Gluten free, happy me! :)
I didn't write much during/about my last and final prolonged stay at home17. I felt very poorly for 6 days and mostly sat in my room watching Private Practice and sometimes in bed, sleeping with it playing on my netbook beside me. Because I was feeling so ill, it got me concerned about my condition again (wondering why I have it, what triggers these bad spells). One day I was browsing facebook and came across an article one of my chronically ill friends had linked to- about how gluten intolerance (note NOT celiac but 'gluten sensitivity') doesn't necessarily cause gastrointestinal symptoms but can cause NEUROLOGICAL ones. You know, things like what I have.
So then I started thinking, maybe I was feeling so bad because I'd been eating a LOT of oats. Oats are one of the least 'bad' gluten containing products but they do contain some and I'd been eating a LOT of flapjack- the lovely stuff Lee makes on holiday and then my Mum had made me some too.
Another thing that I'd noticed but never put down to the oats was I often need a no.2 not long after eating Lee's flapjack. I put that down to maple syrup but now I was thinking along these gluten sensitive lines, I thought maybe that was a symptom of the sensitivity.
In the article it mentioned people with chronic fatigue and even POTs improving! And also the scary things about what it can do to you if you don't stop eating it- how you don't absorb nutrients from other foods and how gluten sensitivity is actually more dangerous and debilitating than celiac disease because once people with celiac are diagnosed they KNOW they can't eat gluten so their intestines recover whereas with gluten sensitivity- especially the 'silent' almost symptomless type, your intestines are continually being damaged and so you never get chance to recover and it can lead to bone problems, hormone problems, neurological problems- all sorts of problems as well as shortening life expectancy.
I was really really upset though at the thought of giving up ALL gluten- because I love Lee's flapjack so much. However, I discovered gluten free oats and yesterday Lee got some from Sainsbury's for me and he cooked a batch of flapjack with my gf oats alongside his normal ones. As it was cooking, he told me it didn't work because the maple syrup didn't spread over the oats like it does on his, it just went into lumps and coagulated. The oats looked like they hadn't toasted either, they looked dry and floury and with these lumpy bits in them- so I was expecting a huge disappointment and having to throw them out and I'd have likely ended up eating oats with Lee again because I'm just so weak when it comes to food I really like and having given up sugar and biscuits (and crisps to an extent, I just eat those when I visit home17 or if I'm hungry on a night out, or at a buffet) I was gutted to be losing my one last sweet, crunchy treat as what I miss most of all on this diet is not the taste of sweet, but the texture of crunchy along with sweet- like biscuits! The oats are a perfect substitute for that and so pleasurable on a Saturday night when me and Lee are relaxing together. I just didn't want to lose that altogether! So I started thinking to myself, maybe I'm being overcautious, maybe I don't need to give up gluten, I had tests and wasn't celiac so maybe I'm taking things too far in my quest to get better...
BUT thankfully I can stick to it because I tried my oats and they were LOVELY!!!! The bits where the syrup had coagulated were extra browned and crunchy and the rest of it was slightly crunchy and a little chewy too- and just as sweet as the syrup despite not spreading had flavoured it all! In fact I'll go so far as to say in many ways I enjoyed it MORE than the regular kind- because it didn't get stuck in my teeth like that does. Also, a great advantage is when I've had enough to eat of them, I can save the rest with no greedy lugs pinching them hahaha! Since, when me and Lee shared the same batch- he'd have waaaaay more than me and there'd never be any left over, plus I used to overeat them because I wanted to try and get my fair share coz I knew if I didn't match him in quantity at the time- he'd end up going back for more and there wouldn't be any left for me the next day. So having my own batch separate means what I don't want to eat that night I can have the next day! It works out fantastically so I'm very happy about it.
I'm settling in nicely to life here- the first full day I was here (Thursday 5th September) it was a really hot, sunny day! Friday (yesterday) it chucked it down with rain all day so we've had two very different days. Today it's sunshine and showers and not very warm so rather than sitting outside at the moment I'm sitting on the floor beside the patio doors so it's nice and warm like a conservatory :-)
All my things are here now, including my acers which I am going to arrange in the garden soon and take pics. Aside from one argument the night I arrived (Wednesday) because he was in a bad, distant mood which made me feel very upset as I had wanted a welcome and a bit of excitement from him- me and Lee have been getting along great and enjoying one another's company with just the right balance of alone time too- thanks to him golfing this morning and him doing trading in the office while I did jobs relating to online banking and supply teaching, as well as watching Private Practice.
