Gluten Free?
I've been doing some reading about my conditions and found out that with similar conditions to mine, I may have a gluten intolerance or allergy. Has anyone been tested for this or even Celiac's? Is anyone here gluten free because due to an intolerance?Has anyone heard about gluten sensitivity with their illness? What was going gluten free like? Tell me all about it!
I Just became gluten free about a month ago. I'm also vegetarian so my menu is pretty limited. I have fibromyalgia and it's helped my fibro pretty well- haven't noticed much with mental health but When I first stopped eating gluten I had a good serge of energy. A bit expensive.
I have been gluten free for 6 months now. I had to quit eating it right before Thanksgiving and Christmas, so that was kinda tough. Most of the time, I cook for myself and I do a lot of veggie stir fries with rice or rice noodles. I have found that going gluten free has had the added benefit of making me eat a lot healthier. (Since nearly everything processed has gluten in it, I have to stay away!) Eating out can be frustrating, especially in small towns that aren't very progressive. Some areas and restaurants are really good about gluten free offerings while others are not. So becoming gluten free has led me to do more homework before going out to eat somewhere or study the menu for a bit longer once I am there. Asking the server for substitutions usually works well, such as asking for mashed potatoes rather than those fried in a gluten contaminated frier, or asking for sandwich contents on a salad rather than on bread. I have also found that I prefer to stick to foods that are naturally gluten free rather than eat a lot of foods that are imitations of foods that typically have gluten. As far as baking goes, I like to use flours made from singular ingredients like coconut or almond flour, rather than use the gluten free flour blends.
There was a learning curve at first (things with gluten: soy sauce?! gum coatings?! caramel coloring?!), but it has gone well for me after getting that down and learning to be more prepared. Being an avid baker and extreme gluten lover prior, I thought I would miss it a lot more than I have. Thus far, it has led me to try new recipes, eat healthier, and feel way better!
That sounds like it was pretty hard. I think the biggest thing is that I already don't eat great and I feel like it would be hard to make the transition. But if it's for my health it's totally worth it. Thanks so much for your tips and recommendations. I don't think I'll have a hard time finding foods, but a lot of times I just eat a snack instead of a real meal and it's usually something processed.
Yeah there were definitely rough spots. (I may have cried at the sight of bagels one particularly frustrating day...) I think that with any diet change something that can be helpful to do is to focus on discovering new foods you love and think more on it that way rather than having the focus be mostly on what you are cutting out.
Some easy GF snacks that I like are: apple with peanut butter and chocolate chips, Oloves (flavored little snack packs of olives), Pamela's Whenever Bars, cheese/fruit/crackers, nuts and dried fruit, and GF granola (I usually get KIND) with yogurt
Making the switch is a lot easier once you figure out all the things CAN have, and from there you can pick out your own staple foods and get creative with combos.
I had the blood test for Celiac disease, but I'm hoping that's negative. I don't seem to have much of an issue with wheat and flours.
My doctor still suggested the FODMAP diet. I posted in another thread, but my post doesn't appear as being new. Has anyone tried that diet? It would be fairly low in gluten, although it wouldn't be strict enough for someone who needs to be gluten free. Seeing all the restrictions on it makes me sad - no garlic!
My experience is sort of second hand but sort of not. My daughter has some medical conditions that led to a suspicion of gluten intolerance/allergy. She was tested by the GP, which is the somewhat unreliable form of testing, and it came back borderline. We went to a local specialist, who is an international expert on coeliac who undertook the gene tests. She's only a carrier for coeliac, fortunately, but has a pretty high level of sensitivityto it, which seemed to fit.
Since then, we've been gluten free in our household and have the challenges of living gluten free 'proper' outside of the home, i.e. some things advertised as gluten free actually contain products or ingredients that contain gluten. It can be quite difficult.
