Gluten Free Business Update

We have decided that we're going to celebrate our 'big' Christmas on the Ukrainian holiday (January) and so my schedule just got a little easier... still, with a developing business I'm busier than ever... mostly trying to get all the computer stuff in place and working well.

Business notes (skip to bottom paragraph if not interested):

A couple of new tutoring book outlines are in the works. They'll come to fruition if I can only gather my scattered notes in one place. :embarrassed:

My website is slowly looking better and apparently loading fairly quickly on dialup. I'm presently working on getting the pages and buttons working.

It's a huge learning curve for me with all the code work and insertion capabilities that exist. There are also issues re: users having Vista or Firefox or Explorer. Kinks that will take me a while to work out.

In the meantime I'm also learning Access for my database and having a heckuva time with trying to make sure I do it all right the first time. As with all computer stuff, I think I just have to suck it up, input the info. and work out the bugs later (whether I like it or not).

I thought I'd have an easier time of it considering my background in using Lotus. I used to create automated business reports so that initial numbers could be inputted by frontline people and then the bottom numbers would just spit themselves out, thereby eliminating the issue of human calculation err. Even with this kind of background experience, I'm feeling extremely stunted.

Anyway, I thought I'd pick Access up much more quickly than I appear to be (I'm typically impatient with my learning speed though)... I can't imagine what this would be like for someone without any 'data creation' experience. No wonder it costs thousands of dollars to have someone else set up your website and databases!.. But with all the extra cost of 'special foods' - I'm trying to really keep costs down for my end users.

On the supplier front, I think that I've found my organic herb supplier, a Yu milk supplier and an organic rice supplier. I am still looking for a glass manufacturer that uses recycled glass to create end-products.

I've also found beeswax that is organic but not certified (which is the closest I can get after searching for a year)... So that's a *huge* plus because I have some difficulty making my lipbalms without it. I'd really like to find a better container than those plastic screw-up things that litter the planet. Hence, the glass supplier issue. Package development (on *so* many levels) seems to be an on-going business challenge!!

A couple of other projects on-line this month that, again, require a lot of new computer knowledge that I don't yet have. I don't want to jinx them by telling yet but as soon as I've got some product I'll let everyone know here (of course the free promos are always nice )... some fun stuff for end-users.

One project, I'm hoping will come to start-up in Jan/Feb. The other one will be about a year off though that I'm working through with a friend that lives across the country. It's interesting working in a partnership via computers. Alone, yet not.

My Yahoo group for Canada just recently picked up. I'm not really sure why or how they found me. As is typical of Canadians, they are polite and quiet. I guess the list service is kind of a nice thing... esp. for new people who don't know what to buy yet. I have a goal of listing 20 updates by the end of this calendar year. That's taking up some of my brain-space too (which companies/products are the most important to end-users) because I only have so much time and want to use it most productively.

My new facebook support group is on it's way... not super busy or anything but the people who are looking for support are slowly finding their way to me. As always, I will try to do my own bit of volunteer work for those who have food sensitivities and looking for info./recipes/etc.

Facebook seemed a good place to combine my business/networking with some volunteer time. I'm hoping it will help lead me to a glass manufacturer. (Yes, I can't get glassware off my mind... it takes up a corner of my mind every minute of the day and night. That's okay - I love a good challenge/puzzle! I'll come up with something - sooner or later!)

Anyway, if anyone here is on Facebook, look me up: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=564921318

After quickly proofing my notes above, no wonder my kitchen's not getting painted...

We're in the middle of a snowstorm this morning and so I'm taking a few minutes out (finally) just to check in here. George just came in... he's usually brown but looks like a snowdog now.
_________________
Kind regards,
KimS

01/02/2002 Even Small Amounts of Gluten Cause Relapse in Children With Celiac Disease 12/20/2002 The symptomatic and histologic response to a gf diet with borderline enteropathy (Docguide.com)

Oats: Love 'Em; Hate 'Em

I wouldn't touch oats with a ten foot pole (though I totally understand why people like them and want to keep them in their diet).

