Gluten Intolerance – the confusing delay in symptoms

It took me forever to figure out, and then accept, that I have a non-Celiac gluten intolerance.   And I’m not alone.  About 5% of the population has gluten intolerance, and only a fraction of those people have Celiac.  The rest of us struggled along for years eating bread here and there, trying to figure out if we always felt like crap after eating bread, or if maybe our symptoms were related to something else we ate.  One of the reasons it can be so hard to “swallow” the idea that you might be gluten-intolerant is that the symptoms don’t necessarily come immediately after eating wheat.  Sometimes symptoms don’t occur until as much as 2 or 3 days after consuming wheat. 

If you eat a piece of bread and feel fine until the next evening, you’re more likely to blame your symptoms on whatever you ate for lunch on the day you started feeling bad.  But if you keep a food journal you can track whether your symptoms always come after you’ve eaten wheat. 

What are the symptoms of gluten intolerance?

-Bloating and stomach cramps
-Diarrhea, flatulence, constipation
-Tiredness, lethargy
-Headaches, memory problems
-Depression and anxiety
-Frequent illnesses such as colds and bacterial infections
-Joint and inflammation problems
-Eczema, itching, dandruff

Note that when you give up gluten it can take a couple of days to get relief from symptoms.  But once the gluten starts leaving your system your body will experience dramatic reductions in the symptoms.

Some good resources to check out:

http://www.foodintol.com/wheat-gluten-sensitivity/gluten-intolerance-symptoms

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20120220/gluten-sensitivity-fact-or-fad?page=2

http://gluten.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/allergies-and-intol-06-2011.pdf

Dog-to-English translator, and life on Mars

In case you haven't learned anything interesting this week, here's something cool you can tell your friends:

A group of Scandinavian scientists are developing a translator that will read your dog's thoughts and tell you what he/she is thinking:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25559116

Also, 1,000 candidates have been selected from amongst 200,000 applicants to be tested to see if they're fit enough--mentally and physically--to receive a ONE-WAY trip to Mars in 2025:
http://news.yahoo.com/mission-shortlists-over-thousand-candidates-life-mars-163024347--sector.html

Reflections on my former 4AM antics (like riding on taxicabs), and what they mean to me in 2013

Five years ago, I was intimately familiar with the 4AM hour.  I saw that hour at least once a week as I reveled tipsily through New York City with friends, riding on taxicabs and making late-night tents on fire escapes.  Those were wild and joyful days. 

These days I rarely see 4AM.  I’m chagrined by what a lightweight I am compared to my former self. Four drinks in, I start to yawn.  Most nights, I’d rather stay in and watch Bridesmaids with a friend and a martini than go out and dance on a table.  I haven’t climbed up an illegal fire escape in many years.  Instead I climb rocks, secured by ropes, completely sober, in broad daylight.  I guess this is called “growing up,” something I once vowed never to do. 

On the up side, as I’ve “grown up” a little I’ve also shaved away much of the layer of anxiety that I wore like a second skin throughout my 20s.  I try to replace grudges with gratitude, and I view the amount of love in my life as a measure of success.  These new perspectives make me feel old, but they also make me feel like I’ll probably live a lot longer than that scrappy, angsty 20-something Me. 

I’d still like to hang out with Me circa 2007 for a night, because that Me was spectacularly fun.  But she also ended up crying behind a dumpster on her 30^th birthday, so, really, it’s probably best for her to keep her head planted in the sand. 

But I’ll take some lessons from that version of Me.  Like her, I will try to fill my life with people who wring every molecule of joy and frolic from every day.  I will try to live life as lovingly, and ebulliently, as possible.  And, if there’s enough fun and mischief in the air, I’ll drink enough caffeine to punch down my yawns so I can see what 4AM brings. 

Young man comes out to his mom and videotapes it

This is so beautiful.  The young man in the below video tells his mom that he's gay for the first time, and videotapes it.  Their interaction is incredibly touching.  This video has moved me:

Dogs appear to have a sense of pitch

Everybody knows that when a dog or wolf hears other animals howls, he/she may join in the howling chorus.  Scientists have recently suggested that these howlers also have a sense of pitch.  But they don't have the same notion of pitch that humans do.  When a wolf joins in a chorus, it intentionally tries to land on a note different from everyone else in the chorus, apparently reveling in the discordant sound it's creating (Full article: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/canine-corner/201204/do-dogs-have-musical-sense).

It has also been found that classical music, more than other forms of music, has a calming effect on dogs.  Apparently even goldfish have discerning musical ears - one study showed that they could tell the difference between Bach and Stravinsky (http://www.livescience.com/39692-goldfish-bach-stravinsky.html).

Animals are smart li'l buggers.

Fun (and short) test of grammatical knowledge

This site tests your grammatical knowledge.  Takes less than 5 minutes.  Somehow I found this remarkably fun:

http://m.staples.ca/sbdca/en_CA/cre/programs/grammarquiz/#.UqktLscghTD.facebook

How to control the debilitating physical effects of stress

Hello my friends!  I'm busy this week doing some more fiction writing, so for my blog I'll just link to a fantastic piece I just read.  The article talks about various studies showing that although stress has been linked to major, debilitating physical illnesses, we can reduce those debilitating effects (to ZERO) if we deal with stress properly.

I love this:
"A... study, out of the University of Buffalo, did not surprise researchers this year when they noticed a 30% increase in people’s risk of dying for every major stressful experience, such as financial difficulties and family crises. But those same researchers were shocked to discover that people who respond to such crises with the desire to care for others don’t just reduce their risk of dying. Instead, their risk drops to 0%. Caring, says Dr. McGonigal, creates resilience, the ability to meet with life’s crises with creativity, hope, and connection."

Here's the whole piece:
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-10995/its-not-stress-that-kills-you-its-how-you-handle-it.html

Have a good week.  xo