Two And A Half Weeks Gluten Free - Unexpected Results

[Eric-C]

I posted on here a few weeks ago regarding my mild to moderate reaction to gluten/wheat.

I'd get stomach problems, sometimes serious, sometime annoying.

We finally decided to drop gluten/wheat all together just over two weeks ago. I'm lucky and thankful that I pinpointed this when I did since hopefully I caught it so early nothing will ever get worse.

Changing my diet wasn't as tough as for some either. I had given up most white flour based products last year as part of a better diet. I only had three major changes...no more Whitecastles on Friday morning at work, wheat free soy sayce, and giving up Naan, or Indian flat bread.

Other than that it wasn't a biggie for me/we. A few changes here and there, breading chicken in corn starch instead of flour...switching to some different agents to thicken foods but for the most part we eat a Indian/Japanese/Arabic diet. Arabic bread for some reason does not bother me at all and I cannot tell why but I skip it either way.

Now for the improvements. I feel 10 years younger. I am 35 and about 7-8 years ago thought I was starting to "get old"...well after only a few weeks I feel exactly like I did before things starting sliding down hill. Beofre I had bursts of energy, good days and bad days...now I just have good days. I sleep absolutely perfectly. Before I'd wake up in the middle of the night and have a hard time going back to sleep, not now. My muscle aches and pains all went away and not feeling like I had pulled a pin on a hand grenade by eating a certain food sure has helped

Two changes were unexpected. One is facial hair....My wife is not a facial hair person and neither am I. I shave daily and never even considered a beard/mustache. I could never grow one anyways. It would take weeks to fill in a mustache properly...and I'd get hair down the sides of the jaw OK but it didn't fill in all the way around like it would on a bearded person. Now after 2 days of not shaving its filled in all the way. Before I'd shave in the morning and probably not have to do it until the following days evening shower. Now I wait that long and its pretty course everywhere. Gone are the spots that would not fill in evenly.

Second is muscle tone. I'm what you might call lanky...when I work out I tone up but don't really bulk up too much. After about 7 days off gluten my arms were very sore like I had been working out. I hadn't been but something was going on. Muscle tone has increased to where I would be after 2-3 weeks of working out. After I worked out for a while I'd get good definition along the bottom of the area from the elbow to the wrist. As soon as I stopped working out that would go away in 2-3 weeks. Now without touching a weight its all filling back in on its own.

My arms are doing the same thing and I can feeling it growing in my neck/shoulders. I never thought of that being related to wheat since thats my families general stature.

We both feel so much better and 10 years younger.

Tomorrow we start on a low carb/fat diet which should make things even easier.

Allergy or not this has been a huge positive change for us.

[Gemini]

I posted on here a few weeks ago regarding my mild to moderate reaction to gluten/wheat.

I'd get stomach problems, sometimes serious, sometime annoying.

We finally decided to drop gluten/wheat all together just over two weeks ago. I'm lucky and thankful that I pinpointed this when I did since hopefully I caught it so early nothing will ever get worse.

Changing my diet wasn't as tough as for some either. I had given up most white flour based products last year as part of a better diet. I only had three major changes...no more Whitecastles on Friday morning at work, wheat free soy sayce, and giving up Naan, or Indian flat bread.

Other than that it wasn't a biggie for me/we. A few changes here and there, breading chicken in corn starch instead of flour...switching to some different agents to thicken foods but for the most part we eat a Indian/Japanese/Arabic diet. Arabic bread for some reason does not bother me at all and I cannot tell why but I skip it either way.

Now for the improvements. I feel 10 years younger. I am 35 and about 7-8 years ago thought I was starting to "get old"...well after only a few weeks I feel exactly like I did before things starting sliding down hill. Beofre I had bursts of energy, good days and bad days...now I just have good days. I sleep absolutely perfectly. Before I'd wake up in the middle of the night and have a hard time going back to sleep, not now. My muscle aches and pains all went away and not feeling like I had pulled a pin on a hand grenade by eating a certain food sure has helped

Two changes were unexpected. One is facial hair....My wife is not a facial hair person and neither am I. I shave daily and never even considered a beard/mustache. I could never grow one anyways. It would take weeks to fill in a mustache properly...and I'd get hair down the sides of the jaw OK but it didn't fill in all the way around like it would on a bearded person. Now after 2 days of not shaving its filled in all the way. Before I'd shave in the morning and probably not have to do it until the following days evening shower. Now I wait that long and its pretty course everywhere. Gone are the spots that would not fill in evenly.

