Felt better after removing Gluten?

[Gwen]

Has anyone taken gluten out of your diet and felt better, ie; body/joint inflammation, better brain function?
Thanks,
Gwen

[GeoffreyLevens]

If I eat modern wheat (yes, organic), what has been bred for many generations to make lighter, fluffier bread, I get a bit sinusy, extra mucus etc. But rye, barely (which contain gluten) and the "heritage" wheat varieties, spelt, kamut, einkorn don't seem to bother me at all.

[Gwen]

That's interesting. My husband seems to get all phlemy right after meals. I'll have to experiment with some non-gluten meals and see if it makes a difference.
We get the spelt bread from Sprouts. It's good and doesn't have any oil.
Thanks

[VeggieSue]

After Dr. McDougall said that people with auto-immune diseases may need to remove gluten from their diets I stopped them all - all the breads, gluten grains, even stopped using the oatmeal that wasn't certified gluten free. I still got the horrible leg and joint pains that I used to think were caused by them (and potatoes).

With white potatoes, I know if I eat more than 2 at a time, about 2 days later I get those pains back for a day or 2, but when I experiment with bread again, sometimes I do get them back a day or so later, most times I don't. It's a hard experiment to replicate, since the pains don't happen immediately, and they can be caused by anything - could be a food, could just be positional, overuse, or weather related.

Today, I haven't had anything with gluten for weeks or potatoes for days, but I was awake half the night with throbbing leg pains and swollen hand joints that I usually associate with gluten/potato intake. But I did a good workout yesterday morning, then spent a few hours doing heavy housework. Oh, and we've had thunderstorms since 2am, too. So what do I blame the pains on? In this case, not gluten or potatoes.

[Vegankit]

I have celiac's so I avoid all gluten, however other foods can cause the problems you mentioned - rice and corn for example.

Ideally you should use the elimination diet. Or take the concept and apply it to gluten. Remove all gluten even that hidden in foods like soy sauce and don't eat any for at least a week or two and see if there is any difference. Then introduce gluten back into your diet in each meal for few days. Keep a diary on what you eat and how you feel. I like to repeat these kinds of food experiments 2 or 3 times if the results are mild to check that they are reproducible. You'll know soon enough whether you should avoid gluten or not.

[GeoffreyLevens]

Yes, as mentioned, elimination diet is only way to really know. Different people will have different "time lag" for symptoms depending on the mechanism. I used to be ferociously allergic to wheat (after year or so eating this way, minimal allergy left). But for me, 2 days for symptoms to show which it made it pretty tricky to figure out. Also, if allergic (can be sensitive and not allergic!) then allergies I found can stack i.e. I used to be able to eat wheat in winter but in Spring/Summer no because the pollen allergies I used to have would make the wheat allergy worse and vis versa.

[PJK]

Celiac disease affects only 1% of the population. That means you have a 99 out of a 100 chance that eliminating gluten from your diet will have zero effect.

1% source:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3264942/

[Ltldogg]

I have FOUR Autoimmune diseases (UC, AS, Uveitis and Psoriasis) and have stayed away from Gluten/Wheat for the last 3+ years about 95% of the time. As I am already a whole feed eater and avoid processed food, it is easy. In fact, I have even gone without any gluten for over a year (once) and 6 months and (on 2 occasions) over the last 3.5 years and there has been ZERO correlation of inflammation, flares, pain, etc between Gluten/Wheat (and even table sugar for that matter) and my Autoimmune Diseases. In fact, what I have found is that adding Gluten/Wheat back into my diet has been a boon for recovery and improved health.

In the last couple months, I have been forced to take extreme ED steps while dealing with one of the worst (if not thee worst) flares of all my diseases at once. After a couple years of suspicion, I can firmly and safely say that my body has a negative reaction to any substantial insoluble fiber; the rougher (roughage) the insoluble fiber, the worse my symptoms and the faster they come on. Still, I thrive and heal fast while removing as much insoluble fiber while raising soluble fiber intake.

I have experimented a ton and although certain foods like oats, potatoes without skins, beans and many cooked, non-starchy veggies, ripe bananas, etc have really good levels of soluble fiber, they also still contain too much insoluble fiber. So I have to minimize them. Instead, what is working for me, is eating a lot of enriched wheat pasta of all types, with lots of no salt added tomato puree (which will have seeds and skins removed/strained) and no more than 1 TBSP of milled, soaked flax seeds. Non-whole wheat has a 2:1 ratio of soluble to insoluble fiber. For those that are worried about the nutritional content, if you go to Cronometer you can see that eating this everyday will cover ALL requirements minus Vitamin K, which I don't concern myself with:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SIbCaeT1ZX7EgknEo-qckyraVFzodGEg/view

