MrsPeel wrote:
I'd be really interested to hear from anyone who's tried gluten free and/or organic diets and your opinions on my thought bubble.
Bear with me with a little background?
Every now and then, when I've been having a hard time with illness and mental health and seemingly escalating autistic issues, I ponder whether there might be a dietary solution. The trouble is, I'm really not one to engage in diets (especially the strict types that cut out whole food groups). It's a combination of lacking time and energy, the need to cook meals acceptable to my kids, plus a natural skepticism as to whether benefits are anything more than a placebo effect. Plus, you know, coffee and doughnuts.
Anyway, I was feeling bad enough to consider what would be involved in cutting gluten (often mentioned as an autism treatment for kids) - but it all seemed so hard. No wheat, rye, oats, bread, pasta, biscuits... Besides which, it always seems a bit weird that so many of us should be suffering from gluten sensitivities, when our forebears had no such issues - and our cultural cuisine was based on a 'healthy' dose of daily bread.
With a bit of reading and further consideration, I'm wondering if the main culprit might in fact be pesticide residues? Isn't it the case that a lot of pesticides act as neurotoxins? Nowadays we know that the gut is like a 'second brain' and produces even more neurotransmitters, so it's easy to imagine that pesticide residues in food might affect it badly. Are these the root cause of the modern malady of 'leaky gut', which is allowing those nasty glutens and caseins into our systems?
So here is my thought bubble. Maybe by eating organic produce as far as possible, and in particular organic staples like bread and pasta, this could prevent 'leaky gut' - in which case I could still enjoy bread and milk (aka coffee and doughnuts) - in organic form.
Or is this just wishful thinking?
Discuss...
My gripe with 'gluten-free' products is they're so expensiive. But, once you've experimented with one month on gluten-free products, the 'investment' is worth it. You start to feel well. Since 2004, I haven't looked back, as a major UK supermarket started their own GF product line at reasonable prices, and it changed my life. And, I don't enthuse without justification!