I am going Gluten Free, any comments suggestions

Honestly, unless you have a gluten intolerance or suffer from Celiacs, going gluten free really won't do much for you. On the other hand, some people are carb sensitive and reducing carbs helps them lose weight or keep their weight in check. That is different than going gluten free. By confusing the two, I feel it diminishes the support people with actual gluten intolerance/Celiacs receive, as in the most extreme cases, even a speck of gluten can make them ill. That is different than you wanting to cut carbs to lose weight.

Are you going gluten free because you think you may have an intolerance or just that you feel it is something you want to try?

I am gluten intolerant and had no choice but to cut it out. Some days it can be very hard, especially when getting together with friends for dinner that do not need to follow the same 'diet'. I will say since going GF I feel much better, no bloating, less headaches, intestinal issues have eased etc etc.

I wish you luck with whatever choices you make, but remember this needs to be a lifestyle not a diet to help with weight loss.

I do NOT have celiacs but I AM gluten intolerant.

I do not eat gluten, dairy (cow milk), soy, or legumes. I do not eat those things because they make my stomach hurt and/or cause extreme, uncomfortable and yes, smelly gas.

I do eat healthier now because of my dietary restrictions however it is very easy to eat crap on this diet. Potato chips are gluten, dairy, and soy free, for instance. You STILL have to make the right choices.

BUT, IF you are truly gluten intolerant, you will know for sure about a week or less IF YOU STOP EATING ALL GLUTEN. It is very hard to stop eating all gluten because it's probably in your favorite teryaki sauce, seasoning blends, and pre-packaged meals. It is what makes bread rise, it's in pies and cakes and most thickeners like gravy mixes and even boullion. It's not easy and if you don't do it hard core in the beginning you will say "oh it's not working for me so I must not be gluten intolerant".

If you think you might be gluten intolerant, the best way to find out is to stop eating gluten. No matter what your doctor tells you, there's no fool proof testing to be done. Just stop eating it and see how you feel.

Good luck!

The tricky part is cutting ALL Gluten out. I mean, to go completely Gluten-Free, you have to read every label. Some foods are processed in factories that are not dedicated Gluten-Free and can carry Gluten by proxy.

I went gluten free last Monday.

I have no indigestion

I have 200x more energy

I do not miss it one bar

I had a headache for 2 days after quitting, i felt weird for about 4 days

I could NOT go back to gluten now, cutting it out has changed my life

If you want to do it, do it, but dont do it because you want to lose weight, do it because you want to make a positive and beneficial change to your lifestyle for the rest of your life.

I cannot eat birthday cakes or have the odd snack, i cannot eat pastrys or go to a friends house for dinner, i have to take a packed lunch everywhere. I cannot eat toast or have the odd bacon sarnie. going gluten free has not been easy at all, i have had to forfeit an awful lot of stuff... but it has changed my life for the better It was entirely worth it!

You went gluten free for ONE week and it has changed your TWENTY EIGHT years off existence. My best guess is you've never been committed to anything for more than a week before or somebody has you sold. From my experience I go on certain diet and training philosophies for months and even if I see changes still do not feel qualified to give other people advice.

To the original poster, I recommend that you do more research than reading one article on a subject before diving into it. Especially take second thought when getting advice from somebody that has been on it for a week and might decide its a bad idea by next Monday. Even if you do get advice from somebody that has been on something for months, keep in mind that what works for one person may not work for you.

Thats my piece of advice from months and months of work and research, so gather what you know and take the plunge. Most times a mistake is necessary to learn.

OK. I'm coeliac, and I don't get in any way offended by people who are not coeliac going GF, nor do I feel that it diminishes the seriousness of coeliac disease as an illness.

However, I would recommend that before you self-diagnose or cut out gluten, you get the coeliac blood test done before you cut it out. If you think you have a problem with gluten, it's worth checking if it's coeliac or not. And it's much harder to diagnose once you go gluten free. I went through doing elimination diets for my Crohns disease and found such a huge improvement off gluten that my GP decided I should have a coeliac test. I had to go back on to gluten for a biopsy, and boy, was I sick as a dog. I wish they'd thought to test me sooner, before I had to go through that shizz.

