Going gluten free?

[aewaustin]

The more I read and learn about gluten the more I realize how bad it is for folks. Also did not realize why it is now worse than it was before and that you can have mild symptoms that might not be easily attributed to gluten. I am working towards going gluten free and just wondered if anyone else has made the jump. I actually have a friend that has been GF for years and she is very helpful, I now know were to get gf pizza and cupcakes Going gf does not seem near as hard as it used to be. I found this today Wegener's Granulomatosis | Mark's Daily Apple Health and Fitness Forum page and the last post about someone with Weg's is quite interesting.

Anyway just wanted to see what others experience has been.

[aewaustin]

The reviews for this book are pretty interesting... Amazon.com: Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health (3520700000720): William Davis: Books

[me2]

I too am going gluten free. I'm in a flare right now so its hard to measure any progress. The information seems very solid to make a case against gluten. On a broader note I am also eliminating 6 other foods from my diet that are known to be food sensitive for a large number of people . There is a PBS program by JJ Virgin (yes , thats her name) that makes an incredible case for eliminating these foods for 21 days and then re-introducing them to see which you are sensitive to. I plan on reporting my results here. The volume and quality of information that suggests many of our health problems are caused by food sensitivity is very compelling. In my case , I'm not thinking that this is a cure for WG but could be a path to greatly reduce the chance of relapse - much like takeing Bactrim prophalactically reduces relapse. Staph infections cause relapse. Presumably by a specific immune response to that particular infection. I broached what I was doing to my very, very conservative, mainstream Rheumy a few days ago and he thought I could be on to something.

aewaustin, keep us posted on what your experience is with what you are trying.

[annekat]

Interesting review. And especially the part about "genetic tampering" and agribusiness passing products off on us that are a far cry from the wheat that used to be grown and consumed at one time.

[annekat]

me2, that says a lot for your conservative rheumy that he would be open to these ideas. I was actually considering trying to hook up with him, as you gave me his name once, if it's the same guy, and my current doc who has been treating my WG is becoming more and more unsatisfactory to me.

[aewaustin]

me2, What are the six other foods? And keep in in the loop on how this goes, I am very curious. My doc says it can take six weeks to see any real results from being GF.

I also went to a combo doctor yesterday, she is a nutritionist but also does acupuncture. I went to her because she worked with my friend and ended up getting her off all her meds for a condition she had for years. My issue is that I am so freaking tired ALL the time, and I have this leg tingling pain all the time as well. I have tested very low for B12 and am now getting B12 injections to help (highly recommend getting tested for this if you are tired). Starting to figure out that even though I am getting nutrients in my body, my body is not absorbing them, and that is why I am so tired. This week I am getting the results of a test that will confirm this, but just very interesting. So this new holistic doc is working on figuring out how to get my gut in the right place to process food correctly. She thinks that because of the chemo, and maybe wheat, it has caused all the bacteria in my gut, the stuff that I need, to be missing. Anyway long post, but I am finding this all very interesting and most of it is stuff I had never considered looking into. Just posting so maybe it can help someone else.

[annekat]

The reviews for this book are pretty interesting... Amazon.com: Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health (3520700000720): William Davis: Books

I have just heard about this book from a friend. Apparently there is a very long waiting list at the library to get hold of a copy! So getting it some other way would probably be in order.

[Dirty Don]

LOL Mich! Read my current signature tag!

[annekat]

Michelle, I personally haven't looked at that book. I have a friend who is way into it and is also a small farmer who wants to someday grow the "old style" wheat that hasn't undergone genetic changes as a result of 20th century practices of breeding for high yield. Between her and another person I'd heard of whose arthritis had improved, I decided to cut out wheat and see what happened, but without any other dietary restrictions or changes. Needless to say, that experiment is over. I think on Wegs drugs it would be pretty hard to tell anyway if it was doing anything for inflammation, and there are many ways of approaching the weight issue.

I too am pretty skeptical of the fad diets. I know what I should be eating more of and less of and that I should be getting more exercise, and that's pretty much the bottom line. I'm also interested in the alternative foods people have mentioned, which may be untapped resources for good health and may taste good, too! It all takes effort, though, and energy that isn't always easy to come by. If I get ahold of a copy of Wheat Belly I'll try to read it, and see what I think....

[BookNut]

I too am very skeptical of fad diets. No carbs, all protein and fats, no protein, eat dairy, don't eat dairy. On and on. The one thing that I DO believe in is the importance of eating as chemical free as possible , which to me means organic. If you are interested in organic vs. GMO - the book you should read is "This Ain't Normal Folks" by Joel Salitan. It is sensible, funny, and well-researched. I am not sure if it was in his book - or in one of the documentaries I watched. But...a farmer did an "unscientific study". He planted GMO corn and organic corn in a field and let his animals loose in the field. They walked right over the gmo and refused to eat it until the organic corn was completely gone. That really amazed me. Anyway - I have switched to organic and whole foods. I am retired and so I have the time I did not have when I was racing around in the work world. I appreciate that more organic options are available now - even for quick frozen meals. It is great to keep a selection of good quality frozen foods for those nights I am too tired to cook. And I can even pronounce all the ingredients!!

About my bone density... I had a scan done years ago and my PCP was lukewarm at the time about taking Fosomax - so I didn't take it. The nurse practitioner who works there found out when I came in for something else a year or so later, that I was not taking any bone-building scripts, and had a FIT. After all, I had osteoporosis in the hip and opteopena (pre-osteoporosis) in the shoulders. She wrote me a script for Boniva. Turns out my health care required special directives from the doctor in order to fill it. Much to my surprise - my doctor refused and asked me to come in to see her. She had done more reading on the topic and she felt strongly that the Fosamaxes of the medical world were bad medicine. She told me that "yes - they do build bone. But the bone is inferior and weak and can cause really serious breaks of major bones." She advised me to do weight bearing exercise such as walking, and to take 5000 units of D3 a day and 1500 mg of calcium. I have done that religiously. Including walking 3-5 miles a day at least 3 times a week. Within a year of starting that regimen, I had another bone scan. My osteoporosis in the hips had improved to the osteopena category and the osteopena in the shoulders improved to normal range. About 2 years after she told me about her reading, the big study came out warning people of horrific fractures of the femur in people taking Fosomax or other similar drugs. So...I know she keeps up on the reading. Shortly after that, she was asked by a local hospital to start an integrated medical unit at the hospital. She left the practice she was in and I followed her.

I do have to weigh her advice carefully. She is not opposed to "traditional" medications. She is just conservative about them. She is actually the doctor who put me on my current ashtma meds and referred me to specialists when things did not improve. I do know that she is against the idea of imunosuppressants. But the more I research, the more I think it is my best chance of avoiding systemic Wegener's. So - ultimately it will be my decision. I will most likely continue my organic lifestyle, eliminate wheat/corn/soy AND take the imuran.

What a blessing this forum is. So much good advice - and an opportunity to clarify very complicated topics!