gluten-free Non-Celiac And Gluten

[Pac]

My boyfriend is eating gluten-free with me and I've noticed he avoids gluten like beer at a party, etc. more and more, even outside home. (He didn't do that at the very beginning.) Today he even returned some cookies back to the shelf saying they make him sick. He's admitted once (very reluctantly) that he feels a little better on gluten-free diet, but lets suppose he's not gluten-intolerant. Some of the articles I've read reported gluten being slightly harmful even to healthy non-celiacs and many non-research articles talk about grains not being as healthy as people like to think, so I'm wondering - does eating gluten-free make healthy people less tolerant to wheat and its relatives?

[MagpieWrites]

Hubs is 100% gluten-free at home, mostly gluten-free at work (9 days outta 10 I pack his lunch with reimaged versions of leftovers - so gluten-free by extension there), and if we're out at a restaurant he, more often than not, chooses items we can share. Once in a great while he'll grab a sandwich when we are out running errands - but really, the only time he eats "normally" is when he takes his mom out to dinner once a week.

As for how it affects folks without celiac?

He got sick less this winter (has asthma and always seems to pick up every chest bug that floats by... not so much this year. I think he got sick maybe once all winter.) and has lost about 40 pounds now without there being many other big changes in his life.

Although, to be fair, this could also be attributed to the fact I cook 95% from scratch. So in addition to being gluten free - he rarely has food with weird chemicals or any high fructose corn syrup which could help. He also eats out less, and since I feel better, we're doing more together and getting more active.

As for downsides? He can handle gluten just fine when he's out and about.... but greasy/crappy food he once ate with no issues? Yeah. No more. If he does, he pays for it the rest of the day! (Oh alas... he can't eat Taco Bell or White Castle anymore!

[chere1020]

My partner of 18 year doesnt eat gluten free but she is pretty careful what she does eat because tomato sauce and spices give her gas. She eats whatever I cook and adds pasta to it. I dont mind as long as I dont have to eat it. :-) I also dont begrudge her eating whatever she wants because I have had so much "adverse therapy" from eating gluten that you could put anything with gluten in it in front of me and I dont want it and wouldnt touch it with a ten foot pole. I am on vacation for the last three days and last night got "wheated/glutened" somewhere and I am a sick cookie today. I will be fine in about 48 more hours but cant wait to get home, have had enough of taking "chances" with something being gluten free. At home I am very sure of what I am putting in my mouth and that works out great.

[Coolclimates]

My mom is the only one who is currently on the gluten-free diet, although she was not diagnosed with Celiac like I was. My dad has remained on his regular diet, as has everyone else in my family.

[i-geek]

My husband went gluten-free at home except for beer (which is fine- beer doesn't get all over the place like bread crumbs do). He only eats gluteny things at restaurants or other people's houses. He doesn't have any problems from barley/rye beers, but we're noticing that if he consumes wheat for more than a day or two in a row (usually in the form of sandwiches or pizza at lunch), he starts feeling sick. He's had odd food intolerances since he was a child, so I'm starting to wonder if he's been wheat-intolerant all along. We eat better than ever now and we're both feeling better, so no complaints from him about the diet.

[scarlett77]

With very, very few exceptions everything in the house is gluten-free so when at home ALL of 5 of us eat gluten-free. Now when eating out hubby and my daughter will usually eat non-gluten-free. 8 times out of 10 I will eat gluten-free even when we are out in the event that the boys want to pick off my plate. I don't mind. If I do have gluten it is usually while I am on lunch at work on the rare occasion that I eat out.

FYI- Only our 2 year old son is confirmed Celiac. Our 1 year old is too young to test but it is just easier to keep him gluten-free especially since his odds of Celiac are greater. I personally don't have any issues- no food allergies, major health issues, etc.

[munchkinette]

Yes and no. My mom started eating a lot of gluten-free things when my brother and I came home to visit. Eventually she started doing it more because she noticed that she felt better. She eats 95% gluten-free now, and thinks she is moderately gluten-intolerant. So although she started doing the diet when she didn't need to, she found out that she did actually need to go gluten-free.

[Cheryl-C]

My boyfriend is eating gluten-free with me and I've noticed he avoids gluten like beer at a party, etc. more and more, even outside home. (He didn't do that at the very beginning.) Today he even returned some cookies back to the shelf saying they make him sick. He's admitted once (very reluctantly) that he feels a little better on gluten-free diet, but lets suppose he's not gluten-intolerant. Some of the articles I've read reported gluten being slightly harmful even to healthy non-celiacs and many non-research articles talk about grains not being as healthy as people like to think, so I'm wondering - does eating gluten-free make healthy people less tolerant to wheat and its relatives?

I had a doctor tell me once that people are NOT supposed to eat gluten, especially in the form of wheat. Apparently human digestive systems are just not equipped for it. It may just be that some are more sensitive than others.

That said, if your non-celiac boyfriend starts reducing the gluten in his diet, it's logical that he may develop an intolerance from lack of exposure. That happened to me for a while when I went off milk (by choice, not because of dietary issues). When I started to reintroduce it to my body, it was difficult, and I still can't drink a glass of milk without feeling gross.

[Orann]

I had a doctor tell me once that people are NOT supposed to eat gluten, especially in the form of wheat. Apparently human digestive systems are just not equipped for it

My doctor has also discussed this with me, as well as in his class lectures on nutrition and healthy lifestyles. In my notes from the class on Grains, Health and your Weight - he talked about the fact that our Ancestors did not eat cultivated grains. (obviously, this goes a lot farther back than great-grandparents). Included in the research he spoke of, was the fact that heart disease was not found until cultivated grains and flours were used. An interesting tidbit in the same class was that gluten is very close to opiates in structure, which creates a drug-like reaction.

Visting with my Mom yesterday she told me that she could remember when I was a little girl that I hated milk (and still do !) and refused to eat bread. I would eat cornbread (especially hot-water cornbread - no wheat involved), occasionally crackers and corn tortillas, but I just didn't like bread. My paternal grandmother used to force bread and I would usually hide it in my lap and take it outside and feed it to the chickens !

She went on to say that she wished that we had known then how damaging it was, it sure would have saved me years of chronic misery.