Although I am officially 'mostly' off gluten, only during one period did I go absolutely, positively off gluten 100% with a detailed search of every spice, every possible area for it.

And the next time I ate some, I thought I was gonna DIE. My lowcarb journal friends were bored with my ever-new-amazed at how I could possibly feel that bad over something so stupid when god knows I'd been eating the stuff all my life (although the severe asthma, severe allergies, severe acid reflux--all of which vanished when I went lowcarb and accidentally got off 99% of gluten--didn't arrive until I was about 32 years old).

Until then I had honestly thought that people talking about being gluten'd, especially from some small thing, were whiner drama queens. It couldn't be that bad. But it is. I think maybe subconsciously that is one reason I have not been 100% gluten free since that time. Because it made even the tiny little cheat so horrifying a result.

The way I analogy'd it was this: say that you have soldiers -- defensive cells/immune system. And you have this country-wide war going on all the freaking time (eating stuff you react to internally). And after awhile, especially after your whole life, the soldiers etc. are frankly exhausted. They are spread thin, and they have learned to conserve their strength. They have daily battles all over the place but they are not too severe. Then, peace arrives. The soldiers get to go home and rest. They all regroup and shore up some strength. And then, the enemy invades at one specific spot (new-intake of reactive food). And all the sudden the freaking 5th Marine Platoon is there dealing with the enemy, with that "When it absolutely, positively, has to be destroyed by morning" go-get-em approach, and you wake up feeling like you were hit by a truck in the night.

PJ