I am going Gluten Free, any comments suggestions

Aren't bananas a 'no no' for gluten free?

There's suspicion that gluten plays a role in psychological or behavioral issues as well. I know anectdotally, people eating paleo/primal say they experience less depression, and see less ADHD or ADD issues with kids, but that may be as much from eliminating sugars and additives as from eliminating gluten.

I appreciate your post, and I hear you on folks with Celiac disease and other gluten sensitivities. I'm pulling this one comment out, not to pick on you or the comment, but rather to go back to my original point. In my opinion, it's far too simple to equate a gluten free diet and the experience of "less depression." It's very hard to measure something like that, and say with any certainty the two are correlated. I feel like people who claim gluten free diets changed their psyches, or made them feel better, are implicitly stating that gluten is the reason for why they were depressed or "felt bad" in the first place. It's almost like saying "I don't have a cell phone or a brain tumor, so cell phones cause brain tumors". Everybody understimates the powers of the mind, and honestly? I think people who go gluten free as a means of "feeling better" or limiting ADD or whatever are making themselves believe the two are interrelated. But then again, what do I know? :-) I just cringe when I read about fad diets.

I totally hear you. Especially with depression or behavior, it's hard to pin it on any one thing. If it were easy, we'd all be happy little calm campers. I personally haven't really seen a change in depression. I don't suffer terribly, but I teeter on the edge a few days every month. I'm not sure at all what triggers it. And no, it's not TOM. I also haven't seen a change in my energy levels, but what I do notice is that my blood sugar has stabilized. I'm sure that has nothing to do with gluten and everything to do with lowering my carbs and only eating sugar from fruits and veggies (and the occasional bite of dark chocolate). I learned a lot about my blood sugar swings when I had gestational diabetes and was testing myself before and after every meal. I learned which foods spiked my blood sugar and kept it high, and which foods didn't. Of course, I had a malfunctioning pancreas at the time which I don't have now, but it really taught me to pay attention to how I felt before and after eating certain foods. Now that I have slain that sugar dragon and driven him from my life, I no longer have the cravings, the shakes if I go a few hours without eating, or the obsessive thinking about being "staaarved". I can get hungry, without getting shaky or crazy. And eat a filling meal of protein + veg + fat and be happy for hours.

On the other hand, there are LOTs of people who eliminate gluten and processed foods from their kids' diets, and see dramatic changes in behavior. Again, I'm not sure if that's the gluten, or if it's more the sugar and/or chemical additives from processed foods. I'm trying to get my kids to eat less crappy carbs and more healthy foods, but it's hard to be successful when hubby brings home bite-size brownies, cookies, candy, etc. I have no problem resisting, but the kids can't resist and don't want to. I would love to run an experiment and eliminate the processed sugary stuff from my kids' diets for 2 weeks and see if we have less tantrums. With a 4 and 3 year old... that sure would be nice. I'll keep dreaming.

We did!! All processed foods, food dyes etc. And there was a huge change in attitude, especially from my 10 year old. We have some things back in the house now,but not much. We very very rarely buy things like brownies, cookies etc. Very few fits in our house.

We started our 10year old on a GF diet today too, I have Celiacs and she has symptoms. Worth a try for a bit to see if it helps her or not.

There's suspicion that gluten plays a role in psychological or behavioral issues as well. I know anectdotally, people eating paleo/primal say they experience less depression, and see less ADHD or ADD issues with kids, but that may be as much from eliminating sugars and additives as from eliminating gluten.

I appreciate your post, and I hear you on folks with Celiac disease and other gluten sensitivities. I'm pulling this one comment out, not to pick on you or the comment, but rather to go back to my original point. In my opinion, it's far too simple to equate a gluten free diet and the experience of "less depression." It's very hard to measure something like that, and say with any certainty the two are correlated. I feel like people who claim gluten free diets changed their psyches, or made them feel better, are implicitly stating that gluten is the reason for why they were depressed or "felt bad" in the first place. It's almost like saying "I don't have a cell phone or a brain tumor, so cell phones cause brain tumors". Everybody understimates the powers of the mind, and honestly? I think people who go gluten free as a means of "feeling better" or limiting ADD or whatever are making themselves believe the two are interrelated. But then again, what do I know? :-) I just cringe when I read about fad diets.

