GLUTEN FREE! is it worth it?

bynonmurrayc · August 2012

So i've gone gluten free for the most part. I don't pay attention to sauces/dips/anything that may gave traces of gluten in it, and occasionally i'll have some granola, but in terms of bread/pasta/cake/cookies etc, i've cut em out completely.

However, to make a long story short, I haven't noticed much difference in my weight. Considering you cut out so much bad stuff by going gluten free you'd think you'd see a substantial change... but I haven't. Most of the things i'm replacing it with is salad with meat/protien of some kind, or quinoa with vegetables. My snacks consist mostly of green apples with almond butter or natural organic peanut butter. I also eat a lot of nuts (almonds mostly).

I guess unless you're in a calorie defecit you won't loose weight. Maybe i'll go back to eating gluten? I probably could eat 5 slices of bread in the amount of almonds I eat for the same amount of calories.

Stupid nuts. Why are they so caloric.

smokinjackd · August 2012

Unless you've been told by your doctor to cut out wheat for some medical reason there is absolutely no benefit to not eating it, despite what some of the nutjobs will tell you.

TheVimFuego · August 2012

Unless you've been told by your doctor to cut out wheat for some medical reason there is absolutely no benefit to not eating it, despite what some of the nutjobs will tell you.

Well, that's that sorted then, back to the cravings and feeling bloated for me then.

Thanks!

bynonmurrayc · August 2012

My body swells when I eat gluten. Runs in the family. To be specific, I actually swell whenever my blood sugar levels get too high, but gluten has the most significance on my blood sugar levels considering that it basically turns into sugar in your system.

However, it's not dangerous, i just really hate the feeling of being swollen. Apparently this is a lot more common than most people think; my doctor told me that almost everyone has a reaction when their blood sugar levels increase to a level that exceeds a normal range. On my moms side all the girls get puffy faces whenever they've spiked their blood sugar levels. It's horrible.

smokinjackd · August 2012

Then both you and deadvim have issues with gluten, I and many many others don't, and your sarcasm is unnecessary and uncalled for deadvim. At least try to be on point with sarcasm, it was stated unless your doctor, or are you self prescribing for yourself?

restoreleanne · August 2012

Unless you've been told by your doctor to cut out wheat for some medical reason there is absolutely no benefit to not eating it, despite what some of the nutjobs will tell you.

I would not do it even in my house where there are 2 that can not have it my other my eat some thing with gluten in it. if you doing it for weight lose. there is more cals and less nutrition in g free food. I put weight on (40 pounds) when I when gluten free. Your better off making everthing youe self so you know what in it and over all just eatting clean.

RunMyOregonBunsOff · August 2012

If you don't have ciliac (or some other major glutin issue) then there really isn't a reason to change. I would think that your lood sugar is nearly as affected by the fours that they use in GF products and they tend to be very simular in calories as the items that they are replacing. If you have ciliac then there are some major symptoms from eating glutin. Your body can't process it and it can cause a lot of stomich pain and you tend to feel sick a lot. It also damages your intestines and makes it hard to process regular sugars until you have been GF long enough for your intestines to heal...that is as I understand it and there are plenty of other symptoms too.

marekdds · August 2012

I have no choice to be gluten free and frankly I wish I could eat wheat. Haven't had a decent piece of bread in over a year.

danni_l · August 2012

Unless you've been told by your doctor to cut out wheat for some medical reason there is absolutely no benefit to not eating it, despite what some of the nutjobs will tell you.

Well, that's that sorted then, back to the cravings and feeling bloated for me then.

Thanks!

Hahaha. THIS!

I dont eat Gluten for health reasons but also for weight loss. Generally though it just makes me feel gross and I have a lot more energy on a low carb diet.

I have also lost and am still loosing weight, but maybe you dont have much to loose in the first place?

bynonmurrayc · August 2012

Then both you and deadvim have issues with gluten, I and many many others don't, and your sarcasm is unnecessary and uncalled for deadvim. At least try to be on point with sarcasm, it was stated unless your doctor, or are you self prescribing for yourself?

