mocachapeau said:
...But it happens often enough that I am out of these things, or I don't have time to prepare anything, so I search for something that I can snack on to tide me over. I like to have a spoonful, or two, of organic peanut butter. Sometimes I'll grab a handful of grapes or blueberries or raspberries, which is not ideal. But the bad moments come when I decide to eat something like a store-bought sausage, pepperoni stick, or some ribs cooked in a store-bought BBQ sauce, or I really break down and have a spoonful of Nutella. Yeah, that's right...Nutella. I know there are other things that I can't think of at the moment.
Well shucks, I was hoping for a really good confession. This doesn't sound all that bad. :)
Nutella doesn't sound so great:
Nutella Ingredients said:
• Over 50 Hazelnuts per 13 oz. Jar
• Contains No Artificial Colors
• Contains No Artificial Preservatives
INGREDIENTS: SUGAR, PALM OIL, HAZELNUTS, COCOA, SKIM MILK, REDUCED MINERALS WHEY (MILK), LECITHIN AS EMULSIFIER (SOY), VANILLIN: AN ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR.
The sugar is bad news, as is the dairy. Palm oil is controversial (see for example _http://www.marksdailyapple.com/palm-oil-nutrition/#axzz2cHLvOF1B, especially the comments section). I don't use it but I'd rather see it than soybean oil. Whey is something I avoid but some primal/paleo types use it. Controversial, I guess. Not recommended here, I don't think. Lecithin is something we've batted around here, and is maybe OK. I'm not familiar with vanillin but "artificial flavor" turns me off right away. What actual food needs to be flavored artificially?
I don't think you'd die too soon from this, but sugar is one of the suspects in metabolic damage (high serum levels of glucose, anyway), and industrial dairy is nasty.
I have also seen scary things in the ingredient lists for "ribs." But the biggest problem there seems to be unbelievable amounts of sugar. Somehow, I am able to eat beef short ribs very regularly without any sugar at all (I need to finish up here and go to the store and buy some right now, along with my other food), but people think they need rib-flavored sugar. I really don't understand that.
I don't really believe that small amounts of sugar in small amounts of berries is a health problem. If you eat enough, no doubt it is going to affect ketone levels, but that's not the amount that I mean. Grapes might be more of a problem, but still I haven't seen any evidence that the occasional grape is going to do you in. I just had a few hand-picked blackberries today. They're not organic, but the growers use only organic pest controls.
Of course if you don't buy organic you're apt to be getting pesticides as well (I've read that strawberries are the worst for that), and that's another matter.
I always check the ingredients, so I never get caught eating a sausage with wheat crumbs in it. But I sometimes ignore certain things in the ingredients after checking for gluten and the carb level, including, occasionally, the word modified. I know it's stupid but there it is.
I have been avoiding sausage, even when I am sure what is in it, because of the sugar content. The amount is actually pretty low, but when you have GI issues it can be better to avoid it altogether. Otherwise I have not seen any sign that in those amounts the sugar has any significant effect on blood glucose or ketone levels. This is high-quality organic sausage, though.
"Modified" is indeed scary. You don't happen to remember what was modified, do you?
I have also found myself in restaurants eating things with a sauce that I am not sure of the ingredients, and I have consumed some rice in one form or another at different moments. But that is rare. I know that means I am not entirely gluten free, unfortunately.
...
I once found myself in the bathroom trying to vomit while having diarrhea, a few days after eating something that contained a mystery sauce. It waited until it hit my colon, apparently. Now I find out what's in it or I don't eat it. Of course restaurants don't necessarily know -- they are sometimes serving processed food out of a package!
I don't know that everybody is going to react acutely to small amounts of gluten; somehow I doubt it. I do think that everybody can benefit from avoiding it, and I know that it can be hard to tell if damage is being done -- the reactions can be "silent" to a degree, and especially in the earlier stages of disease. I used to have visible celiac symptoms, however, and I just don't go near the stuff any more. If you think you are "safe" with small amounts, occasionally, it is still a gamble.
My guess is that if you avoid gluten, are not acutely reactive, and now and then accidentally are exposed to it, it's much like anything else your body has to fend off. But if it's not accidental and it happens repeatedly, you might want to take a closer look at your own behavior.