If you're not coeliac, but feel better off gluten, or even just grains in general, all power to you. Do what makes you well and happy. I'm definitely in the "you don't need grains in your diet if you don't want to eat them" camp. I am grain free now, I don't do legumes either, because my digestive system can't handle them. I'm probably quite close to Paleo/Primal, although I do have the occasional chocolate indulgence, if I'm feeling that way out, and I do eat some dairy (plain yoghurt, butter and some cheeses)

But yeah....gluten free is not healthy by default, a lot of gluten free products are basically full of crap, so if you're going to eat grains (and there's no reason why you shouldn't, in moderation, unless your system can't handle them) then go for things like brown rice, quinoa, as unprocessed as possible, and check for possible gluten contamination - some grains carry a warning that they have been processed in an environment that handles wheat products. My advice would be to avoid the gluten free substitutes, because they are nutritionally inferior, and full of additives, preservatives, salt and sugar and cheap omega 6 fats.

If you choose to go Primal/Paleo, it's gluten free by default, because there are no grains at all in it - from your original post, I think maybe that's more what you're wanting to do than just go gluten free? If that's the case, I think it's a perfectly healthy diet, we don't NEED wheat, gluten or in fact any other grain to be healthy, just as if you didn't want to eat meat or animal products you could also be healthy as well as a veggie or vegan.

If more people are gluten free, it actually HELPS us coeliacs, because there is a better market for gluten free foods, more provision for gluten free diets in restaurants and cafes, it means that you can have more of a normal life if you can't eat gluten for a medical reason. I don't know to be frank why the medical profession thinks wheat and gluten are so great, I told them even if I didn't come back positive for coeliac I was going gluten free anyway because I felt better like that, and they couldn't fathom it, and gave me the whole spiel of how gluten free diets are bad (no they're not, unless you rely on crappy substitute products, which ARE rubbish) and if you aren't coeliac you should be eating it, it's part of a healthy diet blah blah. It CAN be part of a healthy diet, but it doesn't HAVE to be - it's not like if you decided to eliminate water, you would die if you did that, but wheat? It's not necessary, if you don't want to eat it!

I agree with little miss with all but one point - there's no reason that a person with mild symptoms needs a formal diagnosis.

I had a colonoscopy and endoscopy and the only thing they found was a little bitty ulcer that could NOT be the cause of the severe abdominal pain, cramping and other symptoms I was having.

The doctors did the blood tests and found nothing. So, I took the advice of two friends (one believes she has celiacs but is not diagnosed bc the docs wouldn't do it, the other is diagnosed) who said "just do it and see how you feel" and they were right, I feel much better.

I went gluten free last Monday.

I have no indigestion

I have 200x more energy

I do not miss it one bar

I had a headache for 2 days after quitting, i felt weird for about 4 days

I could NOT go back to gluten now, cutting it out has changed my life

If you want to do it, do it, but dont do it because you want to lose weight, do it because you want to make a positive and beneficial change to your lifestyle for the rest of your life.

I cannot eat birthday cakes or have the odd snack, i cannot eat pastrys or go to a friends house for dinner, i have to take a packed lunch everywhere. I cannot eat toast or have the odd bacon sarnie. going gluten free has not been easy at all, i have had to forfeit an awful lot of stuff... but it has changed my life for the better It was entirely worth it!

You went gluten free for ONE week and it has changed your TWENTY EIGHT years off existence. My best guess is you've never been committed to anything for more than a week before or somebody has you sold. From my experience I go on certain diet and training philosophies for months and even if I see changes still do not feel qualified to give other people advice.

To the original poster, I recommend that you do more research than reading one article on a subject before diving into it. Especially take second thought when getting advice from somebody that has been on it for a week and might decide its a bad idea by next Monday. Even if you do get advice from somebody that has been on something for months, keep in mind that what works for one person may not work for you.

