We Are The Lucky Ones (Believe It Or Not)

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tex
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We Are The Lucky Ones (Believe It Or Not)

Post by tex »

Hi all,

In a response to another thread,
Jessica wrote:"a disorder which makes it difficult to digest gluten" .... not too accurate!
Jessica obviously hit the nail right on the head there, because the fact of the matter is that absolutely no human can digest gluten. This is such an important point, and most people (especially most medical professionals) don't appear to even be aware of it, so I thought that I would start a new topic to discuss it in more detail.

For most people, the undigested peptides in wheat gluten (gliadin peptides and glutelins) just pass right on through their digestive systems, without causing any clinical symptoms. For folks such as us, though, our immune system recognizes those peptides as toxic (which they are — they're lectins), and it launches an attack on them, which causes collateral damage to our intestines.

The weird part of all this is that we're not the ones who have compromised/corrupt immune systems — it's so-called "normal" people who have the compromised immune systems, because their immune systems fail to identify a toxin. Ours correctly recognizes it. They are called normal, because they can tolerate gluten, and we are labeled as having a corrupt immune system, because we cannot tolerate gluten. But this is incorrect and it misses the whole point — humans were not designed to eat gluten. Gluten didn't even exist during the first million years or so of human evolution. Our immune system is simply telling us that we shouldn't eat that stuff, and as long as we don't eat any, we are fine.

So-called "normal" people are in an unfortunate position, due to their compromised immune system, because they have no reason to even suspect that the gluten they are consuming is slowly deteriorating their health, and allowing them to be susceptible to the development of cancer, diabetes, and other major diseases. We are the lucky ones, because our immune system is telling us to stop eating that stuff before it kills us.

The average medical professional would probably rate this line of thinking as inaccurate and downright goofy, but I have no doubt that the day will come when they will have to admit that I am right on target, because others (who are willing to think out of the box) are beginning to come to the same conclusion, and I believe that we may be on the brink of an epiphany/revolution, or whatever you want to call it, in the way that we think about the food that we eat. IMO, the human race has been committing autogenocide, ever since the advent of the neolithic period of history, roughly 10,000 years ago, when we first created wheat, and made it a staple in our diet.

Tex
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It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Post by JFR »

Tex,

I tell myself that eating the way I do is a gift that I give myself rather than a deprivation. I truly believe it and it helps me to resist temptation. My daughter-in-law dropped my granddaughter here at 6:00AM so she could get to a meeting on time. My granddaughter came along with some oatmeal for me to make her for breakfast. I gave it to her but I didn't feel good about it. She then finished off the pint of Ben and Jerry's that has been in the freezer since the last time she was here. All of it feels like poison to me now but I am not in charge of her diet. I then dropped her off at school so I am not spending the day feeding her foods I don't eat. I am lucky to live alone and not have to deal with other people eating what I don't eat. I must admit that the Ben and Jerry's in my freezer tempted me but not enough to risk it. We are lucky. The fact that something might be "normal" does not mean that it is good for you.

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Post by AntiLC »

Deviating slightly, yesterday on Dr. Oz, they were discussing that too much lactose (3-4 servings of dairy a day) could possibly be contributing significantly to ovarian (and other) cancer risk. Got me to thinking in that, along with many here, I'm lactose intolerant. I have used the enzymes to help, but perhaps the take away here is perhaps my body was simply trying to protect itself and I wasn't listening.

I think there is a lot of truth to what Tex says when he says "We are the lucky ones, because our immune system is telling us to stop eating that stuff before it kills us. "
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Post by tlras »

Tex,

That is extremely interesting to me so much that I'm going to have to print it out. We have a local doctor in Sugarland, Tx...his name is Dr. Osborne who first enlightened me in regards to gluten and humans not being able to digest them. In fact, he said all grains are like that. That's why it's best to go grain free if we can. He's a gluten/Celiac specialist and his youtube videos are very interesting. Definitely makes me want to give up my corn products as well.

As far as dairy goes, whether I produce antibodies for it or not, I will never eat it again. It's a very high inflammatory food. I can now see that once I get my gut healed, I will be eating so much healthier.

I do unfortunately have gluten products in my house because my husband refuses to do without. He also loves his ice cream, which tortured me at first but now I just look at it as poison and it just disgusts me.

