<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
 
Hi Janet and celiac friends,
 
Janet asked me about my experience with canola oil sensitivity.  As usual,
I went on a bit, so I decided it might be worth sharing with the group.
 
Starting a few years ago, I kept questioning processed food that didn't
seem to have gluten in it: chips, gf cookies, etc., because I got lethargic
and they made my gut feel heavy after eating them.  I periodically avoided
those processed foods when I occasionally went on a very clean diet after
suspected exposure to gluten.  I felt better than ever when I did this.
 
Then one late afternoon after a beach walk, we went to a restaurant where I
just had a salad and lemon juice. I felt pain and gas later that evening
and wondered: What could I possibly be reacting to after eating a very
clean salad and lemon juice? Then I remembered I'd eaten some rice crackers
on the beach, so I looked at the package and the only thing weird was the
canola oil. I'd heard from my first support group in Dallas that canola oil
causes some celiacs problems, so I'd never bought a bottle of it after
that, and avoided it in processed food for a year or two. I'd forgotten
about it, I guess, and had it back in my diet again. It was creating great
confusion by causing false celiac reactions.
 
I had an ironic blind test when Health Valley's rice crackers (cookies)
came back on the market after a year or so. I was given a box by someone at
the Celiac Disease Foundation office when we were working on a grant
proposal one late afternoon. I ate more than a few of these cookies that
afternoon, and later went home to get ready for a party. By the time I was
dressed, I felt awful and again had trouble imagining what could have
caused the problem. Then I remembered to look on the cookie box and saw
<canola oil> in the ingredients. I felt so sick that I was able to throw up
my stomach's contents without drinking warm salt water or gagging myself.
Soon I felt good enough to go out.
 
In retrospect, for years I had been limiting myself to a certain number of
cookies, or a certain amount of potato chips or popcorn because I'd found
them hard to digest. Now I know that I was regulating my canola intake.  I
can eat more of these items now that I don't eat ones with the evil oil in
them. I just have to watch the amount of sugar, although I am becoming less
sensitive to sugar--thank goodness--after 10 years of sugar highs, lows,
and abstention.
 
I hope canola is the last sensitivity I have to uncover. Since discovering
that it was the red herring in my diet, I've been able to gain weight and
stamina. (Canola would cause the set of gut pain + malfunction that gluten
would.) I've recently gotten back my best blood work report ever, so
nutrients (and good cholesterol) are actually sticking around.
 
Best of health to all of you,
Mary
 
 
Mary Courtney
[log in to unmask]
Los Angeles