Just wondering if anybody here has tried giving up gluten ‘for the craic’ rather than stopping eating it for existing medical conditions, and if so what if any effect did it have?

I bought some gluten free bread today to try, apart from being heavy and a bit rubbery it doesn’t taste that bad, but certainly not as nice as normal bread. I can’t wait to feel the effects.

Just wondering if anybody here has tried giving up gluten ‘for the craic’ rather than stopping eating it for existing medical conditions

Most people who claim to be gluten intolerant, I expect.

We get GF pasta sometimes (I think it’s rice flour or something). It’s actually quite nice, a little lighter than the normal stuff.

If you’re not intolerant then its not going to have an ‘effect’, you can imagine one if you like though. People who are allergic /intollerant are made ill be wheat and need to eat gluten free food to feel normal. If you feel normal to begin with you won’t feel better than normal. In the same way if you’re not sick taking antibiotics won’t make you feel better than well.

But buy and eat anything gluten free you like. Gluten intolerance is a pretty rare condition, but the recent fashion of self-diagnosing yourself as probably-alergic-to-wheat means decent alternatives end up being much more readily available to people who have a genuine need for them. So you are actually doing work of real benefit to others!

Quite probably the driving force behind self diagnosed wheat avoidance is Gluten free stuff used to only be available in heath food shops. Wheat-free stuff being sold as ‘health food’ in that context makes it appear the wheat is therefore unhealthy.

I am intolerant – gluten triggers terrible headaches for me, which is crap.

It is very hard to escape it, and while the expansion of gluten free options is welcome, they still don’t taste anywhere near as good as the wheat alternatives.

Sometimes the options are go hungry or wash down painkillers with a sandwich.

TBH people are very open-and-shut about this but it doesn’t seem like science. Anecdotally, my mum went onto a very gluten-reduced diet more or less out of solidarity for me, and it made a big difference to her IBS. You don’t need to be “gluten intolerant” for a change in diet to have an impact on health. Whole tomatoes make me feel ill but I’m not tomato intolerant.

http://linkis.com/www.eurekalert.org/p/vQx6o

OTOH, I am coeliac and if I had any choice in the matter I’d not be gluten free, it’s a pain in the baws.

My diet is miserable enough trying to get rid of my middle age spread, why make it worse?

I’ve worked out that I’m allergic to wheat. I’ve been allergic to grasses, through breathing in pollen and through skin contact, for about fifty years. And now it affects my insides. I’ll spare you reading the details.

If you’re avoiding wheat you need to re-think food shopping. I get rye bread and slice it myself. Ingredients – rye flour, water, sea salt: take a look at the contents of gluten free. Wheat flour is in the ingredients of so much re-packaged stuff. If it’s below the likes of black pepper I’ll buy, not otherwise.

Try it for a week, as I did, and decide if you’ll stick with it.

Our house is pretty much wheatfree – I am a willing participant although I never had a problem with it beforehand. The only noticeable difference for me is the massive reduction in wind. I swear I used to trump pretty much 24/7, now it’s a rare treat.

Foodwise we make everything from scratch, rye flours and the like. Apart from almost no bread you wouldn’t notice any difference to be honest and our food is awesome. If your buying supermarket ‘free from’ stuff it’s a different story

I find most gluten free bread is easier to eat if you toast it first.

Matt

I’m gluten intolerant (and A1protein in milk). Eating gluten and my poo feels and resembles the scene in Alien where the android slits the faces huggers skin and it melts through three decks of the Nostromo.

I have tried it last year for 3 months, and I lost weight as was impossible to eat crap.

If your buying supermarket ‘free from’ stuff it’s a different story

As someone who can’t eat dairy without consequences I’d say generally just eat different stuff rather than substitutes. Its actually quite easy to get into new habits, new foods and new flavours if you do it through abstinence – I loved milk and cheese until I gave it up. After two weeks I didn’t miss it, now a really dislike it. Having [name you nemesis]-free versions of things stops you from weaning yourself off those tastes and textures and makes you dependent on the availability of those substitutes. Abstinence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder but substitutes do.

The only exception to this advice is Sacla’s No 9 ‘everything-free’ Pesto which is excellent. And now conveniently unavailable in my local supermarket.

