CONFUSED!!!

solomonsmom

My husband and I are trying NOT to eat anything with sugar in the ingrediants, anything with more then 5 ingredients and of course NO high frutose corn syrup.

So my question is, what about gluten free food?? I thought that whole grain wheat - Gluten - was what we were supposed to eat, but now I am hearing about gluten free is the way to go... I have migraines and Fibromyalgia, and have taking Gluten out of your daily food intake helps with pain and such... I don't want to start a diet, I want to change my life and the way I eat. But everytime I go to the store I am so confused on what to get and what not to get!! It is very discouraging any help is better then no help! Thanks

jonward85

BUMP. Not sure on the anwsers, but i'd like to know.

nikkitodhunter

The thing about no more than 5 ingredients is kind of idiotic, if you don't mind me saying so. I just made a perfectly healthy and delicious chilli con carne that had about 10 ingredients in it :L
Just be sensible - don't shy away form it just because you don't understand it or can't pronounce it (lots of very innocent things can be put in sciencey terms on labels!)
Chances are you KNOW what's bad for you - processed sugar, aspartame, etc - and you know what it's in. If in doubt, buy as little prepared food as possible and cook emals/desserts yourself

Also, maybe talk to your doctor about the gluten-free options, he/she might know whetehr it's helped otehr patients who ahve similar problems? But wholegrain stuff is good for you because it contains more fibre (keeps you regular!) and releases energy slower so you won't get hungry as quick. Not sure if gluten-free foods have the same benefits.

CarolElaine25

Whole grains are really good for the fiber and nutrients, but you don't have to eat whole wheat to get that. Oats, quinoa, brown rice and other such grains are very good for those who are trying to cut back on gluten due to allergies or other reasons. Here's are good links for alternate grains: http://technorati.com/women/article/gluten-free-whole-grains-moving-beyond1/ and http://www.wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/gluten-free-whole-grains

sunnyside1213

Just stick to the outside aisles and avoid anything in a box, can, or jar. Veggies, fruit, lean meat and fish.

nikkitodhunter

Just stick to the outside aisles and avoid anything in a box, can, or jar. Veggies, fruit, lean meat and fish.

Sooo you're saying people shouldn't buy canned chickpeas or other pulses, for example, which are just packaged in water in a can for convenience but chock full of protein, fibre and nutrients?

Rules like this annoy me.

AZKristi

There are many people with gluten intolerance (or more severe problems like Celiac's disease). For these people, gluten free lifestyle is just as essential as a peanut free lifestyle is for someone with a peanut allergy. If you don't have problems with gluten, wheat is fine. There are many whole grains that do not include wheat that can be part of a gluten free diet.

BarbWhite09

The thing about no more than 5 ingredients is kind of idiotic, if you don't mind me saying so. I just made a perfectly healthy and delicious chilli con carne that had about 10 ingredients in it :L
Just be sensible - don't shy away form it just because you don't understand it or can't pronounce it (lots of very innocent things can be put in sciencey terms on labels!)
Chances are you KNOW what's bad for you - processed sugar, aspartame, etc - and you know what it's in. If in doubt, buy as little prepared food as possible and cook emals/desserts yourself

Also, maybe talk to your doctor about the gluten-free options, he/she might know whetehr it's helped otehr patients who ahve similar problems? But wholegrain stuff is good for you because it contains more fibre (keeps you regular!) and releases energy slower so you won't get hungry as quick. Not sure if gluten-free foods have the same benefits.

I think she meant store bought items with more than 5 ingredients...Not like meals...But go ahead & call her idiotic, if you like...smh.

solomonsmom

OOPs sorry should have mentioned, I meant under 5 ingredients on the back of a can or box!! Sorry about that!!

wackyfunster

My husband and I are trying NOT to eat anything with sugar in the ingrediants, anything with more then 5 ingredients and of course NO high frutose corn syrup.

