Re: Formerly Fat and Ugly: Coping with Food Sensitivities

[Guest guest]

Hi Ruty: Many people who don't have official celiac disease (intestinal damage

caused by gluten intolerance) still have some sensitivity or unpleasant

reactions to gluten. Do you actually get a rash when you eat foods containing

wheat, barley or rye? If so, you might ask your doc or a dermatologist to

examine that rash. However, you don't have to restrict yourself from all grain

products, even if you react to gluten. Because gluten free products have become

more mainstream, you can still enjoy breads, pastries, pasta and many other

grain based foods.

In answer to your question about my experience with 'cutting back on' foods

which caused symptoms ... YES!! I binged repeatedly on foods which I later

learned contained gluten and my other food allergies. I most often binged on

cookies. Now I tell people that one chocolate chip cooky would cover all my food

allergies (gluten, dairy, soy, eggs, cane sugar, vanilla and nutmeg). LOL

Before my diagnoses, I suspected certain foods caused unpleasant symptoms.

However I had soooo many allergies (7) and a long history of restricting and

then bingeing, that everytime I tried to cut out foods whwithout really knowing

whether those foods caused my symptoms, I ended up eventually bingeing on those

foods. So getting a stool test and a DNA test for celiac disease and a few

allergies and a blood test for other allergies told me exactly which foods

caused my symptoms. At that point I also experienced chronic excruciating

intestinal pain, bloating and irregularity.

Once I knew my allergens, I could easily resist eating foods which contained

those, because I focussed on finding tasty substitutes for all my restricted

allergens. I knew that for me restriction --> binges. So I considered my

allergens 'ingredients', rather than 'foods'. Then I could substitute allergy

free ingredients (different grains, nut milks, sweeteners, spices, etc.) in

favorite foods which formerly contained my allergens. So I could still enjoy

allergy free breads, pastries, ice cream, nut milks, etc. I also knew that

eating my allergens caused extremely painful and scarey symptoms. So I didn't

need 'willpower' to abstain from allergen containing foods. Fear of painful

reactions kept me from eating those foods.

SUE

> I don't have celiac disease but when I eat too much of gluten products

(especially bread) or too much sweets I notice I get itching in several parts of

my body. Even though my body signals me that it's not good for it I still find

myself craving for these things sometimes (and not because of something

emotional!). Once I tried to cut back on these things for a month and the

itching got better, but it ended up in several binges on sweets and

gluten-containing products... Did you encounter such a thing?

>

> Thank you,

> Ruty

>

[Guest guest]

Hi.

Yes, I actually get a rush (from a very small age) when I overeat sweets

(meaning - eating about 2 portions or more of any sweets), and lately when I

overeat bread (even whole-wheat). And yet this rush is not painful, so I don't

get any scary symptoms which will cause me this. But when it's itching badly I

tend to scrach it to the point of blood, and that might leave scars. But still

it doesn't scare me that much as to cut back on this... and during the time

before my periods I crave for sweets so much that the itching is REALLY bad,

because I eat a lot of gluten-containing sweets... So I don't quite know how to

balance my cravings (and alowing myself eating what I want) with my body's real

need for health. And for me restriction=binging which leads to feeling ashamed

and fat...

Ruty

>

> > I don't have celiac disease but when I eat too much of gluten products

(especially bread) or too much sweets I notice I get itching in several parts of

my body. Even though my body signals me that it's not good for it I still find

myself craving for these things sometimes (and not because of something

emotional!). Once I tried to cut back on these things for a month and the

itching got better, but it ended up in several binges on sweets and

gluten-containing products... Did you encounter such a thing?

> >

> > Thank you,

> > Ruty

> >

>