Tales of Victory - Tales of Woe

For those of you with dietary restrictions, this will seem all too common place. For those of you who have no such problems, and don't have any close friends or relatives who do, you will wonder what all the fuss is about.

Gluten intolerance is actually very common - probably more so than anyone actually realizes. Many digestive woes are very likely undiagnosed gluten intolerance.

So what the heck is gluten and why is is such a big deal?

Gluten is a protein found mostly in wheat, and to a lesser extent oats and barley. Wheat has actually been bred to produce more of the stuff. The word comes from the Latin for "glue" and gluten is responsible for holding baked goods together.

When a person develops - or is even born with - an intolerance to gluten, any number of digestive unpleasantries can happen. Some are merely uncomfortable. Some are life-threatening. Most are somewhere in between.

Unfortunately, companies that produce the food that America eats toss the stuff in just about everything where you would least expect it. Soups. Dressings. RICE cereal. CORN cereal. condiments. SOY sauce. Flavorings. Marinades. And on and on and on.

This blog will tell of my successes (Tales of Victory) and failures (Tales of Woe) as I learn to navigate a national food system designed for other people.