Other Intolerances "going Away" After Being Gluten-free For Awhile

[emcmaster]

Does anyone have any experience with this?

About 2 years ago, I went on the "IBS diet" (because I was wrongly diagnosed as IBS at that time) which cut out most fat and all dairy. I felt a LOT better without eating those things. When I went gluten-free, I hypothesized that it might have been gluten all along and so I tried eating gluten-free dairy and fat, but I was still intolerant.

Now that I've been gluten-free for 7 months, I seem to be able to eat dairy and high fat foods without lots of problems. I've only tried it twice now, and I'm very, very excited about the possibility of being able to eat those again - fat is really the biggest problem as most gluten-free foods are too high fat for me to eat.

Should I try eating it only every once in a while or do you think it would be safe to start eating it a couple times a week again? I surely don't want to eat it too often and somehow mess my good luck up.

Suggestions would be appreciated!

[Ursa Major]

Elizabeth, a very low fat diet is very unhealthy over the long run, as every cell in your body needs fat to function. The reason you couldn't tolerate it for a while was, that your intestines couldn't absorb it, and so it messed up your system. The problem with dairy was, that the tips of your villi (which were non-existent for a while) produce the enzyme lactase, that allows you to digest dairy.

Now that you're healing, you might be able to digest fat and dairy again. It looks like you're able to eat them now. Start with small amounts, and see how much you can tolerate.

Just make sure you eat the 'good' fats. Saturated fats are NOT bad for you, and in fact are needed. It is not healthy to only eat vegetable oils. DO avoid all trans-fats (partially hydrogenated oils) and hydrogenated fats. They're truly deadly in the long run.

Meaning, that margarine is to be avoided, but that butter is a healthy fat.

[emcmaster]

Thank you, Ursula! I agree that a low-fat diet is not healthy - it just seemed better than the alternative of feeling miserable all the time! I'm SO glad that I can tolerate it now, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it continues!

[Ursa Major]

Yes, I agree that you didn't have a choice for a while, because it made you sick. And you likely didn't digest it anyway. As I said, just slowly increase your fat intake, so you don't 'shock' your body with it all of a sudden! I am glad you're healing, that means you're doing well on the gluten-free diet.