I totally hear you. Especially with depression or behavior, it's hard to pin it on any one thing. If it were easy, we'd all be happy little calm campers. I personally haven't really seen a change in depression. I don't suffer terribly, but I teeter on the edge a few days every month. I'm not sure at all what triggers it. And no, it's not TOM. I also haven't seen a change in my energy levels, but what I do notice is that my blood sugar has stabilized. I'm sure that has nothing to do with gluten and everything to do with lowering my carbs and only eating sugar from fruits and veggies (and the occasional bite of dark chocolate). I learned a lot about my blood sugar swings when I had gestational diabetes and was testing myself before and after every meal. I learned which foods spiked my blood sugar and kept it high, and which foods didn't. Of course, I had a malfunctioning pancreas at the time which I don't have now, but it really taught me to pay attention to how I felt before and after eating certain foods. Now that I have slain that sugar dragon and driven him from my life, I no longer have the cravings, the shakes if I go a few hours without eating, or the obsessive thinking about being "staaarved". I can get hungry, without getting shaky or crazy. And eat a filling meal of protein + veg + fat and be happy for hours.

On the other hand, there are LOTs of people who eliminate gluten and processed foods from their kids' diets, and see dramatic changes in behavior. Again, I'm not sure if that's the gluten, or if it's more the sugar and/or chemical additives from processed foods. I'm trying to get my kids to eat less crappy carbs and more healthy foods, but it's hard to be successful when hubby brings home bite-size brownies, cookies, candy, etc. I have no problem resisting, but the kids can't resist and don't want to. I would love to run an experiment and eliminate the processed sugary stuff from my kids' diets for 2 weeks and see if we have less tantrums. With a 4 and 3 year old... that sure would be nice. I'll keep dreaming.

We did!! All processed foods, food dyes etc. And there was a huge change in attitude, especially from my 10 year old. We have some things back in the house now,but not much. We very very rarely buy things like brownies, cookies etc. Very few fits in our house.

We started our 10year old on a GF diet today too, I have Celiacs and she has symptoms. Worth a try for a bit to see if it helps her or not.

My DS has Autism, his main issues being behaviour and we went Gluten Free/Caesin Free last year. The first 3 days were horrible, I can still remember them it was like what I imagine a junkie withdrawing to be like. Day 4 he woke up, different child - perfect eye contact, great interaction, good behaviour and is now mainstream school, speech caught up, great social skills - I could go on for hours about the difference. We had the coelic test done with GP and it came back neg. but we had already seen the difference in this diet. The odd time at a party/outing where is gets gluten by accident - we all suffer big time the following day till it gets outof his system. Since doing this diet with DS the whole family are eating better also and have alot more energy. I would recommend anyone if they are thinking about it to try it for a month - see does it make a difference, nothing to lose really

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!

Just keep in mind that just because a product says "gluten free" on the package doesn't make it healthy!

If it makes -you- feel physically better, go for it. There are lots of great dishes out there that are gluten free.

If you are truly going to go gluten free then you need to be cognizant of the hidden gluten that is in labels as well. "Gluten Free" does not just mean cutting out wheat products, it means making sure that what you eat doesn't have any gluten in it. Did you know that Carmel Color contains gluten? Glue on lickable envelopes and stamps? Medications, pasta sauce (just because it says it contains tomato paste does not mean the manufacturer who they got the paste from doesn't contain gluten), certain added ingredients in foods like HVP (hydrogenated vegetable protein), HPP (hydrolyzed plant protein), TVP (textured vegetable protein), MSG (monosodium glutamate could contain wheat if made outside of the U.S.A.), and phrases like modified food starch (safe if made in the U.S.A., but may contain gluten if made elsewhere) tell you nothing about what ingredients it may contain. Other confusing ingredients are maltodextrin, stabilizers, binders, fillers, natural flavor, vegetable gums, and mono & diglycerides. Ice cream, soups, snacks, yogurts, ground beef can all contain gluten.

Also when you go out to eat you need to make sure that the food is prepared in the way that they would prepare it for someone with a gluten intolerance.

If you're going to go completely gluten free then you need to be aware of all of this stuff as do people who have celiacs. Like I said it's not just cutting out wheat products or the like it's cutting out anything that might contain gluten. Just something to think about.

ETA: My sister has Celiacs and believe me it is a pain in the butt for her to shop and go to restaurants. If there is even a small portion of gluten in something -- or if they happen to accidentally cook her food in a pot that say pasta was cooked in -- she gets very ill.