I never knew a single one. Not one! NO ONE in school had a “food allergy”.
Until maybe ten or fifteen years ago all this “food sensitivity” crap was unheard of.
Strange, don’t you think? How did society progress to this sorry point?
Actually, you're making a very good observation. Many scientists are trying to figure out what's triggering the immune systems of people living in Western countries.
More and more are buying into the "Hygeine Hypothesis". It's thought that we're too clean. Our bodies are designed to deal with dirty water, parasites, unwashed hands, etc. We've filtered the water, dewormed the entire Western world and introduced antibacterial soaps into every home. Now our immune systems have nothing to chew on, so it turns on us (autoimmune diseases) and over-reacts to everything (allergies).
Many, *many* people in my family are being diagnosed with Celiac disease. What's weird is that nobody can remember anyone having problems before the 1980's. Then people in every generation of my family all started getting sick at the same time. Suddenly everybody started having problems with gluten.
Years later and we've got hypothyroidism, type one diabetes, alopecia, Chrones disease, autoimmune peripheral neuropathy and more.
I don't know if something changed with the wheat or if something changed us, but it didn't seem to matter *where* you were in the world, if you were in my family, you got sick after 1980.
Some people think that it's a new, undiscovered virus (or an old one that's mutated) that's actually spreading through the population like a disease. People with certain genetic make-ups are susceptible, others are resistant.
Some people suspect vaccines, but I'm leaning away from that theory.
Whatever's going on, something is wrong.
Please don't think that people with Celiac disease are "picky eaters". We're really not.
I have a 31 inch waist. (I'm almost 40. What do you want! lol!) I ate a Kit Kat two days ago. It didn't hit me the first night and I didn't even think about what I did. Yesterday I was throwing up most of the day. Today my belly started to swell and I'm sitting here with a very uncomfortable 38" waist dealing with "other" unpleasant symptoms.
My son nearly died when he was just over a year old from Celiac disease. He lost 1/3rd of his body weight and had massive malnutrition. After just two weeks on an elimination diet, he was thriving.
I used to think that people with food intolerances were just being big babies. Now I know and I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
As far as people taking care of themselves, I couldn't agree more. I have a store of GF noodles, a LOT of rice, potato flakes and peanut butter set aside for a rainy day. YOu don't *need* special GF foods to live healthy as a Celiac. Rice, potatoes and grits are perfectly acceptable "filler" foods for poor Celiacs. The GF noodles, breads and cookies are a nice break, but not necessary.
Thanks for taking the time to provide that detailed insight!
FRegards
Recently, I ran across a site
Doug Kaufmann, on that site, blames many ailments on fungii, including autoimmune diseases.
I am currently budgeting to get some of his books and CDs.
Happy New Year.
“Many, *many* people in my family are being diagnosed with Celiac disease. What’s weird is that nobody can remember anyone having problems before the 1980’s. Then people in every generation of my family all started getting sick at the same time. Suddenly everybody started having problems with gluten.”
With me, I think I can trace it back to hernia surgery. There was an article in “Scientific American” a few months back that postulates what I did - that surgery-related antibiotics killed some key bacteria in my gut - the absence of which caused gluten sensitivity.
I dunno for sure, all I do know is that picky or not, I can’t eat gluten anymore. It’s not that hard to live with as more and more products are available. I do miss Guinness, though.