In 1962 Rachel Carson published her book “Silent Spring,” which detailed the effects of DDT and other pesticides on wildlife, the natural environment, and humans. Many years after its publication I read that book and began wondering if some of my health problems were due to the widespread use of these pesticides in conventional farming.
Becoming interested in the foods we were consuming led me to Adele Davis, now considered the most famous nutritionist in the early to mid-20th century. Her books praising the value of natural foods and criticizing the diet of the average American include “Let’s Cook it Right” (1947), “Let’s Have Healthy Children” (1951), “Let’s Eat Right to Keep Fit” (1954), and “Let’s Get Well” (1965).
Frances Moore Lappe contributed to both Davis’s and Carson’s work when in 1971 she published “Diet for a Small Planet,” expressing concerns over animal-based industries and the production of animal-based products. Reading this book convinced me – and my husband – to opt for a mostly vegetarian diet.
The 1970s saw the rise of health food stores as well as the growing availability of organic fruits and vegetables. After switching to organic, it became clear that my allergies and general health were vastly improved; in fact our whole family was experiencing positive benefits. Eventually, to keep costs down, we began growing our own organic vegetables and herbs.
Fast forward to about ten years ago, when I began having a problem with my right knee. Probably arthritis, I thought – a logical assumption since my mother had suffered with this condition for years. So I paid a visit to my doctor, who gave me a prescription for pain medication and sent me to a physical therapist.
On the way home I ripped up the prescription – just as I had when a doctor suggested pain medication for the migraines I was experiencing years earlier (see my last post) – and decided, once again, to do my own research. When I put my symptoms into the search engine of my pc, up came “gluten sensitivity.” Was this my problem? There was only one way to find out: experiment.
I researched where gluten was hiding in the foods I was consuming and found, to my chagrin, that this included my favorite, albeit supposedly healthy, whole grain bread. Well, did I want to eat bread and some of the other things I enjoyed – and limp around on my painful knee (actually by this time I had begun using a cane) – or did I want to see if avoiding gluten could alleviate that condition?
Being a person who doesn’t suffer well, I opted to avoid gluten. And the results, within only a few weeks, were astounding. The pain in my knee was gone, I was able to put aside my cane, and began hiking again with my husband.
Fortunately he also wanted to see me well again rather than enjoy the gluten-filled foods we’d been consuming. And, amazingly, he also felt healthier. We found that there were delicious gluten-free breads and pastas, too, as well as other gluten-free options – more and more as the rise of gluten-free became something of a fad.
Sometimes it was difficult going out to dinner or sharing meals at friends’ homes, but gradually, many months into the gluten-free program, we realized that having an occasional piece of French or Italian bread or other gluten-containing foods was okay as long as we remained totally gluten-free at home. All went well like this for a number of years.
Then along came Covid. Since we had always been vaccine-cautious, especially with our daughter, we opted not to be vaccinated. We’d also come down with Covid early on, after my husband had one of his plays done in New York City in late 2019 and early 2020, right before the whole shutdown began. Since we’d had it and survived, we had natural immunity, so why would we be vaccinated? We also realized that something was going very wrong with the whole situation – but that’s another story.
Ultimately, as the months and years went by, and a kind of partial sanity returned, we had the sinking feeling that “long-haul Covid” was something we were experiencing. But what to do about it? We were still eating “healthy,” as far as we knew, but we weren’t feeling healthy.
This situation led us into the diet we’re currently on. But that’s for next time.