Wheat Belly?

 

Someone recently asked me if I had read the book Wheat Belly. 

 

I did my best Mae West impersonation: "Read it?  Honey, I LIVE it."

 

 

The photo above on the left was taken the last time I got glutened.  The photo on the right is me, in the same dress, once the effects of the glutening had passed (it took a few weeks). 

After eating fries that were supposedly cooked in a dedicated fryer, my belly swelled up faster than Violet Beauregarde at the chocolate factory.  

I called my husband to be a witness and we both stared at my gut, in disbelief, as it rose like a loaf of Sunday bread. 

It took another 4-5 hours before the other symptoms started hitting me.

When I started eliminating gluten from my diet, I lost 10 pounds in 12 days.  In light of all the buzz about gluten free being great for weight loss, it's necessary to point out that the weight lost was obvious water weight and inflammation.  I was tremendously swollen from the 'gluten challenge' before my biopsy. 

In hindsight, I realize I had been living inflamed and irritated long before my pre-endoscopy gluten binge. 

For many years I walked around saying, "I think I have a thyroid problem.  I think I'm getting arthritis."  My friend, Heather, finally said to me, "You don't have a thyroid problem.  You have an EATING/DRINKING problem." 

So, I stopped looking for medical reasons for my lethargy and weight gain and chalked it up to a lack of self control... and a love of beer.

I've shown this 'wheat belly' picture to many people when they ask me what happens when I get glutened.  They gasp in horror.  Several have commented that they can not believe that I am going to post a picture of myself looking like this. 

But it seems to be the only thing that catches any ones attention. 

I can go on about the long and agonizing effects that gluten takes on my immune system and it warrants nary a response.  Show them a hard, swollen, unattractive, pregnant-looking belly and everyone instantly becomes concerned.  

Maybe that's why 'gluten free' is the newest diet craze?  Maybe our society focuses more on what's on the outside than what's going on underneath the surface? 

Maybe I can show someone my 'wheat belly' and it will scare them enough to listen to the real problems caused by gluten?

Maybe, just maybe, my 'wheat belly' will educate someone who doesn't know they are suffering from celiac disease or support someone who is forging a healthier life away from gluten...
 


**No, I am not sucking it in or pushing it out in either photo!