I lost weight as was impossible to eat crap.

You save a fortune too – cutting out dairy (and wheat would be the same) pretty much eliminates all pre-prepared value added food.

Unless you have been diagnosed as coeliac , or actually have been tested, then it is a lifestyle choice, like many, many food allergies

Unless you have been diagnosed as coeliac

Coeliac UK says “Coeliac disease affects at least 1 in 100 people in the UK and in Europe;* however, only about 24% of people with the condition are clinically diagnosed.”
So some people’s ‘lifestyle choices’ will actually be self-diagnosis and treatment.
* based on detection of anti-gluten antibodies in donated blood in a random screen

Our house is pretty much wheatfree – I am a willing participant although I never had a problem with it beforehand. The only noticeable difference for me is the massive reduction in wind. I swear I used to trump pretty much 24/7, now it’s a rare treat.

Food wise we make everything from scratch, rye flours and the like. Apart from almost no bread you wouldn’t notice any difference to be honest and our food is awesome. If your buying supermarket ‘free from’ stuff it’s a different story

AS with most of these diet things I always wonder if people notice a difference for the same reasons. By excluding something you are really focusing on what you eat and in this case taking time to prepare it yourself.

the good lady is coeliac.
I still find it amazing what stuff has gluten in, stuff you wouldn’t expect. We just make lots of stuff from scratch. I’ve found it very easy to adapt recipes to cut out wheat/gluten. GF pasta is fine, can’t tell the difference to be honest.
we’ve even got a GF recipe for yorkshire puds so even sunday roasts are no bother.
GF Bread is a bit naff, i find it quite sweet but genius do a really good range.
don’t be fooled by the supermarkets free from range, it can be quite expensive and if you look you’ll get GF products everywhere. As an example the tomato ketchup and brown sauce in the free from isle is very costly, heinz tom K and tesco basic brown sauce are both GF.

OP if you think it will make you feel better try it, just read ingredients on packets carefully and do it for a good length of time, not just a week….

Marks and Spencer do a good range, and the ready made sandwiches are indistinguishable from standard fayre, which galls me as I once used to Boycott them over their use of workfare..
As someone up there said, free from bread is usually best toasted, with a couple of exceptions, one being Tesco own brand seeded bread, which I find galling as I used to Boycott TESCO over its employment practices and use of unpaid workfare

OK the 1 in a 100 is news to me. The figure I last had was around 3 in 1000.
The amount of people claiming to have a food allergy is around 40%

Best way of knowing is to go and get tested ,,,

Just had the Aldi free from specially selected pork sausage for dinner, they were exceptionally good

As per any diet that’s essentially a fad, I wouldn’t, as you’re reducing the variety of stuff you eat and therefore really need to see a dietitian.

My wife was recently diagnosed, so a lot of my food is gluten free nowadays, however she gets to see a dietitian on the NHS to make sure she’s still getting a balanced diet. I don’t, so I’ll keep eating everything when it doesn’t cause a cooking inconvenience.

OTOH, I am coeliac and if I had any choice in the matter I’d not be gluten free, it’s a pain in the baws.

This. I used to go out with a lass who was Coeliac. She would think anyone wanting to go gluten free for the hell of it would just be plain stupid.

Gluten free isn’t that as a lifestyle/health thing, it has developed for people who are unfortunately unable to eat wheat.

To make products gluten free they generally contain more fat and sugar than the equivalent gluten products. The function of gluten has to be replaced by “improvers” …

As per any diet that’s essentially a fad, I wouldn’t, as you’re reducing the variety of stuff you eat and therefore really need to see a dietitian.

Well I’ve been gluten free for over 6 years and if anything my diet is more varied and healthy than it was before.

I try and avoid the processed GF food. As its expensive and not particularly healthy. We just eat freshly prepared stuff.

I’m giving a gluten free diet a go having lived with severe mouth ulcers since in my teens. Doctors have never been able to diagnose it so trying some diets to see if it has any effect.

Do not go near M&S gluten free scotch eggs is most valuable thing i’ve learnt so far.

My son has recently had to go on a low fodmap diet, which is like GF but moreso!

The upside is that he has lost weight, and isn’t shitting through the eye of a needle till midnight, every night.

