Wading Into The Thicket: Oats!

[ThisIsMyUserName]

So having spent the last months reading thousands and thousands of pages on celiac and gluten and so on, I feel pretty confident in the knowledge (if not quite yet the practice) of what I'm supposed to do (note that I have non-celiac gluten intolerance, not celiac). One sticky wicket remains: oats. I have long eaten oatmeal for breakfast every day (with cinnamons and raisins, no sugar) and find it's a super-healthy way to get going that leaves me full for a long time. I asked my (very knowledgable about celiac and gluten intolerance) if gluten-free oatmeal was ok, and he said yes. I read a bunch of academic papers and all seem to point to oats being safe if a) they're gluten-free, not the standard commercial oats and you're not one of the people who specifically react to oats. So all would seem well. On the other hand, though, the general advice seems to be either to not have oats (e.g. in gluten-free for dummies, there's a whole section that basically says "Don't eat oats. Really, don't eat them."), or to limit them to some quantity or not to have them for the first few months or years. I am a generaly big believer in collective wisdom, and I've seen this advice a bunch of times when I searched the boards here, but can't find the underlying studies to support that. So, I'm trying to figure it out. Is it that people used to say no because there weren't gluten-free oats and now there are, or that it's wise to avoid it during healing in case you react, or something else?

[mamaw]

In general oats  can be hard for many to digest. Years ago  oats  were off the table for  celiac   . Then  came gluten-free  oats......I was never  an oat  for  breakfast  lover  in my gluten days   but for  some  strange  reason  I  decided  I  missed oats! So  I tried  the gluten-free oats & love  oatmeal cookies.... I now  do well  with  1/2 cup of gluten-free  oats  maybe  twice a  month more than like  I  get  a  weird  tummy  feeling  ,  so I guess  I learned  how  much my  gut  can take.....

A new  person  that   hasn't  had  any healing of the gut  may find  it  feels  like  overload  on their  gut or  worse.... When starting out  we  try to tell people  to be kind  & gentle  to their  fragile  tummies to  let  the body  heal  as  much as possible  without  added  stress... gluten-free foods  in the natural state without  a lot  of  processed gluten-free  either....some  foods  are  just  hard to digest....

[cristiana]

I found this from Coeliac UK - we add an 'o' in the UK and I am still not sure why!  It doesn't seem necessary!

 

Open Original Shared Link

 

My own nutritionalist said it was worth waiting 6-12 months after taking up gluten free diet so that when oats are introduced it will be obvious if there are problems.  It will also have given your tummy time to heal a bit, as mamaw says.

[psawyer]

Oats can be hard to digest, so I would avoid them completely while your gut is healing. Once that is finished, try pure oats. You need to look for ones that are processed specially to avoid contamination from wheat. Safe oats will be labeled as "pure," "wheat-free," or "gluten-free." In Canada, the last one is not yet allowed by CFIC regulations, but those rules are changing.

 

A minority of people with celiac disease can not tolerate even pure oats, so introduce them carefully and watch for reactions. Do not introduce any other new foods around the same time.