It was the one food that (during our total elimination diet) had my son writhing and screaming on the floor within 20 minutes of ingestion.

It's been at least five years since then and I've just never been able to bring myself to feed them to my family since then.

To top it off, about a year after our experience, I found a study that said even if there's no reaction, they cause intestinal inflammation even in a 'normal' intestinal tract (whatever that means).

So, though I miss oatmeal cookies... I'm definitely happier just playing it safe and leaving them out completely.

Resources:

Effect of an oats-containing gluten-free diet on symptoms and quality of life in coeliac disease. A randomized study.

Scandinavian journal of gastroenterology.Scand J Gastroenterol. 2004 Jan;39(1):27-31.Peräaho M; Kaukinen K; Mustalahti K; Vuolteenaho N; Mäki M; Laippala P; Collin P;

Increased expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 and mucosal adhesion molecule alpha4beta7 integrin in small intestinal mucosa of adult patients with food allergy.

Clin. Immunol. Jun;99(3):353-9.

Veres G, Helin T, Arato A, Färkkilä M, Kantele A, Suomalainen H, Savilahti E.
Hospital for Children and Adolescents, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.

How a Body Detoxes - Naturally...

One indicator I used to try and figure all this out were pop. culture beliefs with regards to losing weight. People do appear to lose weight on a calorie restriction diet on the surface. However, it if commonly noted that subsequent and often additional weight may be gained back later on.

This brought me to decide that calorie restriction is not the answer to obesity. So, if people aren't fat because they eat too much, then why are they overweight? The only answer I could come up with was that it is because of a buildup of toxins.

My final (for now) question ended up being, if I believe that people are heavier than they should be because they're toxic and not because they eat too much - then why would a 'conventional weight loss diet' (cwld) work?

Here are my thoughts:

The definition of junk food seems accurate to me, in conventional weight loss diets (cwld). Accurate but incomplete. And this is part of the reason that people will lose weight until they 'go off' the diet.

A person's list of 'junk food' needs to include individual sensitivities that play into their weight gain. For example, since I've had my children, my food sensitivity indicators increased (as often happens after childbirth). As these indicators increased, so did my weight.

Now, I'm not a calorie restrictive kind of girl because I just like my food too much. So, it was a real surprise to me that when pulled my 'dangerous ingestables' (di - gluten), I was able to actually lose a few pounds without trying and without calorie restriction. However, I wasn't feeling like the lithe, vigilant, vibrant human that I thought I should so I was wondering what else I should isolate.

I was also not feeling as good as I should have been because, although I lost many of my symptoms with removal of gluten, the small of my back kept hurting, especially at night when I was lying in bed.

Now, looking at my children, one of them has night time issues (multiple) if they consume too much dairy (see that ridiculous food pyramid to define 'too much').

So, I deleted all dairy and guess what... My diet is still high fat (coconut, nuts, eggs, meat, etc.) and high calorie but that last bit of weight fell off and I'm now back down to the weight that I was in highschool. I still eat chips on the weekend, popcorn on our special family t.v. night and chocolate bars around my period (which by the way causes my lower back pain to flare - yes, I still have my moments of idiocrity).

So, calorie restriction is not necessarily the 'working factor'. I say this because, if you reduce your calories, you also reduce the amount of 'dangerous ingestables' (di). The minute you give in to hunger pangs and eat something 'extra', you increase your di.

So, in my case, I did not decrease my calories - I just chose 'safe ingestables' (si) and made sure, freakishly so, that my si's were not laced - in any amount, with my di's (gluten, dairy and potatoes).

Please note, this also does not mean I was on a low carb diet. I was still ingesting all kinds of other vegetables, rice, twice a week (at least) and corn twice a week (at least, in the form of corn chips).

And voila - 5"4' and 115 lbs - Down from 134 lbs. No calorie restriction. No extra exercise.

Why would this work?