Everyone is very different so you should go zero gluten for 3 weeks or so. Bring back gluten and if no changes in energy, toilet habits, pains etc etc then make a decision from there.

Going down the gluten free aisle and buying products full of nasty ingredients isn’t going to help much but pay attention to packets of all sorts – you’ll be shocked how much is packed into various foods, watch out for wheat, barley, rye and don’t have even a tiny amount for the 3 weeks.

I’ve been GF for 4 years and my back agony has mostly disappeared, I don’t have hideous IBS anymore and so on. So mine is very much a necessity rather than a decision. If I make a mistake, I’ll go back to feeling terrible for up to two months.

Try to stay away from the GF aisle unless you just want to feel normal by eating pasta now and then. Vegetables, fruit, meat and fish are gluten free so it’s actually really simple.

Lots of wise words here. Except or the recommendation to see a dietician, and particularly an NHS dietician. My unfortunate experience has been that dieticians are apologists for mediocrity – they have little utility that I can see, they shill crap like Coca Cola as part of a “balanced diet” and are woefully out of date. My experience (appreciate a sample of n=1) is that they are still fans of low fat when it has been comprehensively discredited, and that they recommend sugar ahead of (good) fats.

GF serves two purposes – one for those who actually need it, and the other as a fashion trend like buying organic.

Though as said there are probably more people who are undiagnosed coeliac and perhaps covers many with IBS (which itself is a bit of an undiagnosed thing both in being undiagnosed and in that when it is it doesn’t relate to anything explainable).

I’ve been getting stuff that I could self diagnose as IBS but doctors so far just dismiss it and tests come back normal. It comes and goes. Seems to be food related and in particular I have a suspicion about pasta. Not sure that’s a gluten thing though. Just carbs and the structure of pasta being something that’s tricky to digest. Might even be that I generally have whole-wheat pasta. I’d give it up but love pasta. GF could try but it has to be all or nothing. Can’t just swap one product for GF, has to be the lot. And I still have a nagging feeling that would be just paying a premium for a fashion product like organic than something of actual benefit.

If you’re eating gluten free and going for the blood test, the antibodies wont be present in the blood sample and it’ll be a false negative if you are coeliacs.
You have to eat every day products before you are tested even if it hurts

Unless you have been diagnosed as coeliac , or actually have been tested, then it is a lifestyle choice, like many, many food allergies

How is it a choice to be allergic to something?

Don’t need a doctor to tell you when you can work it out quite easily.

My gf had stomach problems doctor said it could be a gluten/wheat allergy so she stopped eating it and the problems went away. Doctor said only way to test to find out definitively was for her to start eating it again for a while and have a test which is just pointless suffering to prove something she already knows as of she accidentally eats something with it in she soon finds out…

It may not be gluten though. It may just be certain foods which happen to contain wheat that’s causing problems. And digestion issues isn’t necessarily an allergy. Too much or too little fibre can cause digestion issues for example.

In fact that could be an issue with GF as a GF diet may be minimal on fibre if you don’t find alternate sources of it. It could even be the fibre in a regular non-GF diet that is causing issues by having too much and going GF seems to sort it out, but it’s an expensive and inconvenient (restaurants etc) solution if you’re not actually gluten intolerant.

So many reasons for dodgy digestion.

mrmoofo – Member

Unless you have been diagnosed as coeliac , or actually have been tested, then it is a lifestyle choice, like many, many food allergies

OK I know it’s been covered but I should talk about this more.

I’m coeliac but I had no visible symptoms- no bloating, vomiting, headaches etc. So I hadn’t been diagnosed or tested- apparently going onto the diet would have been a lifestyle choice.

But because I was undiagnosed, and eating normally, I ended up with the intestinal damage, and was essentially malnourished- which led to me developing osteoperosis (and other long term risks). If I’d done the “fad diet” thing this wouldn’t have happened. My condition was picked up by a blood test at a diabetic outpatient’s (there’s a suspected link between auto-immune conditions so they test regularily for other stuff- it’s the only reason I know)

So no. It’s not all about diagnosis. If it was, everyone should avoid medical testing because they’d be healthy forever.

Oh and ironically, if i had been on the GF diet I’d have never been diagnosed as coeliac because the blood test spots the reaction not the condition.