Being treated for Lyme, quite unsuccessfully it seems

Anyway, the doctor had a nutrionist sat with them for my last appointment who suggested going gluten free

Trouble is I’m already underweight for my height, I eat well, I just can never put any weight on and can’t afford to lose more

Is anyone here gluten free or know anything about it. I hate being a fussy eater 🙄

Fry up?

I can’t help, sadly. But I do hope you get this sorted. Good luck.

GF shouldn’t cause you to lose weight by itself, but it might inspire changes in your diet which could. (actually GF prepared food tends to be full of sugar!)

I’m coeliac and been fully GF for a few years. It’s a pain in the balls, if I didn’t absolutely have to do it, I wouldn’t. I don’t know anything about your condition- whether it’s a guaranteed aid or just a “something you might try” like it was with my mum’s IBS “Go gluten free, see what happens”.

What I would say for sure though is that it takes a bit of time and effort to do it well- so your first days on the diet are likely to be pretty disappointing, you need to sift through the options and find out what’s good and what’s not, work out alternatives etc. It gets better and easier.

Quick suggestions-
Dove’s farm pasta, Genius and Yes You Can bread (Yes You Can do a great brown, Genius do a good brown and a good seeded loaf and roll, nobody does a good white IMO), Glutafin Select Multipurpose Mix for a general purpose flour (especially if you can get it on prescription), Asda gf pizza for lazy food (add extra toppings!).

There was quite a good thread on here just a while back, generally to get good info on GF google coeliac, 9/10ths of all the advice for gluten free is pitched at us.

I try to be GF as much as possible for similar reasons to Northwind’s mum. Personally I don’t bother with most of the specialist GF foods as they can be quite expensive and tbh I generally stay away from processed foods anyway. M&S do some nice gluten-free crispy chicken bits though!

If you want to put on – or avoid losing – weight you just need to eat more calories. If you eat calorie-dense foods then you can get a lot of calories without spending all day eating! Stuff like: sweet potatoes, rice, quinoa, cheese, yoghurt/cream, all meat/fish/eggs, avocados, nuts/seeds.

Add more healthy fats to your diet, especially if you don’t eat much fat currently, like butter, lard, olive oil, etc. They are the most calorie dense foods going & also very good for you (in moderation).

Trouble is I’m already underweight for my height

Is that really a problem though? Being underweight is bad if you are under-nourished. If you eat well and your body just doesn’t feel like storing fat, then what’s the issue?

Are you underweight due to Lyme? I do remember you posting a while back and am sorry to hear that you’ve been diagnosed.

Presumably it was an NHS dietitian that you saw? With respect you may be better off seeing somebody else outside the NHS who has a different way of thinking and with knowledge of up-to-date research.

Some good advice by Northwind ^

Really though, being GF not really any more bother than normal eating, unless you eat a lot of ready prepared foods.

If you prepare everything from scratch, then its easy. Use Doves Farm GF flours instead of wheat ones, GF pastas are good nowadays, Genius bread for butties. Or make your own bread. Most main meals can be easily prepared without gluten – think veg/meat/rice based meals etc.

Snacking is where it gets harder as GF cakes etc are expensive. But if you bake, then just swap wheat flour for GF flour + a dab of zanthum gum and you can have all the usual cakes and biscuits as before.

Good luck!

I made my wife’s GF Birthday cake from here . With 4 eggs and lots of sugar, I’m pretty sure I’m not losing weight this week 🙂
Oh and make sure your GP checks you for Coeliac disease, your ‘Lymes’ symptoms may be confused…

Yak – Member

Really though, being GF not really any more bother than normal eating, unless you eat a lot of ready prepared foods.

Mmm. Eating out can be tricky (though these days getting much better), and preparing your own takes a bit of thought- frinstance none of the recipes I got from my mum (who got them from her mum, who got them from her mum, who probably pulled them out of a newspaper supplement) worked without a load of work to sort out the changes in proportions, get the rise right etc. Took me a fair bit of trial and error to make a decent bread, and also led me to invent the FlatScone. It’s all totally doable but it’s an interruption in normal service and it does tend to be more work.

I like analogies- it’s a bit like switching from SPDs to flats, it’s still basically the same thing but you need to adapt in a lot of little ways and get out of old habits and that means that every so often you ride into a tree.

Make anything from here:

and you’ll definitely keep the weight on! Plenty of almond flour and sorgham flour makes for super rich calorie dense cakes.

tbh – and without this turning into a baking thread – the best way to approach this is to make sure that preparing as much food as possible from scratch is your approach from now on. Yes, you may need to find an extra 1/2 hr here and there, but it will ensure the right food and hopefully some really tasty stuff too.

I like analogies- it’s a bit like switching from SPDs to flats, it’s still basically the same thing but you need to adapt in a lot of little ways and get out of old habits and that means that every so often you ride into a tree

true

Even if I was cooking normally, i’d still run into plenty of trees anyway!

