Fashionable food allergies

[88GT]

We just discovered that my wife is gluten intolerant. After about 5 years of her suffering from constipation, bloating, upset stomach, migraines, and lack of energy, we decided to cut out wheat products for a while. Within 2 weeks, almost all symptoms were gone. Gluten intolerance is a real thing that can make your life absolutely miserable.

That being said, we don't expect anyone else to conform to our particular diet. When we go out to eat, she orders food without wheat products in them. She doesn't ever "special order" her food. She has just learned what foods to stay away from. She doesn't broadcast her condition either, like it makes her "cool". She has just learned to adapt.

Now, sometimes she does have a craving for bread and pasta. (she is a carb junkie) And sometimes she eats it anyway knowing full well that she will pay for it later. Like this morning she had a biscuit with her breakfast. Took about an hour for it to hit her. Once you cut out gluten from your diet, just a small amount of wheat product will cause discomfort.

I have a friend like that. She's non-Celiac, but extremely sensitive to gluten. Her stomach issues improved by cutting it out, but you're absolutely right: she's in pure hell if she has even a little bit of it now.

 

[chezuki]

Many restaurants have an allergy-free zone that they use to prepare food

No, they don't. I'm sure they tell you that to placate you, but in reality, they're just wiping down their station before your order. At the very most, your food is being assembled in some (likely dusty), usually unused corner of dry storage that they've deemed acceptable for a makeshift "allergy-free zone" since you inquired about one.

You would be amazed at how many servers and cashiers say "no, I don't think so" when asked if they have peanuts in their ingredient list for a menu item and just move on like that answer is good enough.

No, I wouldn't. I've been in the industry for 18 years, most of them in Sous Chef, Chef, or management roles... Not much in the business would surprise me, especially the laziness of servers.

You cannot trust servers or cashiers

Absolutely true.

I cannot imagine serving my son the food that kills him because I wasn't persistent in asking a poor restaurant to prepare my food a little differently.

Of course not. No good parent could.

You're a medical doctor correct? Surely you understand the difference between gluten sensitivity (be it celiac or non-celiac), and a life threatening peanut allergy.

It's hilarious that you are so upset that you resort to profanity and vulgarity to whine on the internet about people wanting their food the exact way they need it.

I apologize if the gruffness of my asterisks offends you. If you'd like, you're more than welcome to assume they represent cheeriness and pleasantries.

I am not even really upset, I likely just resort to my kitchen colloquialisms when discussing things of this nature. I guess we're lucky it wasn't in Vato slang Spanish.

Do you ever send back food that isn't cooked properly?

Of course. But I certainly wouldn't order a Crème Brulee if I had an egg allergy and expect them to attempt to make one without them.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Too much food makes me feel puffy...

Me too. I'm permanently puffy.

I think we must be calorically intolerant. My body just can't burn off all the calories I take in.

 

[chezuki]

I think we must be calorically intolerant. My body just can't burn off all the calories I take in.

You should ask that your food be prepared separately so if doesn't come in contact with higher calorie foods.

 

[GodFearinGunTotin]

Too much food makes me feel puffy...

Me too. I'm permanently puffy.

You should ask that your food be prepared separately so if doesn't come in contact with higher calorie foods.

Problem is my brain and taste buds vs. my waist line disagree. I'm internally conflicted I suppose.

 

[ghuns]

I have little tolerance for those who become disciples of the latest fad and set about proselytizing the world. I don't care what you eat, what you don't eat, how "green" your diet is, what size carbon footprint your diet leaves on the planet.

I do understand allergies are real and a serious matter. After my grandma died, grandpa took up dining out. He ate lunch at a little restaurant and at the age of 85, ate shrimp for the first time in his life. He loved it. He ate it everyday for lunch for a couple years. One day, soon after lunch, he started itching and noticed he had hives on his arms and neck.

The doctor's office was right down the street from the restaurant so he went in. The doctor ascertained quickly that he had developed a slight allergy to his new favorite food and told him to quit eating the shrimps. Grandpa said, yeah, yeah, what if I don't? The doctor, who was not much younger than Grandpa, said well, it could get worse very suddenly and you could die. Grandpa said, yeah, so? Realizing he was fighting a losing battle, the doc advised him to just take a benadryl before lunch and hope for the best.

Grandpa died at 88. The shrimp finally got him. Not from eating them, from the injuries he sustained when he crashed his car into a ditch driving to lunch one day on a slippery, snow covered road. It was the doctor who pointed that little irony out to us at Grandpa's funeral. I love a doctor with a great sense of humor.


I have often been puzzled by why the sudden jump in food allergies? Are we just more aware of them? Much like cancer, it's seems like it's sooooo much more common today. How many people did you know 20-30 years ago with a severe food allergy or cancer? I grew up with no kids allergic to peanuts. I had two aunts, both in their 70s get cancer, now I know several people with cancer in their 40s. Instead of devoting billions to curing these ailments, why not spend billions figuring out why everyone is getting them?

