The Glutinous Truth about Spelt

There is a stomach bug going around the office (or so I thought) and I’ve been really sick this week.  I was so overcome with nausea on Tuesday mid-morning I secluded myself to the car with intense stomach pains and light headedness before my fiancé could drive me home at lunch time.  Covering my eyes from the sun and trying to breathe through my nose to avoid getting sick – I was in bad shape. 

Now Thursday, my appetite is still virtually non-existent but I’m functioning.  As my head begins to clear and I can stand upright without feeling dizzy, I start to think about everything that I’ve eaten in the past week.  Did I introduce anything new to my regular diet?  And then it clicks – I bought bagels and ate my first one on Tuesday morning.   I run to the refrigerator and take a look – spelt.  I ate a 100% wheat bagel for breakfast.  Despite my relief to know what is causing all of my pain, I berate myself (as I start my vitamin and intestinal cleansing pill regiment) for not double checking labels even when shopping in the “gluten-free” section of the grocery store.

Spelt is NOT gluten free.  My experience this week is not the only evidence.  My research relies heavily on blogs and comments from the general public but I came across this medical quote from celiac.com:

Authors: Kasarda DD. D'Ovidio R.
Source Cereal Chemistry. 76(4):548-551, 1999 Jul-Aug.
Abstract: The complete amino acid sequence of an alpha-type gliadin from spelt wheat (spelta) has been deduced from the cloned DNA sequence and compared with alpha-type gliadin sequences from bread wheat. The comparison showed only minor differences in amino acid sequences between the alpha-type gliadin from bread wheat and the alpha-type gliadin from spelta. The two sequences had an identity of 98.5%. Larger differences can be found between different alpha-type gliadin amino acid sequences from common bread wheat. Because all the different classes of gliadins, alpha, beta, gamma, and omega, appear to be active in celiac disease, it is reasonably certain that the spelta gliadin is also toxic. We conclude that spelta is not a safe grain for people with celiac disease, contrary to the implications in labeling a bread made from spelta as "an alternative to wheat". Our conclusions are in accord with spelta and bread wheat being classed taxonomically as subspecies of the same genus and species, Triticum aestivum L. [References: 36]

For those of you who’s heads are reeling from your spelt bagel, I bolded the important sentence.  Spelt and wheat share 98.5% of the same DNA.   Just for reference, and humor sake, you only share 50% of your DNA with your parents, siblings, and children.  Identical twins share 100% of the same DNA.  Wheat and Spelt are not siblings or even distant cousins (who share 25% of your DNA) but practically identical twins! 

(See great genealogical chart at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~laetoli/degree.html)

GF Dining in the Hudson Valley

Hey restaurant owners, chef’s, waitstaff - listen up!  I read your menu’s, give warning and call ahead, quiz your waitstaff, question your chef’s, and resemble Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally (minus the fake orgasm routine) when ordering my food.  Then, when I get sick from eating your food that was sworn with a smile to be gluten free, I can never risk visiting your restaurant again.

1 in 130 people in the United States suffer from a wheat allergy.  Add the 40% of Americans who suffer from other common allergens such as milk, peanuts, fish, eggs, soy, shellfish and tree nuts, and food allergies in restaurants is a really big deal that affects a large portion of your clientele.  

As one with food allergies I have a love hate relationship to food.  I’m a self described “foodie” as  I’m always looking for new recipes, new techniques and love to experiment with food.  There are tired days when I wish that we didn't have to think about food but just ate the goop they served in the movie, Matrix.  As I remember it had “all the vitamins and minerals the body needs”.  Sounds good to me!  

Getting “dosed” at a restaurant is the most infuriating and painful experiences when dining.   When I was first diagnosed I was embarrassed to ask the questions and “bother” restaurant staff.  But then, as I suffer the consequences over the next few weeks, I’m embarrassed by the effects of not asking.  

Chefs, restaurant owners, waitstaff - ask a nutritionist or someone with Celiac’s Disease or another common allergy to look over your menus and mark the allergen safe options and or advise your staff. Just to mention a few hiding places: Lite sour cream has gluten in it.  Curry often has flour mixed in it to keep it from clumping.  And, of course my favorite, soy sauce (which seems to be in just about everything including marinades, salad dressings, etc).  Unless its organic, vegetable broth seems to also always have gluten in it.   Chalk it up the added effort to the new diet phase associated with eating gluten free.  Your customers on a diet will thank you!  I have to say that I don't understand the gluten free diet as a weight loss tool.  After being on the gluten free diet my body internally healed and I started absorbing nutrients again which resulted in immediate weight gain.  To each their own right?  

In the least advise your waitstaff to ask the chef when there is an ingredient related question.  An understood customer is a better tipping and most often returning customer.  And, those of you with the food allergies - ASK QUESTIONS.  Restaurants are in the business of providing you with good food not poison.  


