Gluten Nightmares : Dreams of Eating Normal Food & Realizing the Consequences

Do you have Gluten-Nightmares?

Dreams about accidentally eating gluten / wheat

I can not help wonder if I am alone in experiencing rather vivid dreams, or nightmares as it may be, about consuming wheat products or other gluten-containing foods and then, in these dreams, realizing what I had done and freaking out about it.

I find it rather strange and disturbing that even after being 100% gluten-free for many years now, I have dreams in which I am in a situation where "normal" (gluten-containing foods) are being served, and for whatever reason I am partaking in its consumption along with everyone else in the dream (others that would be unaffected by gluten).

Most often, the food my subconscious falls for is PIZZA!  Next is bread — especially a great Italian Bread, Sourdough, or other fantastic artisan bread.

Gluten-Filled Nightmare / Dream Analysis

Clearly I must miss these "real" foods during my waking life, even as I feel quite satisfied with the gluten-free-diet equivalent replacements for most everything I ate in the pre-Celiac years.  But, regardless of what my conscious brain thinks about my diet, my subconscious haunts me at least a few times per year with these nightmares about eating gluten and realizing that I am going to become violently ill (since, in the dreams, I have consumed large amounts of those tasty, but evil, gluten-filled menu items).

This is where the dream becomes a nightmare: I know the damage that even a little gluten exposure can do to my body, and in my dreams I become aware of the fact that I just ate a LOT of gluten.  Then my mind is racing about what to do to minimize the effects of the gluten-exposure (there are not many options).  And, I am already thinking about how bad the exposure is going to be and how severe my symptoms will get —  I even think of going to the hospital. This is simply disturbing.

I think that my dreams are motivated not just by a desire to consume gluten-containing foods, but probably moreover by a desire to be able to just have the freedom to eat most anything that is being served — be it at a party, a restaurant, etc — and not have to constantly avoid foods that will surely contain gluten or that may contain gluten (due to cross-contamination).

These dreams tend to develop most often around times where there are events (like company Christmas parties) that I know I will not be able to safely consume a single item at.  So, my subconscious decides to run with this thought and torment me a bit and/or remind me of my need to remain vigilant with regards to gluten avoidance.

Have You Experienced This?

I am curious as to how widespread such thoughts are among the wheat-free / gluten-free / Celiac Disease community.  I guess this could apply to people with peanut allergies or any other condition where accidental ingestion of unsafe foods would lead to serious side effects too.  Feel free to post your comments if you have anything to share.

Here's hoping that this is uncommon, as it really is disturbing and shakes me up a bit as I emerge from my gluten-nightmares!

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available for free.

Ban "stock photos" from cookbooks, food magazines, etc.

This Gluten-Free Blog discussion will apply to more than just the gluten-free community today.  I have chosen a topic I feel is important to all us "foodies" and consumers in general: the widespread use of "stock photography" and how these photos are increasingly being displayed alongside recipe and food products in place of photos of the actual product or recipe-output.

Are you of the opinion that the use of "stock photos" in cookbooks, food magazines, menus, food blogs, food advertisements, and the like is tantamount to fraud when there exists, either subtly or strongly, the implication that the food-photos you are viewing are pictures of the actual food(s) you can create using an accompanying recipe, or are pictures that show a reasonable representation of the actual prepared food(s) that you will receive if you purchase the pictured product?

Well, I for one believe the widespread practice of using undisclosed "stock photos" should be banned for a variety of reasons, and I am not alone according to a recent article on NPR's website.  Consumers are getting annoyed by this misleading practice.

The NPR article discusses the case of a Vegan (foods) website and magazine caught using stock photography of non-vegan foods to accompany vegan recipes: with their being a clear implication that the pictures they used were demonstrating their vegan recipes in action.   CONTENT WARNING: NPR's site links to a blog (Quarrygirl) that "busted" the VegNews site/magazine, and that blog contains language not suitable for children.

Perhaps I should back up a bit and start by asking: are you familiar with the term "stock photos" and how such photos are used?  Put simply: stock photos are pictures of nearly anything and any subject matter that are for sale to anyone that wants them — especially pictures of things that looks really good and look like a professional performed the layout and photo shoot.  Sounds great, doesn't it?  Just buy a wonderful looking photo to fill your needs!  Sure saves time and effort of taking a great looking photo yourself.

But wait... what if you are telling everyone about this great new recipe you created and are unable (or unwilling) to take the time to snap a picture of your item; instead, you simply buy a picture of what you feel is an ideal representation of your food and then display that picture with your recipe and imply that what is pictured was the end result of you following that recipe to completion?  Well, to me, this is where a serious line has been crossed!

The practice of using "stock photos" has sadly become a "generally accepted" way many in the industry choose to save money, all the while diluting and diminishing the credibility of recipes and related work by those of us that really make the effort to acquire actual pictures of what it is our recipes produce.  I refuse to accept this practice as necessary in an age where digital photography has made the acquisition of high-quality images simpler and cheaper than ever before, nor will I accept this practice as ethically correct as I feel undisclosed use of stock-photography is a form of deception.  