But the main difficultiesare really ensuring that she gets enough fibre through other sources; finding reliable suppliers of gluten-free replacements for some of the mroe staple products in the marketplace; and finding restaurants or cafes that actually cater adequately for those who are gluten free.
It's a challenge alright.
We have gluten free weetbix here now which is kind of funny.. and it's better than the real thing. Oh.. simple things :)
Do you have any information about the genetic relationship? I've only heard of it being related to the MHC, like many autoimmune disorders. I've never heard of Celiac disease being described as a genetic disorder, or as being a carrier for Celiac disease.
I'd love to have some ideas for when I get my test results back - those were just IgE and IgG from what I recall.
These pages explain some about the genetics:
http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/celiac-disease
http://www.uchospitals.edu/pdf/uch_007936.pdf
Basically, certain gene variations indicate that one is more likely to have celiac. However having those gene variations does not directly mean that one certainly has celiac. So genetic testing can be helpful to indicate whether or not you have chances of being celiac, but alone, they are not diagnostic.
@Elle22
Yup. Thus my daughter has those genetic traits but is negative for coeliac (fortunately).
One thing I would like to add is that getting tested is a pretty good idea rather than just jumping across to a gluten free diet. Gluten can be found in the strangest places and I've seen a lot of people who claim to be coeliac that eat foods containing gluten. For example, a lot of people don't know that the chocolate that many chocolate manufacturers produce contains gluten. Powdered stocks are another example. And a lot of the flavoured potato chips (crisps) have gluten in the flavourings. It can be quite a challenge.
Thanks for the replies!
Got my results back today, and I wasn't even borderline or anything, so looks like I don't need to worry about gluten specifically. Now I just need to figure if I wanna do the FODMAP thing - surgery first though, that will already restrict what I can eat.
I have been gluten free for almost five years. I also don't eat anything that comes from a cow such as milk products, eggs, beef, etc.... I had a friend with severe fibromyalgia and she suggested I try it. I have multiple autoimmune diseases so I gave it a try and I feel much better. I don't eat anything processed and cook all of my own foods. I also avoid restaurants as much as possible because of cross contamination. I later discovered that I do have celiac disease. No wonder I felt better when I changed my diet!
~Angel
I was diagnosed with Celiacs disease when I was 7 so I havent had much of an option since gluten poisons me but I have so many other diseases and doctors say they may be related. Going gluten free is never a bad option. It's healthy as long as your still getting all your necessary food groups. A gluten free diet can help reduce certain symptoms of certain diseases and it can just give you an overall feeling of better health. It will take some time so if you try it you have to try it for more than just a week to let it really get into your system. Some times it may feel like a pain but, overall, its worth it (especially for me considering my disease). I highly recommend it.
@Needtovent I've heard recently that it takes at least 3 months for the effects of gluten to leave your system. A long time ago, I've heard of it taking over a year of consuming no gluten to get the full benefits. I think it depends a lot on the individual. But yeah, not everyone will feel better right after stopping gluten. And that makes trialing the diet much more difficult. 
Hi, hope it isn't too late to join in here. I don't know much about gluten intolerence and related conditions, but I've been gluten-free for eight years maybe? I came back positive for gluten intolerance around age 11, so the diet change is sort of built into me at this point. Still, that doesn't make resisting the smell of gluten-filled food any easier.
Gluten intolerance definitely runs in my family, and my mom has the Celiac genetics. She doesn't seem to react too badly to gluten, though; it mostly just upsets her stomach. I don't think it caused too much of a problem for me either, but I'm so used to being strictly gluten-free at this point... it's like, why not? I'm supposed to avoid gluten for most of my current health conditions anyway.
Whether being gluten-free is easy or not seems to depend heavily on where you live, especially when it comes to restaurants. For years, I was used to having like one one selection on the menu, but when we stopped by strictly gluten-free restaurants on a recent road trip, I found that many places had a menu full of selections! Luckily, it seems like a bunch of mainstream restaurants have been adding gluten-free options over the past few years, so it should get easier.