Gluten Free is Good for Me

This last year I have been learning about grains and their role in our daily diets. I have learned about the importance of soaking grains well before their use and have even enjoyed dabbling in sourdough cultures when bread making.

The wisdom and methods of food preparations in traditional societies have always fascinated me and their unprocessed ingredients and lack of manipulation of the raw product has proven to be most suited to our biological bodies and optimum health.

This is not my kitchen!!!

My family and I have a predominantly natural diet. We have avoided preservatives, additives, colours and other synthetic chemicals in our food for well over 10 years. Although we do not have any distinct allergy issues, we have become increasingly aware of different sensitivities and intolerances to certain foods.

I have taken my family on a bit of a whirlwind adventure over the years and it has definitely not always been smooth sailing. Ok, that is probably a huge understatement! There have been times when a favourite food is taken out of the diet and an equally appealing substitute has not been provided. I have not found this hard to adjust to because I am naturally progressing with my food choices. Also, my motivation to be healthy and fit well into my 90's is incredibly high, as is my passion for rejecting the "food" and farming methods of mainstream society to provide a natural and real diet for my family.

My husband and kids however are understandably not always immediately on board and this has caused some conflict at times. I have finally learned and made peace with the fact that they are ultimately in control of their own health and wellbeing and my role as mother is not to force or conjole but to inspire and offer the best quality food and nutrition I can get my hands on. I have also realised that what may be unhealthy (or healthy) for me is not necessarily the same for every member of my family. And there are now 7 of us!!! This has probably been the greatest challenge so far as I attempt to meet the food needs of everyone. I am grateful to all the humans out there who love to share their pics and recipes of delicious and healthy foods on the Internet.

Fresh Fruit - Yum!

As I gain more information and knowledge surrounding food we continue to make changes to our daily diet.

Briefly, our 16 year family food journey has evolved like this... Elimination of cow's milk, introduce soy milk, elimination of soy, introduce rice milk, eliminate and avoid synthetic chemicals, introduction of fruit and veg juices, introduction of organic and biodynamic foods and produce, introduction of raw foods (mainly desserts and salads), introduction to super foods (cacao, mesquite, maca etc.), introduction to power smoothies, elimination of rice milk, introduction to nut milks, introduction to Sally Fallon's "Nourishing Traditions" and Dr Weston Price, introduction to raw unpasteurised dairy and goat's milk, introduction to raw virgin coconut oil, introduction to fermented foods and natural probiotics... I am sure I have missed a lot in this list and I am sure it does not end here with our recent removal of gluten from the diet.

A textbook of information

I had read quite a bit of research on the effects of gluten on our body and at the time couldn't really see the connection of how it was effecting our family. I believed, and still do, that celiac disease was curable providing the gut can sufficiently heal before gluten is reintroduced to the diet. Our own encounter with gluten intolerance (not the same as celiac disease) stemmed from a visit to a dear friend whose young daughter was diagnosed with celiac disease. I had noticed some sores on her legs that my own daughter of the same age had had for at least the past 3-4 years. The sores would come and go and we thought they were from insect bites that she would pick and scratch until they turned to sores. When I commented to my friend that my daughter (and son actually) was effected by bites too she quickly responded that her sores were the result of accidentally ingesting small amounts of gluten the day before. I was completely gobsmacked at how acute the reaction was for her and also at how similar the sores were to those of my children.

My teenage son has had mild eczema and other skin conditions since birth. The severity has fluctuated over the years but never bad enough to warrant any kind of strict elimination diet. However, this year and most likely due to the biological demands of his growing body, the skin on his arms have given us a clear clue as to the struggle his body is undergoing. I felt sad that I could not pin point the answer for him and so after seeing my friend's little girl I wondered whether gluten might be the key. I mentioned it to my boy and he agreed that he would like to try a gluten free diet.

The results were AMAZING and IMMEDIATE!!!

I can not stress to you how instant his skin began to heal. Within a few days there was no redness or sores and it progressively got better and better. This was after years of symptoms. My son felt happy we had found such a simple solution. We substituted gf bread and pastas, experimented with different flours in our baking and treats and continued to read food labels, choosing only gluten free products.
There has been some challenges, particularly when eating out or at friend's places. No one likes to visit and be a fussy eater and it is particularly tough on kids to have to say "I can't have this, I can't have that".

We were caught out one evening, about 3 months into the gluten free journey, at an impromptu BBQ at a friend's house. We didn't come prepared with any gf foods and our boy by this stage was tired of having to eat different to everyone except me. He was also beginning to feel like he was missing out on certain treats if they weren't gluten free. Hungry and surrounded in food we ate all that was offered. That night only confirmed to us that we were on the right track. The sores and redness came back just as instantly as they had departed, however this time they came back with a vengeance. It was clear that gluten was not a good thing for him to have in his diet.

Gluten Free Raw Passionfruit Birthday Tart

Our 7 year old daughter had a lot of reservations for going completely gluten free so the healing on her legs has been a lot slower, though still apparent.

My own experience with gluten has been with the condition of my scalp. Removing gluten from my diet has eliminated a very chronic dry and itchy scalp and I have read reports of others who have had the same healing. It is incredible once you pinpoint and take away the physical cause (still working on the emotional and spiritual causes) how much more in tune you become with your body and the effect that certain foods or environmental factors have on it. I can recognise immediately now the effect of gluten as my scalp stings and itches like nothing else. There is an acute response rather than a dull and constant itch. The intense sensation doesn't linger thankfully as I don't eat gluten often, but it just goes to show the sensitivity and awareness that is gained by taking it out of our diet almost completely.

So that is where we are at now. I have my suspicions on how gluten is affecting the other members of our family though at this stage they are happy to eat foods that contain gluten. They do not present with any obvious skin afflictions and so have little motivation to make the switch. With a little more research and perhaps some subtle whispers from me, they may eventually connect the dots with the symptoms they do have (ie. migraine and tummy issues), but for now, the majority of our food at home is gluten free for everyone and I feel that with the manipulation and tampering of even the most organic modern wheat grain, that can't be a bad thing.

If you have reduced or eliminated gluten foods from your diet, I'd love to hear from you and learn more. Please comment and share your experiences with me.

Angel x

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