I’m not someone who listens to radio very much. As a matter of fact, I listen rarely. When I say rarely, I mean, I have only listened to a radio about three times in the last year. So, it is amazing that I would tune in to a radio talk show on this day, and have the radio talk show person actually say something that I agree with 100%.

Most of the time when I go somewhere in the truck, Fabgrandpa is with me. When we are together, we listen to and talk to each other. We don’t turn the radio on, or even put a CD in the player most of the time. Because even after almost twenty years together, we still have a  lot to say to each other.

It just so happens that while I was gone to Maryland to look after Amelia while Owen was in the hospital, that Fabgrandpa went out by himself several times. And he apparently had the radio tuned in to WSB AM 750, probably trying to find a weather report or a traffic report.

This morning I went out by myself to meet my daughter,Emily for our girl day out. I turned on the radio to have some noise going on during the forty mile ride to Douglasville, and there was Neal Boortz.  I used to listen to him in the late 90′s when I had to drive in to Atlanta every morning to go to work. But towards the end of my other life, I got tired of listening to him because somewhere along the line our viewpoints began to differ. A lot. So, I stopped listening to him, and as time went on, I stopped listening to radio at all.

Anyway, this morning I turned on the radio and Neal was talking about the pink slime that McDonald’s used in their hamburger patties. He talked about that, and then, he started talking about eating gluten free and how wheat is not good for us. I was definitely paying attention to him at this point, because you know,  I have been gluten free since 2007. He said that the wheat we eat now is not the “bible wheat”, not the same as the staff of life from two thousand years ago, and that is because of genetically altered wheat that is being grown these days to increase the amount of gluten it contains.

I agree with that 100%. The corporate folks have altered the wheat that is being grown to increase the amount of gluten it contains because gluten gives products made with wheat the springy, high rising capabilities that we all love in our breads and cakes and pastries.

Boortz went on to explain that he had been having some issues and went to the doctor for testing and was diagnosed as gluten sensitive and possibly Celiac. And he has been eating a gluten free diet for a couple of months now. Mr. Boortz then said that the number one thing he has noticed since eating gluten free is that “His mood, his dispostion, has been changed.” He says he is happy, more alert,since eliminating gluten from his diet. He also recommended reading Wheat Belly. (Personally, I couldn’t tell the difference in his disposition now as opposed to fifteen years ago, but that’s just me.)
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I have known for a long time that symptoms of gluten sensitivity can mimic many diseases, including migraine headaches, arthritis, Chron’s disease, irritable bowel syndrome, periphial neuropathy, and many others. It can cause behaviour disorders in children that can be mistaken for ADHD, ADD, and autism. It can make you feel depressed, moody, fatigued. Boortz mentioned in passing Type 3 diabetes.

I was not surprised to hear that because I have read about this new form of diabetes before. My own experience with eating a gluten free diet is that I have been able to keep my blood sugar under control much better since I eliminated gluten from my diet, and that what I thought were symptoms of Peripheral Neuropathy caused by my type II diabetes completely disappeared just a couple of months after beginning a gluten free diet. Now, I’m not a medical professional at all, but I do know how my own body has responded to eating gluten free. Thank you, Neal Boortz, for giving me a topic of mutual interest for about twenty minutes this morning.

Also, Neal, if you ever read this, I have to tell you that while your ordering instructions to the the silly clerks at McDonald’s may sound perfectly clear, they must not be if you get your order incorrectly filled 100% of the time. Whenever I got to a fast food burger joint, I always order mine this way: “I want a hamburger, no bun please. Put the cheese in between the two patties, please.” And I get my order correct, 100% of the time. It just may be the delivery that throws them off.