My Gluten-Free Experiment cont.

Hi Sioux,

I'm not an expert on gluten-free (GF) and am still learning as I go. But, what I found for the first 2 months of going GF was that my stool was either mushy or very loose and did not hold together at all. I read this as being caused by the lack of gluten. Gluten is basically what holds things like bread and cake and cookies together - it's the glue, if you will. So, without gluten, there also goes some of the glue.

I've also learned that you have to be careful of some of the GF foods being sold. Just because they're GF doesn't necessarily mean they're good for you or particularly healthy. I've been finding some GF products that are using high fructose corn syrup, which I stopped eating years ago when I realized it was causing me to have diarrhea. Also, many mixes take out real sugar and use sugar substitutes instead. Again, for me, real sugar or honey is better than the sugar substitutes which can cause D. I'm also finding that certain GF flours are not making my gut happy. I'm okay with rice flours and potato flours, but not good at all with any bean flours and sorghum flour is on my iffy list.

I've been having some gut issues these past couple of weeks and am trying to nail down their cause. So far, cutting out any and all bread products, GF included, seems to be the best. However, I'm really having to make sure I eat enough calories per day via meat, fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds or I'm tired and somewhat weak.

Do you have IBD - colitis or Crohn's? If yes, then I'm not sure if going GF will help with the D. I went GF mainly because of serious and uncomortable bloating and gas in the past 6 months.

The only for sure way to diagnose Celiac disease is to 1. eat gluten; and, 2. have an endoscopy with biopsies to look at the villi in your small intestine. Allergy tests and blood tests for Celiac are only right maybe 50/50 percent of the time. And there can be false negatives and false positives. The endoscopy while eating gluten is the only way to really know if you have Celiac.

However, if you have a gluten-intolerance and not Celiac, there isn't a test that will show the intolerance.  Also, I'd give the GF diet at least a month to see if it's making any difference.

Good luck to you,

Elizabeth

Elizabeth, thank you so much for your info. One thing I guess I'd never thought about cutting out of my diet is high fructose corn syrup, I'll have to try that too.  I have had an endoscopy, and they said the villi were pretty damaged or non-existent,  so I guess that's my answer. What I did not know is the difference in GF flours and ingrediants I usually just use rice flours or rice noodles for cooking and I buy the commercial loaves of GF bread. Now I wonder if there is a difference in breads too. Well good luck on your "trial&error",, and thank you again.  Sioux

Hi again,

Well, if you had an endoscopy and the villi were damaged then from what I've read that means you have Celiac disease and you have to take that very seriously, as in DO NOT EAT anymore gluten-containing foods.

It sounds like you need to find a nutritionist or someone else who knows about Celiac and can help you figure it all out. It's not just bread and pasta that can have gluten in it but things like soy sauce, BBQ sauce, pre-made and pre-packaged foods, etc.

You may want to double-check with the doctor who did the endocsopy to be 100% sure, but if you do have Celiac you have to take this much more seriously than people who just have a gluten-intolerance.

Best of luck,

Elizabeth