Going Gluten-free Reduced My Daughter's Toxic Load but wasn't panacea
Monday, 16 August 2010 @ 10:10 AM
David Taylor-Klaus in celiac, child, cure, gluten, gluten-free, nutrition, parents

It’s a powerful feeling to hit a nerve - albeit a little shocking - and that seems to be what happened in my last column.  I am grateful for your positive feedback, your comments, stories, suggestions and willingness to revisit your own circumstances. My family was overwhelmed by your responses.  However, I have an uneasy feeling that my article led many to conclude that discovering the gluten issue was a "happy ending" to our family tale.

The truth is, we see it more like a "Happy Middle."  This is important:  removing gluten did a lot to improve my daughter's life but it was not a panacea for all of her challenges.   
 
My theory: going Gluten-Free reduced our daughter’s “toxic load.”  It enabled us to begin to address some of her other health challenges with less interference.
 
I am a woman of words, not science, and am the first to acknowledge that my theory is simply a laywoman’s explanation for the significant health changes we are seeing in our children, our peers and our parents.  I try to present it without getting on my soap box (or at least, I keep it brief). But I must add, also for the record, that I have found many medical doctors who concur with this theory.
 
So here it is, the Toxic Load theory: 
 
Each of us has an immune system that is designed to protect our bodies from enemy fire.  Generally speaking, this incredible system does a really great job, picking off the assassins one by one.  But in recent decades, the relative poisons of our chemically modified world have joined forces to wage an all-out war against our immune systems.  And the immune systems are beginning to buckle under the constant state of siege.
 
In other words, there is only so much load each body can handle before it becomes too much to bear.  That load limit is different for each of us.  And sometimes, the straw that breaks the camels back is not toxic, at all – it is simply an irritant, a fly that tickles your nose while you are carrying heavy bags of groceries.
 
When you remove one irritant to your system, your immune system is relieved to do its job with less trouble.  The hot spots will be different for each of us – mold, pollens, chlorine, foods, etc. – but the mechanism is the same.  In my opinion, we have so poisoned our food, water and air –gradually, and over a number a decades – that we are seeing our bodies react to friendly items – like milk and bread – as if they are inhospitable parasites.  And it is happening in increasingly alarming numbers.
 
Suffice it to say that extreme sensitivities – chemical and otherwise - continue to show up in our daughter’s life (just wait until we do a piece on mold allergies!).  We don’t know enough to tell, as Paul Harvey would say, “the rest of the story.”  We do know that, whatever it is, the next chapter is hers to write, when she is ready.
 
If you believe there is something going on in your body that is not readily explained by traditional medical examinations, here are some tips and guidelines for exploring whether foods (gluten or otherwise) or nutrition might be an underlying concern.
 
What I know now….
 
The information below is What I Know, gleaned from years as a parent advocate.  The following is not medical advice:
 
 
A few Gluten-Free specific tips: 

 


This blog also appears as part of my regular column on ShareWiK.com.

Article originally appeared on Touchstone Coaching clients overcome the overwhelm of growing a business & growing a family. (http://touchstonecoaching.com/).
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