Why You Probably Don’t Need to Eat a Gluten Free Diet

Right, there must be something wrong with me. It has nothing to do with the fact that I'm being attacked. God forbid anyone on this forum not agree with the mob...

You started the whole thing with your "reading between the lines" and "critical thinking" of the OP and now you're being attacked?

Just as a side note I'm 55 and I use LOL, WTF, WTG and many other juvenile short cuts for texting because I don't have a stick shoved up my *kitten*!

Each person's biochemistry is unique and what works for one doesn't necessarily work for another - and I think each person has to make up their mind as to what suits them. I was interested in the fact that the OP was citing sources that linked gluten and leaky gut. I had leaky gut, but mine was caused by candida overgrowth.

The following quote between the stars *** is from the book "Wellness Against All Odds" by Dr. Sherry Rogers, M.D.; Published by Prestige Publishing, P.O. Box 3068, 3500 Brewerton Road, Syracuse, New York, 13220.

*****The question that is often asked, as relates to the leaky gut syndrome, is answered by Dr. Rogers, that either can cause either - - in her words, "The leaky gut can cause food allergy, and food allergy can cause the leaky gut." Once that occurs, any number of auto-immune diseases can develop, such as rheumatoid arthritis, thyroiditis, lupus, multiple sclerosis ALS, as any part of the body can be the target for food allergy, including our inside skin lining the gut, which can manifest as ulcerative colitis.

Some people are so sensitive to gluten, (found in wheat, rye, barley, and oats, and other grains) that they react to the slightest amount, not even knowing that they are sensitive to it. Dr. Rogers explains that the gluten sensitivity inflames the gut to the degree that he the body will make antibodies to of intestinal bacteria and chemical additives in foods.*****

My point is that 10 years ago my body was a mess. I had IBS, arthritis, gout, gallstones, brain fog and was 70lbs overweight. I found out I had a candida overgrowth, which had caused food allergies. The candida overgrowth had come about because of a period of intense stress had caused an imbalance in my intestinal flora.

Over the next few years I worked out what caused me problems. I found I was intolerant to wheat, dairy, eggs, yeast, alcohol, caffeine and any additives like MSG or aspartame. I was tested for coeliac but wasn't gluten intolerant but I did have a wheat allergy.

Wheat gives me immediate and severe stomach cramps that puts my stomach into spasm for 2-3 days. Dairy runs straight through me. Eggs give me breathlessness and palpitations; alcohol and vinegar cause immediate mouth ulcers and irritate my intestinal tract and cause cystitis at the other end. Caffeine causes me to have blackouts, MSG and aspartame cause palpitations and make me feel awful. I know this because I have managed to isolate individually what they do through elimination and trying to reintroduce them. Whereas when I ate them it was difficult to isolate each one individually because it all bundled together into 'IBS' and generally feeling ill and fatigued.

However, eliminating these from my diet also enabled me to drop the weight (and it has stayed off) and all of the other symptoms like the arthritis, gout, IBS and gallstones cleared up and have never come back for the past 9 years.

Believe me, I wouldn't have put myself through all the torment of giving up all the things I loved (bread, cheese, yogurt etc etc) if it wasn't for the health benefits, but I didn't find out the full extent of the benefits until after I had eliminated them.

So I think that people should be able to try what works for them. If they notice no difference then they won't keep going with it as it's pretty hard to make these major adjustments.

As a final PS, I am pleased that GF has become more prevalent in recent years as I am now able to go to an Italian restaurant and have GF pasta. Ten years ago that just wasn't an option. :-)

If you aren’t experiencing any symptoms of these three conditions, there’s no sound scientific reason for you to avoid gluten. None.

There is nothing that says you have to, no. However, there is nothing in bread/wheat you can't get elsewhere, probably with a better nutrient profile. Potatoes and rice will provide you with plenty of carbs, in addition to fruits and vegetables. So as far as 'fads' go, at least this is probably not at all harmful.

I've been experimenting with reducing wheat and sugar in my diet for a month or so. It's not really so hard (probably much harder if you actually have celiac's and have to watch out for every little spec, but if you are just reducing/avoiding it's not so bad). It's definately easy to cook without wheat at home. I don't buy 'gluten free' processed foods, I just buy meats and fruits and veggies and dairy. Voila.

The main consequence of this change is that I'm eating more vegetables and I've lost 8 pounds.

For those who do not have a medical reason for going gluten free, it is merely another fad diet that will eventually fade when the next fad comes along. The diet is far too restrictive for people who do not truly have a medical reason for giving it up.

Dealing with the dogma that comes from a "true believer" is a whole other ball game (again not directed at people with legitimate health issues). It is pointless to try to give a differing opinion to someone who is 100% certain they have discovered the holy grail of dieting.

For me, I take everything I read on here with a grain of salt (sorry to those of you who don't believe in salt) because, based on what I have read on this board, I think I can safely say that 99+% of the people posting have no advanced education in nutrition.

Well, guess what happens when you eliminate a large food group like grains from your diet? You tend to replace them with more protein, fruit, and vegetables. In other words, you improve your diet. A lot of people go from eating a horrible diet to a healthy diet by default when they go gluten-free. It's not the lack of gluten that makes you feel better, it's the improvement in other parts of your diet.

I agree with this - since going gluten free I have as you said defaulted into better eating habits. I find it miles easier to hit my macros every day, and my diet is now mostly free from processed food. I don't buy 'gluten-free' alternatives as a rule though, apart from having gluten free flour at home for occasional use in cooking, I just don't eat the foods that contain it. I guess if you were replacing the bread/biscuits/pasta/pastry etc with gluten free alternatives it wouldn't have the same effect. As it is, I now get my carbs from brown rice, potatoes, fruit and veg, not from processed junk.

Thank you for posting. It baffles me that people restrict their diet when it isn't necessary.

^ me too

Why anybody would care if others eat a certain food / food group or not? For example there are millions and millions of people in the world are vegetarian by choice. Animal protein and fat is huge food group , which is excluded by this people . So what ? It is their choice ! Wheat is not even an entire food group. Why people are bothered if others do not consume it?

The OP post stated that barely 10% of the population have celiac or gluten intolarene or sensitivity or allergy. Well barely 10% is still a freaking huge number! This means millions and millions of people in the US alone! Obviously this was an almost virgin market not too lon ago, which is only recently discovered by companies. They started to make products for this untapped markets recently. Hallelujah! Why anybody is bothered if celiac people can buy a cookie and a granola bar in regular grocery store ???

Many people mentioned that all the sudden recently so many people is diagnosed by ths, so it must be a fad, right? WRONG!
Firstly , many modern tests are just recently developed. Prior 1997 the only dignostic tool was colon biopsy, which is an invasive and expensive procedure.1997 they had developed the first blood test, but it was still quite inaccurate , so the colon biopsy was still necessary. ThE most accurate test : DGP and TTg are only developed 2007! Obviously prior to easy, cheap and accurate tests were available significantly less people were diagnosed.
Secondly on average we consume multiple times as much gluten as we did a few decade ago. Farmers grow strains of wheat that are much higher in gluten than it was 50 years ago. Plus in the 70's food companies started to put gluten - called vital gluten- in all kinds of food products. The result that we consume many times more gluten than we used to. Many people with mild gluten sensitivity can eat gluten , just not in the huge quantity that is in our modern diet.