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Hey, happy Wednesday! How is your week going so far? I have some things I want to share with you today:

You may have read on my Twitter over the weekend some sad news...

I discovered that I can no longer eat oats. That means no more overnight oats, oatmeal, granola, or oat flour. I only had recently began incorporating oats into my diet a few weeks ago. I have a severe gluten-intolerance/ questionable Celiac Disease so I never really ate oats before this summer. Certified gluten-free oats really aren't in many gluten-free products I ever came across these 4 years I have been gluten-free and I was never a big oat person before I went gluten-free either. But a few weeks ago I wanted to change up my breakfasts and try some overnight oats and oatmeal. So I ordered some certified gluten-free oats from this wonderful company. So I started eating oats once or twice a week for the last few weeks, but the last 3 weeks I started having extreme stomach distress (reminiscent of being glutened). Around the days I would eat oats. I realized the correlation 2 weeks ago and decided to try one more time, last Thursday. By Thursday night I was in extreme discomfort (I won't give details, but if you have a food intolerance, you can relate I'm sure). This lasted through the whole weekend. (It is just wearing off now.)So I researched Oat intolerances and found that people with celiac or gluten issues can also be vulnerable to oats even if they are gluten-free. Oats are naturally gluten-free but can be contaminated during processing and in the fields at more conventional companies. But Oats also have their own "gluten" protein called avenin. So, "some celiac disease patients have avenin-reactive mucosal T-cells that can cause mucosal inflammation. Oat intolerance may be a reason for villous atrophy and inflammation in patients with celiac disease who are eating oats but otherwise are adhering to a strict gluten-free diet." (source). However anyone can have an oat intolerance and not celiac or a gluten-intolerance and most celiac/GF are fine eating a minimal/moderate amount of GF oats.

For me though, I sadly have to say good-bye. I am upset since I finally found another great breakfast option to enjoy that was non-processed, vegan, and so very customizable. All those oat recipes on Pinterest are now useless and I won't be able to try. I still have a huge bag of GF rolled oats in my cabinet as well as an unopened box of Eco-Planet GF Hot Oatmeal Cereal (which contains oats). This is a sad, sad thing. 🙁

In other news (happier indeed), I can not get enough of this Roasted Dandelion Root Tea from Traditional Medicinals! I have been drinking it every day and it is absolutely delicious and reminds me of caffeinated black tea (which I stay away from because of my reflux). Yet this tea is simply roasted Dandelion Root which is naturally caffeine-free! They describe the taste as "pleasantly roasted, sweet and slightly bitter." A lot of people use it as a coffee substitute as well. So I am urging you to definitely give this tea a try!

Any Fellow Celiacs or Gluten-Intolerencers: How do you react to eating oats?

Ever try Roasted Dandelion Root Tea? What is your favorite kind of tea?