Nearly 25 years ago, my mother was diagnosed with a severe gluten allergy. Gluten was responsible for her lifelong relationship with severely debilitating migraine headaches. She would come home from work, go upstairs and lay down, unable to function for the rest of the day. For years we watched her suffer while gluten slowly poisoned her system. Finally they tested her.
The doctor instructed my mother to cut out wheat, barley, oats, rye and soy. It was at least a couple of years before we found out that soy was not actually a problem but rather soy sauce, which is processed with wheat. All these years later, they are now saying oats are not an issue either. So, I set out to learn what had changed.
Apparently the gluten protein that is found in wheat is not the same protein found in oats. This is good news for the oatmeal loving Celiac who can't live without it. Despite this discovery, many doctors are still recommending no oats. The problem lies in the big word, feared by most food allergic folk -- "cross-contamination."
If a field of oats sits near a field of wheat, pollens can be blown in the wind from the wheat and end up in the oats, thus bringing gluten to the oats. Even if the oats grow all on their own, nowhere near wheat fields, the oats may well be processed on machinery that is also used to process wheat. Most gluten-allergic folks know that even trace amounts of gluten can cause a severe reaction.
These days, there are oats that boast they are gluten-free. The most popular brand is Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Oats. I have to interject that they must be pretty confident to print that on their labels because no one is willing to deal with being liable for false advertising - especially when it comes to food allergens that can kill people. My sister, who is a Celiac, raves about these oats and has never had a reaction from them.
Some doctors caution that oats should not be consumed within the first 6 months after a Celiac diagnosis. This period of time is most crucial for the bowel to heal from the destruction that gluten has wreaked upon it. After this time period, they recommend slowly introducing it back in to see how your body reacts.
My personal experience was that I could not consume oats at all for at least a year after I was diagnosed. Honestly, I have never been that big a fan of oatmeal anyway. But oatmeal raisin cookies are a different story. Yum!
I did what I always recommend to others. Try things, if you really want to, and see how your body reacts. If you are scared of trying something, the chemicals released into your body from the fear may actually inhibit your ability to assimilate the food. How you feel about what you're eating does actually have an impact on your entire system. Pay attention to that. Just know that, conversely, you can still love a food and not have it be welcomed by your body because your body, not your mind, perceives it as a toxin.
For more information on gluten and oatmeal, here's a link for you where you can find a list of different types of oatmeal and their gluten contents on Celiac.com.
Your food is your medicine. It heals you and keeps you healthy. Listen to your body and it will tell you what it likes and what it does not. Gluten-free oatmeal may just be the best thing for you!
For assistance in easily and painlessly eliminating gluten and dairy from your diet, my new cookbook Done With Dairy, Giving Up Gluten: 14 Days to a Delicious and Healthy You offers 14 days of recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert, a grocery list, grocery tips, and valuable information for going gluten and dairy-free. I've made it simple for you to make this change so you don't have to spend hours and days trying to figure out what to eat.
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