Weight Gain With Celiac

[Guest Happynwgal2]

For years I did not think I could have Celiac, because I never LOST weight - my weight has always been normal, except for the past 3-4 years when I have gained some weight because of thyroid problems.

So it was a relief when I read this article from this web site. I have to copy and paste it from my pc because I cannot find it here on this web site. It came to me in an email newsletter. After reading this article, I suddenly understood my body - my illness - better. My oldest daughter is bigger than average, and she is probably a Celiac - we'll find out later this fall...

It is just one more frustrating thing about Celiac: you do not have to LOOSE weight to be a Celiac, and yet, many doctors are not yet aware of this information that could be such a blessing to those of us who never lost weight, or even gained weight, while being undiagnosed Celiacs.

Food Cravings, Obesity and Gluten Consumption by Dr. Ron Hoggan, Ed.D.

This article appeared in the Spring 2006 edition of Celiac.com's Scott-Free Newsletter.

Celiac.com 07/10/2006 -

Increased consumption of gluten, according to Dr. Michael Marsh, raises the risk of celiac disease symptoms1. Although these symptoms may not indicate celiac disease, they reflect some biological realities. Grain-based foods simply do not offer the nutrients necessary to human health and they damage the human body. USDA and Canada Food Guides notwithstanding, if people eat grain-laden diets, they may develop symptoms of celiac disease (but in most cases, without the diagnostic intestinal lesion). The connection between eating disorders and celiac disease is well known and well documented2,3,4,5. Thus, the dynamics at work in celiac disease may offer insight into the broader realm of obesity, especially among those who are eating the recommended, daily quantities of grain-derived foods, while attempting to keep their weight down by eating low-fat foods.

The primary, defining characteristic of celiac disease is gluten induced damage to the villi in the intestinal lining. Since malabsorption of vitamins and minerals are well known in the context of celiac disease, it should not be surprising that some celiac patients also demonstrate pica (Pica is an ailment characterized by eating dirt, paint, wood, and other non-food substances). Other celiac patients eat excessive quantities of food, coupled with a concurrent failure to gain weight. Yet another, perhaps larger, group of celiac patients refuse to eat (One may wonder if the latter find that eating makes them feel sick so they avoid it).

Perhaps the most neglected group is that large portion of untreated celiac patients who are obese. Dr. Dickey found that obesity is more common than being underweight among those with untreated celiac disease6. When I ran a Medline search under the terms

[sixtytwo]

What an excellent article. All gluten-free goods are very high in calories, there is no "light" version, thus it is very easy to put on the pounds. For instance...........only regular maple syrup is gluten-free, not the light version---and the bread is very hight calorie too. I have found that if I give up things with flour and white sugar, than I can drop weight. I have so little trouble not eating gluten, and so I thought if I just decide to eliminate sugar and flour, then maybe that would work too. It did, I dropped five pounds the first month. This is the gentle kind of weight loss that could possible stay off, wouldn't that be nice? Only time will tell.

Barbara

[Emily Elizabeth]

Thanks so much for posting this. It answered some questions I had. I noticed that before being diagnosed my symptoms were at their worst when I was dieting/losing weight. I lost weight by eating a high fiber diet (gluten fiber of course). So I was eating very increased quantities of gluten just before being diagnosed. I almost wonder if I hadn't eaten the increased gluten and tried to lose weight, if I wouldn't have triggered celiac disease. Interesting to ponder.

[sickchick]

The first year I got really sick I lost weight (everything was going through me at the speed of light) and to sort of make up for it I started to eat more (cause when I didn't I would immediately get diahrrea)

And I was so spun out from reacting to everything I had to quit exercizing it made it worse! So I gained probably 45 pounds. Now it's 11 years later and about 4 years ago I was able to start exercising again. And I am back down to 115. But it's HARD to lose weight for me (my thyroid tests are all normal I was just tested again in March) I have to eat rabbit food. Nothing with starch in it. Or very little... but that (veggies) goes right through me (my best friend calls me a salad shooter! lol)

Don't leave the house much.

good luck

[nora-n]

I was overweight while eating gluten, and lost 19-20 kg since. I weigh now 52-53 kg. When back on gluten for a biopsy and testslast year I was hungry all the time(but I have no diagnosis)

nora

[Guest Happynwgal2]

Thanks so much for posting this. It answered some questions I had. I noticed that before being diagnosed my symptoms were at their worst when I was dieting/losing weight. I lost weight by eating a high fiber diet (gluten fiber of course). So I was eating very increased quantities of gluten just before being diagnosed. I almost wonder if I hadn't eaten the increased gluten and tried to lose weight, if I wouldn't have triggered celiac disease. Interesting to ponder.

Yeah, you never know, do you? What I found so interesting about this article, is that it shows that you can be NORMAL weight, or even OBESE or at least HEAVY and still be a Celiac. The fact that I never had any problems with being too thin, kept me from thinking I had Celiac for at least a decade.

