To eat corn, or not to eat corn... That's my question!

Corn...  In my experience, it is one of the hottest issues in the gluten free community at the moment.  So many people have different ideas about corn, and if it is safe for people with CD or other gluten intollerances.  As with everything else, here's my humble opinion.

We know that corn is very hard to digest, and if you didn't know how hard it is to digest, you've probably still seen, shall we say, evidence of it the day after you eat it.  Corn sticks around, and yes, because of that it is a pretty good source of fiber.  However, when you look at the gluten protein, and when you look at corn, they are pretty similar.  Corn is missing one part of the gluten protein bond, but it still has one part in common with gluten.  Because of this, the jury is out on corn and if it is truly safe or not.  Many doctors will tell you that corn is a perfectly safe grain, and on the other hand, there are probably just as many experts and doctors that would tell Celiac's or others who are gluten intollerant to not touch any grains at all.

In my personal experience, I can eat some corn without adverse affects, but there is a fine line between what is acceptable and what is too much.  One other observation I have made about eating corn, is that the more processed it is, the harder it is for me to digest... duh.  I personally do better with organic blue corn chips than with other corn chip varieties (Fritos anyone???).  I have also noticed that when corn meal or Masa flour are used in place of wheat flour there isn't too much difference in how my system reacts to it than if it had just been wheat.  It is possible that it's a matter of cross contamination in working kitchens, but I haven't had much better experiences at home where my kitchen has been 100% gluten free for over a year now.

This is another time when I think it's so important to listen to your own body.  Everyone is different, and just because one person can, or cannot, eat a certain corn product doesn't mean that everyone will have the same reaction.  If you still feel sick, and you are using corn as a supplement for wheat products, chances are you're eating more of it than your body can handle.  Try going a week without it.  It's hard, trust me!  Corn is in everything because it's cheap and we have tons of it available for the food industry to use as a filler.  As with gluten, it's important to read all the way through food labels.

One other take away from this, is that variety is vital to any balanced diet.  If you use corn as your only wheat substitute, maybe you could try other varieties of gluten free flour.  There are some premixed varieties out there that don't contain any corn, or you can even make your own!  Gluten free flour can be complicated, and one is not necessarily interchangeable with another, but it can also be fun.  There are loads of gluten free flour mix recipes available online, or in gluten free cookbooks.  Experiment, and have fun!  Being gluten and corn free doesn't mean you have to give everything up, but it does mean you must learn how to be more creative!

Italy bound!

Thirty two days...  That's how long I have before I take my first international trip!  My emotions are seriously mixed about it too.  Of course I'm beyond excited to be going to Italy!  I mean, who doesn't want to visit Italy?  But I'm also pretty scared.  Leaving the comfortable, gluten free confines of Colorado makes me uneasy, especially going to the pasta capital of the world.  I've done all the research about how to visit Italy in a gluten free world, and in fact, I have found out that Celiac's Disease is so common over there that they have a national program to address it with many of their restaurants.  I even bought a guide book that specifically names the restaurants associated with the program!  The fact, however, that I cannot speak Italian remains, and I fear that something will literally get lost in translation, and I'll end up spending my trip sick.  I know that just thinking this way on the front end will make it worse.  It hasn't happened yet, and might not even happen at all...  but what if it does happen?  What will I do if I get sick while I'm over there?  I know stress will only make the situation worse.  Stress is one of the first things (other than gluten) that sends my stomach through a loop, and in fact, I have been sick a number of mornings recently, and I know that stress has something to do with it.

Stress aside, I couldn't be more excited for the trip than if I had just won the lottery!  I'll be in Italy for 10 whole days (plus two days for flights there and back), and touring several cities!  I'm taking the trip with a group from my school, so we will be visiting different foodie destinations, including Tuscany, Parma, and Rome where we will take tours of wineries, and balsamic vinegar and ham producers.  It's an incredibly exciting thought, and I can't believe I get to be a part of it!

For at least the last decade, one of my life's goals has been to take cooking lessons in Tuscany, and I actually get to do that!!  I think what is even more exciting for me is that I'm going in the prime of my life.  I recently turned 30, and after a lack luster decade in my twenties, I am ready to grab 30 and take on the world, Italy in this case.  I spent most of my twenties sick and depressed, not knowing what was wrong with me.  Figuring out my health issues was a big step in the right direction, and taking this trip is like the culmination of getting my life on the right track.  Every time I took a trip in my twenties I ended up sick, miserable, and having a piss poor time.  I can't... no I won't let that happen with Italy!!  I am determined to get and stay healthy for the next month in order to have the most fulfilling experience possible for the 10 glorious days that I get to experience Italian life.  I'm still concerned about the language barrier, and of course I will be aware of my food while I'm there, but I will have the most amazing time while I'm there.  Italy, here I come!  I'm 30, I'm healthy, and I'm ready to have the most amazing trip ever!

