Improving your health by going wheat free.

[Karma]

I have had really bad sinus issues for quite a while and have been reading about how wheat can effect them. While researching I think I may have more wheat related issues as well. I am trying to go wheat/gluten free. Anyone else?

[CathyA]

I would like to try it, but am so darned attached to certain foods. I rarely drink milk anymore. My sinuses get full when I do, and my neck itches.
In the past, when I've tried to avoid wheat, I did feel alot better.....but it can be a challenge. For me, it was just cutting down on calories that helped alot too.
My niece was recently diagnosed with Celiac disease, and I'm going to ask her what her favorites are now. Unfortunately, its expensive.

[Yppej]

I went off it for awhile and felt better (gastrointestinally and joint-wise), went back on to use up foods with gluten in them that I had in my pantry, but will be done in maybe another week and be off it again. I have been able to just eat rice, potatoes, corn, etc. and not buy the expensive and often tasteless substitute foods like gluten-free bread.

[Karma]

I did buy some yummy GF flax crackers that are very healthy and not that much more expensive but I won't be buying many other GF products, I'll just do without.

[Rosemary]

I had a gluten-free month last year. I slowly introduced the gluten grains at the end of that time - first barley, then rye, then wheat. I noticed no difference whatsoever for my respiratory or digestive system.

[Midwife]

I don't understand why one would go back on gluten in order to "use up stuff in the pantry", when they were feeling better off it??? Just give the food to a neighbour or friend, your immune system will thank you! ( That sounded totally judgmental, and it is not meant that way!) Just like doctors telling patients to do a gluten challenge! ie eat huge amounts of gluten and then we blood test ya/scope ya to see if you are a celiac! If you go off gluten and feel better, it is a no brainer to me, and to tell a patient to "challenge" themselves is absurd. I have had celiac since I was a young child, and ate gluten again as a teen, took me until I was 38 to realize what was giving me constant chronic sinus problems, migraines, joint pains, constant flu like symptoms, dermatitis herpetiformis (a very itchy skin rash) and the like! I went on a gluten free diet again, and my health totally changed for the better.

[JaneV2.0]

I rarely eat gluten anymore, though I occasionally find it lurking in odd places--like today, in pork sausage links.

[EarthSky]

I have Celiac disease, so cannot eat ANY gluten w/o getting sick. Many foods have gluten, including salad dressings, anything with thickening, etc., so you must read eery label very carefully. I am grateful that it can be managed through diet, but gluten-free foods are so very expensive - more so if you don't have much time to cook from scratch... If you're committed to go GF, see the 'Living Without' website - they will also send you a GF healthy recipie every week via email.

[Kestrel]

Gluten affects DH's liver enzymes, so we're gluten-free. Tho we do have it occasionally, if we're eating out, for example. But not very often. I also do not eat eggs or dairy. And we don't eat sugar either, using instead a blend of xylitol, stevia, and erythritol. No real reason for that, except that I had all three and just decided to mix them. Tastes good, so that's what we use, generally only in tea. This can all be more expensive, but what the heck.

[Yppej]

I don't understand why one would go back on gluten in order to "use up stuff in the pantry", when they were feeling better off it??? Just give the food to a neighbour or friend, your immune system will thank you! ( That sounded totally judgmental, and it is not meant that way!) Just like doctors telling patients to do a gluten challenge! ie eat huge amounts of gluten and then we blood test ya/scope ya to see if you are a celiac! If you go off gluten and feel better, it is a no brainer to me, and to tell a patient to "challenge" themselves is absurd. I have had celiac since I was a young child, and ate gluten again as a teen, took me until I was 38 to realize what was giving me constant chronic sinus problems, migraines, joint pains, constant flu like symptoms, dermatitis herpetiformis (a very itchy skin rash) and the like! I went on a gluten free diet again, and my health totally changed for the better.

To get an accurate test was another reason to go back on - I wanted to know is it just gluten intolerance (in which case I am not going to worry about trace amounts in things like medications) or full-blown celiac disease in which case I could cause serious damage if I'm not supervigilant. You can't get an accurate test result if you haven't been on the gluten for awhile. And once back on it I figured let me finish up what I've got. No one wanted my stockpile of saltine crackers - I tried - did manage to give away my flour and some other things. It also is a chance for me to reconfirm that once back on it the symptoms recur and it wasn't something coincidental the first time.