This way of eating is McDougall compliant and still contains more (about 50g/day) than the recommended daily intake. And just as importantly, it has helped me recover from the severe flare of all my autoimmune diseases to also include severe joint and physical pain, poor sleep, depression, low energy, etc. I have also been able to maintain my weight at 120 lbs (I'm 5' 6.5") while just walking casually about 5 miles per day. Also, to be sure eating like this worked, I am able to regress and cause flares by adding in insoluble fiber foods. Besides the obvious symptoms, the proof for me is in the pudding... that comes out of me into the TB

I'm not saying that gluten intolerance is not an issue for some people, but I will stick with the science and actual data that shows Gluten intolerance and Celiac disease is rare in the human population and being used as a scapegoat by so many without proper testing and proof. For those that are truly affected, my heart goes out to you, but know that no one has to eat to wheat. Even I can find another food that would work the same as wheat as for me, but I don't have too. Wheat/Gluten has zero negative affects on me and instead has been a key in my recovery and discovery of answers in my long, grueling journey!

Scott

[GeoffreyLevens]

Celiac disease affects only 1% of the population. That means you have a 99 out of a 100 chance that eliminating gluten from your diet will have zero effect.

1% source:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3264942/

Actually you have a 99 out of 100 chance of not having celiac disease. There are other ways gluten can cause problems--allergy to gluten, autoimmune cross reaction without celiac, other as yet undefined mechanisms... True all that added together is a minority of the population but it is a much larger number than 1%

[JeffN]

Celiac disease affects only 1% of the population. That means you have a 99 out of a 100 chance that eliminating gluten from your diet will have zero effect.

1% source:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3264942/

Actually you have a 99 out of 100 chance of not having celiac disease. There are other ways gluten can cause problems--allergy to gluten, autoimmune cross reaction without celiac, other as yet undefined mechanisms... True all that added together is a minority of the population but it is a much larger number than 1%

Not really

Read from this post to the end of the thread

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=47648&p=539894&#p539894

In health
Jeff

[GeoffreyLevens]

Thank you Jeff!

[PJK]

So if I read the article Jeff linked to correctly, an estimated 30% of the population is now avoiding gluten, but only 1% has any reason to actually do so. Meaning quite a few people are wasting their time.

I believe some of the misinformation is coming from restaurants. I often see "GF" (meaning gluten-free) on menus, as if this is a major selling point.

There is even a completely gluten-free restaurant here in Brooklyn. I guess they're truly for the one percent!

[f1jim]

The restaurants are delivering what people demand. The gluten free craze I believe is finally peaking. I can't tell you how many people I know that were "definitely gluten intolerant" but now are back to eating it.
The stores and restaurants are simply giving us what we demand.
f1jim

[jamietwo]

Reminder to self: don't take it personally! SO having said that , why do I feel like those of us that feel better without gluten are pretty much dismissed due to the statistics, but its ok to say that potatoes and tomatoes exacerbate my joint pain/Lupus symptoms? What happened to the idea that different people have different food triggers? Isn't the purpose of the elimination diet to determine what our triggers are? Even Dr. McDougall suggested (at one time) to try eliminating gluten (and corn, I think) before undertaking a full elimination diet.

[JeffN]

Reminder to self: don't take it personally! SO having said that , why do I feel like those of us that feel better without gluten are pretty much dismissed due to the statistics, but its ok to say that potatoes and tomatoes exacerbate my joint pain/Lupus symptoms? What happened to the idea that different people have different food triggers? Isn't the purpose of the elimination diet to determine what our triggers are? Even Dr. McDougall suggested (at one time) to try eliminating gluten (and corn, I think) before undertaking a full elimination diet.

No one is denying that celiac disease or gluten sensitivity disorder or wheat allergies exist. And that if one should have any of these, they should take the appropriate actions. Celiac only occurs in about 1% of the population, GSD in around <1% and wheat allergy in <.5%. However, based on misinformation, marketing, advertising and industry trends, we have had about 30% of the population believing they have one or the other and are avoiding gluten, wheat and even all grains. That is a large gap.

About 75-81% of the American diet has been shown to be highly processed CRAP, most of it made from added oils, added sugars, added salts, and refined flours (with wheat being the number one used). If you saw my post on The Elephant in the Room, refined grains contributed 34% of the increase in calories since 1970 and contribute about 25% of call calories consumed. When someone believes they have GSD and removes gluten or wheat, they are also removing quite a bit of CRAP. No wonder they feel better. This doesn't mean they had GSD or a wheat allergy.

When double blind studies were done on those saying they have GSD, wheat allergies, etc and said they were experiencing symptoms when they consumed gluten/wheat etc, about 84% showed no reactions in a controlled hospital settings.

When we work with the elimination diet for those who do have auto-immune issues, sensitive or allergies, yes, there is no safe food and one must test all foods, even those formally considered safe. And yes, wheat is one of the "big 8", one of the 8 foods that cause the most allergies. No one is denying this exists and we see it here in these forums all the time. But to know if a food is safe or not, it must be tested in isolation from a baseline. Sadly, many are not properly testing (not always an easy process) and just making assumptions.

This is important because remember, proper treatment is always predicated on a proper diagnosis.

In Health
Jeff