Gluten Free

As someone whose whole family is gluten free, I'd give this suggestion: get tested for celiac disease (if you haven't been recently) and THEN go gluten free. Because the symptoms you mention are all on the list for celiac disease. IBS is a common misdiagnosis for celiac disease, actually, and joint issues due to inflammation and nutritional deficiencies are also, and weirdly, about 1/3 of celiacs are overweight, even WITH nutritional deficiencies. One doesn't have to feel gut issues every time you eat gluten for a person to be a celiac (would be easier to diagnose if one did!).

BUT the test for celiac disease becomes invalid once you go gluten free. It tests for damage from gluten that is currently ingested, but requires about 4-8 weeks of accumulated biomarkers of that damage to get the correct reading. Once you go gluten free, you have to go back on gluten And damage yourself all over again to get an accurate test.

And the reason that matters? A celiac level gluten diet is MUCH harder than a gluten free diet for other reasons...but a celiac's outward symptoms can improve on a generic gluten free diet, but still be doing a lot of internal damage that isn't visible until things get much worse. So you can't tell if you are feeling better off of gluten because of celiac disease or something else, frequently.


But if you have already gone through this, and are going gluten free...

I'd second the recommendation of going for naturally gluten free food items. If you try to eat the same diet off of gluten as you did on, it's about triple to quadruple the grocery bill, at least if you eat as many grain-based foods and many Americans do.

Also, most processed GF foods add more fats and sugar to make up for the taste and texture difference from gluten filled foods, so not so healthy.

Another thing I would do is make sure to take a multi-vitamin. Wheat products are fortified with certain vitamins that gluten free foods are not. Most of us don't get enough of these vitamins in our daily diets, so either the vitamin or adding foods in to make up the nutritional difference will be important.

Many issues that arise from food issues, especially if it involves inflammation in the body or potential damage in the gut, will take longer than 5-7 days to resolve to the point you notice a difference. A celiac can take 6 months to 2 YEARS for their gut to heal after they go off gluten, for example. Someone with an intolerance to gluten is not going to be as damaged, so it won't take as long, but it will still take a while, especially if you have been reacting for a long period. And you'd still have problems until you'd healed, you know?

For joint pain, you'd have to wait while the inflammation slowly went down. Again, celiac disease is a good example because it, too, causes inflammation. I had this disease, and had joint pain that caused nerve issues instead of joint ones. About three months after going gluten free, it went away. So, probably more inflammation than someone gluten intolerant, but it's a good example of how much longer this stuff can take to resolve than one might expect, you know? And I really noticed almost NO change for some things for the first few weeks.

Doesn't mean 5-7 days isn't enough to help you notice some things, especially if some of your reactions are immediate and noticeable. But it may not be long enough for a good trial, if that makes sense?

I wish you luck, and would also just add: if gluten is the issue for you, seriously, I cannot tell you how much of a difference it makes to get rid of it!

And if it is NOT the issue...there are a lot of other foods that can cause just as much trouble. in fact, ALL foods have the potential to cause just as much trouble, they just aren't as common and so don't get as much press. But an elimination diet, or even a food allergy test, can sometimes be of value, too. :-)

Yes I agree with going naturally gf b/c of weight gain with substitutes. On the elimination diet I found both gluten and dairy were causing the IBS, and I lost weight quickly UNTIL I discovered all the high calorie high fat substitutes. I don’t recall if 5-7 days accomplished the end of symptoms — possibly.