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Medical adventures
Jun. 5th, 2007 08:02 amMy husband, Dave, has had unpleasant reactions to eating wheat for a number of years, and the condition has been worsening. He felt so much better when he went on a gluten-free diet that he decided to do some proper medical testing for celiac disease. In celiac, the villi of the small intestine are destroyed, so nutrients cannot be absorbed. Like other diseases, it can be mild or severe, and life-threatening.
Dave's tests (for the specific antibodies to gluten) came back yesterday, negative for celiac. He's very relieved he doesn't have to do the endoscopic exam (to confirm the intestinal damage by visual examination)! He'll continue to avoid gluten, but if we slip up, like forgetting to bring our tamari to the sushi restaurant -- regular soy sauce has wheat -- it's only his comfort and not his life that's at stake. Hooray!
We've pretty well adjusted to Life Without Wheat (although I have a stash of my favorite chewy wholegrain bread in the freezer, that I dole out to myself a slice or two at a time). A Canadian outfit named Tinkyada makes wonderful rice pastas, and there are some interesting soy pastas out there, too. It turns out that most quick bread/cake/cookie recipes turn out just fine with brown rice flour instead of wheat, and I'm experimenting with gluten free yeast breads (none so far are very good). Fortunately, oats seem to be okay, since oatmeal is our staple breakfast (oats are fine for most celiac patients, but oats are usually processed in facilities that use wheat, and even a dust speck of wheat can be injurious) and oat flour is delicious. Alas, Dave reacts to spelt and kamut, which are wheat cousins, very ancient grains. We'll have to check barley and rye (which most celiac patients can't handle); however, rice in all its glorious forms, millet, corn, quinoa (which, alas, he does not care for), soy and potato are all fine.
One of the luxuries of Boulder Creek is a good health food store, one of two markets. The other is our garden, which feeds us much of the year. Current harvest; the end of the asparagus, lots of purslane, turnip greens, mint-always-mint, an array of other herbs, a few turnips, winter squash and pumpkins from last year; still working on the green beans I froze last summer. Got some baby lettuce the other day. Must wait a month or more for the rest.
The added wrinkle is that Dave doesn't eat meat, and almost all the meat substitutes ("soysage") use wheat gluten for texture. There are a few exceptions -- including the "chicken tenders" form of Quorn and taro burgers.
Dave's tests (for the specific antibodies to gluten) came back yesterday, negative for celiac. He's very relieved he doesn't have to do the endoscopic exam (to confirm the intestinal damage by visual examination)! He'll continue to avoid gluten, but if we slip up, like forgetting to bring our tamari to the sushi restaurant -- regular soy sauce has wheat -- it's only his comfort and not his life that's at stake. Hooray!
We've pretty well adjusted to Life Without Wheat (although I have a stash of my favorite chewy wholegrain bread in the freezer, that I dole out to myself a slice or two at a time). A Canadian outfit named Tinkyada makes wonderful rice pastas, and there are some interesting soy pastas out there, too. It turns out that most quick bread/cake/cookie recipes turn out just fine with brown rice flour instead of wheat, and I'm experimenting with gluten free yeast breads (none so far are very good). Fortunately, oats seem to be okay, since oatmeal is our staple breakfast (oats are fine for most celiac patients, but oats are usually processed in facilities that use wheat, and even a dust speck of wheat can be injurious) and oat flour is delicious. Alas, Dave reacts to spelt and kamut, which are wheat cousins, very ancient grains. We'll have to check barley and rye (which most celiac patients can't handle); however, rice in all its glorious forms, millet, corn, quinoa (which, alas, he does not care for), soy and potato are all fine.
One of the luxuries of Boulder Creek is a good health food store, one of two markets. The other is our garden, which feeds us much of the year. Current harvest; the end of the asparagus, lots of purslane, turnip greens, mint-always-mint, an array of other herbs, a few turnips, winter squash and pumpkins from last year; still working on the green beans I froze last summer. Got some baby lettuce the other day. Must wait a month or more for the rest.
The added wrinkle is that Dave doesn't eat meat, and almost all the meat substitutes ("soysage") use wheat gluten for texture. There are a few exceptions -- including the "chicken tenders" form of Quorn and taro burgers.
