What Is It With Me

[mario]

I always have this hunger appetite, I don't know why..whats causing this, I eat a lot of corn cakes which I found at lowblaws they are like rice cakes but, they are gluten free..I put jam on them or peanut butter, I also have some cheese (kraft)..nothing seems to stuff me up..I know I'm gaining weight about 2 pounds a week..which I don't mind cuz I'm very thin..I never had this hunger feeling in my life..is it normal, is it part of the healing process.?..I have some celiac friends that bearly eat..just their three meals..

I'm beginning to worry..

[gf4life]

Hi Mario,

You need to make sure that you are getting enough protein. If you eat protein at every meal, it will slow down your digestion and you won't feel so hungry all the time. If you are mainly eating light foods like corn cakes and jam, they will be digested very quickly leaving you hungry very soon after eating one. Basically they are a snack not a meal. Try eggs for breakfast, and more solid meals of chicken, beef or fish, rice and veggies for lunch and dinner. Then snack occasionally on the corn cakes if you are hungry a few hours later.

I did notice that you had bad reactions after eating the corn pops and cornmeal. You may want to try eliminating corn to see if you are also corn intolerant. Go easy on the cheese, as all dairy will be irritating as you are healing after a gluten accident.

I hope you are feeling better. God bless,

Mariann

[Guest Blackheartedwolf]

I have read in a lot of places that we are often really hungry because we are deficient in certain vitamins and nutrients, and the malabsorption caused by the celiac disease.

Our bodies try to make up for it, and make us crave certain foods, and make us feel hungry.

The other thing I have read, is that if your stomach is irritated, the feeling can be confused with pain. I had a lot of stomach acid, and it was making me feel hungry all the time. My doctor prescribed an antacid, and now I don't feel hungry all the time.

[Guest gillian502]

When I started this diet in August last year, I could not believe that any human being could be hungry as often as I was. I tried explaining this feeling to my doctors, but they didn't get it. They thought I was saying I wasn't really thrilled with the new foods I had to get to used to on the diet, etc. That's not what the problem was--I was starving to death all the time, including waking up in the middle of the night, about every 2 to 3 hours, sometimes more, and having to eat, eat, eat! It was so hard to be that hungry all the time, and a half hour later, never feeling like I had eaten at all that day. My problem turned out to be not enough protein, and too many little snack type foods. As soon as I added protein and stopped the snacking so much, I was better. Also just letting a little time pass helped, those first 2 months were the worst. I don't get that serious of hunger anymore, although I am still hungrier than I was prior to this diet. I can eat like a 250 lb. man, and I'm a 135 lb. girl! But it is not as painful or urgent as it was in the beginning, so hang in there and add plenty of protein. I also agree that a PPI to stop acid is a very good idea, it helped me alot in the beginning.

[plantime]

Gillian, How eerie to read what you wrote! I have been completely gluten-free since 2/14/04, and yesterday this horrific appetite kicked in! It was waking me up at night, and no amount of eating satisfied it for more than two hours. I will try adding protein to each meal, and fewer snack-type foods to see if that helps. Thank you for the advice!

[zippyten]

When I first went gluten-free I had the same hunger problem and I think for the same reason: too many rice cakes, yogurts, quickly digestible stuff that made my body think it was starving (and it was), also not enough nutrients. I too found that adding more protein to my diet had a big impact. Also, if you can eat nuts, I found that eating cashews and almonds (preferably raw and organic) along with dried fruit, especially dried apricots and figs, really gave me needed nutrition and were good snacks to help stave off hunger. I've also been eating soy yogurt (Silk brand is pretty good) since I've gone off lactose (sort of) which has protein also. Many regular supermarkets carry this brand now; it's readily available.

Zippyten

[mario]

I guess I will add more meat to my diet..thanks god I love meat and, eggs also..

I am taking a PPI (losec)..make sure its gluten free

[Guest gillian502]

Dessa,

So glad I could help you with my story! I know how awful that hungry feeling was in the beginning, it's almost unreal that a person can get that hungry!

Mario,

I'm glad to hear you're taking a PPI, it really can help the stomach pain and make eating easier. I've taken Nexium, which gave me back aches so I stopped, then Aciphex, which was pretty good but did cause some bloating, and now Prevacid, which seems ok also though it caused a little diarrhea when I first started it. I'm not planning on staying on PPIs forever, but I don't think a year or so would harm a person.

[mario]

gillian you might wanna make sure about the Prevacid..I was taking it before and, found out it contained gluten..my pharmacist quickly switched to a gluten free losec, which come from a special company making gluten free meds just for celiacs..

you all might wanna check your meds, them bastards put gluten everywhere..and, makes it harder for us..

[Guest gillian502]

That's odd, I called Prevacid a few weeks ago and the company told me they are gluten-free for sure. I always call the manufacturer directly since my pharmacy doesn't offer that service for me. Did the Prevacid manufacturer tell you this directly?

[angel-jd1]

Gillian-

I'm trying to clear up some of the confusion Mario is creating on the board. He is in CANADA products are produced with different ingredients in the U.S. VS. other countries. They may go by the same name, but have different things in them. Check with the number in the US if that is where you are at. He is referring to CANADA.

Sorry for the Mis-Information and confusion.

-Jessica

A Celiac.com board moderator

[mario]

sorry if i messed up, but why are they making diferent meds for the US vs Can..that is very bizar..duh..

anyhow sorry for letting you worry for notin..keep up the good work..

[gf4life]

Hi Mario,

Why they would make different meds for different counrties is unknown to me, but they do. And sometimes even the people who work for the companies don't realise it. I was looking into digestive enzymes a while back and found a really good brand called Udo's. They had a gluten free blend that was listed on their Canada site, but not their US site. When I e-mailed about it, their rep. said they were both the same and they were both gluten-free. That was not true as I had just been to the store and their US blend has barley malt! Now it they can make it gluten-free why don't they. Barley malt isn't a vital ingredient so why put it in there? Oh well. It goes the same for foods, vitamins, meds, etc. We have a lot of people from all over the world on this site and we need to try to remember that what works here in the US doesn't always work for others in other countries.

I wish that the companies would be a little easier on us as far as gluten free lists go. You seem to have an advantage over some of us! I don't care for the blanket statements of "the product ingredients list will show if it contains a gluten grain". I have found that not all of the products on the shelf are up to date on this, even with the companies that say this is true for their products. Looking forward to the new labeling law to be passed here in the US!

God bless,

Mariann

[Guest gillian502]

I completely agree, it drives me crazy when manufacturers like Kraft say "we'll put it on our ingredients list if it's gluten." I'm not trusting that! I'd rather have a blanket statement of yes or no when it comes to gluten!