Gluten Free Living | The Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans LLC

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Dictionary.com defines gluten as: a substance present in cereal grains, especially wheat, that is responsible for the elastic texture of dough. A mixture of two proteins, it causes illness in people with celiac disease. Celiac.org says gluten is: a general name for the proteins found in wheat (durum, emmer, spelt, farina, farro, KAMUT® khorasan wheat and einkorn), rye, barley and triticale. Gluten helps foods maintain their shape, acting as a glue that holds food together. 

I recently have come to the conclusion that I need to be living gluten free. I have been reading so much recently about the effects of gluten on the inflammatory process in the body and I’ve been experiencing this over the past couple of weeks since getting back from my San Diego Susan G. Komen 3-Day. I don’t believe I have celiac disease, but I do believe I have a serious intolerance to it, based on my experimentation. I went gluten free about a month before the walk, as I had read and heard from others about the effects of gluten on my joints and knew I needed to do everything I could to ensure a fun and enjoyable walk as I could have, even though I had some issues I knew I would be dealing with that I didn’t have control of, I knew I could control the gluten in my diet. So, I cut the gluten and started feeling better within a week or two. I walked the 3-Day and once I got home, it was Thanksgiving and OMG the yummy goodness of pies, and dinner rolls and all the yumminess!!  I caved and had some of the yummies and since then I have succumbed to eating gluten on several occasions and can definitely feel a difference!

So I’m over at a friends house and see a magazine that I used to read all the time, Experience Life! and I start browsing it. I see an article that jumps out at me, screaming “BACK OFF FROM THE GLUTEN, GIRL!!” In part, the article tells about how researchers have known for some time that the essence of all degenerative conditions, including brain disorders, is inflammation. In other words, the inflammatory process that’s involved in the degeneration of your arthritic knee hip in my case, or your coronary arteries is the same one that leads to the deterioration of the human brain. Based on the research that I have done on gluten, I now know that gluten is one of the biggest causes of inflammation in my “normal” diet.

The article was written by the author of the Grain Brain and Grain Brain Cookbook, both books that I keep thinking I NEED to buy and read, but have been putting it off because I figure if I don’t read the book then I can plead ignorance! Not smart, but I’m just keeping it real for you! BUT, after reading more of this article I believe Grain Brain is going to be one of the next books to purchase from Amazon. The article talks a lot about the connection grains has on inflammation which affects cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and virtually every other chronic condition that is common in the Western hemisphere. You can read the entire article at: Overcoming Grain Brain. There are also a few recipes shown in the article, to help with the gluten free living.

I don’t have a family history of Alzheimer’s or dementia but I don’t really want to stack the deck against myself by eating a bunch of gluten, that I can live without a lot more comfortably! And the effects of gluten on my arthritic hip are mind boggling! I can seriously tell a difference within an hour of consuming something with gluten! Not to mention the headaches and general feeling of ‘blah’ after consuming it. I have been battling obesity for 15 years and heart disease runs in my family, so it’s apparent to me I need to cut the gluten. My health is more important to me than eating gluten! I’m not saying it’s going to be easy to remain gluten free, and I know that it’s not for everyone but for me, right now I believe that gluten free living will help make me a healthier, happier and more content me!

One of my good friends has celiac’s disease so she’s been a huge resource for food and places to stay away from when eating out. She’s also been a great resource for what I CAN eat! There are many resources available to help as I start striving for gluten free living, but I found a few websites to show me it won’t be as difficult as I once thought it would be.

Celiac.org is a huge resource to help me get started in my journey (and yours, if you are interested)!

The American Diabetes Association website has lots of great info and recipes to help, as well!

The Mayo Clinic has recipes and articles to help along the way, too!

This article has more info to help me create more substantial recipes!

This website has so many wonderful recipes that will work well for our family, as my son is allergic to dairy and eggs and if I’m taking gluten out of my diet, this will help me greatly!

Have you ever made a significant change to your eating, because of info you collected? This has been a very eye-opening experience for me! Fortunately, I have lots of friends along the way to help!! I would love to hear from you, especially if you are living a gluten free life!

Article Source: GrainBrain

xoxoxoxo,

Ann

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