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Concerns with Small Children

Getting a new diagnosis for yourself can be scary and challenging enough, but what about when it is for your child (or a child you care for)?! You love them and want the best for them, and it may have been hard to see them suffer with symptoms, and overwhelming to figure out how to manage life now that you know. It will be much easier for children who can recognize the connection between a gluten/grain exposure and yucky symptoms, and you can work with them to draw these connections. You can make a detective game out of it even, tracing the trail from the upset tummy (or migraine, or rash, or mood swings or whichever symptoms they are noticing) back to the exposure. Then talk about what could have been done differently to prevent it from happening next time. Continue reading “Concerns with Small Children”

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Resource for Educating and Recruiting Supporters

This is a letter that you can share with those who have offered to prepare food for you in hopes of providing a concise tool that you can use in such situations. This may also come in handy when traveling for a summer camp, yoga retreat, etc. Feel free to customize it to suit your own combination of allergies and sensitivities. I’ll write it for those needing to avoid “gluten”. Continue reading “Resource for Educating and Recruiting Supporters”

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Red Apple Lipstick – a review

If you have discovered that you have a medical reason to avoid gluten/grains, there are a daunting number of places to consider as possible sources for cross contamination. Makeup is one of these. You can read more about why this is an important source to consider here. If you think about it, many powders and pressed powders pouf into the air, which you breathe in, and eventually swallow some along with the mucus in your airways. Products that you put on your lips (or that are on the lips of those you like to kiss) are also of particular concern as they are easiest to lick off and swallow. I used to get eczema and horrible burning rashes from most makeup before I was diagnosed. I even noticed that when I used mascaras that contain gluten or corn, my eyes would twitch, burn, and itch. No fun at all! Continue reading “Red Apple Lipstick – a review”

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Signs, Symptoms, and Diagnosis

We started this website with the premise that you already had medical reason to avoid gluten, but what if you aren’t sure about that yet? I’ve included a massive list of gluten related illnesses in the Resources for this course, and as you can see, it honestly can affect ANY part of your body. In most cases where there is autoimmunity or chronic inflammation, there is an issue with gluten and/or its posse of cross reactors.

Continue reading “Signs, Symptoms, and Diagnosis”

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Down with the Pastryarchy – The Origin Story

You might be wondering how this website and e-course came to have the name “Down with the Pastryarchy”. Well, allow me to explain:

I love puns. Laughter is good medicine, and…
Gluten is pervasive and embedded in our culture, in much the same way as patriarchy is, so the play on words feels particularly appropriate. Some time in the mid 1900s, researchers and engineers decided it would be a good idea to make wheat grow on shorter stalks, with higher yield, to make stretchier dough, and bred the plants to be more resilient against the elements, and pests. The funny thing is that these more resilient plants are also more resilient to digestion, which means it is harder for us to get nutrients from them, and that they are more likely to cause irritation and inflammation on their way through our bodies. Continue reading “Down with the Pastryarchy – The Origin Story”