I don’t see why you’d necessarily lose weight on a GF diet. If the nutritionist/doc are right about it easing gastrointestinal symptoms etc it may theoretically improve the absorption of nutrients and have the reverse effect.

Not sure what your symptoms are, but after many months of going to my GP with swollen glands/viral type symptoms and extreme fatigue I was treated for Lymes.

It made no difference.

After no improvement, I was diagnosed with CFS/ME a few years later.

Opted to go to a private ME clinic in London and was diagnosed as gluten intolerant.

It was like flicking a switch. Instantly felt much better, but took 18months to 2 years to feel really well.

There is no reason why you should lose or gain weight on a balanced GF diet. However, I lost 1 1/2 to 2 stone, but made a conscious decision to cut out the bread, pasta, starchy food after switching to GF (apart from one day a week where I eat whatever I want).

Being GF is straightfoward at home. We just eat plenty of fresh meat, veg and fruit plus pulses/beans. Eating out is harder but getting easier as more and more places offer GF food.

As said above snacking on the run is harder. You just have to be organised. I travel around with pots of nuts/seeds, fruit or cold meats.

see a dietitian as opposed to a GP & nutritionist

Thanks for the advice

Forgot to mention, I need to steer clear of sugar too

The joys

My wife went gluten free earlier in the year and it has definatlely been a pain in the ar*se but we’ve found a few things that have made life easier.

Genius bread
Nakd cereal bars
Marks & Spencers 🙂 very clearly labeled food for gluten content
Eating out? Go for an Indian 🙂 Loads of good options!

I would suggest that you research as much as possible and not rely on the NHS. There’s a huge amount of info on the web, the only problem is finding the time to read it!

CG is right, but there’s a huge amount of bollocks there too, possibly even huger.

Careful going Indian or Chinese. Lots of places use flour to thicken sauces.

Pizza Express GF range is most excellent.

Can I just come back to this? Assuming that you’ve read all the recent threads on Lyme, there should hopefully be some useful input from those who’ve experienced it.

It’s often said that much illness originates in the gut. Good that you’re taking it all seriously and want to find answers.

Also worth remembering that you may have nutritional deficiencies so it’s important that those are addressed. I’ve often mentioned vit D, another one worth considering is vit B12.

Would also be worthwhile asking your surgery for a copy of your blood tests, you are entitled to request this although they may make a small charge. Make sure they include the reference range and definitely investigate the results outside of the NHS.

Just a thought: a question for those with Lyme – does cortisol play any part in the disease?

Indian food has been my lifeline.

Careful going Indian or Chinese. Lots of places use flour to thicken sauces.

Ive not come across Indian restaurants thickening sauces with wheat flour let alone any type of flour. Tbh id stick clear of those that did even if i wasnt GF. Some use lentil or chickpea flour for bhajis, pakora etc. Poppadoms are usually ok

But i have ruled out chinese due to soy sauce.

I also make sure that chips are fried separately to battered fish, onion rings etc

CG,

Any thing thats put stress on the body will have an effect on cortisol levels. Thus chronic illness can put a lot of stress on the adrenal glands and lead to depleted cortisol output over time. Although the latter is not widely accepted as being possible despite evidence to the contrary.

Forgot to mention, I need to steer clear of sugar too

Best to avoid most if not all of the heavily processed GF foods you can get in the supermarket then.

Sounds like fresh meat, veg, salad etc is the best route for you.

There is a diet, which used to be quite popular on here, which advocates no cereal whatsoever and no sugar and fruit.

I still eat that way, it is very nutritious and you don’t need to waste away if you’re on it.

Search the web for iDave Diet. Or email me.

Good indian restaurants won’t use wheat flour but you can’t rule it out- I always find it encouraging when they’re slightly offended when I ask 😉 There are gf soy sauces available, but not that many restaurants use them, Wok and Wine in Edinburgh have my custom for life as they don’t just do GF food, they do brilliant GF food.

(some folks say that soy sauce is coeliac-safe, something to do with the fermentation process, I have never tested this)

Check out this site HERE

Basically GF with addition of non-processed, low sugar etc. Calling it primal as in caveman stylee.

You may have to work at getting some potatoes etc down your neck to avoid losing weight tho’..

I’m gradually dipping my toe further into this, the basic principles seem to make sense. Obv. if you’re doing endurance sport you’ll need to adapt it to suit.

I get a slight rash on my face which when i’m well rested and feeling good is hardly there. When i’m tired and maybe not looking after myself so well it gets a lot worse. GF definitely seems to help.
Different people can have extremes of symptoms, nevertheless GF would seem to help.

I personally would avoid synthesised GF foods. Many are highly processed and as such are surely defeating the object- healthy diet.

Check out any Paleo cookbooks – the wife and I eat very well on this!