Once again, large groups of people are showcasing their stupidity by flying to the Evil Food Component stars in a rocket ship made of crazy on an engine fueled by ignorance. But yeah. Touted as the newest evil little gremlin in our food, gluten is being cut from the diets of thousands of Americans. Mostly because Gwyneth Paltrow (America’s favorite crazy-pantsed hippie celebrity) blathers on about it and how bad gluten is for you and blah blah blah crazy talk blah. Oh, and because Chelsey Clinton ordered a gluten-free cake for her wedding. Why? I don’t know. To spite her body or something. Who knows?
So, does this gluten-free crap have any actual effects? Well, according to the G-free, or Gree, people it does! It gives you energy and helps you lose weight. “My god!” you say. “Really?” No, not really. They’re just cutting out an important and ready source of protein. Because screw it. Right?
I know one person who eats gluten-free. But that’s because she has celiac disease. So she, you know, needs to. Medically. As told to her by her doctor. Just like the other less than 1% of the population with celiac.
Yeah I have a friend whose child has celiac disease. Really badly. They discovered it because when he was weaned and moved to solid foods, he suddenly stopped growing. They added vitamins and liquid supplements (like “ensure” drink for kids) but the doctors just couldn’t figure out what was wrong. The baby was having bowel trouble too, so they switched him from milk to lactose free, thinking it was lactose intolerance. Nothing worked, and the baby was still tiny and passed the mark when he should have been speaking - but was silent. He was anemic and had diarrhea. Finally the doctors did an intestinal biopsy (had to be sedated for it) and confirmed celiac disease, very severe. Now on a gluten free diet, the kid is doing better, gained weight, and working with therapists (speech, etc.) to try to catch up with his age group. Hopefully no permanent damage was done and he’ll be well in a couple years when kindergarten starts. But that first year or two without proper nutrition being absorbed really took a toll on the poor little guy.
There are severe cases like this, and then there is the “allergy of the month club” people who say “oh wheat makes me bloated” etc. They read it in a women’s magazine and declare themselves afflicted. That is silly.
I feel sorry for her child, celiac disease is difficult to diagnose, unless the doctor has it on his or her radar. It is not common and mimics a lot of other problems. People I know with a celiac child, usually know of no one else in the family with that problem, making it even more difficult to suspect. Life is MUCH easier after diagnosis. Too bad it has become the fad du jour. There is an upside though, it has never been easier to find gluten free products.
There was this health food store I use to frequent that had gluten bread. I loved it and it didn’t cause me to gain any weight. It was like any other bread, IMO, and tasted great. Then again, I love breads too.
That is sad, because I know someone with a true corn allergy that was diagnosed about 30 years ago. It has now joined radio waves as an allergy fad. Where were all of the radio wave ‘allergies’ when we all had TVs and transistor radios which received the channels thru air waves? Back then we called it progress. I was changed to a ‘smart’ electric meter that transmits data via radio waves. So far, studies has shown them to be extremely accurate. A local congressman wants the meters removed until they have been proved not to be a ‘health hazard’. I’m more concerned that they are not hackproof, but no one else seems to be addressing that point.
My “smart” electric company meter (that gives a reading whenever a utility company truck drives by) had some kind of misfire and I received a $750 electric bill. My bills are usually $250. I’m not concerned about health hazards from “radio waves” I’m concerned about financial hazards! It took a couple of weeks for them to send someone out to replace the “smart” meter and credit my bill.
Lousy EMF fearmongerers. Christ, people will freak out over anything. If they can’t figure it out in five minutes it must be evil and causing cancer or boiling our innards or something. Ugh.
My “smart” electric company meter (that gives a reading whenever a utility company truck drives by) had some kind of misfire and I received a $750 electric bill. My bills are usually $250. I’m not concerned about health hazards from “radio waves” I’m concerned about financial hazards! It took a couple of weeks for them to send someone out to replace the “smart” meter and credit my bill.
OUCH!! I guess I don’t have that problem because the streets in my neighborhood are too hilly and narrow for large trucks to use. I’ll see what happens when the next good sized earthquake hits.