Unless... Somebody already knows why.

 

[churchmouse]

My grand daughter (now 6 yrs.) had a terrible allergy to Gluten. That and eggs/nuts/grass and several other things. She was hospitalized at 1 yr. near death because we had no idea we were killing her. She is starting to grow out of some issues with certain foods. We still have to by Gluten free/egg free.
These allergy's do exist.

 

[Bunnykid68]

I am allergic to beer, screws my head up every time I drink it.

 

[mdmayo]

What we need is a gluten vaccine.

 

[ghuns]

What we need is a gluten vaccine.

With .gov forced inoculation?

 

[Leo]

Isn't it amazing that these life treatening illnesses which were rare or unheard of a generation ago have grown in to become common during a time that we started introducing more and more Genetically Modified food into our diets? Public schools used to SERVE Peanut butter sandwiches, now look how common deathly peanut butter allergies are.

When drug companies stuck to drugs, their chemical blunders only affected the people that took the medicine. Now they are screwing with the food supply and affecting everyone. Name one other product where the secrecy of their injection of chemicals in the food sold at the grocery is Federally protected. If something needs to be kept secret, it probably is not good. I am sure your grandma taught you that.

First those who want to enslave us took control of the food, now they are taking control of your healthcare. As soon as they take all your financial freedom away, you are now subjects, like hamsters running on THEIR wheel.

 

[Stschil]

I know one young lady, the daughter of an INGO member actually, who is allergic to gluten and has been all her life. I know aaYYYY too many people who have 'developed' an intolerance. In every case, I have suggested they try using non-commercially grown and processed grains (organic if you will) and viola, in most cases, the intolerance fades quickly.
I'm a firm believer that the sudden onset of such intolerances has been brought on mainly due to the hybridization and genetic engineering of seeds and use of ever stronger pesticides.

 

[Maximinus Thrax]

We just discovered that my wife is gluten intolerant. After about 5 years of her suffering from constipation, bloating, upset stomach, migraines, and lack of energy, we decided to cut out wheat products for a while. Within 2 weeks, almost all symptoms were gone. Gluten intolerance is a real thing that can make your life absolutely miserable.

That being said, we don't expect anyone else to conform to our particular diet. When we go out to eat, she orders food without wheat products in them. She doesn't ever "special order" her food. She has just learned what foods to stay away from. She doesn't broadcast her condition either, like it makes her "cool". She has just learned to adapt.

Now, sometimes she does have a craving for bread and pasta. (she is a carb junkie) And sometimes she eats it anyway knowing full well that she will pay for it later. Like this morning she had a biscuit with her breakfast. Took about an hour for it to hit her. Once you cut out gluten from your diet, just a small amount of wheat product will cause discomfort.

My mother and my brother went through the same thing. The response to the diet change was most prominent in my mother who, immediately after switching to gluten-free (and sticking to it) was able to breathe better, was more energetic, and lost a bunch of weight. Now, if she has anything with gluten in it she gets very uncomfortable.

I've thought about getting tested for it but I don't have any issues with it so I'm not going to bother.

That being said, there's a distinct different between food intolerance and food allergies. The people who sparked this discussion are probably the intolerant crowd who sensationalize their problems and expect the world to conform to their needs without any personal effort or energy expenditure...

 

[Mad Macs]

My 7 year old is allergic to artificial coloring, specifically red. Try working around THAT. Not life threatening, however he turns into a psychopath if he eats something with it in it. For about 48 hours he runs around the house breaking stuff, hitting people, swearing, and won't sleep at all.

His allergy might not actually be red specifically but more directed towards petroleum based preservatives in our food. Don't even look into that aspect of our food if you enjoy eating at all.

 

[Polished515]

Kind of off subject but I feel it kind of makes sense to post since the main point of this has been "BS allergies and issues".
My son goes to a high end pre-school here in town. I say High End because it is more expensive than the others and people stay on waiting lists until their kids no longer need pre-school to get in. Whatever. Anyways, we were there waiting to speak to the teacher for our Quarterly meeting and my husband and I happened to look at an "Allergy list" posted on the wall where they had asked us to wait. Now normally I would turn away to avoid getting into anyone's business but once I read the first couple of "issues" that some of these kids had I couldn't stop myself. It was like watching an elephant and a giraffe fight it out on the corner of a street in a ghetto. You couldn't look away and none of it made any sense. These parents are literally turning these kids into nutcases.
"Daughter is not to be touched by anyone while eating" Is the kid going to bite someones face off?!
"Son is hostile towards other kids" Why the hell is this child in a class with my son?!
"Daughter can not have gluten, says she doesn't like the taste" Really? REALLY?!

