How come we can't track wheat or gluten?

sherm1947
sherm1947 Posts: 3 Member
in Food and Nutrition
No doubt, My Fitness Pal is the best program. I feel like sending them a check every week!

I am curious about why we can't track wheat with as popular as Gluten Free is becoming.

Replies

  • magerum
    magerum Posts: 12,589 Member
    Because that is pointless & untrackable. How are you going to track a protein strain within wheat?
  • entropy83
    entropy83 Posts: 172 Member
    Hmmm, well I have a wheat allergy, I get hives. Don't know if I really need to track that. Plus, the point is to eliminate those completely so perhaps, I am confused as to why one would track versus just eliminating entirely. Guess those doing the fad thing will just have to suffer and make notes in the journal entry part when logging foods.
  • quiltlovinlisa
    quiltlovinlisa Posts: 1,710 Member
    Gluten is easily passed onto normally gluten free foods and that's what makes it hard to track. I would imagine that MFP wouldn't want to make themselves legally liable when someone assumed something was gluten free because it showed up on their web site.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
    Because that is pointless & untrackable. How are you going to track a protein strain within wheat?

    ^This
  • itsjustdawn
    itsjustdawn Posts: 1,073 Member
    You either eat it or you don't. People with sensitivies or Celiac's CANNOT have gluten, so there is nothing to track.
  • MinMin97
    MinMin97 Posts: 2,674 Member
    Not sure why tracking would be necessary....aren't you completely avoiding an allergin?
    I mean, a little would give you an allergic reaction.
  • ElsaVonMarmalade
    ElsaVonMarmalade Posts: 154 Member
    It's not true that you either eat it or you don't. I have friends who have sensitivities but choose to have pizza or a donut and just deal with the consequences sometimes.

    That said, I'm not clear on how this would work. Do you mean like actually tracking grams of wheat in particular things? I've never seen that measure anywhere. Or just a check box next to foods that contain wheat? Do you currently track your wheat intake in some way that you would like to see duplicated here?
  • Mother_Superior
    Mother_Superior Posts: 1,624 Member
    The food database is made up of mainly user-entered items. Are the amounts of wheat and/or gluten listed on labels for people to be able to enter them? My wife has to eat gf, and all I've ever seen on labels is whether or not the product contains it. Until food makers put a trackable amount on the label, it wouldn't be possible.

    And as others have said, I'm not sure why it would be tracked. If you're sensitive or allergic, you're typically supposed to avoid it altogether.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    You either eat it or you don't. People with sensitivies or Celiac's CANNOT have gluten, so there is nothing to track.

    ^ This. There is nothing to track for people who are worried about it as they don't eat it. For those of us who don't care, there is no reason to track it separately.
  • jus_in_bello
    jus_in_bello Posts: 326 Member
    You either eat it or you don't. People with sensitivies or Celiac's CANNOT have gluten, so there is nothing to track.

    This. There are options to see if something is gluten free, I have an app on my phone "Shop Well" that will allow me to scan and item and because I have "wheat/gluten" as an allergy listed in the app it tells me if the item is safe or not, google is also a good idea, but it's not something that can be tracked the way calories, protein, or sugar can be.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    So in.
  • scookiemonster
    scookiemonster Posts: 175 Member
    Because the amounts of wheat or gluten in a particular product are not generally listed on the food label. It would be impossible to really measure that for most foods.

    Also, like others have said, if you can't have gluten then you can't have gluten. There is not point in tracking how much gluten I'm having because I can't have it at all. I don't get the person who says that some of their friends will have pizza and just deal with the consequences - the "consequences" for me could be not being able to leave the bathroom for hours and then dealing with a week or more of sensitive digestion, brain fog, headaches, etc. Absolutely not worth it.

    It's not like going low carb where you have an amount you're trying to hit each day. You're just... not eating it. If you are eating it, then you're not gluten free. If you choose to eat it and let yourself get sick then you know what you've done so why would you need to track it?

    There's no tracker for any other food allergy out there either - we might as well have the option to track soy intake, nut intake, shellfish intake, etc. It's just not really necessary.
  • BFA1
    BFA1 Posts: 23 Member
    It's not true that you either eat it or you don't. I have friends who have sensitivities but choose to have pizza or a donut and just deal with the consequences sometimes.

    Y'all need to get over the idea that you can either have it or you can't, as this previous responder indicated.

    I am at the stage where I'm trying to determine whether I should have it or not -- whether it is the cause of my problems or not -- so I am VERY curious as to how much gluten I'm consuming, because I'd love to be able to correlate my gluten intake with the onset of my symptoms.

    And -- it seems that I will be one of those people that can consume SOME, but need to monitor how much. I don't have to cut it out completely, if I'm willing to suffer mild symptoms.

    Gluten is NOT an all-or-nothing proposition, for everyone.

