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From DJ to ETA: The Unique Journey of Manitoba’s Dave Greene
Category: Lifestyle
My Last Real Doughnut: The Celiac Realization
In 2010, I had my last real doughnut.
It was an éclair from the Arborg Bakery when my friends and I were in town for a college project. I told them, “Before we leave, we have to stop at the bakery!”
While my friends cooed in doughnut heaven, I drove back to Red River College, scratching my itchy burning hands as they bubbled like pop rocks.
I couldn’t accept the obvious: I was Celiac.
When one of my aunts was diagnosed in the late 1990s, few people understood Celiac disease. In a nutshell – no gluten. Barley, malt, malt flavour, brewer’s yeast, dextrin. And more! Celiac is an autoimmune disease, and it runs on its own timeline – and it’s often hereditary. Stress or an overload of gluten can mess with your gluten filled life. After years of yummy puffy homemade bread, a body can revolt.
Continue reading “My Last Real Doughnut: The Celiac Realization”When a Hysterectomy Closes the Baby Door, You Cope with Humour
On May 6th, 2021, all non-essential and elective surgeries in Manitoba were postponed for the month because of the rising number of COVID-19. This included hysterectomies.
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“So, are you sexually active?” asked my gynecologist.
I tilted my head, pressing my lips together. Stifling a giggle. “I’ve had sex … and I remember sex.” We both burst out laughing. I said “I’m basically a virgin.”
Humour is my coping mechanism. I’ll laugh if I can’t find a street. If I almost lock myself out of the house. If I walk into a wall. I’m the one who couldn’t stop laughing because I was stuck in the Arborg Coop’s car wash.
This was a little different though as I sat on an exam table naked from the waist down with a thin piece of paper over me. I felt humour would break the ice as I awaited my third pelvic ultrasound.
My ultrasounds have never been the “fun, happy, you’re having twins” kind. If they were, I’d have the cast of The Sound of Music and their backups. Instead it’s thyroid nodules and two unnamed uterine fibroids.
Continue reading “When a Hysterectomy Closes the Baby Door, You Cope with Humour”It’s Time to Rename Fad Diets – You’re Not on the Real Keto Diet
Meet the keto diet.
However, in the epilepsy community, it’s known as the ketogenic diet and it can be traced back to the 1920s.
The modern day keto isn’t keto. Someone realized they lost weight on the keto diet and, toot, toot, all aboard the temporary weight loss train!
The ketogenic diet isn’t a diet. It’s a treatment for children and teens with uncontrolled (refractory) epilepsy. In 1994, it gained mainstream attention as a seizure control treatment when a young boy with refractory epilepsy was kept seizure free thanks to the ketogenic diet. I live with epilepsy, and I learned about the treatment as a teenager.
Continue reading “It’s Time to Rename Fad Diets – You’re Not on the Real Keto Diet”
Tammy W. Karatchuk 