Wheat Free and Feeling Good

By Mary Mucci

After being a pizza and pasta vegetarian for two years, a friend of mine was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.  I suggested she get off wheat to relieve the inflammation that was causing her so much pain.  She did and guess what : the pain stopped.  It returned every time she ate wheat or other gluten grains. It also returned with other foods like tomatoes and other nightshades.  Now, years later she has been treated for her allergies with NAET.  She can now eat wheat without reacting.  But she doesn’t eat it often.  Neither do I.  I no longer react to wheat either.  But I find that when I eat wheat I gain weight more easily.  Meanwhile, I’ve discovered many other delicious grains. And because I often make my own, choosing to avoid wheat means that bread, cake and pasta become occasional treats.

No one knows for sure why so many people are having problems with gluten grains. 

The experts guess it’s because we eat so much wheat all day long and all year long.  Then of course there’s the likelihood that much of the wheat we eat is genetically engineered to contain more gluten and make it easy to work with. Another friend took a baking course and was told that American wheat had more gluten than European wheat.   I used to wonder why whenever I traveled to Europe I was able to eat wheat and dairy, two foods that bothered me here at home.

The very idea of giving up wheat sounds ridiculous to most people .  Well that’s a sure sign they’re eating too much. But if you’re having any kind of inflammatory condition, I strongly recommend you give it a try.  Unfortunately, in this case you have to avoid it completely.  That means you need to read every label.  Also it takes about six weeks before you can be sure your intestines have healed.  Then you will know if your health problems are gluten related. 

To Your Health,

Mary Mucci

 

Contacts:

Dr. Steve Nenninger, Naturopathic Physician, Port Jeff

631 235 2111

Gluten Free Long Island, a local place to come together for food reviews, stores, tips, recipes, and idea exchange

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