can anyone make a case for gluten being healthy?

sexysisam

Ahhhh gluten. I miss it!

I have celiac disease and have been gluten free for 3 years. I make a lot of my own stuff - hamburger buns, bread, cinn rolls, cookies, cakes, etc. I've found that eating gluten free and baking it from scratch, grinding my own grains, eating lots of ancient grains (quinoa, sorghum, buckwheat, teff, etc) and mixing my own flour mix costs about 3-5 times as much as when I was grinding and eating whole grain wheat.

Gluten free flour has more calories and carbs than wheat flour. You have to use A LOT of eggs for GF cooking so that ups the calories. So really going GF just to lose weight isn't going to work. You will get less bang for your buck.

I totally think wheat is a healthier option for the lucky ones that can have it. If you think "modern" wheat is bad you could use spelt, kamut, or another wheat relative that's been around longer.

BeachGingerOnTheRocks

Ahhhh gluten. I miss it!

I have celiac disease and have been gluten free for 3 years. I make a lot of my own stuff - hamburger buns, bread, cinn rolls, cookies, cakes, etc. I've found that eating gluten free and baking it from scratch, grinding my own grains, eating lots of ancient grains (quinoa, sorghum, buckwheat, teff, etc) and mixing my own flour mix costs about 3-5 times as much as when I was grinding and eating whole grain wheat.

Gluten free flour has more calories and carbs than wheat flour. You have to use A LOT of eggs for GF cooking so that ups the calories. So really going GF just to lose weight isn't going to work. You will get less bang for your buck.

I totally think wheat is a healthier option for the lucky ones that can have it. If you think "modern" wheat is bad you could use spelt, kamut, or another wheat relative that's been around longer.

Spelt and kamut are my favorites. Spelt has a flavor that I crave. I mean CRAVE. Particularly spelt pasta when it is served al dente. Slightly sweet, nutty, and aromatic.

jenilla1

For those of you who want to find out if gluten is a problem for you, I would suggest trying the Whole30 diet. By cutting out gluten, dairy, grains, legumes, etc. for 30 days and then adding them back into your diet gradually, you will learn whether any of these food groups bother you. My brother, my husband and I all have done the Whole30 in the past few months and have seen amazing things change for the better, for all of us.
I myself found that gluten and dairy cause me to be bloated and gassy after meals. I also found that by the end of the 30 days, my eczema had cleared up and only returns if I consume dairy. I also always had sinus issues, needing to clear my throat regularly in the morning, in order to be able to talk normally. This has also improved greatly. As an added bonus, I lost 10 lbs. I also learned that foods that use to bother me, like broccoli and lettuce/spinach salads, don't cause me to have to run to the bathroom soon after consuming them anymore since I'm not mixing them with gluten and dairy.
Some things that my husband and brother noticed were decrease in migraines, toenail fungus and warts disappeared and overall feeling better, sleeping better and more energy.
I know some one here mentioned that people may feel better not only because they cut out gluten but because they are just eating more fruit and veggies and less processed junk. All three of us were already eating better than a lot of people before we started the Whole30. So that was not the case for us.

I did something like that for 21 days. Very happily found that gluten has no ill effect on me at all! What does bother me though are white potatoes, bell peppers, and eggplant.

My doctor had me do that, but it lasted longer than 30 days. I had to allow more time between periods of adding back in new foods. It took me months to feel better because my intestines needed to heal. I had a ton of inflammation. My problem foods turned out to be dairy and gluten.

Yay! After over a decade of what I thought was random vomiting, diarrhea, pain and constipation after eating, it turns out it wasn't just random, chronic misery. It's because everything I ate had gluten and/or dairy in it - my two favorite foods were cheese and pasta! I haven't been sick since eliminating dairy and gluten and the massive anxiety I used to have from never knowing when I was gonna be sick or how bad it was gonna be has faded quite a bit as well.

I don't care if gluten is in "everything." I've always cooked from scratch anyway, so it's super easy and cheap for me to just kick out the dairy and wheat products and just cook with alternatives like rice, potatoes, oats, corn, other GF grains and seeds, and almond milk. Going GF has had no effect on my weight, which makes sense to me, since my weight is dependent on calorie intake and burn. I've never had a problem with my weight, but I don't understand people doing it for weight loss...that's TOTALLY unnecessary and it's super inconvenient to do it for that reason. I wouldn't do it if I didn't have to.

Fancy_Nancy2

My children are gluten, dairy free my little girl has autism and after taking her off of gluten and dairy every thing just got better. Me and my husband mostly eat gluten free but it is very $$$$ so we will get our self regular buns and bread a small 1lb loaf for my children is 5.00.

There nana has taken very close eye on what is bothering her and gluten make her feel not so hot so she dose not eat it.

I say if its just for you listen to your own body. If you have children who need to be gluten free and they are young listen to there body and join in. Also I have not seen any weight loss on just being gluten free.

bcattoes

I am not sure if I am off topic, as I am not making a case for it being healthy, just sharing my experience.

Long story short, I was having migraines daily, went on a strong anti conversant. It was the first thing to work. It also took away my hunger trigger. GONE. Thanks to MFP and my logging, I knew I must eat food. I also knew I should make it count as the first few weeks as my body adjusted to the meds I was not eating much at all.

After doing a LOT of research, I decided to not only cut out the 'white' as I call it (bread and pasta and such) but the gluten completely. I also learned in the next few weeks that milk made me feel sick.

My migraines were under control, my IBS was much better, my Reflux was getting better. None of which did I attribute to the GF. Some of which I knew was the dairy.

Cut to a few months later when I add back in gluten products.. The tests were negative, so the gastro said I could eat gluten. Actually rolled his eyes when I attributed some of my good changes to this.

Within 2 weeks my migraines came back. Daily. Again, thank God for MFP, my food was logged. My friend and I looked thru my diary and thought ...............hmmmmmm lets take out gluten again.

Bammm.........migraines under control.

From what I have read (and I am only a google doctor my friend) it is an inflammatory. Now do I eat more lettuce, berries, and other fruits when the turkey burger isn't on a big ol roll? Of course, but I was eating those when I HAD the roll too. I def attribute the changes to the gluten.

Of course, that's just me:flowerforyou:

It's not just you, but it's also not everyone. Bananas are also a common migraine trigger. That does not make bananas unhealthy. It just means some people shouldn't eat them.