The Gluten-Free Way: My Way. William Maltese
and supplementing my co-author’s narrative. Quite by way of marvelous side effect, I’ve seen my own health benefit tremendously from my participation and experimentation in the formulation, collection, and tasting of GF-Way information and recipes for this book.
PREFACE
When I was approached about writing this book, I was afraid I wouldn’t have enough to say to fill its pages. However, more than one person said that I “could talk for hours on GF living and never repeat” myself. So, here goes!
—Adrienne Z. Milligan
WILLIAM MALTESE MOMENT #2
The Collaboration Begun
A lot of people seem to think that all they need is a good idea, and from that they can easily write a book. Take it from someone who has written and had published over 200 books—me—writing even one book, even with a good idea upon which to base it, isn’t easy; it takes a lot of time, effort, and keep-at-it concentration.
Nor does a collaborative effort necessarily make the book-writing process any easier; remember the old saying about the possible problems of more than one cook in any kitchen.
While I consider myself extremely lucky to have recognized my niece and her family’s story as one well worth relating, I have to admit that its conversion into book form wasn’t nearly as easily managed as I originally envisioned. Primarily, I blame myself for having been so long in the writing business that I forgot some of the trials, tribulations, anxiety, doubt, tedium, and pressure of a deadline that can obsess someone new to writing, my niece included. In the end, though, which is so important, Adrienne did finally manage to pull her wits and writing skills together sufficiently to do her part in bringing this volume to fruition.
CHAPTER ONE
My Introduction to
the World of Gluten
Until 2001, I had never heard the term “gluten.” I had no idea that Celiac Disease was an auto-immune disorder. I did not know that gluten was a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. “Cross-contamination” in regards to farming, harvesting, and food-preparation practices was completely unknown to me.
The Gluten-Free Way was a whole new concept to me when I first Googled “wheat free recipes” in June of 2001 because my mother-in-law was coming for a visit, had a wheat allergy, and I wanted to make sure that the food I fixed for her was food she could eat without getting sick. My on-line search popped up a long list of wheat-free recipes along with supplementary hits for “Celiac Sprue,” “Celiac Disease,” and “Gluten Intolerance.” I read with interest how Carol Fenster (a Gluten-Free cookbook author) discovered that she had Celiac Disease and was gluten-intolerant.
Carol explained her life before going Gluten-Free. I read her story and saw many things identical to my husband Jonathan’s health, behavior, and complaints about how he always felt. Suddenly, I was anxious for Jonathan to get home from work to let him know that I’d possibly found the long sought-after answer as to why he always felt so crummy.
When he came home, he was, as usual, as General Manager of our local pizzeria, covered in wheat-flour dust. I told him I wanted to read him something and asked him to keep an open mind. He agreed, and I proceeded to read him Carol’s story. During which, Jonathan kept interrupting with comments like, “That’s me, as well as Carol, when growing up.”—“That’s how I feel even now!”—“That’s definitely me.”
After I was done reading, Jonathan read Carol’s story, yet again, just so he could more fully take it in and ponder its implications.
From that day forward, Jonathan and I have done our level best to keep him 100% Gluten-Free. Admittedly, he does still get “glutened” on occasion—not by choice but usually by cross-contamination, or via unclear labels on foods, but when asked if he’d ever go back to gluten, his response is always the same, “You couldn’t pay me enough to go back!”
My family went Gluten-Free in 2001, before we really understood the full health benefits that would result from our doing so, and before Jonathan was officially tested to verify that, yes, he did have Celiac Disease. We’re still Gluten-Free and tremendously happy to be so.
This book, then, is a glimpse into our family and life since stepping onto the Gluten-Free Way. There have been obstacles along the way, to be sure, but nothing so challenging that we haven’t been able to maneuver around them.
Neither my husband nor I will admit to it being an easy way to go, over these past years, but we’re convinced it has improved not only the quality of our lives, but the lives of our two children.
My early, and admittedly difficult, days of wondering what and how to buy or fix Gluten-Free meals for my family are pretty much over and done. Those of you now starting out on the Gluten-Free Way have a far easier time of it, with far larger selections of GF-Way food stuffs, than I did. More and more companies have started to provide yummy non-gluten entrees and deserts as it becomes more and more apparent that Celiac Disease is more wide spread than anyone originally thought.
Just a couple weeks ago, I saw an ad in a local store’s health newsletter that Glutenfreeda™ is now even making GF instant-oatmeal packets and GF burritos—both unavailable when my family began our non-gluten journey.
CHAPTER TWO
Being in the (Wheat) World, Not of the (Wheat) World
When people learn of the gluten intolerance and wheat allergy that Jonathan and my boys have, one of their most frequent questions is, “How can anyone possibly live without wheat?” Okay, so it wasn’t so easy back in 2001—that was super tough. It was even more difficult to exclude all gluten which is found not only in wheat, rye, and barley, but in non-certified GF oats as well.
However, a large amount of Gluten-Free products suddenly popping up all over the place has made it easier.
Most people can learn to accept Gluten-Free versions of their beloved wheat/gluten food stuffs and can learn all of the literally thousands of products that contain gluten and need to be avoided.
In addition to learning how to accept the Gluten-Free versions of their favorite goods, the Gluten-Free Way requires a definite change of mind-set. For those of you who have been diagnosed Celiac/gluten-sensitive, you must be 100% Gluten-Free to be 100% healthy. The Gluten-Free Way isn’t a road you travel just sometimes or occasionally, but all day every day.
Once you get the mind-set that the Gluten-Free Way is FOR LIFE, and that you will emerge healthier because of it, it does get easier!
Over time, a lot of you will lose your cravings for certain gluten foods that you thought you’d never be able to live without. I think a lot of it has to do with you becoming healthier, and your body realizing all the advantages in jettisoning cravings that only make you sick. There are still items that Jonathan misses, but the benefits of his being Gluten-Free outweigh the horrible reactions he has to gluten (especially gluten mixed with dairy—yikes!).
CHAPTER THREE
Jonathan’s Story
My wife, Adrienne, asked me to put down my memories of how my family self-diagnosed our problems with wheat and what we did to deal with them.
It started when I was just beginning the third or fourth grade. For some time, my father thought I had an allergy to wheat and my mother thought he was simply crazy. My parents started me on a regiment of Sudafed® to control the coughing fits that I was experiencing. I was also experiencing uncontrollable headaches, mood swings, inability to concentrate, difficulty in school, etc. One Saturday for some reason I didn’t have anything with wheat in it all day. For dinner, my mother made whole wheat pancakes. My father made the offhand comment, “What do you want to bet he’ll be coughing his head off in a couple of minutes?” Within a few minutes, I was clearing my throat. The next day, a simple change in diet made my headache and cough go away. This began a journey of self-diagnosis, and guessing by my mother, to find out what was wrong with the family.
The first thing that we did was to stop feeding me anything with wheat in it.