Advantages Of Not Being Completely Gluten Free?

[Joyous]

I'm sure it depends on the person because some people are much more sensitive to gluten than others, but it seems to me that for people who are just starting out on a gluten free diet, it might be a good idea not to go as far as preventing cross contamination. When I read stories here about having reactions to the most miniscule amounts of gluten, worse reactions than they would have had after eating a wheat product before the gluten free diet, it makes me wonder if those people would have been better off if they wouldn't have been so careful in the beginning (and in the years following).

If you have Celiac Disease and you cut out all gluten products but allow a very small amount of gluten to sneak through via cross contamination, will you still heal? And will you react as strongly on those occasions when you do accidentally consume gluten?

[Lisa]

According to Dr. Chaitan Khosla, who spoke at the Celiac Disease Foundation 2007 Conference:

"Celiac disease is not an allergy. This is a disease where the severity of the disease correlates with the exposure. How do we know that? There are many studies that have been done over the past 20 years and perhaps over the past 35-40 years that show you can reach the same degree of severity with a little gluten over a long duration or a lot of gluten over a short duration. It's cumulative."

[Guest j_mommy]

No I don't think you will ever totally heal. I reacted prediagnosis every time I ate ANY gluten. With celiac it doesn't matter how sensitive you are...you still have the disease and stil shouldn't eat ANY gluten....including CC. THe risks are too high.

[blueeyedmanda]

I take CC very seriously, for our new members just learning the ropes, having the CC exposure could mean the difference to them feeling better or worse. It is very important to stress the CC issue, it helps people weed out what is making them sick, they could be suspecting a safe food and all along it can be crumbs from the toaster or contaminated pots.

[pugluver31902]

You need to be one hundred percent gluten free for an extended period of time in order for your risk of cancer and other autoimmune diseases to drop back to a more normal level. Getting even the tiniest bit of gluten for any extended period of time will never lower your risks.

[debmidge]

The smallest amount of gluten, wether or not it's accidential or deliberate ( in an attempt to deflect a really bad reaction if you were to go gluten free and then get "glutened" and have a bad reaction)...the smallest amount of gluten will "jump start" the immune system to protect the body by producing the antibodies which make the celiac person sick and cause damage to the small intestine.

For a celiac, there's no benefit in the short run or in the long run to consuming gluten at any level for any reason. You're just going to have your body get bombarded over and over again.

[kbtoyssni]

Ditto what everyone else said - if you eat even a little bit of gluten, you won't ever heal. There's no point in not going fully gluten-free because you're still going to have all the medical issues associated with eating gluten. And not everyone has worse symptoms after going gluten-free. My symptoms are much less after two years gluten-free.

[njbeachbum]

Is there anyway to really know if you are getting a little bit of gluten without knowing it? I've been pretty confident that I've changed my diet to be completely gluten free, however, i haven't changed all of my pots and pans, but scrubbed them all thoroughly. I bought new wooden spoons and i use a toaster oven (and i scrubbed down the rack). Anyway, I haven't had much improvement in symptoms but I also have many years of damage to undo.

As a side note, I don't really know what a "glutening" feels like yet, however, I made lentil soup the other day with Jack Rabbit lentils (which are supposed to be free of any grain contamination). the next morning i woke with a burning feeling in my midsection and i was very gassy and ended up running to the bathroom a few times. but later in the day i felt ok. so, was that a glutening, or could it be that i can't handle legumes yet? or maybe it's just that a soup with lentils and brown rice is fiber overkill for someone recovering from celiac?? inquiring minds wanna know!

thanks!

[Jestgar]

I or maybe it's just that a soup with lentils and brown rice is fiber overkill for someone recovering from celiac?? inquiring minds wanna know!

thanks!

I'd bet on that. It's taken me a long time to be able to eat a lot of fiber at once. Try lentils OR brown rice, but maybe not both together. And maybe not as much as you'd normally eat. You wouldn't use an abrasive scrub on a healing cut on your skin, think of high fiber foods as a bit abrasive.