> Wheat seems to be particularly toxic to many people. Not necessarily
> for the carb content though. I have a gluten intolerance, which is a
> reaction to the protein structures in wheat.

Hi Richard ---

So do I, and I have a question for you (and for others who are
celiac/gluten intolerant):  do you find that you have a reaction when
you eat meat that was raised on gluten-containing grains?

I have not eaten any gluten-containing grains since last June, and I
have had a dramatic improvement in my celiac-related symptoms (mainly
IBS and a fierce, red, itching rash).  My diet has been quite strictly
paleo --- virtually no cheating --- but I'm not the heavy meat eater so
often represented here.  I eat lots of vegetables (no potatoes,
tomatoes, peppers or eggplant, though), fruits and nuts, organic
free-range eggs from my own chickens, fish (most frequently sardines,
salmon and trout), chicken, and occasionally pork or beef.

I've been puzzled to observe some of my old symptoms recurring (though
mildly) after eating chicken, either regular old supermarket-type or
carefully hand-raised organic (not my own --- bought it from another
organic farmer).  A friend who suffers from soy allergy told me that she
reacts to soy-fed meat, and I'm wondering whether it's possible that I'm
reacting to wheat-fed (or other gluten-containing-grain-fed) meat.

On the surface, given my understanding of human and animal physiology
(i.e., that of a well-educated and well-read person with no professional
expertise whatsoever in this field), I'd think that the animal's
digestive process would completely dismantle the original protein into
its constituent elements and recycle them under their new identities ---
just the way our bodies are supposed to work when functioning
optimally.  But having educated myself about my own condition, I realize
that my own digestive process is markedly sub-optimal, and naturally I
wonder whether I'm eating some poor, afflicted chickens whose carcasses
are riddled with undigested fragments of gluten (I don't even want to
*think* about all the other things I'm eating in a supermarket chicken).

So I'm casting about for clues here --- I'm most interested in finding
out whether any of you who are celiac/gluten intolerant have found that,
despite your strict avoidance of all offending grains (and I eat *no*
grains whatsoever --- not even those permitted to celiac patients), you
sometimes experience a recurrence of your symptoms, albeit in milder
form.

Thanks,
Pat Lucey