This morning I received a timely text from my brother that made me think a bit. He asked me about going gluten-free, is it hard? Is it a good thing to do? I impulsively answered him because at the time I was headed to fit club, feeling very fatigued, bloated, fat, etc. from the week of travel, food and drink, and no exercise. I was on my way to alleviate these feelings and his gluten question seemed timely. I told him it’s not hard, since most foods are clearly labeled, and I was thinking it might make me feel better, too.
I wanted to find out more, now, just out of curiosity. I knew gluten had something to do with wheat, but I wasn’t sure what. I read a few articles that went into celiac’s disease in depth. But that wasn’t what I was looking for. I knew neither my brother nor I had celiac’s. Then I came upon a CNN report that concerned itself more with people who do not have celiac’s disease, but may have a sensitivity to gluten. Sure enough. The symptoms they described plague me – a lot- but not all the time. I looked closely at what I was ingesting when I had these symptoms. They were times of extreme bread eating and/or alcohol consumption. It all fit with the info in the article.
The solution was to eliminate all gluten for a few weeks, note how you feel, then slowly introduce it back in and take note of when symptoms appear again. That’s your tolerance level. Generally people with a sensitivity to gluten do not have to omit it completely.
And so, as another day goes by, it’s bye-bye bread for now, heightened awareness of what foods contain gluten, and careful attention to how it affects me, and…I have written.
CNN Article
It’s worth checking out to see if you experience any of the symptoms mentioned in the article.
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