Feeling Like Crap

[pnltbox27]

been gluten free for a little under 4 weeks, the first 2 weeks i felt the best ive felt in 20 some years. actualy had regular trips to the bathroom no wicked D.now the last 5 or 6 days i feel like i did before going gluten-free.constant D and gas . my typical day is vans gluten-free waffles for breakfast with jam and a bag of almonds from the quicky mart and a diet coke, lunch has been a ham sandwhich on the gluten free pantry bread mix,which by the way tastes really good when made in my new bread maker we purchased and a bag of lays potato chips with chocalte chip cookies by bobs green mill also very good.dinner is usually grilled chicken or steak with carrots, ive been on a carrot kick since going gluten-free. snacks are usually act II popcorn or the gluten free cookies or vanilla ice cream. and lots of diet coke, im kinda a diet pop junkie.does any of this sound like something that should be giving me a problem??also i have been eating cheddar and colby jack cheese.

[April in KC]

Thanks for posting this as it gives me an idea about where to focus in my own mystery glutening.

I am in the same boat with you...really. I've been gluten-free for about the same period of time, and most of it has been HEAVEN...feeling better than I have in a decade. But this past week has been a total downer. Somehow I got glutened...complete with mouth sores, mild d, itchy elbows and fatigue (my typical symptoms). The only suspicious thing your diet and my diet have in common:

LAYS Potato Chips.

I was already starting to suspect them yesterday, because I felt bad after a meal that was just chili made from organic pinto beans (rinsed), organic canned chicken (rinsed), my own homemade gluten-free chili seasoning blend, and Lays.

Someone recommended Cape Cod chips as being a low risk for cross-contamination. I'm going to look for some.

I don't eat eggs, milk, rice, fish, almonds or corn because of my infant son's allergies (he's still nursing). I do eat a lot of carrots (baby, organic, washed). I have an occasional diet Dr. Pepper, but not every day.

You didn't mention ground beef in your list of foods. My other big suspect was ground beef. It was from Wal-Mart (my closest grocer), and although it's against the law, I wondered if it had been mixed with some filler. But I've been sticking with "whole" sources of beef for the past few days...pot roast, stew meat, etc.

Another few things for you to check (in case it isn't the Lays): 1.) Has the chicken been injected with a solution that contains "food starch"? 2.) Is your jam gluten-free? Some are not. 3.) Is your jam jar clean and free from gluten crumbs? If it dates to your pre-gluten days, or if it's used by anyone eating bread, dump it and get a new jar for you alone.

Good luck figuring it out! The bad days just hammer home how ecstatic I am to have found the problem (gluten) and to be on my road to recovery.

April

[gfpaperdoll]

my suggestion would be to give up the gluten free bread and cookies & dairy.

obviously you are eating something that is not agreeing with you. 4 weeks might be too soon for you to add in the gluten free grains. The cross contamination issue is also a concern, it kicks in after you have most of the gluten out of your system

oh & personally I would also give up forever those diet cokes. check out what that artificial sugar does to your brain. & now that it is getting more widely accepted that gluten affects the brain, I would not want to be consuming anything else that interferes with the brain. although, my sister also refuses to give up her diet cokes - says she does not want to be fat... Which I think is an excuse...

I also do not drink regular cokes, are you aware how corrosive that stuff is to your teeth? imagine what it is doing to your compromised intestines!!

[Rachel--24]

oh & personally I would also give up forever those diet cokes. check out what that artificial sugar does to your brain. & now that it is getting more widely accepted that gluten affects the brain, I would not want to be consuming anything else that interferes with the brain.

I would have to agree with this. The Aspartame in your diet coke is toxic. I would guarantee that you'd feel better (in alot of ways) if you did what this poster suggested and ditched the diet cokes.

Yes...it could be damaging your brain...and no it isnt good for your intestines...or any other part of your body.

[RiceGuy]

Besides the drinks, those chips stand out as a possible culprit IMHO. Lay's is notorious for MSG, and loads of garbage including wheat derived stuff in their chips. The only safe chips in any brand that I'm aware of are the plain ones. No flavorings. That's the only ones I ever liked anyway, but most people (for reasons I do not understand) seem to like the flavored ones. Looking at the mile-long list of ingredients makes me wonder how anyone could want to eat them

Aside from that, perhaps the almonds are a source of CC? A recent thread seems to indicate it is common for nuts to be processed at the same facilities as wheat, but the only allergy info I've ever seen on packages of nuts is that they are processed with other nuts.

As gfpaperdoll points out, dairy or other things might be a bit rough on your system for the time being.

[confused]

Thanks for posting this as it gives me an idea about where to focus in my own mystery glutening.

I am in the same boat with you...really. I've been gluten-free for about the same period of time, and most of it has been HEAVEN...feeling better than I have in a decade. But this past week has been a total downer. Somehow I got glutened...complete with mouth sores, mild d, itchy elbows and fatigue (my typical symptoms). The only suspicious thing your diet and my diet have in common:

LAYS Potato Chips.

I was already starting to suspect them yesterday, because I felt bad after a meal that was just chili made from organic pinto beans (rinsed), organic canned chicken (rinsed), my own homemade gluten-free chili seasoning blend, and Lays.

Someone recommended Cape Cod chips as being a low risk for cross-contamination. I'm going to look for some.

