You Ruined Christmas. | Glutastic.com

Glutastic Post

You Ruined Christmas.
April 16th, 2009 | caitlin | Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: Avenue Magazine, Gluten Free, Gluten Free Calgary, Gluten Free Living, Leaky Gut Syndrome

Damn you.

You’ve ruined Christmas for Jacquie Moore.

How dare you have a gluten allergy. How dare you be the reason she can’t participate in a cookie exchange. Don’t you know that your Celiac Disease is actually just leaky gut syndrome? Well, she wants you to apologize for ruining her Christmas, she wants you to know that you are just a product of mass marketing and the Atkin’s diet. And she has an expert that wants you to know that you would have known at the age of 4 that you have Celiac, so if you didn’t march up to your mom and demand blood tests at 4, you’re simply over reacting.

Nope, I’m not pulling your leg. This is actually what Jacquie Moore wants you to know. Just ask Avenue Magazine that posted her article titled:

Gluten-Free Diets: You Are What You Wheat: Consumers are blaming a little ol’ protein for their beset bowels, bloating and other intestinal havoc. But is gluten getting a bad rap?

This article is full of little gems. In response to the fall of her Christmas cookie exchange, due to people observing a gluten free diet, she says this:

“Perhaps we should have stepped up, in the spirit of the season, with a flexible, “Heck, let’s make it a gluten-free Christmas!” But, to be honest, I was a tad put out. If I was going to go to the trouble of producing my share of the holiday bounty, then traditional baking – based on good old-fashioned unbleached wheat flour – was what I wanted in return for my labour. “Quinoa” and “xanthan gum” gingerbread sounded to me about as festive as rum-less nog.”

On behalf of Celiac’s everywhere, I’d like to apologize for making your life hard. Next time I have to celebrate a birthday sans cake, and the next time I spend $8 on a loaf of bread, I’ll think of how inconvenient I have made life for you. Sorry.

Speaking of spending $8 on a loaf of bread. I can stop doing that now. Because according this article, I’m just a product of mass marketing.

“Granted, there are, and probably always have been, some people who do not thrive on wheat, but one must still ask whether the current extent of the gluten-free lifestyle isn’t largely the effect of the hand of the market, ever eager to spoonfeed consumers as much of their latest fear as they can stomach.”

Yup, I’m just a spoonfeed consumer who has all the disposable cash in the world, so I’m buying into their propaganda and spending three times the amount on bread as most people. Thank you for clearing that up.

If this is all sounding a little outrageous, it’s okay, a Professional was consulted for the article. Yup, a herbalist – Dr. Terry Willard, clinical herbalist and founder of Calgary’s Wild Rose Wholistic Clinic and College to be exact. And he agrees that we are all a little nuts over this.

“If a person is truly celiac, they usually know it by the time they are four years old because they’re malnourished, throwing up whenever they have a flour product – meaning it is a genetic disease,” he says. “Some people can have mild cases later in life, but it’s rare to have it badly late in life.” In his clinical experience, Willard has found that “about 50 percent of people who think they have celiac actually have leaky gut syndrome.”

Oh, that makes way more sense. Since I wasn’t diagnosed as a toddler, I just have leaky gut syndrome. Forget the blood tests, forget the tube down my throat, and forget the black circles that plagued the bottoms of my eyes for years. I have leaky gut.

Don’t get me wrong. I think herbalists play an important role in health care. I also think that a journalist taking on a topic of this magnitude should consult the scientific community. Maybe talk to a Gastrointestinal Specialist, a General Practitioner, I mean geez, what about talking to Horatio Kane – he can solve any mystery. Maybe before dismissing us, she should have spoken to the doctors that deal with diagnosing us regularly.

I’ve been sitting on this little gem for a week or so now. It’s not that I’ve been hiding it from you; it’s simply that I was having a hard time blocking the hole in my brain mouth filter. Everything I’ve had to say about this article comes out sounding a little like an angry white girl rant. And I think that you can’t really respond to bad journalism with bad blogging – it doesn’t get us anywhere. So if I come across sounding harsh, I apologize, I’ve done as much editing as I can.

If you have something to say in response to this article, please contact Avenue Magazine. I think they need to hear from the people who have ruined Christmas.

PS Thank you to the fabulous readers of this site. I love your contributions and comments. You keep me going!

More Glutastic!

« Running in Hail. For the Cook In Your House »

13 Comments to “You Ruined Christmas.”

Rhett Soveran
April 16th, 2009 at 1:01 pm

Well, I thought it was a well-written rant. Though I am not one of you Christmas-ruiners, I am distressed by this level of “investigative” journalism.