Thats my piece of advice from months and months of work and research, so gather what you know and take the plunge. Most times a mistake is necessary to learn.

Nobody here is 'qualified' to give advice because we are not dietians.

I was providing information based upon my experience which i was honest and clear about.

Yes i gave up gluten a week ago and i have had more fun and pleasure making and eating food since then than i ever did before

Its been a really lovely experience for me.

I know gluten reacts badly with me because of how i feel right now, i dont honestly give a monkey's whether YOU 'approve' or 'believe' me or not, i did not stop eating gluten because of a 'faddy diet' i did it because of my health.

You have absolutely NO business being so rude, judgemental or negative.

Mearlie: what are some of the symptoms you had. I have been undergoing multiple different symptoms that have to do with digestion. I already have acid reflex and the symptoms are not the same. I looked up my symptoms on webmd and one of the possibilities was gluten intolerance, I'm planning on calling a doctor today

Hmm. Let's see...

The symptoms that led me to seeking a formal diagnosis for possible celiacs was the sharp pains in my gut/back that stopped me dead in my tracks.

However, I also have hypothyroidism due to hashimotos, which is an autoimmune disease. Any autoimmune disease should be a red flag to give gluten free a try. For me, there's a reason my body was attacking itself.

Also, I had brain fog often, was diagnosed adhd, I have headaches/migraines (that I still struggle with but I have learned not to drink red wine which is helping tremendously), constipation, infertility (took meds to get pregnant the first time), PCOS, dairy and soy intolerance, very weird skin sores that would not heal, hypoglycemia, I was a gestational diabetic and insulin dependent with both pregnancies. Heck there's probably more but I'll stop there.

Celiacs and gluten intolerance CAN be hereditary and it is grossly UNDER diagnosed. Many doctors won't even consider gluten as a problem unless the patient is severely underweight and malnourished but it's just OLD science. They'll catch up eventually.

Oh and I should add, I was dairy free for probably 10 years before I went gluten free.

i have celiac, and i wouldn't suggest going completely gluten free. You can make a choice of going for rice pasta instead of regular pasta or for Gf bread to regular bread...but other than that i wouldn't suggest it. Studies have shown people who want to go gluten free tend to eat all the gluten free snacks- when they are just as unhealthy for you...plus It's incredibly hard, as well as EXPENSIVE!

Once I got the hang of it, eating GF is not really that much more expensive. BUT I have changed the things I eat. I do keep GF bread (expensivvvveeee!) inn the freezer for the nights that my family really really wants a hamburger BUT we just don't eat sandwiches as often as we used to. Now I use potatoes and rice for most meals. I still let the family eat texas toast, I just leave it off my plate. And I don't really enjoy the GF snack stuff much anyway and would much rather have a piece of fruit or a handful of nuts. The GF snacks taste pretty funky to me - and they are generally way too sweet.

Also, GF products are pricey BUT making your own sauces, spice blends, and starting from scratch is generally cheaper and healthier than pre-packaged stuff. So I think the cost factor almost evens out.

Zela, I have been GF for probably 6-8 months? something like that. I DID feel better after a week or two and wanted to share it with the world! I had finally figured out what was causing all these symptoms I've been struggling with for YEARS!

I don't see how it could hurt to try. If you've got some extra money to spare, you could get tested for celiac disease first. I think if you have a diagnosis, you can get government assistance for gluten free foods. Used to be that way at least.

My #1 suggestion for going gluten free: Don't get hung up on buying the gluten free versions of snack foods. It's costly and those foods almost always higher calorie that the regular versions. Stick with fruits and vegetables, meats, dairy, nuts, rice, and rice pasta.

This is not an intended snarky comment, so I apologize in advance if it comes across as such. But I am honestly curious....

I've read many posts on MFP by people who have ditched gluten from their diets, and how "great {they} feel". It's always the standard "I dropped gluten from my diet, and it's so great because I feel so much better now." And I don't believe those individuals are lying, but I'm wondering what sort of tangible evidence that going gluten free is actually better. I've read about the addictive properties of gluten (and really, carbs in general), but I'm wondering if it lowers cholesterol, or increases blood flow, or someone ate 10,000 calories of gluten free foods every day, and still lost 100 pounds....something that can prove to me that for the non-gluten intolerant or alergic that it makes sense to entirely cut it out of a diet.