So my question is, what about gluten free food?? I thought that whole grain wheat - Gluten - was what we were supposed to eat, but now I am hearing about gluten free is the way to go... I have migraines and Fibromyalgia, and have taking Gluten out of your daily food intake helps with pain and such... I don't want to start a diet, I want to change my life and the way I eat. But everytime I go to the store I am so confused on what to get and what not to get!! It is very discouraging any help is better then no help! Thanks

Approximately 40% of people of European descent will have one or more alleles for gluten sensitivity. The percentage of people for which this sensitivity is actually SIGNIFICANT is about 10%. If you have FM, it is not dietary, as inflammation plays no role in the disease. If, on the other hand, you have MS (the two are often confused, although there are pretty definitive tests for FM, and MS is a diagnosis of exclusion), then eliminating inflammatory foods from your diet is very likely to help.

There is a test called the MRT which will tell you what foods provoke an inflammatory response (it tests for 150 of the most common foods and chemicals, including wheat/gluten, and solanine (potatoes/"nightshades"), the common "bad" foods from a Paleo standpoint). Being tested is far preferable to guesswork... e.g. I can eat as much wheat/potatoes as I want, but have sensitivities to most green veggies, sweet potatoes.. basically everything that the Paleo diet recommends, lol.

If that is not an option, try eliminating gluten from your diet for 6 weeks (it is hidden in all sorts of places, so this is harder than you may think). If you haven't noticed any significant changes in that time period, then you are not sensitive, and can go back to eating it.

I hope this helps.

Josette89

Just stick to the outside aisles and avoid anything in a box, can, or jar. Veggies, fruit, lean meat and fish.

Sooo you're saying people shouldn't buy canned chickpeas or other pulses, for example, which are just packaged in water in a can for convenience but chock full of protein, fibre and nutrients?

Rules like this annoy me.

The thing about canned goods are that they have been preserved with a ton of salt and additives. It's not bad, but it's not as good for you as the raw stuff. but it is totally understandable if your budget will not allow the more expensive fresh ingredients. When food is fresh your body can process it better because it is familiar with the natural nutrients.

becki1815

I only go into the aisles at the grocery store for a very specific item. I think canned veggies and fruit is fine, but I think the poster was referring to "convenience" food in packages, like Hamburger Helper.

LinaBo

I have Fibromyalgia, as well, and have had it for nearly 5 years. It's tough when you are a fairly young person, I know. People still have trouble computing that, at 29, I can get so sick. It's also hard for people to understand that sometimes you can be great, and then, not always predictably, WHAM! You're flattened for a day, week, or even months, barely able to drag yourself out of bed.

I eat wheat. I grew up on wheat, I am fine with wheat. I have even started sprouting wheat, to be made into bread (as a cook, this makes giddier than most, I'm sure!) I am sick and tired of wheat being trended as the new "devil" amongst foods. It is a nutritious grain. Civilizations have thrived on its use for thousands of years. Why should it be demonized, while all of the other whole grains are put on a pedestal?

While there is legitimate cause to remove wheat and products with trace gluten from your diet if you have actual, medically-diagnosed Celiac Disease, a wheat allergy, or significant gluten intolerance, there is no other reason to exclude it from your diet entirely. Beyond that, gluten's negative association with Fibromyalgia is nothing but hearsay and pseudoscience. I think the only reason why so many people (in general) feel physically better from cutting gluten out of their diet, even if they don't have any intolerance, is that gluten is used in sooooo many processed foods that, simply by adhering to a gluten-free diet, you have to avoid the vast majority of the processed foods that have been making you feel like crap via their many OTHER ingredients (like trans fats, simple sugars, sodium, artificial ingredients, dyes, etc).

I have been lifting and doing cardio, and riding on endorphins, doing any errands before my gym buzz wears off. It's hard, but I highly recommend serious strength and cardio workouts for the payoff; The more energy I have expended in the gym, the more energy I've seemed to gain, in total. Initially, you'll probably spend more of your non-gym-time plastered to your bed sheets with your face in a pillow, but that's just the starting point. I'm also not totally sugar free. I'm working on lowering my sugar, though, because I do notice my nerve pain (that awful scalding/electric burning sensation in my limbs) gets worse with too much sugar. My capabilities, while still not great enough to reliably hold down work (a bummer... I miss working!), are vastly improved for a person burdened with a minimum excess of 120 lbs of weight. These great strides have been accomplished despite plenty of wheat in my diet. I'm hoping that continuing as I am, and shedding the excess weigh, will be the key to beating the Fibromyalgia into remission. I know the symptoms have been better at lower weights/better fitness levels.

