Donna's Healthy Living Tips

One of the most common questions I get is, “How did you know you were gluten-free?” or a variation, “Are you gluten-free by choice or necessity?” There are a few different ways to discover if you are gluten-intolerant. I do not have Celiac, for which I am profoundly grateful. People with Celiac have a much higher incidence of digestive cancers and need to be EXTREMELY careful about not allowing ANY gluten to get into their diets. If I had Celiac, I would rarely eat out or eat foods that I was “pretty sure” are okay.

Celiac can be tested with a blood test. My Celiac test was negative. The way we discovered my gluten-intolerance was through an elimination diet which was monitored by my doctor, Dr. Ed Linkner, in Ann Arbor.

Let me back up to look at how we even started looking at gluten. Keith and I went on a vacation/conference to California and I experienced some discomfort in my stomach area. I would move toward bland foods hoping they would help the tightness to go away (you know, things like potatoes or crackers or bread). The feeling persisted and one night the pain became so bad we went to the ER where they kept me for observation. They thought my gallbladder was acting up (I have a strong family history of gallbladder disease). My pain subsided and after an ultrasound they said I should see my doctor as soon as I get back into town.

I saw Dr. Linkner and described my symptoms to him and he also looked over the records from California. He said he suspected it was my stomach, not my gallbladder that was giving me trouble and set out to determine if there was something going on there.

We went through several tests looking at everything from stomach acid, blood work, and how my food was digesting (by looking at the remains…not overly pleasant!). The results came back that I had an infestation of candida (a yeast) and inflammation in my digestive tract. The inflammation was a concern because that means my nutrients are not being absorbed properly plus over time that inflammation can turn into chronic disease (and discomfort).

Dr. Linkner put me on an “elimination” diet that removed all common allergens from my diet for six weeks. We also wanted to finish off the candida so I removed all fruits and any other form of sugar (because that is what they live on) and I took an herbal supplement to assist in restoring balance. Because my diet was so restrictive, I also took a rice-based shake supplement two or three times per day. NOT tasty. Here is what I removed: caffeine, sugar, eggs, milk, wheat, soy, alcohol, fruit, and more that I can’t remember. Oh yeah…corn too.

My wonderful husband went on the diet with me. What a guy! It was a tough six weeks. We ate a lot of rice, chicken (not a vegetarian at that time), beans, veggies, and potatoes. It was VERY hard with the sugar cravings to get rid of those candida. As they are in their death throes they get very demanding for their sugar. It took a lot of will power and I was grateful I had cleaned out my cupboards ahead of time to get tempting foods out of the house.

After the six weeks I was able to start adding back in foods, one at a time, three days apart. I was to add in a large quantity of the food and look for any reaction (headache, joint aches, runny nose or congestion, stomach upset, cramping, anything out of the ordinary). We were very strategic in adding back foods. I went with the foods first that are commonly found in other foods. I half-feared a milk reaction and was very pleased when I didn’t have one. Corn was early too and it sailed right through.

Wheat though gave me a runny nose almost immediately and a headache shortly after. I tried a couple times in the same day with the same results and had some achy joints the following day.

I let it clear from my system then added back another food then tried wheat again. Same results. Then I knew…life would not be the same in my kitchen.

It has been an interesting trip, learning which foods I can consume and how to find substitutes for my favs. Let me know if this post has been helpful to you. If you would like more information or recipes, just ask and I’ll be happy to include more.