This month I have a 5 page article in the magazine “Living Without”.  It is in the “So Good” section of the magazine.  It contains Allergy-free kid meals to try for school lunches. You will find the article in the Aug/Sept issue in markets and health food stores or try www.livingwithout.com and click on the Aug/Sept issue.  It is entitled: Lunchbox Adventures.  Enjoy!

After a few months on a gluten-free diet, our lady in this story was feeling better.  So good in-fact that she decided to have turkey sausage with eggs one morning.  That meal put her into the hospital.  Why? The answer is: for a couple of reasons.  First, any newly diagnosed Celiac are very sensitive to lipids (fats) and will have great difficulty digesting them.  The first year after my sons’ diagnosis, I only cooked with olive and vegetable oils, and did not give them any sausages, bacon, or ham.  Secondly, she later found out she was sensitive to eggs (this was short lived).  Her diarrhea was so bad that she needed 2 days in the hospital to rehydrate her.  Her doctors had no answers other than medication that was not working.  Luckily for her one of her friends, who had heard about the Specific Carbohydate Diet, suggested she try it.  This diet is for individuals with bowel diseases such as: Crohn disease, chronic diarrhea, ulcerative colitis, diverticulitis, and Celiac disease.  The theory behind this diet is: eating too much complex carbohydrates in our diet such as breads, donuts, and fast food etc., that are difficult to digest, may cause very harmful bacteria to grow in our intestines.  It seems that no amount of medication can cure this bacterial infestation.  The only way to rid one’s self of the bacteria is to starve out the bacteria.  This bacteria feeds on disaccharides and polysaccharides.  Any type of complex carbohydrate must be eliminated to get rid of the bacteria.  This is not an easy diet (I will explain it further in a future blog).  However, the lady in this story embraced the diet and is healing again.  Hopefully, she will not go off the diet until the gut is totally healed (about a year).  Only time will tell. End

After the lady of our story was diagnosis with gluten intolerance, she assumed that her problems were over.  “Just stop eating items containing gluten”, were the instructions of her physician.  A task easier said than done.  She stopped eating breads, pastas, and crackers containing wheat. She stopped using normal flour for cooking.  However, the immediate change in her condition did not occur.  She still had some problems with diarrhea.  Her physician retested her for gluten and found she still tested positive.  What was she doing wrong?  Her physician assumed that she knew that gluten is used in commercial foods as a thickener or binder and did not give her a list of possible condiments containing gluten.  This time he told her to read the ingredients of EVERYTHING.  She found that her ice cream, cheese spreads, yogurt, canned fruits, creamed vegetables, and soups, even broths, all contained gluten.  Her condiments such as soy sauce, mustards, some ketchups, and salad dressings contained gluten.  Her spices, extracts, flavorings, even her favorite candy, all contained gluten.  Becoming gluten-free was not as easy as she thought.

To be continued……….

Our lady in this story started noticing a skin rash on her forearms.  She did not experience any itching or pain from the rash.  A few months later the rash spread to almost every part of her body.  She went to a dermatologist who performed a skin biopsy.  The results showed lupus.  She was then referred to a rheumatologist for consultation and tests.  The medicine prescribed by the rheumatologist cleared the skin rash but not the diarrhea.  She was then sent to a gastroenterologist to see if her chronic diarrhea was related to her lupus.  After her second colonoscopy she was finally diagnosis with colitis.  However, none of the medications prescribed helped the diarrhea.  After some research she found a gluten savy doctor and was tested for gluten intolerance.  The test results were positve.  Unfortunately this was not the end of her story.

To be continued…..

This isn’t exactly the topic you hear at a cocktail party or around the dinner table.  But with the increased amount of population experiencing this type of problem, maybe it should be.  With Celiac disease the amount of years of suffering prior to diagnosis is about 11 years to 17 years.  So in a way, this individual was lucky.  Unfortunately, her story does not end with the diagnosis.

The lady involved in this story is like any normal person.  She wasn’t perfect; she smoked and drank some wine, but that was about it.  She tried to eat healthy food.  One day she started experiencing diarrhea.  After two weeks she went to her physician.  He told her that her problem was probably due to stress and prescribed medication with the instructions to come back if the medication did not work.  One month later she was back and was dehydrated.  This time he ran a battery of tests (Celiac and gluten intolerance is not included in normal tests, it has to be requested).  This set of  tests came out negative.  He tried an assortment of different medications.  A year later she started to show symptoms of a very serious autoimmune disease.

To be continued…

I recently heard of a story that amazed me.  A young mother of three, took her children to her In-laws for dinner.  The children all have gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance, and one is allergic to corn.  The In-laws dinner consisted of : meat, pasta, wheat bread, corn on the Cobb, and ice cream. The mother asked her In-laws why they fixed a meal that would harm her children.  The response was that the allergic stuff was stupid and the kids just needed to eat more.  The Mother and her children left the In-laws’ house without eating dinner.  Bravo Mom!