If you don't have a gluten sensitivity or celiacs, gluten free living is ridiculous. BUT there are lots of people eating gluten who would feel better if they were GF because they actually DO have an intolerance. And the only real way to find out if you are sensitive to gluten is to go cold turkey. Stop all gluten for a couple of weeks and see how you feel. There's no magical test, no bloodwork, no saliva workup that can tell with absolute certainty whether you are sensitive to it or not. If you have diagnosed celiacs, your gut is so mangled that there's no villi left when they biopsy a piece of the colon.

Zela, I have been GF for probably 6-8 months? something like that. I DID feel better after a week or two and wanted to share it with the world! I had finally figured out what was causing all these symptoms I've been struggling with for YEARS!

Yes, I understand your point of view and that it worked for you for 6 months. I went on a intermittent fasting diet for 6 months and felt great after the first 2 days, felt like I had more energy, spent less time in the kitchen, slept in longer, etc... I wanted to share with the whole world. I recently went back to eating breakfast and not fasting and I all of a sudden feel like I am 100x more energized eating breakfast in the morning and getting stronger in the gym.

I also went on a low carb diet earlier in the year and was pretty much gluten free for about 2 months. After the first 2 weeks I wanted to share with the world that this was the best diet in the world. After 2 months I burned out and wanted to eat every slice of pizza and pint of ice cream in town. Luckly I had the will power and long term vision of my goals to contain myself.

My list for everything I've tried can be summed up in my library of 70+ books that I have sitting on my ipad of training and diets. Every one of them promises to take you to the promise land within the first few pages. After trying many of them I would agree for them to be true to some point but after going through their battles I would say there are many more factors to consider than can be listed in the first few pages. That is why I get itched the wrong way when somebody tries to influence not even a full week of experience onto somebody else.

I take away one thing from everything that is the big tree in fitness & nutrition being that everybody has a common but specific to the individual goal. Your path to that goal has its own branch and its unique for me than it is for you. Don't try to fit your branch onto somebody else or in simple terms everybody is different and needs to find what works for them. If it was as black and white as a week of experience can lead us to believe than we wouldn't be asking questions and would have only one answer.

Zela, I have been GF for probably 6-8 months? something like that. I DID feel better after a week or two and wanted to share it with the world! I had finally figured out what was causing all these symptoms I've been struggling with for YEARS!

Yes, I understand your point of view and that it worked for you for 6 months. I went on a intermittent fasting diet for 6 months and felt great after the first 2 days, felt like I had more energy, spent less time in the kitchen, slept in longer, etc... I wanted to share with the whole world. I recently went back to eating breakfast and not fasting and I all of a sudden feel like I am 100x more energized eating breakfast in the morning and getting stronger in the gym.

I also went on a low carb diet earlier in the year and was pretty much gluten free for about 2 months. After the first 2 weeks I wanted to share with the world that this was the best diet in the world. After 2 months I burned out and wanted to eat every slice of pizza and pint of ice cream in town. Luckly I had the will power and long term vision of my goals to contain myself.

My list for everything I've tried can be summed up in my library of 70+ books that I have sitting on my ipad of training and diets. Every one of them promises to take you to the promise land within the first few pages. After trying many of them I would agree for them to be true to some point but after going through their battles I would say there are many more factors to consider than can be listed in the first few pages. That is why I get itched the wrong way when somebody tries to influence not even a full week of experience onto somebody else.

I take away one thing from everything that is the big tree in fitness & nutrition being that everybody has a common but specific to the individual goal. Your path to that goal has its own branch and its unique for me than it is for you. Don't try to fit your branch onto somebody else or in simple terms everybody is different and needs to find what works for them. If it was as black and white as a week of experience can lead us to believe than we wouldn't be asking questions and would have only one answer.

^^THIS