Imaginary food intolerances - an attempt to not hijack (Read 893 times)

Trent - I moved this here because I am going to let loose a rant and I did not want to take away from Kerry's thread. Bottom line, mlm has discovered for herself that if she restricts gluten her depression is better. I applaud her for that. I know personally that there is something in starchy-carbs that triggers my depression but I have not taken it further. Frankly, it is quite immaterial whether it is “something else that comes along with gluten, such as carbs, etc.” Scientifically of course you are correct. Maybe it is the reduction in overall carbs in her diet that is helping her. Maybe she has a wheat intolerance and since elimination of gluten reduces wheat protein intake significantly, she is attributing it to the wrong cause. Does it matter? Maybe over time she can experiment and see if other gluten containing foods are ok, but depression is a nebulous symptom at best and diagnosing triggers is notoriously difficult. Plus, once you cross that line, doing the steps you KNOW will help you is extremely difficult. And she will get zero help from the medical establishment. If you don’t test positive to a test they are currently capable of running then they will tell you it is all in your head. If it works for her then it is RIGHT for her. Yes, you touched a nerve. I have similar issues with carbs and depression which puts me in a bad situation right now during taper. I have in the past come out of a depression cycle by simply going on a SouthBeach Phase 1 type diet for 3-7 days. (dairy, nuts, meat, vegetables – no fruit, no sugar, no starch). It works and it works WELL. This is the closest to "snap out of it" I have ever found. I need to do this right now, but I wont let myself since the marathon is 10 days away and I don’t want to carb deplete right now. If I had the discipline that mlm has shown, maybe I would discover that I only need to eliminate wheat, or gluten and I could keep potatoes and fruit. I will even grant you the possibility that perhaps what matters in the depression cycle is the being in control that conscious eating can give. Control over depression is a powerful thing. I do not think this is the whole issue, because other forms of conscious eating do not work as well, but I will grant that it may be a contributing factor. I also am touchy because I have been told my observations of my son’s response to egg in his diet is in my head. My son is happy, interactive, playful, I would answer every single question on the autism questionnaire NO. Except when we had eggs in his diet. We introduced eggs at 1 year and things turned bad. It took me awhile to think of eggs as the cause because after 3 days when he had no histamine reactions I quit thinking about eggs. But 3 weeks later I was a basket case. He had quit smiling, quit interacting, would scream if anyone was near him, no longer wanted to be held and was only content if he was in the corner with his trucks alone where he would play unsmilingly until something from the world distracted him where upon he would go batshit crazy beating his head on the floor. I would have answered yes to nearly every damn question on the form. I took eggs out of his diet on a hunch and within 3 days he started to improve and within 2 weeks he was fine. At 18 months we tried again and within 3 days I could see his personality start to change. He lost the few words that he had and would only scream – no pointing, no interaction. After 5 days he was bad enough that I took eggs out of his diet again. He has tested negative to egg allergy. I am, according to the allergist, a crazy overprotective mom who is imagining things and his symptoms were just pure coincidence and normal development. As for there being no physiological reason for gluten to be eliminated. I think that science will find the reason, they just haven’t yet. Best friend’s son is autistic, elimination of gluten has made a night and day difference. Yes, all of the evidence is anecdotal, I will give you that. But if it works it is right. In short I believe the medical establishment is woefully lacking in the area of food reactions that are not histamine reactions. Too many people find them to be real to be discounted the way they are.

... Consider this when you consider your vote this Fall (note: I did not advocate any politician over another). ...

From: http://www.foodphilosopher.com/assets/docs/051907hnut.cfm

Researchers now know that gluten can cause inflammation in any organ and any cell of your body. Inflammation of the heart can cause shortness of breath or fluid retention, and it is now recognized that inflammation is an important contributor to heart disease. Inflammation of the kidneys may cause kidney failure or high blood pressure. Inflammation of the large intestine may cause cramps and diarrhea. The term arthritis literally means inflammation (itis) of the joint (arthr). Cerebral inflammation is often the cause of unexplained headaches and ataxia. Inflammation of the nervous system contributes to such conditions as neuropathy, epilepsy, and dementia. All of these medical conditions (and others) can be directly related to ingesting gluten.

References? Anybody can put anything on the internet. That does not make it true. Without good and empiric research to back these claims, they remain suspect. That said, and as Ennay and I have said (in different ways), if you have reason to avoid gluten, then avoid gluten. Just be very careful to make sure that is the true culprit.

From: http://www.foodphilosopher.com/assets/docs/051907hnut.cfm... Anybody can put anything on the internet. That does not make it true. Without good and empiric research to back these claims, they remain suspect.

Everything on the internet isn't true? I'm shocked, SHOCKED!

That's actually not true.

heh. 5 points for Gryffindor.