply damage, and I was going to have to form a new life around being up three or four days in a row, writing down everything, and no longer able to create stories. The only wheat I still ate was sprouted tortillas, or fermented (like soy sauce) – the most digestible forms of wheat. But I also ate 100% whole grain rye bread and groats (whole oats). Could gluten be my magic bullet?
Nine months into eating macrobiotically, I stopped eating tiny whole grain muffins every day as an energy snack, because something in them – spices? – was upsetting my gut. And suddenly something kicked in, and the monstrous swelling of every cell in my body started to retreat. I dropped in clothing size from a 1x/2x to a 10 in the next nine months. Without doing anything else.
Is the secret for me not just wheat, but gluten?
In November, 2010, I stopped eating gluten knowingly. My energy is increasing, my brain is coming back, my stories are flowing…and I continue to lose weight.
What if gluten is doing something to you? What if the only tip of your iceberg is one thing — Fatigue? Weight you can never lose, despite being toned and exercising a lot? Joint and muscle pain? IBS? Pain and struggles with your GI tract? Brain fog? People asking if there’s Alzheimer’s in your family? Diabetes?
Will you play along with me for a month? I’ll post at least twelve blogs on this topic, the originals 3x a week, from Book View Café’s blog. I might supplement those with new thoughts on diet. So you don’t have to make up your mind today. I’m going to try and make this as easy as possible. At the end of your month, at the least, you will have proved that you can stick to a plan and execute it. You will be more familiar with what you’re eating, and can decide if you want wheat in your catchup, or only in your bread! You will automatically cut calories, and may lose some weight. Your stomach and lower GI system may stop hurting constantly. You may be able to think clearly again. You may feel energy returning to your body.
I think the question may not be: “What have you got to lose?” The question is: “What might you gain?”
You might gain a wonderful life, with only one purposeful decision.
Next time, I’ll talk about a plan of attack. There will be several levels to this plan, because if you feel pretty good, but can never find a diet that works for you, your system may just need to rest from wheat. Or you may be addicted to wheat, and it’s upsetting your stomach – so there will be a backing-off plan. Or you may fear it’s seriously damaging you, like it was me. There will be a plan for that, too.
Think about it. Think about whether this is a worthwhile, month-long experiment for you. Because next time there will be some simple homework. You are going to find out if removing one thing can give you almost everything you want.
What I want is a hopeful, healthy future. What are your goals?
So try it with me -- Let the gluten go!
(The next one will go up as soon as I get around to transferring the info.)
************************************************************************
Katharine Eliska Kimbriel is currently working on a new Alfreda book, a contemporary fantasy in the Texas Hill Country, and a few other things as well. She has three science fiction novels available in ebook on Kindle and in multiple DRM-free formats.
You can find her other formats at Book View Cafe, where her SF novels Fires Of Nuala, Hidden Fires and Fire Sanctuary are currently available for purchase. Check out her bookshelf for free samples of her books. Her personal blog is here and her web site over here.
How food, diet, and dieting affected my writing and my life. And maybe effects yours…
So, all around you people are barreling ahead with life resolutions, grand plans for diet change, exercise, social makeovers, new jobs, new spouses, new lives, for heaven’s sake – and it all makes you tired.
You’ve done pretty much ALL of this – over and over. And none of it has helped you gain energy, lose weight, find your enthusiasm or anything else that you’d like to find. Every attempt has smacked you down.
Well. On the way from recovering from an illness that most don’t recover from, I discovered something important. It gave me back my energy, my higher reasoning faculties, and finally, my creativity and writing. I am improving every single day.
What I discovered has to be shared now. I can’t wait for studies and science scattered all over the Internet to catch up to me. I could not even wait for the tests to come back – that’s how HUGE the difference is for me. Some of you – according to some estimates, perhaps as many as 42% of the US population – also need to know this now.
So I am proposing this: for 30 days, one month – can you do this?
* Give up one group of food?
* Carefully read labels on food packages?
* Ask questions about food in a restaurant – and be brave enough not to eat certain things, if they can’t answer your questions satisfactorily?
* Keep reminding yourself: “This is an experiment. It’s only for a month. I can do this for a month! I can always eat XXX after a month — or after however long I decide to try this — if I still want it.”
* No exercise if you don’t want to exercise now.
* No denying yourself dessert – with one restriction.
* You can even drink modestly – with one restriction.
* You don’t have to count calories – you just have to remember that food is like everything else. It has a use and a price. Your body will use the food you give it – and that includes all liquids. Your body will either burn the food or convert it to something it needs. What your body needs may be brain cells or fat; it all depends on what you really need.
What if you can’t lose weight because your body actually thinks it’s starving, and is desperately holding on to calories to weather the famine?