Just thought I'd share! Perhaps there's others out there who have the same problem with their blood sugar levels or others who have opinions on the gluten free diet.

sirhenryclay · August 2012

If that is you in your display picture, I do not think you will see a substantial difference in your figure by switching different types of diets while maintaining a healthy lifestyle. With that being said, cardio and weight lifting is the point you are currently at now for wanting to see a difference in your figure or weight.

CPReaves · August 2012

I have no problem with gluten, but since my family had to go gluten free 2 years ago, I've lost 90 lbs...the first 45 without even trying. Three of my kids and my husband are all gluten intolerant, and I didn't need a doctor to figure it out. The fact my son was in the bathroom 10 times a day and couldn't gain a pound to save his life was a hint. My daughter screamed bloody murder and was angry more often than not. Turned out she had belly pain. My husband had so many freaking issues dating back to his teenage years when doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. My youngest son got a hold of a piece of pizza crust and his butt broke out in a bleeding rash for 2 weeks. I don't need a doctor to tell me what was wrong with them. In fact, I told my kids' pediatrician, and he said "okay, you're probably right." No questions, no arguing. He even ran the tests for me for celiacs which were negative on my older son. The rest can't be tested as they were already gluten free at the time.

Two weeks after the change, my husband and kids were happier and the bathroom unoccupied more often. But yes, I refuse to allow gluten in the house in any way, shape, or form. Like I said, I've lost 90 lbs, and my husband has dropped 95. AND we still eat all the baked goods and bad stuff we want, just gluten free versions I bake myself (not everyday or every week, sometimes not even every month, but when we want it, I bake it).

I'm not a nut job, but I also don't believe gluten is good for anybody, at least not in the levels it is currently found in common foods.

boxkat · August 2012

Why not stop eating gluten for a week or two, and see how you feel?

sleepytexan · August 2012

I did an experiment in June -- Primal. Just to see what all the hype is about (I was already at goal).

I went wheat free (and fewer than 100 gr carbs per day) for the month of June. This was after more than a year at goal (from counting calories only).

I learned a few things:

1. I thought that I was lactose intolerant for years, but during the experiment found that I could eat dairy if I wasn't eating wheat.

2. I was not tired on fewer than 100 gr carbs a day (I typically ate around 250/day prior to the experiment.

3. Eating fewer carbs did not affect my weight until after i went back to normal carbs. Then I GAINED 8 POUNDS IN ONE MONTH!!!!. That was more than half of my entire original weightloss!

That's right, during the month of eating fewer carbs, my weight did not change at all, however, when I went back to normal carb level (but still avoiding wheat for the most part) in July, my weight shot up by 8 damn pounds. WTH! Remember I had been maintaining at goal for a year before this experiment! (This was just in time for an anniversary trip to HI, grrrrr).

Pissed me right the hell off. Now it's been another month and I'm still up by 5.

My conclusion is that cutting carbs is a bad idea, but it was useful to learn that wheat, and not dairy (or possibly the combo of them) is an issue for me. For me cutting out wheat has not made me lose weight. Cutting carbs did not make me lose weight, but made me gain weight when I started eating them again.

Now I'm just biding time, back to counting calories without counting carbs and waiting for my damn system to recover and go back down to goal.

AnninStPaul · August 2012

Gluten is primarily a source of a protein; avoiding gluten may reduce your sugar intake, but generally not if you replace gluten-containing foods, such as wheat flour and wheat-based pasta, with gluten-free foods such as rice flour and rice pasta.

If you find that a wheat-free diet is good for you, great. Go gluten-free. But don't get all righteous about it (same goes for vegetarians, vegans, paleos, whatever -- it works for you, great, but you don't have a vote on what I eat).

