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. The brilliant powers that be then decided that they would publish a food guide promoting grains as the basis of the human diet, and use their additional surplus of wheat as filler in any and every product they could possibly work it into. They didn’t stop at pasta, bread, beer, and dumplings, but kept going until it was in everything from chewing gum to toothpaste and hand soap! There was no long term research, no informed consent, no consideration of the implications. Suddenly, as if by magic, more and more people started to become unwell, developing autoimmune conditions (including Celiac disease) at rates that seem to multiply with each passing generation.
I, for one, am not impressed, and want to see this pattern end in my generation.
So DOWN WITH THE PASTRYARCHY, I say!
It is my hope that this website and the e-course will be able to function as valuable tools to equip those who have realized that gluten and/or grains are holding them back from being their healthiest, most joyful, strong, abundant selves. Together we can break down the misconceptions and lies that have been swallowed for generations, recognize the foods that nourish and heal our bodies, and replace the Pastryarchy with Health, crumb by crumb.
But why me? Why am I doing this?
Because I love being able to connect people with the information, tools, and resources that make their lives easier and leave more space for joy. It’s that same thing that drew me to become a Social Worker and a Doula. I love being able to support people through periods of transition in their lives. They are some of the most daunting, overwhelming, scary places to be, but they are also some of the most exciting opportunities to grow, discover new parts of ourselves that we didn’t know were there, new strengths, unexpected resilience, new relationships, and an opportunity to redefine who we want to be after we turn the page on this chapter in the story. It has meant the world to me to have loving, compassionate, empathetic, supportive humans come along side me in these periods of my life, and I hope to be able to extend that support to you. This stuff is hard, so let’s hold space and show up for one another with kindness and compassion as we find our way through it.