Second is muscle tone. I'm what you might call lanky...when I work out I tone up but don't really bulk up too much. After about 7 days off gluten my arms were very sore like I had been working out. I hadn't been but something was going on. Muscle tone has increased to where I would be after 2-3 weeks of working out. After I worked out for a while I'd get good definition along the bottom of the area from the elbow to the wrist. As soon as I stopped working out that would go away in 2-3 weeks. Now without touching a weight its all filling back in on its own.

My arms are doing the same thing and I can feeling it growing in my neck/shoulders. I never thought of that being related to wheat since thats my families general stature.

We both feel so much better and 10 years younger.

Tomorrow we start on a low carb/fat diet which should make things even easier.

Allergy or not this has been a huge positive change for us.

What a nice, positive post! Good for you and I agree with your outlook. I experienced the same types of changes after going gluten-free in that, for the first time in my life, I filled out because I was finally absorbing. No more skinny arms

and I felt better and better with each passing day. I had also cut out many foods before I knew it was the gluten so starting a totally gluten-free diet was no biggie and still isn't. I have found whatever I have needed to substitute most gluten filled foods to replace those I can no longer eat. Although, I do once in awhile wish I could have naan bread!

To feel better than you did 20 years before is enough to keep a positive outlook on the whole lifestyle! It's gets even better the longer you go, too.

[lizard00]

Congratulations!!! It's great to hear you reacted so positively so quickly. I went on my elimination diet and my headaches went away immediately. It has taken a little longer for me to totally regain the stamina I lost, but I feel better than I have in 2 years. I agree, cutting gluten out of my diet hasnt' been as hard for me as others, because when I figured out what was making me feel awful, it wasn't so hard to cut out.

So happy for you!! I know what you mean about the naan bread too. YUMMM!!!

[gfpaperdoll]

Congrats, I know what you mean about the energy. I am 61 & I feel about maybe an energetic 40... Really I feel better now than I felt at 40!!!

I totally advocate a low carb diet, well really I think grain free is the healthiest, with plenty of frutis & veggies & meat & seafood & fat & nuts, but if I were you i would not go low fat. Check the Paleo forums/book & also the book "Good calories bad Calories"

low fat as a healthy option is a myth & can be downright unhealthy for you...

[Eric-C]

We're not going completely low fat.

A few years ago we started eating lower fat foods including Piedmontese beef which is a low fat beef. We replaced that with more carbs like pasta, although whole wheat pasta.

I went in for a cholesterol test after a stress test(GERD was the real problem) and my bad cholesterol was 237. We changed our entire diet and it went down to 99 but my good number fell also and triglycerides were also high.

We've played around with so many different diets but think we're setting on this low carb/fat diet. We pushed it off one more day since we're having company tonight and trying out some gluten free pizza we're making.

Thankfully Basmati rice is lower in carbs than other so we don't have to give that up. BBQ sauce is gonna be a tough one but I think I can get away with that.

What amazes me is how many more people are finding a problem with gluten. I've read that gluten consumption has increased in this country and we're seeing the effects of it. Two years ago we went out with some new friends from work and they both commented they had wheat allergies. Then some more people from work who had friends who were diagnosed. Some people we met recently have friends where the whole family is allergic.

Even our friends who are coming over tonight seem to be heading down the same road I was, just 6 years earlier. It started with me not being able to have certain breads at certain restaurants, now they are getting to be the same way.

We've modified quite a few recipes and I'm going to post them up in a bit.

Thanks for your replies, there are worse things that can happen to you in life.

[gfpaperdoll]

If you read the book "Good Calories Bad calories" you will see why your cholesterol went up on a high carb diet - that is what most of the book is about & it also explains insulin & sugar issues - I love this book & I am not even through the whole thing yet. Please read this book, you will be amazed & learn a lot !!!!

[Eric-C]

I'll check it out.

