gluten free diet

Ely82010

I saw and read this on-line article today. I don't have celiac problems (test was negative), but I did notice that in order to reduce gastrointestinal problems, I need to reduce/control all wheat products.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/12/gluten.free.diet.improve/index.html?hpt=Sbin

skylar1907

There's a whole group of us out here who are gluten-free (my necessity and/or by choice). I am gluten free by necessity. If you want tips or have questions about what to look for on food-labels to cut down on your wheat consumption - give a shout!

RockaholicMama

Thanks for sharing. I do have celiac. I've had 4 pos tests.

If anyone who is GF wants to add me, feel free. My mom also has celiac and we swap awesome recipes all the time

LOVEsummer

gluten free lemon bars?!

kristiduda

Even if you don't have celiac, you could still have a gluten sensitivity. If you notice that you have GI problems when you eat products containing gluten, you could try cutting it out for a few weeks and see if it improves.

As a side note, if you are having symptoms, what type of test did they do for celiac? My son has celiac, but his blood test was negative. He had an endoscopy and the biopsy of his small intestine showed that he did in fact have celiac. Just something to be aware of!

Also, beware of all the hype surrounding gluten free diets these days. If you don't have symptoms from eating products with gluten in them, there is no scientific evidence that a gluten free diet will help you. As more people are being diagnosed with celiac and gluten sensitivity, many media outlets want to label the gluten free diet as the answer to everyone's dietary problems. Unfortunately, it's just not that simple. Just wanted to throw that out there! Good luck!

deathtaco

My mom's friend was severely over weight and did this. Lost tons of weight, feels better, has better blood work and has been keeping it off. She's doing well.

Heart disease, obesity, etc have all been on the rise around the time we started to become an agriculture based society...so there is probably some merit to this diet. But man-o-man I love me some gluten every now and then

moderation is key to life!

snowflakelaia

I totally agree with deathtaco: Moderation.

Ely82010

Thanks all for your comments. I had blood tests, two endoscopies, and a colonoscopy (ugh!!), and everything was fine/normal. But when I eat a lot of wheat products such as Kashi Go Lean (I love their high protein cereal), Weetabix biscuits and others, I get to visit "Mr. John" very often and the symptoms and bloating last for few days.

I stopped eating those foods and I became more "normal and my insides were better regulated," if you know what I mean. I changed to gluten free bread (health store), but I noticed that it was full of sodium, like other GF foods, so I stopped. Oatmeal does not affect me at all.

I am now eating rice cakes (GF) and Ezequiel bread and they don't give me any problem. I can also eat regular bread and wheat pasta in moderation and I don't seem to be affected either. So go figure.

I am following my doctor's advice: monitor my symtomps, stay away for few weeks from foods that give me problems and then re-introduce them a little bit at the time. If the symptoms return, then I know what the problem is.

So far so good. By the way, the only symptom that I had was gastrointestinal, not other problems.

skylar1907

As a side note, if you are having symptoms, what type of test did they do for celiac? My son has celiac, but his blood test was negative. He had an endoscopy and the biopsy of his small intestine showed that he did in fact have celiac. Just something to be aware of!

Also, beware of all the hype surrounding gluten free diets these days. If you don't have symptoms from eating products with gluten in them, there is no scientific evidence that a gluten free diet will help you.

I am in a similar position as your son was - the blood test is not the end all be all- and most docs don't mention that to patients.

And thank you for mentioning that going totally GF when you don't need to won't make a difference.

However, wheat is in a LOT of products that people don't realize its in and choosing those products that are made without flour as a thickener can help you cut calories quickly (and still enjoy other non-GF goodies)!

AMBlass

Gluten free food are not necessarily lower in fat or calories, in fact, some of the food is actually higher! So make sure you really NEED to be on a gluten free diet. It would be much easier to just go lower carb. Gluten free does not mean carb or calorie free to be careful. But if you do have a sensitivity to it, then it might be helpful.