About two years ago my homoeopath suggested I go gluten-free as his MORA machine picked up an intolerance. I had had the slew of tests for Celiac disease repeatedly and they had all come up clear but he had me do a few genetic tests as well and it seems I carry the HLA-DQB1 *03:01, *03:02 markers that show a predisposition to the disease. Clearly, if someone has this sort of predisposition they do what they can to avoid it right?
Well, sometimes they don't. To prove to you how much of an idiot I am I will just tell you what I had for dinner last* night... Yes that's right. It's Italy and I had pasta.
I have gone gluten free on and off in the past few years but I feel like I've been off the diet more than I'm on it. A friend asked me the other day why I don't follow the diet if I know that eating gluten is slowly making me sick (gluten has also been proven a huge trigger for autoimmune diseases) and I tried to explain to her that I feel as if its the same reasons why smokers continue to smoke. Smokers enjoy smoking and I enjoy eating pasta but its deeper than that. Really addicted smokers have a psychological barrier to overcome if they really want to quit. They have to give up their identity and self-image as a 'smoker'. I will have to give up my self-image as being normal and free to eat what I want.
Maybe it's time?
Ive been doing research and i think that the reason why i may have come back to gluten in the past was because a gluten-free diet isn't for me. I just ended up eating loads of gluten free pasta and still feeling hungry. I hadn't changed my diet, I had simply removed one ingredient. It always make me feel deprived cause the flavour wasn't there and I was trying to pretend it was. Eventually I would just cave in and eat an entire pizza.
Perhaps I need something Even more extreme than eliminating gluten to allow my body the rest it needs and to get used to not having that level of energy provided by carbohydrates. I've become very interested in the autoimmune protocol paleo diet instead of just gluten free... It's the elimination of all grains without substitution coupled with the elimination of all foods that cause inflammation and allergic reactions in the body. It sounds terrifying, but I'm thinking of giving it a shot.
I'm going to use this article, which you can find on the awsome PaleoMom site, as a guide in this new change and see if it helps me to feel any better. Then when I start to slowly introduce foods back into my system ill be able to feel what they're doing to me. I may even keep a food diary, which I've never done. I'm going to approach avoiding the foods they suggest to avoid the same way I approached quitting smoking myself eleven years ago. In the same way I said to myself 'just don't have a cigarette' ill have to say 'just don't order the pasta'.
Some reasons why I'm hoping the autoimmune protocol paleo diet may work for me:
-cutting out gluten means reducing the risk of having Celiac disease down the line
-avoiding nightshade foods and gluten should reduce swelling in my joints
-PCOS has recently been linked to forms of diabetes and insulin intolerance... carbohydrates raise blood glucose levels and this diet eliminates all carbs
-research has shown that people with my blood type (0-) are at optimum health following a hunter-gatherers type diet of only meat and vegetables, but no grains
-removing these foods may help with my ulcerative colitis and bloating/pain after eating
-maybe forcing myself to eat more meat will help with my energy and iron levels.
Sounds like a pretty optimistic list!
I bought The Autoimmune Paleo Cookbook by Mickey Trescott online to help me with the new diet. It's in PDF format and so far really nice to look at and explains a lot.
I also bought some paleo-friendly (but not AIP friendly... one step at a time) flaxseed flour and had a really filling lunch by basically just mixing 2 tablespoons up with water, herbs and spices and then cooking it in a frypan with oiliveoil in the exact same way you would cook a scrambled egg.... It looked like a burger (being dark brown in colour) but was very delicious and even Sera loved it! "More flassseeed pleeeeeease!"
*by last night I mean the night before I first wrote this post... several days ago.
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