I don't eat eggs, milk, rice, fish, almonds or corn because of my infant son's allergies (he's still nursing). I do eat a lot of carrots (baby, organic, washed). I have an occasional diet Dr. Pepper, but not every day.

You didn't mention ground beef in your list of foods. My other big suspect was ground beef. It was from Wal-Mart (my closest grocer), and although it's against the law, I wondered if it had been mixed with some filler. But I've been sticking with "whole" sources of beef for the past few days...pot roast, stew meat, etc.

Another few things for you to check (in case it isn't the Lays): 1.) Has the chicken been injected with a solution that contains "food starch"? 2.) Is your jam gluten-free? Some are not. 3.) Is your jam jar clean and free from gluten crumbs? If it dates to your pre-gluten days, or if it's used by anyone eating bread, dump it and get a new jar for you alone.

Good luck figuring it out! The bad days just hammer home how ecstatic I am to have found the problem (gluten) and to be on my road to recovery.

April

I am thinking the lays. Yesterday i was so sick, i had thought it was all from the miracle whip, but i did feel good when i woke up yesterday til i grabbed a few lays chips, then i got so sick. I didnt think it oculd be the lays so blamed the miracle whip, but now that you both think you might have problems with lays, then i bet maybe that is what the culprit is. I guess no more lays for me.

paula

[johnsoniu]

I second (or third) the cutting out the Lay's and diet coke. I had some Lay's about a week after going gluten free and the tummy did not like it one bit. I don't know if it's the oil that they use or a CC issue, but many people seem to not deal well with them.

As for the soda, I used to drink 4 or 5 Coke's a day, along with a couple cups of coffee. When I went gluten free I figured I might as well weed out some of the other junk. I might drink a Sprite 2 or 3 times a week now, but haven't had Coke or coffee in almost 2 months and don't miss them at all. Propel vitamin water(made by Gatorade), comes in a variety of flavors, is pretty cheap wholesale, and a lot better for you, especially iin the damaged state your intestines are in.

Might want to look into the almonds, you may have a tree nut intolerance as well. Hope you get it figured out and feeling better soon.

[pnltbox27]

thanks for all of the advice.im pretty sure the lays chips are probably a culprit of some sort, so i guess ill lay off of them. no pun untended lol.. as far as the diet cola everyone of you are right its very hypocritical of me to cut out gluten to heal my body only to polute it with a different toxin.its like smoking though i am dependent on it ive been drinking only cola for my whole life im 37 years old. i cant seem to find a alternative , but ill keep trying

[Mtndog]

There's another thread on this very topic:

Open Original Shared Link

[GFJan]

About Lay's Potato Chips...

I just started the gluten-free diet last week, but I have always eaten a lot of Lay's chips in the past, usually the reduced fat, but none of the plain chips bothered me.

Then last summer I suddenly started having violent reactions to their chips. I have no idea what changed, but every few weeks I would try again and would be doubled over or lying in a fetal position in bed with D for a few days. I was totally baffled by the reaction.

I know that they have gone to all sunflower oil now, but I use it all the time for cooking without any problems and the type they use is supposed to be non-GMO. All I can figure is that they changed their processing.

Thanks for maybe solving a mystery for me...I get my potato fix with Ore-Ida fries now (although they only guarantee that some of their line is produced on gluten-free lines so you have to check their website for UPC codes).

Jan

[sleepy1]

Thanks for posting this as it gives me an idea about where to focus in my own mystery glutening.

I am in the same boat with you...really. I've been gluten-free for about the same period of time, and most of it has been HEAVEN...feeling better than I have in a decade. But this past week has been a total downer. Somehow I got glutened...complete with mouth sores, mild d, itchy elbows and fatigue (my typical symptoms). The only suspicious thing your diet and my diet have in common:

LAYS Potato Chips.

I was already starting to suspect them yesterday, because I felt bad after a meal that was just chili made from organic pinto beans (rinsed), organic canned chicken (rinsed), my own homemade gluten-free chili seasoning blend, and Lays.

Someone recommended Cape Cod chips as being a low risk for cross-contamination. I'm going to look for some.

I don't eat eggs, milk, rice, fish, almonds or corn because of my infant son's allergies (he's still nursing). I do eat a lot of carrots (baby, organic, washed). I have an occasional diet Dr. Pepper, but not every day.

You didn't mention ground beef in your list of foods. My other big suspect was ground beef. It was from Wal-Mart (my closest grocer), and although it's against the law, I wondered if it had been mixed with some filler. But I've been sticking with "whole" sources of beef for the past few days...pot roast, stew meat, etc.

Another few things for you to check (in case it isn't the Lays): 1.) Has the chicken been injected with a solution that contains "food starch"? 2.) Is your jam gluten-free? Some are not. 3.) Is your jam jar clean and free from gluten crumbs? If it dates to your pre-gluten days, or if it's used by anyone eating bread, dump it and get a new jar for you alone.

Good luck figuring it out! The bad days just hammer home how ecstatic I am to have found the problem (gluten) and to be on my road to recovery.

April

the lay's are said to be gluten free i contacted the company and most lay's are but they did say there was some risk of contamination but was low because most of their products are gluten free the walmart hambuger though gets me every time so i stick to the fresh ground places and seem to do fine but ham is very risky i just stay away from it all together

[pnltbox27]

its been a week or two since my post and ive only had a bag of original lays twice with no problems so im still confused . i dont know if it was cc or something else. it sure is interesting to see others possibly having the same issues though..