YOU DON'T NEED THE CEREAL COMPANY TO ADD FOLATE TO YOUR FRUIT LOOPS TO BE HEALTHY!!

So I read this article this morning:  Gluten-free for weight loss? You’re doing more harm than good: study

There is so much wrong here I almost didn't even try but here goes.  Condescending claptrap. Just more of the medical establishment trying to convince people that if the doctor (is that spelled g.o.d?) didn't say it, it ain't so. Ordinary mortals are much too foolish and self-deluded to figure out what their own bodies need.  Dumbing us down on a profound level.  Ugh!

So they found that if you replace your white bread and doughnuts with gluten-free white bread and doughnuts you aren't helping anything? Genius. How about replace the gluten bearing grain with healthy, whole foods. And stop looking for science to "fortify" your foods and just go to foods that contain them *naturally.* Radical concept, I know. Me and my fads;o)  My favorite part of this article (solely for the belly laugh it gave me) was, "If I’m a college student, and I want to lose weight, and I read on the Internet that a gluten-free diet is the way to go, I may start avoiding products that contain essential nutrients such as those found in cereal grains fortified with folic acid."  If you need some folic acid eat some frickin' beans genius!  Or some spinach or broccoli or a salad!  Oy vey!!!  You don't need the cereal companies to add folate to your fruit loops to be healthy!!!!!!!

Now I don't believe everyone needs to give up gluten but I think it is a good idea to cut back on it and be much more choosy about the gluten bearing foods you eat no matter who you are.  First off, modern gluten 'ain't what it used to be.'  The bread you are eating is far, far, far from the bread your grandparents ate.  And even if your bread label says "Whole Wheat," chances are it is far from a true whole grain product.  Just about everyone could benefit from switching their usual bread and cereal products to true whole grains.  But true gluten sensitivity is brutal and pretty easy to diagnose even without a medical degree.  If you cut out gluten-bearing foods for a week or two and you are feeling fine and then you eat a serving of gluten bearing food and get sick as a dog, it is a pretty good sign that gluten is a problem for you. Over the course of the last year, we found that my youngest daughter, Harmoni, was severely gluten-intolerant.  I am actually considering getting her tested for actual celiac markers.  It's bad.  A tiny little bit of hidden gluten and she is curled up in the fetal position for hours - usually on the bathroom floor because she dares not get far from there... if you know what I mean.  Both ends baby. It has happened a handful of times when I got just the tiniest bit careless about labels.  (Seasoning packets and vanilla extract among many, many other things contain hidden gluten.)  Or on one memorable occasion when we trusted a pizza company that said their product was gluten free.  People who work at pizza places have since told me that while the product is gluten free, the employees are given NO training about the importance of handling gluten free products with care to avoid cross contamination.

Now, I do see the point that it is foolish of people to think that replacing one cookie mix with another cookie mix isn't going to help you lose weight just because one is gluten free.  So teach people that where weight loss is concerned, the problem is that you are eating all your food from a box or food that is prepared by someone else and designed to survive sitting on a shelf for months or more.  Teach people, spread the word, get the information in the hands of nutritionists and doctors that preparing your own food from whole, fresh products is the key to healthier bodies.  Health and weight-loss doesn't come in a box!  Gluten free or otherwise!! But don't try to convince people that their own intuition about their own body isn't to be trusted and that it requires a doctor to decide what you should eat.  Read my lips people!  Doctors are NOT taught nutrition!!  And what little they are exposed to is promoted, backed and often even taught by big pharma, meat, dairy and fast-food representatives.  As is the information taught to the average nutritionist.  Don't believe me?  Check this out: Nutritionists Annual Confab Sponsored by... McDonalds? Yes, seriously.  "Andy Bellatti, a dietitian and member of AND, recalls his shock the first time he attended the organization's national conference, in 2008. "I could get continuing education credits for literally sitting in a room and listening to Frito-Lay tell me that Sun Chips are a good way to meet my fiber needs," he says. "I thought, 'No wonder Americans are overweight and diabetic. The gatekeepers for our information about food are getting their information from junk-food companies.'"

I went to doctor after doctor for 30 years trying to figure out why I was declining in health and expanding in size so drastically.  Not one ever offered me any solid advice on what to eat or not eat.  If and ONLY if I asked, they gave me those sheets about the healthy plate and the FDA's food pyramid.  Yeah that worked.  I followed the conventional wisdom on weight loss for years while I gained over 100lbs.  When I would tell doctors what I ate, you could tell they thought I was lying.  I couldn't be getting this fat if I really had given up soda and fried foods and was only eating "healthy, lean cuts of meat" and watching my portions.  And even worse, not one single health professional ever even hinted that the medical conditions that were systematically trashing my quality of life could possibly have ANYTHING to do with what I was putting in my mouth.  But I'm supposed to go pay for a test to prove what I have already found to be fact in my own experience and my child's about eating gluten and ask them to help me fill in the horrible, gaping void left by bread and pancakes and spaghetti?  Thank you!  I needed a good laugh today.

Now, there is the matter of that study they referenced.  (Insert eye roll.)  They said half the people were given standard cookies and chips and the other half were given gluten free cookies and chips.  Gee, maybe the problem was that they were feeding these people COOKIES AND CHIPS!!  "Participants were cycled through three diets: high-gluten, low-gluten and a control...  Participants reported stomach pain and sensitivity even when they weren’t eating gluten. Each diet had patients reporting pain, bloating, nausea, and gas after their baseline treatment."  Okay, what was the control?  What was the "baseline treatment?" How long were they on this diet? And what did the rest of their diet look like?  Lots of things can cause bloating, pain, gas, etc.  And if none of these was completely gluten free, it tells you exactly nothing.  And they didn't even mention the studies that have shown the effect of gluten on the thyroid.