The secret is simple, and yet a little scary, too. I will give it to you like this: If you think, I’ll bet you either know someone, or know of someone, who “stopped eating bread and lost 30 pounds in six months.” Or “I just stopped eating bread and desserts!” (That second person lost 70 pounds over one year.)
For some people, the magic bullet is wheat.
Your body may be overwhelmed by too much wheat, because wheat is in pretty much every packaged food available. Or you may actually be a little wheat sensitive…or wheat intolerant. You may be gluten sensitive or intolerant – and that includes wheat in all its guises, plus its relatives barley and rye. (Unfortunately for Americans that also includes oats, because around 80% of the oats available in the USA are cross-contaminated with wheat.)
I did this changeover slowly, as my system seemed unable to tolerate certain foods, on my way down into illness and the gut hell that is multiple medicines. Eventually, I went macrobiotic, which slowly healed major systems of my body and mind. But something was missing. I’d even given up wheat several times, although I could see no great improvement with my gut or my joints when I gave it up. And that’s what you hear about – gut (celiac disease) or joint pain from wheat. My gut always hurt. I figured it was medicines and damage, because I’d had blood tests and even biopsy for celiac, and although irritated, I wasn’t rotting away in my gut.
(Celiac is one of the rare diseases where they don’t tell you there’s a problem until they need to remove part of your bowel. Interesting, eh?)
Then, one day, I casually asked a friend what her son’s symptoms were when he accidentally ate gluten. I’d never heard her mention joint pain, or gut issues for him. “Oh, his short term memory is shot – I’ll tell him something and it’s like he never heard me say it, over and over. He’s so ADD…”
I was dealing with no short term memory, ADD, fatigue, insomnia – the last dregs of my illness. I had about decided that this was simply damage, and I was going to have to form a new life around being up three or four days in a row, writing down everything, and no longer able to create stories. The only wheat I still ate was sprouted tortillas, or fermented (like soy sauce) – the most digestible forms of wheat. But I also ate 100% whole grain rye bread and groats (whole oats). Could gluten be my magic bullet?
Nine months into eating macrobiotically, I stopped eating tiny whole grain muffins every day as an energy snack, because something in them – spices? – was upsetting my gut. And suddenly something kicked in, and the monstrous swelling of every cell in my body started to retreat. I dropped in clothing size from a 1x/2x to a 10 in the next nine months. Without doing anything else.
Is the secret for me not just wheat, but gluten?
In November, 2010, I stopped eating gluten knowingly. My energy is increasing, my brain is coming back, my stories are flowing…and I continue to lose weight.
What if gluten is doing something to you? What if the only tip of your iceberg is one thing — Fatigue? Weight you can never lose, despite being toned and exercising a lot? Joint and muscle pain? IBS? Pain and struggles with your GI tract? Brain fog? People asking if there’s Alzheimer’s in your family? Diabetes?
Will you play along with me for a month? I’ll post at least twelve blogs on this topic, the originals 3x a week, from Book View Café’s blog. I might supplement those with new thoughts on diet. So you don’t have to make up your mind today. I’m going to try and make this as easy as possible. At the end of your month, at the least, you will have proved that you can stick to a plan and execute it. You will be more familiar with what you’re eating, and can decide if you want wheat in your catchup, or only in your bread! You will automatically cut calories, and may lose some weight. Your stomach and lower GI system may stop hurting constantly. You may be able to think clearly again. You may feel energy returning to your body.
I think the question may not be: “What have you got to lose?” The question is: “What might you gain?”
You might gain a wonderful life, with only one purposeful decision.
Next time, I’ll talk about a plan of attack. There will be several levels to this plan, because if you feel pretty good, but can never find a diet that works for you, your system may just need to rest from wheat. Or you may be addicted to wheat, and it’s upsetting your stomach – so there will be a backing-off plan. Or you may fear it’s seriously damaging you, like it was me. There will be a plan for that, too.
Think about it. Think about whether this is a worthwhile, month-long experiment for you. Because next time there will be some simple homework. You are going to find out if removing one thing can give you almost everything you want.
What I want is a hopeful, healthy future. What are your goals?
So try it with me -- Let the gluten go!
(The next one will go up as soon as I get around to transferring the info.)
************************************************************************
Katharine Eliska Kimbriel is currently working on a new Alfreda book, a contemporary fantasy in the Texas Hill Country, and a few other things as well. She has three science fiction novels available in ebook on Kindle and in multiple DRM-free formats.
You can find her other formats at Book View Cafe, where her SF novels Fires Of Nuala, Hidden Fires and Fire Sanctuary are currently available for purchase. Check out her bookshelf for free samples of her books. Her personal blog is here and her web site over here.