Giving up the gluten

As anyone who knows me, or has been following my blog for a while can vouch, I LOVE food.  Whilst it's something I have always enjoyed, it's got closer to becoming an obsession since I've been ill.  Cooking is now a hobby, doable despite my limitations, and providing nice (I hope) food for Matt at the end of each day, my way of redressing the balance of the extra chores he has had to take on. A not insignificant portion of my week is spent reading cookbooks and planning our meals for the days ahead.

Again, as long-term followers will know, my forced change in lifestyle from very active to essentially sedentary, coupled with the impact of high dose steroids led to nearly two stone of weight gain in the first six to nine months of my illness.  Whilst a lot of this has come off as I've been able to exercise more, to a point where I am, if not satisfied, at least more accepting, of my current shape, a recent increase in my steroids dosage, and a determination not to undo all of my weight loss has made me very conscious of what I put in my body.

Over the summer, I had a major flare up in symptoms, particularly joint pain and stiffness.  Some days, it would take two hours from getting up in the morning to actual feel like my body was awake and able to move freely.  From reading various foodie blogs and facebook forums, I discovered that a number of people successfully manage both of the medical conditions I have, and particularly reduce pain, through diet alone.  This got me thinking and after a bit of research, I decided to trial a gluten-free diet.  Gluten is known to be inflammatory and has been linked to autoimmune conditions, so I thought it had to be worth a try.  Not an easy thing to do for someone who loves all things pasta, pizza and bread! 

I wasn't going to go as far as throwing away wooden chopping boards and utensils, as some websites suggested, and I still used the occasional stock cube or tablespoon of flour, but for the most part, I cut it out.  Whilst it's hard to see the impact in isolation, really frustrating for the analytical part of me, as I was put on a much higher dose of steroids at a similar time, my joint pain has improved, and my stomach/guts generally feel more comfortable, an added bonus.  I have had the odd lapse, a stonking hangover one morning absolutely necessitated a bacon roll and a chocolate croissant, plus there's been the occasional slice of cake, but I have mostly stuck with it.  As friends and family have made such an effort to accommodate me, it has spurred me on to make the effort to be stricter with myself in exchange.  For the most part, when I do, I am less hungry (days of steroid-induced famine excluded); without the heavy carb-loaded meals, my sugar levels aren't surging and crashing quite so much. 

When I mentioned to one of my consultants that I was trying this, she thought it was a good idea and suggested going one step further, and finding a naturopath specialising in autoimmune conditions.  After some more research, an initial phone consultation and loads of questionnaires to fill in, I had my first appointment last week.  We went through my medical history really thoroughly, the results of recent blood tests and chatted through my symptoms.  She agreed that gluten-free was the way forwards, except I have to cut it out completely rather than 90% as I had been doing.

One school of thinking suggests that autoimmune diseases, particularly those of unknown origin like sarcoidosis, result from leaky guts.  Nutrients that should be absorbed in the digestive system are getting through the intestinal tract walls and into the blood stream sending the immune system into hyper-drive.  This could be caused by a genetic pre-disposition (as I am hypermobile and have POTS, both related to weaker than normal cell structures, I think there could well be a connection to weaker digestive cell walls too - makes sense to me), a bacterial imbalance from multiple courses of antibiotics over the years, a reaction to gluten, or quite probably, a combination of all these factors.  It only takes one small bit of gluten to escape to trigger an immune response, therefore you almost may as well eat lots, as a tiny bit.  Well, not quite, but you see what I mean.  There are a lot of articles around criticising gluten-free diets for being the latest food fad, but the science behind it makes sense to me.  So that's it.  Six weeks of cutting it out completely. 

I came home and moved all ingredients containing gluten to the top shelves of the cupboard and further from temptation.  Any idea how hard it is to cook a stir fry without soy sauce, Lee & Perrins and rice wine???!!!  Other brands are available, I'm just going to have to get more organised.  Gone was my homemade granola, made with organic oats, but not guaranteed to be gluten-free due to possible cross-contamination - not good enough under the new regime!  Several trips to local health shops followed hunting down gluten-free muesli, oats and flaxseed, another thing Cora had recommended.

She also picked up that some of my vitamin and iron levels are a bit low.  I was surprised given the quantity of fresh fruit and vegetables we eat, but it's likely one of the prescriptions I'm on, designed to protect my stomach from damage from the steroids is stopping me absorbing nutrients properly.  She is doing some research, as I need to be a bit careful about vitamin D, and is going to recommend a multi-vitamin supplement for me too.

Mum and I had planned a trip to McDonalds for the following day, and initially I thought this could be my last treat before starting the new stricter regime.  But the more I thought about it, that seemed absolutely the wrong attitude to have.  This is something I should be embracing rather than seeing as a punishment; a satisfaction that I am giving my body the best possible fuel it could have to overcome these health problems.  So whilst it will be difficult, I hate making a fuss, and having to question waitresses when eating out, or asking people to make things especially for me, goes completely against the grain (no pun intended), I know that this is something I need to do and give my best shot.  After all, the next step Cora suggested could be cutting out all grain, and I'm not sure I could cope with giving up rice too, so I'm determined to make this work!  I'll keep you posted.