Learning to embrace, and maybe even love, a gluten-free lifestyle is a work in progress
How and why did I — a former professional baker, cake decorator and caterer who shies away from culinary trends — wind up on a gluten-free diet?
It seems categorically unfair, somehow.
A week or so ago, my orthopedist, Dr. Kevin Forsythe, injected an inflammation-reducing steroid shot into my wonky left knee.
Yeah, it sounds like it should be a scene in “Marathon Man,” but actually, getting the shot wasn’t nearly as bad as was my initial anticipation of it.
Truly. I barely felt the injection.
But afterward, I asked the doctor if there was anything I could do to keep the knee’s pain level down and prevent the condition from getting worse.
His reply? Some patients have felt better once they stopped eating gluten.
Really? Now, that’s a nasty prospect for a carb lover.
Why it works for some
The doc explained that, apparently, if your body reacts badly at some level when you ingest gluten, it can trigger flare-ups of inflammation, swelling and pain.
“Reacting badly” can range from gluten sensitivity to wheat allergy to full-on celiac disease.
Who knew? Certainly not me, about me.
Except.
My late husband had been diagnosed with celiac disease before I met him.
Imagine inviting someone over for a visit and learning at the last minute that he couldn’t eat wheat, rye, barley, oats or eggs because his body couldn’t handle a protein therein.
With two pancake-and-pasta-loving young-uns in the household, it was dicey for a while, and we ate a lot of rice and potatoes during Richard’s first stay with us.
Fast forward to my recent doctor’s appointment, and of course, I immediately started yearning for sourdough bread, cake, cookies, pastries, even a slice of 100% whole wheat something or other.
Even so, I already love corn tortillas and rice noodles, and I’ve been using almond and oat flours for a long time for the diabetics in our family, so how hard can it be? Little did I know.
It can be hard, and even depressing. All those years worth of carefully curated recipes, many of them filled with wheat flour. And the daily cuisine-oriented emails that land in my inbox. So many yummy things. So much gluten.
But as my good friend Gloria Fiscalini tells me, “Pain is a great motivator.”
Buying my way to gluten-free
So, on the way home, I took a deep breath, stopped at Trader Joe’s and scrabbled through their assortment of gluten-free products.
Surprise! They had a fairly wide selection, and the same was true subsequently at Whole Foods and even at Cambria’s tiny Soto’s True Earth Market.
What’s more, most of today’s gluten-free products were nothing like the dense, building block of nearly unchewable rice-flour bread I’d had to buy for Husband Richard decades ago because it was the only product available.
As he said rather bitterly then, “Why does health food have to taste so **^%#$*K%@ healthy?”
My jury is still out on some of today’s gluten-free products — I’m sorry, but a cauliflower pizza crust does not taste like pizza, no matter how much marinara and pepperoni you load on to it. And the cookie I tried could have been used for the Olympic curling competition.
But some of the gluten-frees are surprisingly tasty. Even light in texture.
I’ve had a nice bagel. Pleasant sandwich bread. A crispy waffle. A coffeecake muffin. Yeah, all of them taste better toasted, but I don’t mind if it means I won’t limp anymore.
I’m not THAT old yet, damn it!
Gluten-free rotini? Other alternative flours? I haven’t tried those yet. I bought some, but my tendency so far is to look askance at the bags, and then go have a baked potato instead.
Nor have I tried a recipe in the interesting Cook’s Illustrated “How Can It Be Gluten Free?” cookbook that’s on my Kindle now.
Scientific proof
But while I’m not a trend follower, I am a natural-born, curious skeptic. I AM a reporter, after all.
Inquiring minds want to know what’s the science behind this?
According to healthline.com, gluten is “a collective term that refers to proteins found in wheat, barley, rye, and triticale,” which is a cross between wheat and rye.
Some people may be even more susceptible to gluten’s nastier side than the rest of us, such as those with rheumatoid arthritis.
The website arthritis-health.com reports that “when a person with celiac disease or a gluten sensitivity eats gluten (gliadin and glutenin proteins), the immune system jumps into action, causing inflammation. This inflammation can affect the body’s organs and soft tissue.”
And allergyinstitute.com lists foods “known to contribute to inflammation and aggravation of your arthritis symptoms.” Among them are: Gluten, sweets, dairy, fatty foods and carbohydrates, among others.
Wow! Rain on my dietary parade, why don’t you?
How’s it going?
But the bottom line is, how is the knee is doing?
Amazingly well. So far, so good.
No, the pain hasn’t disappeared. But it’s almost negligible, unless I do something stupid that truly enrages it, such as standing still on an uneven street for 90 minutes. Don’t judge: I was working, doing an on-site interview.
And similar pains I had occasionally in other parts of my body have lessened or vanished.
Is my knee really feeling better because going gluten free was the panacea it needed?
Is the lack of pain a residual systemic effect from the steroid shot?
Or is it a placebo, and the new diet is working because I want it to work, even though I’m having fettuccini withdrawal pangs?
I’m sorry, but a zoodle is not pasta.
Yes, I do need to consult with my primary care provider, who may shuttle me off to yet another specialist. Yeah, I should have done that first. There can be risks to going gluten-free.
But that day in the orthopedist’s office, I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained except maybe a good night’s sleep and the ability to walk pain-free along the Moonstone Beach boardwalk again.
Stay tuned. I’ll keep you posted.