Dr. Jean Layton
April 16th, 2009 at 1:46 pm

Caitlin,
Maybe we should just invite her along to our next Gluten Intolerance Group xmas cookie exchange? Then she can listen to everyone talking about how much better they feel following a gluten free diet. Or even how exhaustively they attempted to get diagnosed correctly. Do you know the current stats on years to diagnosis is 12? Or that most celiacs see at least 5 doctors prior to diagnosis.
As for her herbalist, you can find a professional who is willing to support almost any idea if you look long enough.
Thanks for your sense of humor about this and bake on!
Jean

Lynds
April 17th, 2009 at 3:04 am

Doesn’t sound much like journalism to me – it irks me when editors decide to run rants that are filled with quips about personal experiences and one-sided conclusions.

It’s also pretty common in health reporting to see journalists quote herbalists and other new-age-type practitioners. This is because they couldn’t find an expert that would back up their spin on the story.

This might make you feel better? (I don’t know if you’ve seen it already…) http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/

Karen K
April 17th, 2009 at 7:55 am

All I can say is WOW. I would be interested to hear from her “so called friends” that follow a GF diet and what their reaction to her article was.

I must admit that there is a certain hype around the diet and I have come across people that are not Celiac or should I say have not been diagnosed that are following it. If it makes them feel better who am I to judge… I wish I could have the odd bit of gluten on those special days.

Karen K
April 17th, 2009 at 7:56 am

Oh, forgot to say Well Put Caitlin

Loved your rant,

H.Peter
April 20th, 2009 at 6:30 am

Great Post.
I had to link you in my Blog.

Cindy K
April 20th, 2009 at 2:20 pm

Yeah!!! Way to go Caitlin! Your rant was so much better than mine on the actual Avenue Magazine website… you are one amazing Gluttie, and I’m happy to know you… well e-know you anyway

Ta,
Cind

caitlin
April 20th, 2009 at 2:33 pm

Hi Cindy.

Mutual appreciation and admiration on this one. You were a big help in getting this post going.

Cheers,
Caitlin

gfe-gluten free easily
April 20th, 2009 at 6:00 pm

So much misinformation and such an attitude. Chances are Jacquie is sensitive to gluten herself, that’s why she’s so darn irritable!

The statements by the herbalist were particularly erroneous. Three things have to be present for celiac to develop: celiac genes, a diet that includes gluten, and a trigger. That trigger can happen ANY time in life. It could be an illness, an environmental toxin exposure, a pregancy, etc. Those triggers don’t always happen before the age of 4. Furthermore, I was told by Lorretta Jay of the NFCA that celiac testing isn’t particularly accurate for children under 5.

These types of articles incense me. I think there’s really so much of this type of “journalism” these days and it really sets back awareness. This type of blabber is part of the reason that 97% of individuals with celiac remain undiagnosed.

Shirley

Glutastic's Mom
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:27 pm

And from ‘The Mother’ – can I just say to the herbalist – you should know a Gluten Allergy at 4??? Pretty bright at the age of 4 – Glustastic Caitlin could tell me she loved to dance, liked to sing (off-key), hated T-Ball, thought the Care Bears were God’s gift to small girls and her favorite daycare days were the ones on which they served either Shephard’s Pie or Mac and Cheese for lunch ..what she couldn’t tell me was that her favorite foods were making her lethargic and at times quite ill – it then took 22 years and numerous doctors to determine that she did not have asthma, ulcers or a negligent mother who did not feed her enough vegetables(to account for the dark circles under her eyes)- so Mr. Herbalist, when you can figure out how to get 4 yr olds how to diagnose their bodies reactions to food – please write a book – it will be a bestseller.
Don’t even know where to start on responding to the Cookie Journalist – but that’s why we let Glutastic take care of that for us……and, yes, she learned to rant from her Mother who didn’t and doesn’t do it too often – just when it’s absolutely necessary to deal with people who have no common sense or empathy for others who are not ‘just like them’.

Margo
April 24th, 2009 at 8:54 am

Truth be told, I’m one of the ‘other ones’.
I am not Celiac but do have yeast sensitivity and wheat allergy. As such I do best when I avoid all contact with yeast filled and fermented products -as well as anything containing wheat. My symptoms are mildly digestive but mainly show up as chronic ear and sinus infections, hives, headaches and general ill feeling.

caitlin
April 24th, 2009 at 9:32 am

Hi Margo.

I think we’ll keep you as one of our own! I imagine that your struggle with yeast and wheat is just as challenging as a gluten issue. I don’t know who has the raw deal here: us with digestive, or you with hives and headaches. Maybe we’ll call it a draw and a mutual admiration society.
Caitlin