So bottom line for me... I'm not saying everyone should go gluten free.  Healthy, truly whole grain, preferably home-made, grains without artificial crap added are a great part of a healthy diet for many people if you haven't already developed a gut problem.  My youngest daughter has SEVERE stomach issues, pain, diarrhea, gas and vomiting from even a whiff of gluten.  I just get bloating, joint pain and gas.  These can last a few hours to a few days.  It is reliable as the sunrise.  Eat gluten, this happens.  Don't eat gluten and it doesn't.  My middle daughter is on the same whole-food, plant-based diet as Harmoni and I, lives in the same home and eats the same food, but she can eat a truly healthy, whole-grain bread or pasta and not suffer any ill effects.  She is losing weight right along with Harmoni and I and has stopped her acid reflux and horrible allergies and gotten off of the continuous need for medication for those conditions.  I think I can save the money and time and skip the doctor on this one.

So no, I don't think everyone needs to go gluten free.  But I'm beginning to wonder if we don't need to go doctor free:/  (Just kidding!  Don't shoot me!  But we seriously do need to take the time and effort to find a doctor who has a clue.)  But I think if you are seeking your healthiest state that it is well worth trying an elimination diet to make sure gluten isn't creating a stumbling block for you.  And make sure that whatever grains you include in your diet are really whole, as fresh as possible and not processed and messed with beyond the point of being healthy any longer.  And above all, we need to stop spreading the idea that people are too stupid to know what their body needs without someone with a bunch of initials after their name to approve their decisions.  And all the evidence out there that diet is the key to the huge health decline around us needs to be made available instead of covered up and ridiculed by people with lots of money to lose once people know the truth. And I really believe that those big money interests need to STOP being the ones funding the "studies."  Has everyone forgotten what the term "conflict of interest" means?!

To quote Dan Miller, "Relax and enjoy, eat and drink plants."  And of course, my favorite, JUICE ON YA'LL!  WE GOT THIS!!

11 WEEKS IN - An Update

It is pretty crazy to think that we only started this new lifestyle 11 weeks ago.  I haven't blogged as much lately because I tend to think I don't have anything interesting going on.  I'm just a mom and grandma dealing with day to day life just like anyone else.  I forget that certain things about our lifestyle nowadays are considered "non-norm."  I forget that it is not "normal" to find no meat and no dairy in the average kitchen.  I forget that not every mom hears their teenagers arguing over who took all the mushrooms in the salad.  "I want mushrooms too!"  LOL  The average home probably doesn't have 10 pints of beet/apple/carrot/ginger juice in the frig.  For about a minute; until the teenagers discover it.  Not every house on the block contains 3 ladies who have lost a combined total of 115 lbs in the last 3 months.  Is it normal for you to spend 90% of your grocery shopping time and money in the produce section?  I used to barely glance in there; maybe to grab some bananas for the grandkids or a bag of potatos.  Is the average families trash made up almost entirely of juice pulp and peelings?  Where are all the cans and boxes and plastic containers?

Here are the problems we have lately:
Honey, should we sell the microwave?
No!  I heat up my lemon/ginger water in there in the mornings!

I am NEVER going to finish my holiday knitting if I don't find some time to sit and knit!

Mom! We're out of celery!

I can't BELIEVE I was dumb enough to consume gluten again!  Gluten makes me ill!  What was I thinking?!!!

So life around here is just the same old boring routine as anyone elses.... With a few twists;o)  And the most beautiful part is that I am actually participating in that routine.  I'm not sitting in my room watching life go on without me.  Yes, I am still on the program.  Yes, I am still losing weight although it isn't beating any speed records.  I have broken through to the 200s again but since I hit 299 last week, I haven't lost any more.  The scale likes to screw with me  like that.   I'm not worried.  I am giving my body what it really needs and trusting it to do the rest.  Meanwhile, I feel fantastic!
A few things have changed.  I no longer have to mindfully create positive dialogue about my food. I don't have to say to myself, "Those foods are poison to me.  I am not the sort of person that eats whatever is easiest.  I nourish my body."  I don't have to mindfully say those things any more than I have to mindfully say, "I am a mom.  I am a wife."  They are just who I am.  And did I mention I feel fantastic?

Thyroid Cure?

I just picked up a Woman's World magazine because there was an article in it about a book called "Hormone Cure" by Sara Gottfried, MD.  Thyroid medicine is one of the few perscriptions I'm still supposed to be taking.  I say supposed to be because I have chosen to stop taking all perscriptions to give my body a chance to do what good it can with all this terrific new nutrition I'm giving it.  In a few months, I'll get checked out and then see if there is anything the doctor thinks I need to go back to using.  And I'll think about it;o)  So anyway, my interest was piqued and I'm not a fan of reading a magazine in the checkout line and then putting it back.  Feels dishonest.

So Dr. Gottfried outlines a sample days menu and describes the basis of her plan.  Imagine by surprise (read a heavy dose of sarcasm there) when I realized that basically she was just saying to go gluten free.  LOL  It was kind of cool to read her explanation though, since it isn't something I've had explained quite this simply before.  She says that "In the last 30 years, wheat has been genetically modified to have a higher gluten content."  The thyroid trouble occurs because "gluten is a sticky wheat protein so similar in shape to thyroid hormone that it can enter and block the body's receptors for thyroid hormone."

She basically says to swap things like sugar, bread, white rice and pasta for brown rice, beans and sweet potatos.  Hmmm, I already have! LOL  So now I stick to the plan and in a few months I will be very curious to see if my thyroid has improved.  I'll keep ya posted!