It's been a while, and boy do I have something to say!!

Well, it has been a fair amount of time since my last blog post, and I will tell you, I have been a busy lady!  My best gal pal's wedding is a pleasant memory, and we have moved into the possibly even more hectic month of April.  This month I have a kitchen lab on Saturdays, and I am taking a nutrition lecture class on Sundays.  I'm really excited to be in the nutrition class, especially today.

This morning as I was scrolling down my Facebook feed, I happened to run across a fellow gluten free blogger who was asked what a reader might do for her vegetarian, Celiac daughter.  We literally had a lecture on this in my class yesterday, so I was really excited to jump in and offer a helpful suggestion!  "Amaranth!"  I said, "It's an ancient, gluten free grain, and a complete protein on its own!"  There are actually three such grains, they are amaranth, buckwheat, and quinoa, but I only mentioned the amaranth.  Well, not even two seconds after I posted my information an Internet troll decided to jump on my post and tell me that I was wrong, and that amaranth is "laden with gluten."

Being human, and knowing the potential for my hearing something incorrectly, I was immediately worried that perhaps I had given some false information and maybe I had misunderstood something in class yesterday.  Well, I hopped on the old search engine, and typed the question, "Is amaranth gluten free."  The very first post was one about how great amaranth is, especially for people intolerant to gluten, for the exact reasons I mentioned!  So, I did what came naturally, and I immediately shared the page with the person who called me out.

Then I gave it some time, and thought that maybe this person might just be coming from somewhere knowledgeable too.  So I did a little digging and found out that she is a fan of several of the same gluten free sites that I am.  One of the sites is from a gluten free researcher who I have heard mixed reviews about, I won't say exactly who.  What I'm getting at, is that this researcher is one who I think has some amazing things to say, and I've learned a ton about being gluten free from the site!  But there are also a few statements that are questionable, or perhaps too extreme.

This got me thinking.  After over a year of being gluten free, I have had the pleasure of experiencing the good, the bad, and the ugly of being gluten free, and not one single doctor, researcher, or blogger has gotten it right for my exact gluten intolerance.  However, they have all hit a few points that were exactly the information that I needed to hear!

What does that mean for the gluten free community?  I think that it means that we all have to take our own health into our own hands, and become our own researchers and advocates!  I know just how damaging gluten can be, and I know that we all need to KNOW what we can and cannot digest or tolerate, but I also know that all of us are different!  We each have our own individual makeup that will affect how we can process certain foods differently from everyone else.

So what's the answer?  We can't all just blindly follow every one's advice, but we can't go around poisoning ourselves to see if one food is safer than another either.  Maybe I don't even have an answer for you.  I know that isn't much help, and I started this blog to hopefully help even just one person, but as an individual, I can't tell someone else what will make them feel better or worse.  I can make an educated guess from my own experiences, but I can't say for certain how someone else will react to a specific trigger.  Heck, some days I can't even tell you what I will be reacting to.  That's just one of the things about food allergies and intolerance, especially with our Western diets that consist largely of processed foods.  There are frequently ingredients that are hidden in foods, and companies are not yet being held accountable to be totally transparent about this fact.

Perhaps the best piece of advice I can offer, if you are having issues with your health, and you think that gluten, dairy, soy, processed foods, etc. are the culprit, keep a food journal.  Track every little morsel you put in your mouth, but don't limit the journal to just the foods that you eat.  Track how you felt before and after eating, both how you feel on the health side of things, and your mood.  Write down every little stomachache, headache and episode of unexplained hives, rashes, or other weird skin reaction you might have.  Keep a record for a week, keep it up longer if you can, and pay attention!  How do you feel after eating or drinking anything?  Become your own advocate!  We can and should all support each other, and we can all say what worked best for us, but every individual will be just a little different than you, maybe even a lot different than you.  Instead of attacking each other on other peoples' blogs, let's try to build each other up!  I know we're all trying to help each other, and we all think we know best, and maybe we do know what is best for ourselves, but that doesn't mean that it is the sure fire best for everyone else too.  Give people a chance.  Give them a chance to either find out by doing their own research, or wait for them to ask for your opinion.  We are all in this together, but that doesn't mean that we are all have the same experiences.  Live well, and good luck taking your health into knowledgeable hands!!