    It'd be lovely to be able to track the amounts I'm taking in, but I understand that it's not something readily known.
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    It's not true that you either eat it or you don't. I have friends who have sensitivities but choose to have pizza or a donut and just deal with the consequences sometimes.

    Y'all need to get over the idea that you can either have it or you can't, as this previous responder indicated.

    I am at the stage where I'm trying to determine whether I should have it or not -- whether it is the cause of my problems or not -- so I am VERY curious as to how much gluten I'm consuming, because I'd love to be able to correlate my gluten intake with the onset of my symptoms.

    And -- it seems that I will be one of those people that can consume SOME, but need to monitor how much. I don't have to cut it out completely, if I'm willing to suffer mild symptoms.

    Gluten is NOT an all-or-nothing proposition, for everyone.

    It'd be lovely to be able to track the amounts I'm taking in, but I understand that it's not something readily known.

    You should consult a physician about your issues.
  • BFA1
    BFA1 Posts: 23 Member
    You should consult a physician about your issues.

    In my experience, physicians (and I've seen more than one, about this) are not going to help with this. They may very well tell me I have "celiac" disease -- but they told me I don't. They HAVEN'T told me it's possible to be "slightly gluten intolerant," which I seem to be -- as I CAN ingest gluten with no problems but, if I take in too much, or take it in for too long, I start to have problems.

    They are interested in getting me in and out of their offices as quickly as possible, with the most ICD-9 codes they can submit to the insurance company. They're not interested in whether I live my life bloated, tied to a bathroom, and miserable. I've seen them for DECADES about this, been put through the ringer with testing for lactose-intolerance, celiac and IBS. They did nothing to help. I have made more progress adjusting my diet on my own.

    My husband has a saying about docs: "guess-work in a white coat." That's very often right. The older I get, the less I trust the medical profession -- because I've got more experience with them, and the ratio of HELPFUL experiences to USELESS ones is very, very low. And gets lower over time.
  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
    subscribed.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    You should consult a physician about your issues.

    In my experience, physicians (and I've seen more than one, about this) are not going to help with this. They may very well tell me I have "celiac" disease -- but they told me I don't. They HAVEN'T told me it's possible to be "slightly gluten intolerant," which I seem to be -- as I CAN ingest gluten with no problems but, if I take in too much, or take it in for too long, I start to have problems.

    They are interested in getting me in and out of their offices as quickly as possible, with the most ICD-9 codes they can submit to the insurance company. They're not interested in whether I live my life bloated, tied to a bathroom, and miserable. I've seen them for DECADES about this, been put through the ringer with testing for lactose-intolerance, celiac and IBS. They did nothing to help. I have made more progress adjusting my diet on my own.

    My husband has a saying about docs: "guess-work in a white coat." That's very often right. The older I get, the less I trust the medical profession -- because I've got more experience with them, and the ratio of HELPFUL experiences to USELESS ones is very, very low. And gets lower over time.
    You need to find a new doctor. Mine takes me back into her office after my exam, and we sit across her desk from each other as we discuss any changes, test results, concerns, etc. I had a neurologist that was the same way, so they aren't that rare. (And my gyn is probably in her 30s and my neurologist was probably in his 50s, so it's not based on a bygone era or anything.)
  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,025 Member
    Because neither are nutrients.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    People are so silly...

    funny-gif-happy-clapping-computer.gif
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
    It's not true that you either eat it or you don't. I have friends who have sensitivities but choose to have pizza or a donut and just deal with the consequences sometimes.

    Y'all need to get over the idea that you can either have it or you can't, as this previous responder indicated.

    I am at the stage where I'm trying to determine whether I should have it or not -- whether it is the cause of my problems or not -- so I am VERY curious as to how much gluten I'm consuming, because I'd love to be able to correlate my gluten intake with the onset of my symptoms.

    And -- it seems that I will be one of those people that can consume SOME, but need to monitor how much. I don't have to cut it out completely, if I'm willing to suffer mild symptoms.

    Gluten is NOT an all-or-nothing proposition, for everyone.

    It'd be lovely to be able to track the amounts I'm taking in, but I understand that it's not something readily known.

    What. It is not a macro or micronutrient--what this site tracks, and what nutrition labels track.

    Are you guys looking for ingredient lists on here?

    What is going on here? Is it because it's Devil's Night tonight?

    EDIT: I'VE BEEN FOOLED. Necromancy!
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    Because neither are nutrients.

    Wrong. Gluten is a protein. Wheat also contains other nutrients.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    Because neither are nutrients.

    Wrong. Gluten is a protein. Wheat also contains other nutrients.

    And other grains contain gluten, like barley.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    I would guess because food packaging/nutrition labels do not list wheat and/or gluten in specific measurable amounts. Wheat is usually listed on the allergen panel, but not in any specific quantity. And gluten... well, it's everywhere - even in things that don't have wheat. And like wheat, gluten amounts are not part of a nutrition label,

    Also, if you have celiac disease or a gluten intolerance, you probably don't need to track gluten because you should eat ZERO gluten.

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