Todd wrote:
>By not eating any grains for an extended time you
>are not producing enzymes needed to digest them.  As a general
>principle, I think if one abstains from a kind of food for a long
>time it would not be surprising to have problems when that food
>is re-introduced.

I think that an allergy to wheat gluten is more likely.  In the case of an
allergy, you need to avoid the offending food for only a few days in order
to induce symptoms upon re-introduction.  If chronic symptoms disappear
(possibly preceded by acute withdrawal symptoms) after elimination, that's
another clear sign of an allergy.  Also, some people with severe wheat
allergies react to extremely minute amounts of gluten; I doubt that even a
long-term vegetarian would suffer (except psychologically) from a
grain-sized piece of meat.

On the topic of foreign proteins, however, it's worth noting that we can
develop a sensitivity to practically any food; Mary's son's beef allergy is
a good example.  If any incompletely digested protein slips into the
bloodstream, the immune system can learn to target it over time.  Still,
wheat allergy is far more common than meat allergies.

Cheers,
-- Aaron Wieland