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Tuesday, November 24, 2015

How Green Was My Gluten

                                             "Daily Loaves" © 2004 www.cindypackardrichmond.com

   Life is full of cruel ironies.
   If I were to be executed, my final meal would  include bread, arugula, tomato and mozzarella in a balsamic vinaigrette.  Pasta for the main course, followed by a chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream icing.  (I'm not talking about the fake buttercream, or the boiled or the Swiss.  Just butter, confectioner's sugar and vanilla, please.)
  Life hardly seems worth living without bread, fresh fruit and vegetables.  But that is where I am at.     I have lymphocytic colitis.  If I don't avoid gluten, and fresh produce, my life is spent in the bathroom.  My record is19 trips in a 24 hour period.  Unless I want to take steroids every day, the only cure is abstention.
   So it makes me mad when people belittle the gluten-free movement.  Sure, some people jumped on the fad bandwagon.  But for many, it is real.
   There are many gluten substitutes but none you'd ever eat again if you could have the real deal.
   Alas, there are no substitutes for fresh fruit and vegetables.
   So as we head into Thanksgiving, I give thanks that I can still eat buttercream.