I've been reading about Ketones and keeping that balanced with carbs. Everyone is different. Some can handle as little as 30 to some upto 100 per day. Honestly I'd rather be the latter

Tonight was the last of our carbs. We had glutten free pizza and my wife made a great raspberry dessert with chocolate pudding, french vanilla cream and instead of brownie that normally gets mixed in she made flourless chocolate cake and broke it up.

I think from reading here that eventually other allergies grow out of this. I'm thankful once again its stopped at wheat/gluten. Nothing else seems to bother me and I can start to pinpoint from the way I feel today to back over the years where this all started. I'd guess 7 years ago I showed the first minor signs, had to eat certain pizza's or breads to about 5 years ago when my mood and that changed...three years ago I woke up in the middle of the night with incredibly bad stomach problems but only 4-5 times per year...then about 8 months ago really serious. I had bleeding after a bout...which in itself did not turn out to be bad at all once it was figured out. The doc diagnosed me with ischemia and was very far off base. My main reaction to gluten is urgency. If I eat enough fiber and keep things moving then there is just the urgency, maybe some minor discomfort.

If I do not eat enough fiber and don't drink enough water then its tougher to move things through the intestine so when urgency strikes the best way to describe it is a road block and incredible pain. The second GI was the one who explained that and the reason for the bleeding.

It all cleared up and I'm looking forward to the new diet...we'll see how my ketone's are after a few weeks and see how many carbs I can sneak in.

[lizard00]

I hope your diet goes well. But please remember, carbs are not the monsters they have been made out to be. It's when they become over processed and stripped of their nutrients that they become bad. They are the preferred food for our brains... so make sure you don't go crazy. Complex carbs are good for us... just remember that.

And low fat isn't so bad... as long as you are still getting your fats. Olive oils, nuts, avocadoes- unsaturated fats. These will help keep your good cholesterol levels up.

Whole foods=good foods! Hoping you continue to feel better and are successful!!

Liz

[Eric-C]

Thanks.

We won't go overboard. We use Olive oil to cook with today and have for the past 5 years. We use Olivio for butter also. We always used Piedmontese beef at home a very low fat organic beef...when we make Indian we substitute coconut low fat yogurt for coconut oil.

For the rest its organic only foods except when we go out to eat when its tough to get them. We've always ate a very high fiber diet too...we just need to cut the carbs down a bit.

In all my reading I didn't find out about ketone testing until reading some body building websites. They recommend a mixed diet, 5 days low carb, 1 day high carb. Also checking your ketone levels and adding carbs until you go out of ketosis.

We really like the idea of ketone testing since we're not just eating and having to wait to see whats happening. We can actually have a marker of where we are progress wise.

[Melanie39531]

Hi Eric, I'm Melanie and newly diagnosed with Celiac after many years of going from doctor to doctor. I have been on the no-gluten diet for about 3-4 weeks. My quesiton to you is how long did it take for you to feel better and how do you notice a change in your condition. I've done everything by the book, but I guess I expected to feel like a new person(like you do) right away. I would appreciate any information you could give me about how you know if the diet is working or not working, etc.

Thank you in advance-

Melanie from Biloxi, MS

I posted on here a few weeks ago regarding my mild to moderate reaction to gluten/wheat.

I'd get stomach problems, sometimes serious, sometime annoying.

We finally decided to drop gluten/wheat all together just over two weeks ago. I'm lucky and thankful that I pinpointed this when I did since hopefully I caught it so early nothing will ever get worse.

Changing my diet wasn't as tough as for some either. I had given up most white flour based products last year as part of a better diet. I only had three major changes...no more Whitecastles on Friday morning at work, wheat free soy sayce, and giving up Naan, or Indian flat bread.

Other than that it wasn't a biggie for me/we. A few changes here and there, breading chicken in corn starch instead of flour...switching to some different agents to thicken foods but for the most part we eat a Indian/Japanese/Arabic diet. Arabic bread for some reason does not bother me at all and I cannot tell why but I skip it either way.