Lately, I have been hearing a great number of stories from people relating to me about someone they know that was just diagnosed with Celiac or Gluten Intolerance.  The stories are not good.  Most stories tell about individuals who have suffered years with the symptoms while going from doctor to doctor before being diagnosed.  Babies and children are ending up in the hospital very ill before diagnosis is finally made.  Why is looking for a diagnosis related to the digestive system out of the physicians’ realm?  Why is Celiac only suspected after a phethora of negative tests come back?  Even then some physicians and gastroenterologists do not look for it.  I realize no one wants this disease, but with the Western Diet compounded with Fast Foods’ fat and sugar, it should be evident that Gluten Intolerance can be the problem.  The amount of wheat that a person eats is immense.  Gluten/Wheat is on the spicy fries we eat; it’s used as a substance that keeps ingredients together.  It’s used as a coating for processed meats; it of course is used to make bread rise.  I found it the other day in mustard.  Is it any wonder, that according to research, Celiac disease has increased fourfold.

Allergy tests are not always perfect.  All allergy tests have the potential to give a “false positive” or in reverse a “false negative”.  The Rast test or frequently used Cap-Rast test is great for immediate response allergies.  Examples of these allergies are: peanuts, corn, fish, egg and milk.  This test measures how much IgE antibodies are present to a specific food or allergen.  The problem with this test is it’s inability to accurately test delayed hypersensitive reactions such as gluten/wheat.  For a better result on the gluten testing, the individual needs to eat a diet heavy with high-gluten foods( ie., pizza, pasta) for two weeks prior to the test.  That way enough IgE antibodies will be present for the test.

The ELISA test is preferable to delayed allergies such as gluten.  The test measures late-phase lymphocytes responses to environmental and dietary antigens.  However, because the most popular version of this test uses a non-interacting protein such as bovine(cow) albumin or casein, some individuals have reacted to the protein.  This happens rarely, but it can give a “false positive” for individuals with milk allergies.  So what is a parent to do?  Be very informed of what type of allergy test you or your child will be taking.  Inform the physician if you suspect both milk and gluten allergies so the correct allergy test will be applied.  Make sure you prepare for the test so a correct conclusion of the test will result.  If the test is borderline, then an elimination diet is often used.  A trial elimination diet for 2 to 4 weeks is often suggested followed by a gradual reintroduction of the offending food.  If the symptoms return after ingesting the suspected food then the individual is truly allergic/intolerant to the food.

One out of 133 individuals are estimated to have Celiac Disease.  Yet only 1% of the affected population have been diagnosed.  Why is this?  One of the reasons is possibly the test requested by physicians.  The most common blood test requested for allergies is the RAST test or RadioAllergoSorbent Test.  Blood samples are taken to see if the blood contains IgE (Immunoglobulin E) antibodies that attached to an allergen’s surface.  While the test is very safe, it can give “false negatives”.  One needs to have the allergen in the blood stream for it to react; and it needs to be recent!  How recent is the question?  To answer this question, I asked my youngest son to volunteer to be my “guinea pig”.  He just started going to a new physician  who was not familiar with Celiac Disease. He made an appointment for his blood test for Monday.  The Friday before he started a hi-gluten diet.  He ate meals that consisted of: pasta, pizza, soft bread, and drank hi-gluten beer.  By Saturday night his stomach was rebelling and he had diarrhea.  On Sunday his stomach really started to hurt.  By Monday morning he was so tired he could hardly get out of bed.  He went for his blood test, then returned to his gluten-free diet.  The next week he went for his results.  The physician proudly announced to him that his test result of 14 was negative (My result was .7 ).  My son then sat his physician down and educated him about the results.  Why did the test give a “false negative”?  Combined with my son’s symptoms, was 14 really a negative result?

To be continued…..

An acquaintance of mine has 3 children, all with the disorder ADHD.  She has two boys and one girl.  Each child has a different subtype of ADHD.  They are always sick, especially the youngest.  This eight year old boy has been plagued with asthma, bronchitis, and stomach aliments.   This last year he only gained one pound.  This is the time in his life when he should gain at least 10 pounds.  He also looks very, very ill.  Previously, I suggested to his mother that he probably had Celiac disease due to his lack of growth and stomach distress, while lactose intolerance may be causing his respiratory problems.  I further suggested she get him tested.  Finally, a year after my suggestions, she went to a ADHD focused physician and had her son tested.  He test positive to gluten/wheat, lactose (cow’s milk), and corn.  He is also sensitive to food colorings.  I do not think that this mother fully understands the scope of changes the needs to take place in her family.  There is a more than 50 per cent change that the other two children also have the same allergies.  Since she will be cooking the same for everyone in the family, the other children should get the benefits of eating allergy free.

For years the medical profession has ignored the relationship of nutritional factors such as : food allergies, food sensitivities, food additives, refined sugars, and fatty acid deficiencies to ADHD.  Finally the pendulum is swinging the other way.  More studies are examining the relationship between food sensitivities and ADHD.  The research results are supporting this relationship.

One more thought; ADHD is a brain disorder causing negative behavioral patterns.  Is it possibly the brain’s response to food that it deems poison?  The stomach’s reaction will be pain and diarrhea, the respiratory system will respond with allergies, asthma and other symptoms.  So how does the brain respond to toxins in the form of food?  What if the response is abnormal behavior?  Does that sound like Autism and ADHD to you?  What are you feeding you and your children: Food or Toxins?  If you eat mostly processed food the answer is : Toxins!