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Hello, and thank you, everyone, who responded to my inquiry last week
about how to adjust to this new way of eating. I wish I could personally
thank each and every one of you for your kind advice. I will summarize the
over 40 responses as succintly as possible here.

My main questions were: is millet okay to eat and what is the story on
oats?

Most people said millet did not contain gluten, but most people also had a
negative reaction when eating it, which is probably explained by millet
either being cross-contaminated with wheat, or perhaps the reaction being
caused by some other sort of allergy.

The oats debate rages, with most people saying they stay away from it just
to be safe. The general concensus seems to be that oats grown in the
United States are definitely off-limits because of possible cross-
contamination issues (sometimes oat and wheat crops are rotated from year-
to-year). Many others said that they did not ever eat oats, just to be on
the safe side. And, many people said that McCann's Oats, grown in Ireland,
were possibly safe, since they don't rotate oat crops with wheat crops in
Ireland. However, it is good to remember that oats do contain a form of
gluten, and even if they are not cross-contaminated with wheat, they might
still cause problems.

Apparently there are some celiacs who are "silent" celiacs; in other
words, they do not have obvious symptoms when they eat anything with
gluten in it. I believe I am not a "silent" celiac, but in fact a
very "noisy" one, and I should be able to gauge my reaction when I eat
oats. On the two or three occasions I ate wheat (I did it deliberately, as
an experiment to see what would happen), I had severe problems: very bad
headache and gut ache for several days!

And, in response to kind inquiries as to how I was doing as my first five
months as a celiac: Pretty good. I had an immediate lessening of stomach
bloating that had troubled me for years, a complete elimination of the
acid reflux that I had been suffering from for several years, lessening of
headaches, a drop of blood pressure to near-normal (it had been high), and
much improved digestion. In addition, I have experienced the added,
unexpected bonus of being able to taste things! I am not a smoker, but I
understand people who say when they quit smoking they could then taste
things they couldn't taste before. It seems like foods taste so much
better than before! And, I am losing weight; about 10 pounds so far. I
could stand to lose a few more, so this is a good thing.

I think that when my intestines heal a bit more I will try McCann's Irish
Oats. It has always been one of my favorite foods, and since I react to
anything I am sensitive to, I should be able to determine whether or not I
can eat it.

And, here is a tasty food tip for you all: Instead of butter (many celiacs
are lactose intolerant), try putting olive oil on your rice or veggies. It
is surprisingly wonderful, and it's good to get that kind of oil in you
diet. It gives rice a whole new dimension.

Again, thank you all so very much!

Deb

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