Now for the improvements. I feel 10 years younger. I am 35 and about 7-8 years ago thought I was starting to "get old"...well after only a few weeks I feel exactly like I did before things starting sliding down hill. Beofre I had bursts of energy, good days and bad days...now I just have good days. I sleep absolutely perfectly. Before I'd wake up in the middle of the night and have a hard time going back to sleep, not now. My muscle aches and pains all went away and not feeling like I had pulled a pin on a hand grenade by eating a certain food sure has helped

Two changes were unexpected. One is facial hair....My wife is not a facial hair person and neither am I. I shave daily and never even considered a beard/mustache. I could never grow one anyways. It would take weeks to fill in a mustache properly...and I'd get hair down the sides of the jaw OK but it didn't fill in all the way around like it would on a bearded person. Now after 2 days of not shaving its filled in all the way. Before I'd shave in the morning and probably not have to do it until the following days evening shower. Now I wait that long and its pretty course everywhere. Gone are the spots that would not fill in evenly.

Second is muscle tone. I'm what you might call lanky...when I work out I tone up but don't really bulk up too much. After about 7 days off gluten my arms were very sore like I had been working out. I hadn't been but something was going on. Muscle tone has increased to where I would be after 2-3 weeks of working out. After I worked out for a while I'd get good definition along the bottom of the area from the elbow to the wrist. As soon as I stopped working out that would go away in 2-3 weeks. Now without touching a weight its all filling back in on its own.

My arms are doing the same thing and I can feeling it growing in my neck/shoulders. I never thought of that being related to wheat since thats my families general stature.

We both feel so much better and 10 years younger.

Tomorrow we start on a low carb/fat diet which should make things even easier.

Allergy or not this has been a huge positive change for us.

[nikky]

i was diagnosed in december last year, as a teenager (15) i was reluctant to start the new diet, i practically lived on cookies, muffins, bread, pasta etc, but i stuck with it and im really glad i did, last month my consultant checked the antibody levels in my blood and they have dropped dramatically. (from over 200 to just 40) and im feeling ten times better . i started feeling better almost straight away and after just 2 months im almost completely back to normal.

[Eric-C]

I started feeling better within a day or two.

My condition was not like some on here. I could have gluten once every 3-4 days and I'd never know there was a issue except for certain foods. If went over that I'd get stomach problems.

I ate Sushi 3 times a week and the soy sauce plus the seaweed salad were heavy with wheat. I felt a very slight discomfort that you might get from overeating and it went away in a few minutes.

Donuts also, I could have 2 and not a peep of a problem.

Eat a piece of bread from like Carraba's or Bone Fish grille and it was better I ate in the bathroom As I've said, like pulling the pin on a hand grenade.

I caught mine either very early or I have a minor reaction at least stomach wise. However now that I've stopped I realize everything else feels better also.

So based on how it effected me the stomach problems went away immediatly....everything else improved over the course of 2-3 weeks.

Everyone is different however, I seemed to recover from whatever damage I had extremely quickly and even today things like CC do not have any effect on me at all.

[Nancym]

There's a wonderful low carb support forum at: Open Original Shared Link . Lots of recipes and people exchanging ideas, tips and support. Many of us there have discovered we're also gluten intolerant.

[shayesmom]

I went in for a cholesterol test after a stress test(GERD was the real problem) and my bad cholesterol was 237. We changed our entire diet and it went down to 99 but my good number fell also and triglycerides were also high.

A friend of mine had cholesterol levels at 371! I got him to try the gluten/dairy-free diet along with his "baby dose" of Lipitor the doctor prescribed. In 6 weeks, his cholesterol dropped to 205. Of course, he thought that the Lipitor made it drop. So he stayed on Lipitor and discontinued the diet. His cholesterol shot back up to 325.

He's back on a gluten/dairy-lite diet and the numbers have gone back down...though not as dramatically as when he went totally gluten/dairy-free.

Also, be careful not to drop your cholesterol levels too low. That can be just as dangerous...and your high triglycerides are an indicator that diet isn't quite right yet.

One of the problems that most of us have is that we eat too many foods with omega 6 (beef, dairy and other animal products), but we don't get enough omega 3 and 9. A DHA or omega supplement may be in order. Also, cooking with olive or coconut oil will help balance this out. Coconut oil is the best to use if you're frying or cooking at high temperatures as it doesn't break down into carcinogenic components.