|
Fax
to: Elaine Gottschall
From: J. Stenberg, RR #1, Holstein, Ont., N0G 2A0, Canada
November 6, 1996
Dear
Ms. Gottschall:
After reading not one, but two scathing reviews on your book
Breaking the Vicious Cycle, I want to let you know
that I disagree with both of them, and would like to have
my say in your defense.
The reviews in the Canadian Celiac Association newsletters
(Spring and Summer, 1996) are irresponsible and in my opinion,
enough to alarm any starving gluten intolerant soul in to
bypassing your book and robbing themselves of an opportunity
to get well.
First a bit about me. After eight years of mysterious symptoms,
dozens of doctors, gruelling, and often humiliating tests
and general misery I discovered I was gluten intolerant. I
probably would never have figures it out if it hadn't been
for my sister.
After checking herself into a psychiatric ward in Vancouver,
an observant nurse and doctor deduced that all my sister's
miseries were linked to celiac disease. (A positive biopsy
confirmed that she was indeed celiac.) Because of her history,
my doctor and I discovered that gluten was also the cause
of my maladies. I had no desire to go back on gluten to have
the biopsy done. My doctor and specialist are both aware of
my condition and the decision not to have the biopsy. Since
my "assumptive" diagnosis, there have been two more
positive biopsies in our family. My eight-year-old daughter
has also since been diagnosed a celiac. My gastroenterologist
and I decided the biopsy was unnecessary and unless further
problems developed, she should remain on a gluten-free diet
too.
Unfortunately, for both my daughter, another sister (in Manitoba)
and I, the gluten-free diet did not work. Some symptoms were
arrested, but none of us were thriving and we just weren't
absorbing food. (My sister in Vancouver and a niece in Alberta
have been successful with the fluten-free diet however.)
A friend of mine (suffering from M.S.) recommended your book.
She told me that although it wasn't curing her, it was definitely
helping her live a healthier life.
To make a long story short, we found the diet (for whatever
reason) to be a godsend. Contrary to J. A. Campbell's point
(#4), "The diet is very restrictive and difficult to
prepare...", I find all but the pizza recipe (where you
have to squeeze water out of a zucchini a snap to cook) very
easy. The almond muffins are no more difficult to prepare
than any other kind of muffin. (In fact, easier, because you
make the whole thing in one food processor - no dishes, no
fuss.) I can make the yoghurt in my sleep and everyone (including
guests) loves it. As for the zucchini, if I'm organized, I
just let it drain from a strainer for ages and sill end up
with a good pizza.
As for not being nutritious, I have never been healthier.
My daughter, once a sickly (often whiney) withdrawn child
with thin heair and dark circles under her eyes is outgoing,
rosy cheeked and happy. Everyone has noticed her thick, shiny
hair. In fact, she ran a marathon in Owen Sound this year
and placed 15th out of 79 children. Last year she ran the
same race (before the diet) and placed 53rd, arrived weepy
and slept all the way home in the car.
Tackling the diet is overwhelming to be sure. Anything different
is a challenge. Instead of diving in headfirst, I tried one
recipe at a time. My sister (skeptical of your diet) visited
me last summer and I showed her how to change her kitchen,
shopping habits and cooking. She loved the food but didn't
notice that some of her symptoms had disappeared until she
went home and went back on the gluten-free diet. She is now
back on your diet and happy with it.
In #1, in the review by Mavis Molloy, she states that "...it
is both expensive and time consuming to prepare." Good
food is time consuming to prepare, no matter what kind of
diet it is. As for expense, again good, real food costs more
than convenience food, but I find you need less real
food than what most of us are used to eating to get the right
amount of nutrition. And has she ever priced gluten-free bread?
Rice flour? Not to mention the new gluten free treats that
are being churned out (many fo them heavily-laden with new
and exciting (untested) ingredients?
She also says "...that it is unnecessary to eliminate...
starches such as corn, rice, potato, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat,
etc." So far I haven't met any celiacs who don't have
problems with corn, and buckwheat isn't exactly a hit either.
The most important fact about your book is totally missed
by both reviewers. It boils down to common sense. I find you
are very careful about explaining why and how things don't
and do work - right down to common sense things like if you
have four muffins at once, no matter what they're made of,
they're not going to work. You'd be amazed at how many people
don't have enough common sense to see why moderation is so
important. If you're not absorbing nutrients it doesn't matter
what your disease is called or who has researched what, it's
time to try something else, before drugs and scalpels are
necessary. As we know, radical surgery and drugs often cure
the immediate problem but open the doors to others.
I have been on the diet since January, 1996, still have a
way to go, but my life has changed drastically since. I have
much more enery, cirtually no pain anywhere (before my list
of symptoms was endless) and no longer spend half my life
in the bathroom where my life was literally going down the
drain. I was underweight, had dry pale skin, dull-looking
dry eyes, suffered from hair loss and was generally miserable.
Now I am actively pursuing my art interests (something I always
had inside me, but didn't have the energy or drive to tackle
it.)
Had I seen and heeded the alarming "Celiac Beware"
headline in the CCA Newsletter before I tackled "Breaking
the Vicious Cycle", I'd be too tired to even write a
letter like this.
Feel free to use my letter (or me for that matter.) There's
enough unnecessary suffering out there and there is nothing
to lose by trying this book.
Sincerely
Jennifer Stenberg.
 more about Celiac (coeliac) disease
making the move from "gluten free"
to the SCD
|
Jennifer Stenberg's story