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Gluten Free

Discussion in 'Physical & Sexual Health' started by Hopeful, Dec 29, 2013.

  1. Hopeful

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    I'm planning on going the month of January gluten free. I think I may have an intolerance to gluten and this will either confirm my suspicion, or mean I need to try something else.

    I get headaches very easily - several a week, if not daily/every other day. I drink plenty of water and think it could be a lack of sleep, but I've been getting more sleep lately and it doesn't help. I feel bloated sometimes and I often have gas. I am tired all the time (it seems like) and I just don't know what to do.

    So anyway, my mom has been going mostly gluten free for a while now (she has a gluten intolerance) so I'm going to do this with her for a month and see how I feel. Do any of you have celiac's or a gluten allergy or intolerance or just choose to eat gluten free? If so, any advice for me? I got some gluten free pasta to try for the heck of it, but I plan on eating lots of veggies and rice and other things rather than trying to substitute and get gluten free bread and pasta because that can get expensive.

    Oh, I should probably mention that I'm also a vegetarian, so I won't be eating any meat either.

    It's going to be interesting, I hope to get through this without too much difficulty! I'm going to be cutting back my sugar intake while doing this, just to be healthier, so it'll be a bit of a struggle, but probably fun too since I have a partner in crime. :slight_smile:
     
  2. Ridiculous

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    Removing all gluten from your diet is a significant hindrance you don't want to have unnecessarily - don't self diagnose a gluten intolerance. Even if you do feel better after going gluten free it doesn't mean the cause is actually a gluten intolerance; you're going to be cutting a lot of other things out of your diet too and it could just as likely be one of those.

    If you want to find out whether you are gluten intolerant then you should go and have a proper test done.
     
  3. Hopeful

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    Thanks for the advice! I'm going to try it, but pay close attention to how I'm feeling - if I do WORSE without gluten, then I'll start eating it again. However, I eat a lot of veggies and rice and beans and all sorts of stuff, so as long as I eat a balanced diet, I think I'll be okay.

    Also, my friend had issues with similar symptoms to mine, and her doctor just told her to go off gluten for a month. It turns out that she's lactose intolerant, not gluten, but he doctor only told her what I'm going to try.
     
  4. Ridiculous

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    Sure, you can try it out and see how you go :slight_smile:. But removing all gluten is a big commitment so if you do feel better after doing it I'd still suggest seeing if that was actually the problem by getting tests done.
     
  5. I used to get headache ps everyday as well. Then I started eating GMO free and it made a WORLD of a difference. As far as I'm aware, headaches aren't symptom of gluten intolerance. With Celiacs, your stomach swells and cramps when you ingest gluten, kind of like a lactose intolerance. I'd get a blood test for celiac first and if it comes back negative try eliminating gmo free products. If you're going to eat gluten free, I recommend Amy's Kitchen brand foods. They have a lot of gluten free things like vegan burritos, vegetarian pizza with rice crust and a wide variety of Indian frozen meals. All of their products are gmo free and you can get their products at Whole Foods.
     
  6. AKTodd

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    My mom and youngest sister are both vegetarians and also eat gluten free (or aim to anyway). My mom is also moving to eliminate dairy from her diet. I eat a modified paleo diet that eliminates wheat, dairy, grains, processed soy, rice, etc. My mom and sister live over a 100miles from the nearest major grocery store so it can get interesting for them diet wise.

    I know they do a lot of eggs, peanut butter, and nuts. Also fruits and vegetables (mostly canned given their location). I send them various gluten free things from Trader Joe's several times a year which they really enjoy.

    For my part, I eat a lot of peanut butter and almonds (about a cup a day). Not being a vegetarian, I also eat a lot of meat.

    Todd
     
  7. Hopeful

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    You guys are a lot of help, thanks! I'll try no gluten for now, if it doesn't help, maybe I'll try no dairy or no GMO instead... but if it DOES seem to help, then I'll get it tested to make sure I'm correct!! Thanks for everything. :slight_smile:
     
  8. HuskyPup

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    I personally love glutens, especially in a good pasta. Coming from an Italian background, it's hard to imagine life without pasta and bread made from Semolina...I've never had a problem with them, and it's also a very economical food source. I can see if you have Celiacs where you'd want to avoid them, but I think the whole 'glutens are evil' craze has gotten out of hand, and lacks any real, scientific backing. Only a small percentage of people are intolerant of them, yet all of the sudden, they've become the Darth Vader of foods. I just don't get it. I think eating a balanced diet is best, without, plenty of fruits, veggies, grains, some meat and dairy.... I try to buy fresh and local as much as I can, but I do buy DeCecco pasta, because I love it.

    In ways, the whole idea of reaching some kind of Nirvana on earth by following this or that diet strikes me as New Age hokum. I can see if you have medically based dietary restrictions, but I see a lot of money being made from people's fears.

    I have nothing against people cutting out this or that to see how they feel, and don't mean to be judgmental...just some thoughts, here :slight_smile:
     
  9. flymetothemoon

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    Do you live anywhere near a Trader Joe's grocery store? They have lots of great gluten free options. I'm not gluten free, but I get most of my groceries there and I often see that the things I have bought just because they sound good are labeled gluten free options.
     
  10. TheTrueMe

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    After a week of going entirely gluten free I was able to tell that gluten intolerence was part of my problem ....
     
  11. AKTodd

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    Congrats! BTW and re the post about Trader Joe's - TJs (at least the ones here) maintains a list of all the products they sell that are gluten free. It may also include indications of which products are vegetarian/vegan, certified not to contain genetically engineered products, organic, kosher, etc. Not entirely sure about that last bit, since we mainly focus on the GF and vegetarian elements for stuff we send up to my mom and sister.

    Todd:slight_smile:
     
  12. apostrophied

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    Whatever you do, watch out that you get enough iron. With no meat and no fortified grain products, I can just about guarantee you that you will sooner or later develop anemia and need supplements (which can have side effects). The iron in beans and stuff like that doesn't get absorbed very well at all by your body, and with no massive pasta dinners, that doesn't help, either. Get yourself tested frequently to nip any problem in the bud.

    Hope you feel better soon!

    ETA: I think it would be better to leave your sugar intake as-is right now. If you start feeling better after going gluten-free, you want to know it's actually the gluten that was the problem, without having any potential confounds from cutting down sugar (which could cause sugar highs and lows, possibly responsible fo headaches, too). That's a mistake many people do when eliminating things from their diets: they eliminate 5 things, feel better, and then conclude that they are intolerant to all 5. Um, no lol. Maybe one or two of them at most.
     
    #12 apostrophied, Jan 6, 2014
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2014
  13. Gluten allergic here!
    Fun fact: my mom has always had weird gastric problems, that got worse with time and became freaking scary at a point. Then the "gluten-free wave" got to the massive media and she decided to give it a go. She hasn't had regular gastric problems since. I joined her just to be supportive and found out that my body was working better and, for the first time ever, my period got regular (yep, gluten can affect your uterus too).
    So you've got nothing to lose trying to go gluten-free. Only a few people have major allergy or celiac disease, but a lot of people have lesser degrees of gluten allergy - like me - that cause lesser, but still annoying, symptoms.
    Plus, living in a gluten-free diet isn't boring, isn't a sacrifice, isn't insert-bad-thing-here. My mom and I make delicious breads, pasta, lasagna, pizza, etc. with alternative ingredients or alternative flours (such as rice flour).
    And if cutting gluten doesn't solve your problems, I highly doubt it'll make it worse.