It's become really sunny outside now so I'm going to make the most of it and go and organise my plants! :)
So then I started thinking, maybe I was feeling so bad because I'd been eating a LOT of oats. Oats are one of the least 'bad' gluten containing products but they do contain some and I'd been eating a LOT of flapjack- the lovely stuff Lee makes on holiday and then my Mum had made me some too.
Another thing that I'd noticed but never put down to the oats was I often need a no.2 not long after eating Lee's flapjack. I put that down to maple syrup but now I was thinking along these gluten sensitive lines, I thought maybe that was a symptom of the sensitivity.
In the article it mentioned people with chronic fatigue and even POTs improving! And also the scary things about what it can do to you if you don't stop eating it- how you don't absorb nutrients from other foods and how gluten sensitivity is actually more dangerous and debilitating than celiac disease because once people with celiac are diagnosed they KNOW they can't eat gluten so their intestines recover whereas with gluten sensitivity- especially the 'silent' almost symptomless type, your intestines are continually being damaged and so you never get chance to recover and it can lead to bone problems, hormone problems, neurological problems- all sorts of problems as well as shortening life expectancy.
I was really really upset though at the thought of giving up ALL gluten- because I love Lee's flapjack so much. However, I discovered gluten free oats and yesterday Lee got some from Sainsbury's for me and he cooked a batch of flapjack with my gf oats alongside his normal ones. As it was cooking, he told me it didn't work because the maple syrup didn't spread over the oats like it does on his, it just went into lumps and coagulated. The oats looked like they hadn't toasted either, they looked dry and floury and with these lumpy bits in them- so I was expecting a huge disappointment and having to throw them out and I'd have likely ended up eating oats with Lee again because I'm just so weak when it comes to food I really like and having given up sugar and biscuits (and crisps to an extent, I just eat those when I visit home17 or if I'm hungry on a night out, or at a buffet) I was gutted to be losing my one last sweet, crunchy treat as what I miss most of all on this diet is not the taste of sweet, but the texture of crunchy along with sweet- like biscuits! The oats are a perfect substitute for that and so pleasurable on a Saturday night when me and Lee are relaxing together. I just didn't want to lose that altogether! So I started thinking to myself, maybe I'm being overcautious, maybe I don't need to give up gluten, I had tests and wasn't celiac so maybe I'm taking things too far in my quest to get better...
BUT thankfully I can stick to it because I tried my oats and they were LOVELY!!!! The bits where the syrup had coagulated were extra browned and crunchy and the rest of it was slightly crunchy and a little chewy too- and just as sweet as the syrup despite not spreading had flavoured it all! In fact I'll go so far as to say in many ways I enjoyed it MORE than the regular kind- because it didn't get stuck in my teeth like that does. Also, a great advantage is when I've had enough to eat of them, I can save the rest with no greedy lugs pinching them hahaha! Since, when me and Lee shared the same batch- he'd have waaaaay more than me and there'd never be any left over, plus I used to overeat them because I wanted to try and get my fair share coz I knew if I didn't match him in quantity at the time- he'd end up going back for more and there wouldn't be any left for me the next day. So having my own batch separate means what I don't want to eat that night I can have the next day! It works out fantastically so I'm very happy about it.
I'm settling in nicely to life here- the first full day I was here (Thursday 5th September) it was a really hot, sunny day! Friday (yesterday) it chucked it down with rain all day so we've had two very different days. Today it's sunshine and showers and not very warm so rather than sitting outside at the moment I'm sitting on the floor beside the patio doors so it's nice and warm like a conservatory :-)
All my things are here now, including my acers which I am going to arrange in the garden soon and take pics. Aside from one argument the night I arrived (Wednesday) because he was in a bad, distant mood which made me feel very upset as I had wanted a welcome and a bit of excitement from him- me and Lee have been getting along great and enjoying one another's company with just the right balance of alone time too- thanks to him golfing this morning and him doing trading in the office while I did jobs relating to online banking and supply teaching, as well as watching Private Practice.
It's become really sunny outside now so I'm going to make the most of it and go and organise my plants! :)