[Guest Happynwgal2]

The first year I got really sick I lost weight (everything was going through me at the speed of light) and to sort of make up for it I started to eat more (cause when I didn't I would immediately get diahrrea)

And I was so spun out from reacting to everything I had to quit exercizing it made it worse! So I gained probably 45 pounds. Now it's 11 years later and about 4 years ago I was able to start exercising again. And I am back down to 115. But it's HARD to lose weight for me (my thyroid tests are all normal I was just tested again in March) I have to eat rabbit food. Nothing with starch in it. Or very little... but that (veggies) goes right through me (my best friend calls me a salad shooter! lol)

Don't leave the house much.

good luck

Thank you for telling your story. I think you illustrate what happens when you are undiagnosed Celiac and gain weight. I ate and ate, because I needed energy, but never really gained a lot of weight other than during three pregnancies. I got so sick, though, when I ate, every single day - it was painful to eat, but I needed to keep going and I needed ENERGY, so I ate cookies, chocolate - I still LOVE chocolate, but it does not love me.... But I never really got too heavy until about four years ago, when it turns out my thyroid started to act up - or act "down" since is started shutting down, something I found out a year ago. On the levethroid that my regular doctor gave me, I gained even more, and am now 30 pounds heavier than I have ever been other than being pregnant. So now I am slowly getting my weight under control, on a naturopathic thyroid medication.

Being a Celiac is more complicated than anybody knows who is not. When I tell people what I CAN eat, they just shake their heads in disbelief.

I am also discovering how rich the alternative flours are, and have to cut down on them. Some of them sit like a rock in my stomach - simply too rich for my intestines to handle.

[Guest Happynwgal2]

I was overweight while eating gluten, and lost 19-20 kg since. I weigh now 52-53 kg. When back on gluten for a biopsy and testslast year I was hungry all the time(but I have no diagnosis)

nora

Hei Nora,

Jeg er ogs

[nora-n]

Hei Nora,

Jeg er ogs

[Guest Happynwgal2]

Hei Happy

Hei kjekt

[nora-n]

I am totally gluten-free and I do not eat gluten-free bread and gluten-free mixes and gluten-free pizzas etc either. And, they are made with codex wheat starch here and I do not tolerate even traces of that. So I just give up the idea of bread. And the benefit is being low-carb.

I have baked bread without wheat starch but with gluten-free oats for daughter and have tried it and I do tolerate it.

I make everything from scratch as there is nothing to buy here that is without wheat starch, milk or traces of milk, traces of wheat, and without citric acid. even mayo i have to make at home.

But, I found out food and meat tastes better without wheat and potatoes (cut out them too) and with more vegetables and salad.

And one gets much less hungry on a low-carb diet.

(re half of what-question--mother comes from Vienna)

nora

[Guest Happynwgal2]

I am totally gluten-free and I do not eat gluten-free bread and gluten-free mixes and gluten-free pizzas etc either. And, they are made with codex wheat starch here and I do not tolerate even traces of that. So I just give up the idea of bread. And the benefit is being low-carb.

I have baked bread without wheat starch but with gluten-free oats for daughter and have tried it and I do tolerate it.

I make everything from scratch as there is nothing to buy here that is without wheat starch, milk or traces of milk, traces of wheat, and without citric acid. even mayo i have to make at home.

But, I found out food and meat tastes better without wheat and potatoes (cut out them too) and with more vegetables and salad.

And one gets much less hungry on a low-carb diet.

(re half of what-question--mother comes from Vienna)

nora

Nora, thank you for your response - this helps me a lot, because I have thought about doing without the gluten free carbs. It sounds like you are doing well on a low carb, gluten free diet. I need to try that, too... One of the things I still eat, that I should stay away from, is GEITOST - for those of you who don't know what it is: it is cooked milk that looks like brown cheese, and we call it a "cheese" ("ost") in Norwegian, but it really isn't because it is not aged at all.

But I LOVE the stuff, even as expensive as it is here... I just had some now, on rice cakes... sigh...

However, low carb would be a good thing for me... I think it would help me loose the weight I have gained the past 3-4 years because of hypothyroidism. I did loose weight earlier this year, but started eating too much gluten free carb food, like some gluten free grains that don't feel really good in my stomach any way - they sit like a heavy rock in my stomach if I eat more than just a few bites.

[nora-n]

Yes, I agree, you ought to go low-carb for several reasons, one of them is that thyroid meds do not work well unless one is low-carb because a slight insulin resistance clogs up the thyroid hormone receptors it looks like, and you already feel the gluten-free carbs you eat sit like a brick in the stomach....

I read the webpages and the books on atkins and did limit my carbs to 50 grams a day, and then I took homeopathic arnica too to lower the suspected insulin resistance. I never had a diagnosis, doctors would have laughed at me. But I did read in Larrian Gilliespie's books and forumpostings that everyone with a waist more than 80 cm is insulin resistant.

My waist was 82cm at 55 kg and first went down to below 80cm at 53 kg this summer.

(the organ called omentum is makeing a hormone called resistin that is responsible for insulin resistance and other things when the omentum is too large) (Insulin is very inflammatory. Inflammation increases cytokines and that causes the thyroid hormones not to work well as it clogs the receptors and increases rt3 and so on.) Be sure not to get too much omega-6 as that is just as inflammatory as insulin. One needs twice as much omega-3 ans omega-6 to combat the effects of omega-6 or something like that ratio.

nora