For these reasons, the photos of all the desserts in our Wheat-Free and Gluten-Free Gourmet Desserts Recipes book are photos I took of the finished products that we baked ourselves and according to the recipes in the book.  And, the photos of recipes on this Gluten-Free Blog and on our Gluten-Free Recipes Library are also pictures of foods we baked, according to our gluten-free recipes.  The pictures across the header of this page: yes, they too are gluten-free foods we baked and took pictures of.

It really annoys me how prolific the use of "fake" pictures is these days (i.e., stock photos posing as a custom recipe's output or a product other than what is truly in the photo).  Why?   People have gotten to where they assume that everything they see is misleading, especially in our culture that seems more focused on what is "legal" versus what is "right".  Using stock photos is legal, though I believe a disclaimer should accompany such use if it is implied that the photo represents a product your are buying or the end-result of a recipe you are buying.  We are all used to television ads with that barely-readable print at the bottom disclaiming that all images shown were simulated, sequences were altered, etc.  I believe similar disclosure (though more legible) should appear with stock photos used as discussed herein.

Perhaps another question should be asked, especially of magazines and the like selling recipes and using stock-photos to represent the outcome of baking their recipes: if you are using stock photos, how do we (the readers) know you ever even baked the recipe in order to assess its merits (accuracy, taste, texture) and know it is worth presenting as something we will likely enjoy?  Or, are we to assume that while custom photography is "too expensive", somehow baking each and every recipe and assessing its merits is somehow affordable by comparison?  From my own experience, taking all the custom photos is time consuming, but no more so than creating and baking all our recipes. So, for this reason alone, I have substantial doubts that any place passing off stock photos to represent their recipe outcomes is really taking time to bake all their recipes either.  

Feel free to share your thoughts on whether you think stock-photos are misleading!

Survey - Do you understand blood test results and the like?

Gluten-Free and Deciphering Blood Tests / Urine Tests 

I have created a couple mini-survey questions related to this gluten-free blog discussion (see the two survey questions at right [NOTE: Survey is Compete, image below shows the results]), that I'd appreciate getting your feedback on. Thank you!

Understanding Blood Test and Urine Test Results Survey

Here's what inspires these questions....

So, you have been to your doctor and you have have been provided with a printout of your latest blood test results (like a CBC), and/or urine test results (a complete metabolic panel perhaps), and so forth. Now, can you makes sense of all the various acronyms and reference-ranges and such on these reports?

Note: if you don't have a copy of your blood test results (or urine test results), I suggest always having the doctor print a copy of these test-results for your records, and I'll get into "why" a bit later.

If you are like most people, you may just take your doctor's word that "everything is fine" and not look further into the test numbers. Or, maybe you quickly scan the list of numbers/results on the report and see if any have been flagged as being outside the reference-ranges. Or, perhaps if you are the really inquisitive and/or diligent type, you always look closely at the numbers and question why the results are what they are, and even research the science behind each line-item. Finally, it is even possible that maybe you just don't care.

Well, I am interested in learning what the distribution of attitudes towards understanding lab-test results (blood, urine, etc.) is among my readers. The reason I ask, is that I am planning to eventually write a series of blog entries to discuss some of the human physiology aspects of Celiac Disease and why living Gluten-Free is so important to us, and discuss how Celiac can manifest itself on these blood tests and such (and, I don't mean on just antibody tests, but rather on things like your red blood-cell counts, corpuscular volumes, and much more). In addition, I plan to explain not just the tests, but some of the terminolgy surrounding the medical aspects of such tests - like reference ranges, differential diagnoses, contraindications, and more.

If there is sufficient interest, I'm going to begin by providing some "top-down" education about what all the test results mean, and then dive rather deep into the science behind individual tests as it may relate to things like iron-deficiency anemia, vitamin B12 anemia (even how to treat B12 anemia with sublingual vitamin B12, rather a miracle considering may be as effective as vitamin B-12 shots), controlling blood-sugar issues that may arise with Celiac Disease, and other conditions that we Celiacs are more prone to (because of nutrient absorption issues and so on).

Deciphering Blood Test Results, especially how they potentially relate to Celiac / Gluten-Free living, is an important thing to me, but I really want to understand what it means to the rest of you. So, please offer your input by voting on the two items at the right. Be honest - if you have no interest, just say so, and likewise if you find this intruiging and want to learn more, let me know.

I have also been prototyping some software to help people with simplified home blood test and lab-test result analysis, and help spot trends over time. I'm also trying to make it simple to identify correlations between multiple test results. My objective is simple: help people become more aware of what is, and is not, "normal" for them, and to identify potential problems at an early enough stage that any long-term negative effects can be averted. The software will be the last stage in my public-education and assistance series, if the demand warrants it, and if time permits me to create this.  I have competed a working sample using Google's spreadsheets and data-tables and charting components, which I can perhaps make public.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.