Re celiac....I have family members with celiac disease, which is triggered by wheat gluten. Specifically, it is an autoimmune disease similar to MS or rheumatoid arthritis. In MS, something triggers the body to attack the myelin sheath around the nerves (the way rodents chew off the sheath around electrical cables), causing shorts in the nervous system. In RA, something triggers the body to attack the lining of joints, so that the bones wear on each other and cause significant pain. In celiac, wheat gluten triggers the body to attack the villi lining the intestines. The villi are like little fingers in your small intestine, which increase the surface area of the intestine and facilitate the absorption of nutrients.

So if you have celiac, your villi are destroyed and cannot absorb nutrients. You cannot gain weight because your body cannot absorb nutrition or calories. My dad could not keep weight on, regardless of how much he ate or how little he did. Because food goes straight through your system, with less resistance to slow it down, oily, smelly diarrhea is the norm.

bynonmurrayc · August 2012

I have no problem with gluten, but since my family had to go gluten free 2 years ago, I've lost 90 lbs...the first 45 without even trying. Three of my kids and my husband are all gluten intolerant, and I didn't need a doctor to figure it out. The fact my son was in the bathroom 10 times a day and couldn't gain a pound to save his life was a hint. My daughter screamed bloody murder and was angry more often than not. Turned out she had belly pain. My husband had so many freaking issues dating back to his teenage years when doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with him. My youngest son got a hold of a piece of pizza crust and his butt broke out in a bleeding rash for 2 weeks. I don't need a doctor to tell me what was wrong with them. In fact, I told my kids' pediatrician, and he said "okay, you're probably right." No questions, no arguing. He even ran the tests for me for celiacs which were negative on my older son. The rest can't be tested as they were already gluten free at the time.

Two weeks after the change, my husband and kids were happier and the bathroom unoccupied more often. But yes, I refuse to allow gluten in the house in any way, shape, or form. Like I said, I've lost 90 lbs, and my husband has dropped 95. AND we still eat all the baked goods and bad stuff we want, just gluten free versions I bake myself (not everyday or every week, sometimes not even every month, but when we want it, I bake it).

I'm not a nut job, but I also don't believe gluten is good for anybody, at least not in the levels it is currently found in common foods.

Wow that is truly great to hear. I know celiacs have it bad, even if you have one tiny molecule of gluten your system can be affected. I've always argued with people about the gluten free diet (obviously an advocate of it) as experienced within my family, I truly do believe everyone is intolerant to it, to a certain extent, and that reactions just vary (swear I'm not a nut job either!). My intolerance as i mentioned earlier results in swelling. usually just in my face. I only recently discovered this intolerance I have, and for so many years my swelling was dismissed as me being delusional. I guess people didn't notice since i spent the majority of my life eating gluten aka swollen!

But I remember in university I ate a large amount of pizza one night and went to class the next day extremely swollen in my face, it was extremely embarrassing especially when it's so drastically noticeable that my professor told me to go home! It was right around then I figured it out.

i have much higher energy levels when off gluten, which is one of the big pros in my books. I also find it more interesting to cook when gluten free.

danni_l · August 2012

You will probably get a variety of responses as not everyone believes in Low carb or gluten free - I really do think its about working out whats best for you. Keep a food diary, try out different foods, cut differnt things out etc. As someone else has mentioned, from your photo you look pretty slim so you probably wouldnt loose much anyway.

harrietlg · August 2012

i thought I was wheat intolerant but it turns out that i just can't eat a lot of processed wheat like pizza, white breads and white pasta, i switched to wholemeal and i was fine, it's crazy i spent years in agony because all i ate was junk, i decided to have a bit of a binge tuesday and yesterday afternoon i was in and out of the toilet for 3 hours, when your a chef that is not cool! I think this is something i need to talk to my doctor about, i've found that since eating healthier and less wheat, i feel so much better ! I don't do it for the losing aspect, just for feeling better so if you feel better not eating it then don't eat it, just don't eat all those crappy gluten free products as they are just as bad for preservatives and sugar and really quite high in calories!

GLUTEN FREE! is it worth it?

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