Well, my theory is that the body 'holds' water in order to dilute toxins/damage. Think about it:

When you get a cut, you get swelling.
When you get a bacterial infection, you get swelling.
When you get bruising, you get swelling.
Ever hear of water on the knee? Painful.
Ever hear people cracking their joints? What is it that they're popping out? Fluid.
Why do they crack their joints? In my case, it was because they got stiff. I used to crack my back, neck, fingers, knees and ankles. Now I don't have this need... and even when I've tried, I can't anymore. Why not? I think it's because I'm not retaining fluid anymore.

This leads to part 2 of my theory derived from pop culture beliefs on how to lose weight - exercise.

Yes, it uses up calories... but it also makes you sweat. If you sweat, you are purging your body of toxins.

When I was eating my di's all the time, I sweated a LOT. If I took out the vacuum, WATCH OUT! No kidding... we're talking flying sweatballs. I know TMI (too much information).

In highschool, I was on the speed swimming team and every morning through winter, we'd have a two hour practise. Back and forth, back and forth, sprints, etc. Almost every morning I got the weird feeling that I was actually sweating into the water. I now suspect that all this sweating was what kept me from being completely debilitated from joint stiffness and migraines. (Though by the time I was 18, the codeine pills I was getting from my local Emergency Room for migraines was helping too.)

Nevertheless, sweating is a natural detoxifier.

It has been used in many cultures for many centuries. One quick example is the Native Canadian/American practise of using a sweatlodge. Historically speaking, it has often been part of any 'friendship/merging' event. Everyone comes out calm, happy and agreeable. Why? They've sweated out their toxins and that makes for a happy brain.

What about the business 'deals' that are made today in what we now call 'saunas'. Same thing really.

The only problem is, it doesn't last very long if the deal-makers go out and gorge themselves on di's. Pretty soon the joint stiffness, grumpiness and everything-else-that's-bad comes back. Then they think, "I just need more sauna's."

There's no doubt that if you're sweating out toxins, you're probably losing some good stuff too. so re-hydrate and re-stock yourself with si's (safe ingestables) to max out the potential that a good sweat creates.

In my opinion, it is better to have some chicken soup instead of bread that laced with sugar and yeast. Or have a good wholesome juice drink, either homemade with lots of veggies and a few fruits for sweetening. Or, if store-bought juice choose organic if possible, with veggies included if possible and definitely with no sugar added.

If I'm really hungry afterward, I go after the avocados and nuts (while getting dressed or in the car on the way home); or a chicken dinner with cauliflower and green beans. This way I'm not refilling with di's and avoiding the need to speed up the timeline for my next good sweat. Also, my body seems to be in great 'absorption mode' and since I don't want it absorbing di's I make sure to only use si's for more reasons than I have time to list.

Now, I still sweat but not near as much. But perhaps it's because I don't need to. Interestingly enough, when I do sweat, it doesn't smell the same. Is it my odour that's changed or my smelling ability? I don't yet know. I'll write something about that when I feel like I've come to some fair conclusions.

References and good reads:

Components of practical clinical detox programs--sauna as a therapeutic tool.
Altern Ther Health Med. 2007 Mar-Apr;13(2):S154-6. Crinnion W.

Sauna-induced acceleration in insulin absorption from subcutaneous injection site.
Br Med J. 1980 Jun 14;280(6229):1411-3. Koivisto VA.

Benefits and risks of sauna bathing.
Am J Med. 2001 Feb 1;110(2):118-26. Hannuksela ML, Ellahham S.

Elimination Communication - Helpful to Identify Food Sensitivities in Infants

Though this is a great practise for greening our lives on this earth, it's also a valuable tool for establishing food sensitivities in babies.

In practising ec'ing (elimination communicating) you can actually see the colour, amount and stream of the infant's/baby's urine. This helps the caregiver to become more aware of which foods cause different colours and volume. Diapers leave caregivers completely unaware of these signs that are valuable in establishing the quality of a child's life.

One of the most important signs of a food sensitivity in an infant is something I call 'peequency'. This is, in my experience, the most valuable sign of all.

For example, if the nursing mother deletes dairy from her diet and the baby experiences lower peequency along with lower spit-up rates, then you've probably got a pretty good sign that dairy is not the best food for that baby.