Hudson Valley Gluten Free Friendly Restaurants (a work in progress):

Tomo Sushi, Saugerties, NY:  Their “to-go” soy sauce packets are gluten free.  Sushi is naturally gluten free.
Mexican Radio, Hudson, NY: stay away from the fried dishes but any baked dish can be made gluten free.  All chips served are gluten free.
Soul Dog, Poughkeepsie, NY: A fantastic go-to spot and reference for anything gluten free.  When you order a hot dog, ask them to surprise you with toppings - you will not be disappointed. Gluten free baked goods prepared weekly and to order too!  
Shadows on the Hudson, Poughkeepsie, NY: gluten free menu.  Specifically ask for gluten free salad dressing.  Not all of their salad dressings are gluten free.
Sukothai, Beacon, NY:  Has gluten free options on their menu.  Fantastic food.
Rock da Pasta, New Paltz, NY: Gluten free pasta and other delicious sides.  Invite your non gluten free friends to enjoy a mostly gluten free menu.
Mother Earth’s Storehouse, Kingston, NY:  It is not usually safe for anyone with a food allergy to risk a salad bar but I’ve been frequenting the salad bar at ME’s for more than 6 months and it is fantastic.  Sometimes they have GF pasta as a salad topping option.  You may also find some GF desserts to tantalize your taste buds at the counter.

Food allergies in America statistics can be found at: http://www.ehow.com/wheat-allergies/

My Experience

Throughout my late teens and 20’s I was plagued with terrible acne and rashes.  I tried every over the counter acne medication, dermabrasion, monthly facials, followed by alternative and herbal medicines to clear my skin.  By my mid 20’s rashes and cysts covered my arms.  I wore makeup caked on my face and sometimes on my arms and wore sleeves as much as I could throughout the year including the warmer months.  With a good job and a solid health insurance plan, I made an appointment with a dermatologist to begin what I thought would be a rigorous skin treatment requiring prescription medication.  Within 5 minutes of talking to the doctor, explaining my symptoms and showing my scars, the doctor had one request that surprised me.  “Let me see your elbows.”  I turned over my elbows which had rings of rash and scars of old rashes.   He said a blood test would confirm it but he was tempted to diagnosed me on the spot with dermatitis herpetiformis(DH); a skin condition caused by a wheat allergy also known as gluten intolerance or Celiac’s Disease.  Celiac’s disease or gluten insensitivity in the DH form, often shows the unique symptom of a ring of bumps around the elbows.  The dermatologist prescribed a blood test and called back the following week with my results.  While most people have a level of 0-10 of each of these levels in their blood, my results came back at IgA 116, IgG 168 and tTG of over 100.  In order to determine if I had gluten sensitivity or Celiac’s Disease, I would need to get an endoscopy of my intestinal tract.  After the endoscopy it was determined by another doctor that I have Celiac’s Disease and that I am extremely sensitive to gluten.   The doctor described my small intestinal tract as smooth and bright red with irritation.  The prescription:  to avoid wheat and gluten at all costs.

It took about a month of being gluten free for me to feel the results of my changed diet.  To my amazement my skin cleared and I finally felt comfortable venturing out of the house without makeup.   After a particularly bad breakout before my GF diet, I got bangs cut across my forehead and had my hair styled in a way that it framed my face.  If I could have grown my bangs long enough to cover my face like those Muppets cartoons I watched as a child I would have!  After two months of being gluten free I joined the rest of the women in the beauty parlor with side swept bangs and a layered haircut.  I felt great.   One of the most interesting rewards of being on a gluten free diet is that my energy increased and my stomach felt more settled.  I never realized that the stomach bloating and fatigue that I felt after eating a meal and in general throughout the day wasn’t normal.  I participated in club sports in college and my most often snack while studying was whole wheat sandwiches and Frosted Mini Wheat’s.  I often wonder how much of a better athlete and teammate I would have been had I been on a gluten free diet earlier and felt all of this energy I was now enjoying.   The first few months of being gluten free were really hard.  When out in public at restaurants and grocery stores I would feel tears sting my eyes as I saw the vast majority of food choices I couldn’t eat.  There were times I would leave with nothing from the grocery store or order a small salad with no dressing at a restaurant for lack of choices and my fear of being ‘dosed’.   I remember having dinner with a friend and them pushing me to try just a little taste of a dressing that I knew had soy sauce in it.  I thought “it’s just a few bumps on my arm – I’ll be ok.”  My body reverted back a few months and I was miserable.  My skin broke out, my stomach felt sick, and I felt jet lagged.  I decided then and there that there was no small amount or deliciously tempting morsel of food that would make me take a chance at not feeling the 100% that I knew I could feel on a GF diet.  I have never looked back.  Gluten free since October 2010.