Last week I started cutting gluten out of my diet to see if I will start noticing any difference in my symptoms. Instead of cutting all gluten products out of my diet at one time, I have been replacing gluten-free items for the regular foods I was eating as I run out of them. The reason for slowly transitioning is because I know me and I would get too overwhelmed if I cut everything out at once. I also have to consider having withdrawal symptoms from cutting out all of the gluten at once and I do not need to suffer from anymore symptoms. I ran out of my favorite wheat bread last week and I replaced that with brown rice tortillas. I am going tomorrow to get gluten-free noodles so that I can make some homemade chicken corn noodle soup. I notice that since I’ve been sick with this sinus problem the only thing I can eat that doesn’t make me feel nauseated is chicken corn soup and chicken noodle soup.
I have been checking out online different gluten-free recipes and I hope that I can adjust to this new diet regimen without too much difficulty. There will be lots of things that I am going to miss eating but it’s worth a shot to see if I feel any better.
I’ll keep everyone posted on my gluten-free transition and progress!
I’m sorry to hear how sick you’ve been. But you should know a few things before you get too involved in this gf diet. Celiac Disease is a genetic disease. Though not everyone who has the gene has the disease. If you think you might have the disease, it would be best to go to the doctor to get a blood test, and then biopsy if necessary. If you go gf before the tests, the tests will not be accurate, and you will never know for sure.
Gluten free diets are very difficult, and really not healthy, unless you have cd. There are many vitamins that are missing from a gf diet. It is very expensive, and just generally diffiuclt to follow. I wouldn’t recommend it unless you really have cd.
I don’t know the details of your sinus problem, but I had serious problems many years ago. What I have found is that snorting salt water 2x/day (either through a homemade version, or neti pot, but not a store bough saline spray), not just when you are sick, but everyday, forever, will help keep the passage ways clear.
Good luck!
Hi Margie! I did have a test done that shows that I have a gluten/wheat intolerance but I don’t have Celiac – or the blood test showed that I didn’t have Celiac. They didn’t do the biopsy since the blood test was negative for that. Believe me, I wouldn’t put myself through all of this if I didn’t already know that I have an intolerance.
I was diagnosed with CD after a lifetime of seemingly unrelated and minor symptoms from canker sores as a kid, to depression/anxiety, and chronic fatigue as an adult (and 100 more in between). Celiac disease is about nutrient malabsorption and/or deficiencies. Regardless of a celiac diagnosis, you can suffer from poor diet or needing more nutrients. After purchasing many cookbooks (30+) I would recommend The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook by Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre, MC, CN to steer you in a healthy whole foods direction. Bread is NOT the staff of life, imho.
I wish you luck. 🙂
As a medical professional gluten related tests have a fairly moderate degree of false negatives. The villi in the small intestines have to be severely to almost completely destroyed for many of these tests to be positive. It might be helpful to get a level for anti-gliandin antibodies with a IgA test as that will tell you if you are making antibodies to gluten. There is not silver bullet for testing. Many tests fail to catch people who are intolerant of gluten not related to celiac. I have worked with many people with fatigue and if they are eating foods that the body is having extreme difficulty digesting, what energy they have is being used just on digestion. I will usually have people do an elimination diet and then reintroduction to evaluate reproducible symptoms. The diet can be challenging but it doesn’t necessarily need to be vitamin deficient. You will be and remain deficient if you continue to consume a food that is causing inflammation resulting in malabsorption.
Good luck Sandy – I’ve been GF for 3 years and have never felt better in my life. It’s a challenge but if you feel better it’s worth all the effort. I’ll follow your posts and offer up tips if you’re interested!
Question to Margie: What is ‘unhealthy’ about a gluten-free diet? Do you know of some sort of nutritional benefits offered by eating gluten specifically?
I’m a brand new reader (just found your blog today), and I’ve been dealing with CFS for 3 years. I cut gluten from my diet about 2 mos ago, and I can definitely say I haven’t felt this good in a /long/ time. I actually wake up and want to do things in the morning! Gluten might not be the thing that causes your fatigue/pain, but if it is, then it is completely worth it to switch to gluten free (and this from someone whose main comfort foods are bread and pasta!). It’s not fun at first, and I definitely had some withdrawal cravings, but a few slips have convinced me that it is the gluten, and I am so much better off without it. Good luck!