Read this if you're a celiac tempted to eat gluten

Last fall, several of us in my area were duped, I am sad to say, by a guy who was selling bread that he claimed was gluten free, baked in his own bakery.  Turns out, it was wheat bread he was repackaging that he'd purchased wholesale and passed off on us.  It was lie after lie after lie.  You can read about it on Zach's blog here.

I do not know of any studies that have looked into the long-term effects of "glutening" over a period of time.  In any case, here are photos of me, before and after being glutened, so you can see what it looked like on me.

The first photo is me in November 2009 (before):

The second is me at Christmas, Dec. 25, 2009.  I ate wheat bread at almost every meal for approximately 2-3 weeks, starting November 25 and finishing probably around Dec. 11th-13th, somewhere in there.  So this 2nd picture is from AFTER I was glutened, and I think it's pretty obvious that I had still not recovered by Christmas.

I felt horribly tired and could barely do anything outside the bare minimum for work, which was excruciatingly difficult itself.  All I felt like doing was staying in bed.  All day.

Check out the bloating of my face and hands.  Not to mention my coloring.
















Thank goodness I am feeling better.  I've been working to lose the weight I gained over the winter (that I really believe was in a large part secondary to the glutening), and I feel much better overall now.  Here I am yesterday with my gluten-free little brother (a little sweaty after an outdoor concert--but looking and feeling much, much recovered!).

So you might be thinking, gee, one little wheat cookie (or two, or three)/piece of bread/cake, etc. might be OK.  If you want to kill yourself and feel horrible, go right ahead.  Don't say I didn't warn ya.

(and what I really mean, is--please don't.  It's not worth it.)