Terri
Diagnosed with Lymphocytic Colitis in July, 2012 then with Celiac in November, 2012.
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Post by JenniferS »

Tex, what an interesting way of looking at it.
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Post by gluten »

Hi Tex, You are 100% correct. When, speaking to g-f support groups I always tell them they are the lucky ones. Jon
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Post by tex »

Terri wrote:which tortured me at first but now I just look at it as poison and it just disgusts me.
You're a quick study. It took me longer to realize that was the correct way to think about it, but now it's automatic. Last night I was obligated to go to an awards banquet (I was obligated since I was expected to present one of the awards), and it didn't bother me at all to sit there sipping a glass of tea, while everyone else there consumed their daily dose of poison. LOL.

Yes, I'm aware of Dr. Osborne's work — he's definitely one of the enlightened physicians.

Tex
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It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Post by tlras »

Will see how my first holidays go without my gluten and dairy. I went to a wedding 3 weeks ago and actually craved the cut up fruits and veggies and the cake just made me feel yucky just looking at it. I only ate a little bit of pineapple, mushrooms and cucumber. Even later when people were walking around with plates of cake, all I could think about was getting into some more pineapple...lol!

Terri
Diagnosed with Lymphocytic Colitis in July, 2012 then with Celiac in November, 2012.
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Post by Gabes-Apg »

When people question my ?willpower to be able to stick to my simple, minimal ingredient eating plan, i reply 'why would i knowingly eat or drink something that is like a poison to my body?'

I dont have to say anymore, generally by that stage people either withdraw because the concept is too hard or they realise that what i am doing is not a novelty or a fad diet.

moreso, in the past couple of months, i have quite a few work colleagues trying to elminate soy from their lives,they are interested in where i buy my soy free products. !!! the evilness of GMO ingredients is getting uptake
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Post by Polly »

Hmmmmm, Tex,

I couldn't agree more with what you said. It's exactly what I've meant in the past when I said that I believe I have a "hyper-reactive" immune system. If I recall correctly, though, didn't you disagree and say that you thought our problem was an under-reactive immune system? Once when I spoke with Dr. Fine, he said that he felt we had genetically superior immune system responses, and that, as a result, we were able to fight infectious disease better than others. Of course, we also identify and fight toxins better too.

I keep reading more and more about the very real dangers of eating grains. I was reading an excerpt from "Wheat Belly" by the physician author, and he believes that the primary cause of the diabetes epidemic as well as cardiac risk factors is grains (not just wheat but grains in general).

Love,

Polly
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Post by tex »

Polly wrote:If I recall correctly, though, didn't you disagree and say that you thought our problem was an under-reactive immune system? Once when I spoke with Dr. Fine, he said that he felt we had genetically superior immune system responses, and that, as a result, we were able to fight infectious disease better than others. Of course, we also identify and fight toxins better too.
Yes, I believe that under-activity of our immune system contributes to the development of MC, but by under-active, I was referring to an apparent inability to produce adequate numbers of T-Reg cells (regulator T cells). If we produced an adequate supply of them, they would limit the number of killer T cells, thereby preventing the T cell response from escalating to a state of chronic inflammation.

Obviously my initial post in this thread is in total agreement with Dr. Fine's statement (IOW, I too believe that we have a genetically superior immune system). However, remember that the term "genetically superior" does not in any way imply that our immune system is overactive. It merely means that our immune system is more responsive (to a broader spectrum of pathogens). At least that's how I would interpret the term.

We seem to be in agreement, aren't we? We're making the same argument, but we're using different terminology. LOL.

Love,

Tex
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It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
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Post by DebE13 »

Thank you for the wonderful explanation Tex- I still have a hard time feeling like I'm lucky :grin: but I know you are absolutely right.
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Post by MBombardier »

Many have commented (including me) how few colds or other illnesses we experience. It seems to be a benefit of our hyper-active immune systems.

Terry, give your husband time. A few of us have husbands who have "seen the light," including mine. He still eats gluten from time to time, but I attribute that to the addictive qualities of gluten and sugar to someone who doesn't experience the intense discomfort from consuming them that we do.

Speaking of the addictive qualities of gluten, I have decided to start a gentle ribbing (depending on how good a friend it is) about not giving up gluten when someone obviously needs to. I think it can speak to their competitiveness. Sort of reverse psychology, maybe. The other day I was joking how people act like you are asking for their first-born son when you suggest they cut gluten out of their diets.
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