If you’re not celiac, why isn’t cutting gluten and replacing with whole foods not worthwhile?
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Anonymous
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I have a moderate-severe autoimmune disorder with lots of symptoms. I also have 2 children so I’m a busy mom.
I eat an ok diet, but have wanted to really clean it up and mostly eat whole foods, replacing any dairy/fried/gluten heavy meals with lighter meals like proteins and green vegetables and replacing the copious amounts of cheese I eat with mostly greek yogurt. Almost every source on the thyroid says going gluten free is essential to remission and even 1 tiny drop of gluten in soy sauce or a condiment can be detrimental to succeeding... I guess I’m just confused... if you’re NOT celiac and your body just sees it the same way as sugar, it’s inflammatory... isn’t significantly cutting down on unhealthy less nutrient dense foods and replacing with whole foods going to make a significant difference? I also don’t do well with gluten free replacements, like breads loaded with various ingredients I don’t know. I mostly order brown rice or a brown rice pasta but no interested in eating a bunch of gluten free packaged foods. So for instance say you eat a normal western diet now, but on the healthy side.. and dinners include things like baked lasagna or breaded chicken... ice cream for dessert ... AND you really cleaned it up and your new diet was lean proteins and baked fish, veggie stir fries and rice and dessert was something like fresh fruit and a square of dark chocolate... But once in a rare moment, on vacation or a party, you did have a few slices of pizza ... Wouldn’t you still experience significant health benefits? |
Anonymous
| Yeah, it’s fine, you’re overthinking it. |
Anonymous
Ok, it’s just that EVERY book I have read about autoimmune stresses the important of zero gluten and how it takes several months to clear your body from it.. it just doesn’t make sense to me. I can see how eating a lot of gluten or basing your diet on it can be inflammatory, but if you’re not celiac how is one bite of bread going to damage your immune system for months? |
Anonymous
| The problem with gluten for non-Celiacs is that most gluten-containing products are coated in glyphosate. |
Anonymous
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Sure. If you're not celiac and don't otherwise have a gluten sensitivity, it's not necessary, but you'll probably generally feel better if you reduce highly processed foods. But you can eliminate gluten and still eat a crap diet. Likewise, you can eat a healthy diet that includes gluten (note: lots of great whole grains contain gluten: barley, rye, triticale, quinoa, spelt, kamut, wheat berries, etc.). So eliminating gluten might not be worthwhile, because there are other ways to eat healthy.
You seem to be conflating "gluten-free" with "healthy." Ice cream and potato chips are gluten free. |
Anonymous
It isn't. People can become kind of obsessive or religious about health fads. |
Anonymous
| OP I could have written your post. Two autoimmune diseases and negative for celiac. My rheumy suggested quitting gluten before trying any of the other diets out there. Three months after, my ANA and other inflammatory markers were normal after being off the charts. That was the only change I made. I don’t understand why, but it clearly causes inflammation for those of us who have these issues. |
Anonymous
That's so interesting.. Can you tell me a little more about what you typically eat? I may be interested in doing that. And are you 100% compliant? Do you eat total Whole Foods or do you eat processed GF substitutes? What are the markers that saw a change? I may ask for a blood test for inflammation markers? |
Anonymous
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OP, I think you need to bite the bullet and do a 3 week elimination diet and cut out all gluten. I can tell from all your posts that you don't want to and that you just want to eat healthier, but doing it that way will keep you second guessing everything. You'll wonder "was it the pasta from the lasagna or was it the meat sauce?" and "will I regret a slice of pizza?"
Eliminate all gluten and see how you feel. Do the tests PP recommends. Then add things slowly back and see exactly which foods make you feel worse. |
Anonymous
| I'm still trying to figure out what your subject means, with the triple negative. My head hurts. |
Anonymous
Do you normally have issues like this? If you read it, it is obvious what is being asked. You seem like a grumpy, fussy person. |
Anonymous
| What sources exactly? Where is a study for this cutting gluten saves lives? |
Anonymous
It's a very big thing in the autoimmune community. Wheat Belly Undoctored Grain Brain No Grain, No Pain Autoimmune Solutions Wahls Protocol Huge followings and bestselling books are all saying this.. gluten is the devil |
Anonymous
| I totally changed my diet — no gluten (that was e hardest!), no processed sugar, low fodmap. I feel much better. I have an underlying autoimmune disease but I’m not sure it’s associated (I’ve been in remission for a while). Once I started cooking or myself all meals (easy now that I telework full time ) complying with the diet hasn’t been a problem at all and has just turned into the way I eat (but cooking for my kids is a slightly different story). I don’t do substitutions unless I need some gluten free flour for making a gravy of coating chicken or something. But I won’t have gluten free flour pancakes or anything -/ I just eat oatmeal instead. |
Anonymous
DP. We saw the spike in my IgE antibodies (I think, it has been 14 years). My doc basically said “look, you could eat it but I wouldn’t. It’s like a drop of water in a bucket. You are fine and will probably be fine until you aren’t.” I decided to not eat gluten but to also not care about cross contamination. So I go out to eat, will eat gf pizza made in the same oven, but will ask if the gravy is made with flour or corn starch. |