Going Gluten Free... Just Me?

I was also just going to recommend Wheat Belly -- I'm reading it and really enjoying it. I started going gluten free out of support for my daughter who we just found out has a wheat sensitivity. So that she wouldn't be alone, I started eating gluten free. My appetite plummeted, I have a ton more energy. Then after about three weeks, I had a slice of pizza and I was sick as a dog for a week and a half! My sister has celiac, but I never thought I had a problem with gluten until I stopped eating it. Then I started reading Wheat Belly and taking it all more seriously. I now eat very little starch, almost all vegetables and lean meat. I have more energy and focus than I've had in years, and I've lost 5 pounds in the last 10 days (since I cut out or reduced additional starches, per Wheat Belly). It's a lot easier to follow than I thought, especially since I'm almost never hungry and you get to eat full fat things, so I don't limit things I love, like olives, cheese, nuts, etc. Your body just naturally adjusts to needing less food once you control the spikes in blood sugar caused by wheat.

I feel better than I've felt in years. In addition to the weight loss and energy, the arthritis in my knees is gone. I no longer snack or crave junk, and I enjoy eating more than I ever have. Right now, I'm making the filling for stuffed peppers -- the filling is eggplant, walnuts, portabello mushrooms, banana peppers, onions, spinach, two little jalapeños that I grew myself (yay!), roasted garlic, and parm cheese. That'll go into red pepper shells. At the same time, I'm roasting sugar snap peas in olive oil and sea salt for a snack later. It all smells so good! But even with that, I'm not at all hungry right now, even though all I had for breakfast was a hard boiled egg and two olives. And I'm trying all sorts of new things -- I had raw pad thai made with kelp noodles the other day, and it was amazingly good! So I bought kelp noodles to replace pasta (I already like spaghetti squash, but this is so much easier!).

I've done a lot of diets in my life, but this is something I could easily live with.

And by the way, my daughter started going wheat, milk, and egg free because of allergies that we discovered through testing/treatment for add. I have to say, her focus and energy and self-confidence has grown 10 fold since we changed her diet and supplements.

Be really open minded to exploring it -- I think you'll be surprised!

ETA: I'm not sure how long ago Liv was diagnosed -- my sister was diagnosed about 10 years ago and back then it was only possible by biopsy. But they ruled out celiac in my daughter with a blood test -- I don't know how recently that's been developed. But she's right that if you want to know for sure (you seem to know already, based on what you wrote) you need to be tested before dieting.

My son and I both have Celiac disease. My entire family is on the diet for the sake of convenience. The alternative flours and foods are extremely expensive. I tend to not buy the processed gluten free food very often. I make everything from scratch because it is healthier and taste better. It is a lot of work. wheat is in everything - no more convenience foods for our family. Even the rotissary chicken at Stop and Shop has gluten in it.

The symptoms you describe can be a symptoms of Celiac disease, the only way to know for sure if you have celiac disease is to have a biopsy of the small intestines. If you start a gluten free diet before you have the testing, the results will not be accurate. If it was me, I would get tested before going on such a restrictive diet.

Many people are gluten sensitive, but you cannot get that diagnosis without first ruling out celiac disease. I would want to know for sure before going on such a strict, limiting diet.

I feel much much better since going on the gluten free diet. My son has improved a ton. He has been diagnosed with ADD but it turns out that the real problem was celiac disease. The fatigue and general malaise that he felt from eating gluten affected his ability to focus in school. Kind of mimicking symptoms of ADD. Even his teachers commented on the tremendous change in him. I am not saying that gluten free cures Celiac, I am saying that my son was misdiagnosed because symptoms can be similiar. I have ADHD and still have it, even with a gluten free diet.

My daughter is not Celiac, however our home is gluten free so the amount of gluten she gets in her diet has been greatly reduced. My daughter has always been very difficulty child. I have noticed improvement in her temperment since we have been on the diet. But, who knows it could be age and maturity or gluten free diet that has contributed to her change.

Keep in mind that gluten free foods are often higher in calories and carb and less nutritious than wheat based foods. I have to put a lot of effort into getting the right gluten free flours such as almond flour and coconut flour to make sure my family stays healthy. Rice flour, potato flour and many of the other common gluten free flours are just empty calories.

Good luck and let us know how you are doing.

I highly recommend you read the book entitled "Wheat Belly"

There is also a cookbook associated with it.

GL!

My daughter is gluten free due to Aspergers syndrome....the difference its amazing. Our home is pretty much gluten free....dinners are always gluten free. We don't have processed foods and kids now snack on veggies and hummus, stuff like that. Its very doable....glen isn't good for anyone and I even notice a difference for the better. PM meif you want menu/food ideas.

My daughter is allergic to wheat so I've been cooking and baking wheat free for years. She has a regular allergy to wheat and milk and breaks out in hives when she eats it. My dr. recently put me on a wheat free diet because of my auto-immune disease. I thought I'd miss wheat but am surprised that I rarely do. When I first gave up wheat, I didn't think it made much difference but since being off for a few months, I notice that when I do eat wheat, my allergies are worse. My allergies are more the hay fever variety but I'm also allergic to newsprint and it seems my system reacts more when I eat wheat.

So give wheat free a try and see how you all feel. There are plenty of wheat free cereals and crackers available. Bread is more difficult. But the rice pastas and wheat free waffles from Trader Joes are wonderful. I make peanut butter sandwiches with rice cakes. Nice and crunchy. I also substitute rice flour with a little xanthan gum in place of wheat in cakes and cookies.