What I recommend, as mentioned above, is to get the tests done for common allergens and intolerances, because intolerances do exist. However, unless the test comes back showing that you have a significant intolerance, go ahead and eat wheat. As for this "5 ingredient" rule, I think that's overly simplistic. If something in the store has 10 ingredients, but all of those ingredients are healthy foods, it should be fine. Just try to avoid as many highly processed and artificial ingredients as you can. Make sure that you have a notepad and a pen when you're at the grocery store, and if you are not sure about an ingredient, write it down and do your research when you get home. It's not hard to look up lists of common ingredients in packaged goods, and their explanations, on the internet. It's also not hard to look up a grocery template of healthy foods from all food groups, to look for in the store (and yes, this includes some packaged stuff in the aisles, like nuts, beans, lentils, frozen veggies and fruits, etc).

HelloSweetie4

I have heard a lot that you should only live a gluten-free diet if you have a gluten allergy.

DaveneGfit

I think sometimes we tend to over complicate things and I have been often confused myself. For years and years I was confused as I jumped from diet to diet. Food is meant to fuel our bodies not harm us. So with that being said, for me I have cut out all processed food, eat a variety of veggies, whole grains, lean protein, and fruit. It is really simple when you think about it. The thing with processed food is our bodies do not know what to do with it and thus our bodies won't work the way they were designed to,

I don't understand the 5 ingredient thing and have never heard of it, but the best rule of thumb I use is to take a look at the ingredients and if includes dyes or anything I don't understand, I probably should not be putting it in my body. I can't even begin to tell you how much this has changed my life. Like I said I use to diet a lot, now I eat a well balanced diet and the weight just started to come off because for the first time I was giving my body what it needed.

As far as gluten goes there are some who have celiac disease and just can't plain eat it, but I recently did an experiment myself with it. The first week I went off gluten I lost probably about 7 lbs of water weight. So this tells me it was doing something to my body.

I just want to let you know you aren not alone and we are here to help. So I guess my question would be what is your end goal? Why are you considering going of gluten? Feel free to send me a message if you like

Silverkittycat

My husband and I are trying NOT to eat anything with sugar in the ingrediants, anything with more then 5 ingredients and of course NO high frutose corn syrup.

So my question is, what about gluten free food?? I thought that whole grain wheat - Gluten - was what we were supposed to eat, but now I am hearing about gluten free is the way to go... I have migraines and Fibromyalgia, and have taking Gluten out of your daily food intake helps with pain and such... I don't want to start a diet, I want to change my life and the way I eat. But everytime I go to the store I am so confused on what to get and what not to get!! It is very discouraging any help is better then no help! Thanks

Approximately 40% of people of European descent will have one or more alleles for gluten sensitivity. The percentage of people for which this sensitivity is actually SIGNIFICANT is about 10%. If you have FM, it is not dietary, as inflammation plays no role in the disease. If, on the other hand, you have MS (the two are often confused, although there are pretty definitive tests for FM, and MS is a diagnosis of exclusion), then eliminating inflammatory foods from your diet is very likely to help.

There is a test called the MRT which will tell you what foods provoke an inflammatory response (it tests for 150 of the most common foods and chemicals, including wheat/gluten, and solanine (potatoes/"nightshades"), the common "bad" foods from a Paleo standpoint). Being tested is far preferable to guesswork... e.g. I can eat as much wheat/potatoes as I want, but have sensitivities to most green veggies, sweet potatoes.. basically everything that the Paleo diet recommends, lol.

If that is not an option, try eliminating gluten from your diet for 6 weeks (it is hidden in all sorts of places, so this is harder than you may think). If you haven't noticed any significant changes in that time period, then you are not sensitive, and can go back to eating it.

I hope this helps.

Excellent advice, get tested.