I mean the things on this list were absolutely ridiculous. I think my son and maybe two other kids in the whole school were the only ones who didn't have "special instructions".
And honestly I think this is pretty normal now a days. So ya, not entirely about allergies but the point I am trying to make is that people are going crazy. The values of Americans has shifted so much and it's truly sad.
I'm just happy I still have a 9 year old daughter who still likes dolls and a 4 year old son who thinks being the good guy is the only option in life. Even my young niece and nephew are lost I think. This year for Christmas they asked me for a damn iPad. Like hell boys and girls, like hell.

 

[Llamaguy]

Even my young niece and nephew are lost I think. This year for Christmas they asked me for a damn iPad. Like hell boys and girls, like hell.

I'm pretty sure iPads have gluten in them.

 

[HeadlessRoland]

Monsanto: "We keep you alive."

 

[CountryBoy19]

I feel bad for people with Celiac disease because of glutenphobic people. My problem with non-gluten people is they often want to evangelize gluten-free as the cure for any problem you may have, as if gluten was truly the problem for everything, included ADHD of course.

So true.... my MIL is on a gluten-free kick? How did she discover she can't have gluten you ask? Because she heard about this diet where you eat a single food for 3 weeks and then gradually add things back in. She said she felt great until the week she added gluten back in and then "felt different". She took it back out and felt great. Sounds a lot to me like placebo effect but to each their own.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago I had a head-cold. I beat it, then exposed myself to some pretty frigid outdoor temps for an entire day of work outside. My head-cold came back. The instant diagnosis from my MIL was that it must be a gluten thing... I think I explained the cause quite well; it was a common head-cold but because she is on this gluten-free kick everything that is wrong with everybody else is "probably a gluten allergy"

 

[Leadeye]

Meh, been alive a long time, no meds, no special food. These days if you listen to tv it's hard to believe old people could have made it this far.

 

[dirtfarmerz]

Isn't it amazing that these life treatening illnesses which were rare or unheard of a generation ago have grown in to become common during a time that we started introducing more and more Genetically Modified food into our diets? Public schools used to SERVE Peanut butter sandwiches, now look how common deathly peanut butter allergies are.

When drug companies stuck to drugs, their chemical blunders only affected the people that took the medicine. Now they are screwing with the food supply and affecting everyone. Name one other product where the secrecy of their injection of chemicals in the food sold at the grocery is Federally protected. If something needs to be kept secret, it probably is not good. I am sure your grandma taught you that.

First those who want to enslave us took control of the food, now they are taking control of your healthcare. As soon as they take all your financial freedom away, you are now subjects, like hamsters running on THEIR wheel.

The next generation will not be as healthy as this generation. Children are getting sicker, not healthier. Autism has gone from 1 in 2500 to less than 1 in 80. That took about 28 years. 80% of the corn in this country is GMO. Soy will destroy your immune system and aspartame will do the same. You can thank Monsanto for all three. INGO's VN Vet posted a video of Ronald Reagan explaining how healthcare will be used to control us. Ronald Reagan knew it 50 years ago and so did the "bad guys" he was warning us about. Only sick people care about healthcare so it makes sense that the "bad guys" would figure out a way to make us sick. Think about when this started. "They" told us coconut oil was very bad for us so we were supposed to use the new oils, well, now those oils are bad for us, but the damage is done. Aspartame was approved, check out the link. "They" cannot usually change the way we think without a crisis. Most American families have someone in their family with health problems. "They" have created the crisis and they won't let it go to waste. I don't remember anyone that had a chronic illness or allergies when I was a kid. 50 years later it seems like there are more sick people than healthy. People that are healthy and have jobs will not look to the government for help; They fixed that.

The "bad guys" start early to guarantee success. Baby formulas and baby cereals contain unhealthy ingredients. Do the ingredients in the baby food label look like something a baby should eat? This stuff is almost the same as milk replacement given to calves. Those calves are sickly and require antibiotics to stay alive. Most of them would get pneumonia if not pumped up with antibiotics. It is worse now than years ago because the dairy feeds the mothers soy and hormones (BST) to keep their milk production high. Dairy cows are "burned out" in five years instead of the 12 to 15 years healthy cows, on grass, can produce. Then they feed the cows to our kids on the Federal Lunch Program.


Westonaprice.org has a lot of good information on why soy is so bad
Soy Alert! - Weston A Price Foundation

Soy in baby formulas
http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/news/20080505/bringing-up-baby-with-soy-formula

Realmilk.com has a lot of good information on why raw milk is so good
Home: THE FACTS ABOUT REAL RAW MILK | A Campaign for Real MilkA Campaign for Real Milk | A Project of the Weston A. Price Foundation

Aspartame Timeline:
How Aspartame Became Legal - The Timeline

Ronald Reagan warned us about how healthcare would be "sold" to us.
Reagan Warned Us About Obamacare » Eagle Rising

For all you hamsters on Statin Drugs
Consumer Alert: 300+ Health Problems Linked To Statin Drugs