Does anyone out there avoid gluten?

1st June*

Quite a few of us do, I think. It's in so many foods (soups, sausages - vegetarian and real, sweets, some chocolate, anything containing wheat) that you have to become a bit of an obsessive label reader. Best way to tell if you are intolerant, in my opinion, is to cut it out entirely for 7-10 days and if your bloating returns after eating it again then it's probably the cause. I found I no longer got bloated, my aches and pains went and my mind felt much sharper after 8 days. I know I'll never go back and when I have eaten some by mistake, it upsets me for four or five days, nasty stuff, fer me.

Thanks FM,I've been bloated for years, and it takes away all your energy, that's why I'm a world class procrastinator, probably.

Will give it a couple of weeks to be safe, then try a slice of toast.

I had a go at eliminating bread from my diet and it made a big difference. Not only an energy boost and loss of weight but less visits to the loo!
Thought I may even be gluten intolerant and read an interesting book called Wheat Belly which does a good job of putting you off gluten, but after a month
didn't notice any particular health benefits so went back to gluten and nothing happened!
Leaving out bread though that really seems to make a difference, and it's not that hard at all.

I think Tommy did the same HH. I didn't eat junk bread, it was always wholemeal, but nevertheless it's been dumped for now.I tried Gluten free bread a while back, Genius bread it was, but it tasted awful.

when I was gluten free I used to eat toasted gf bagels from Tescos which were very nice.
They're more often than not on offer too, as I suppose not many people fancy paying double.

but yes the gf bread isn't good.

may have a blood test.

What blood test is that kenny?

I thought the only way they could conclusively confirm gluten sensitivity was for them to look at your insides for the damage that it might have caused.

The usual way to find out is to eliminate gluten from your diet completely, then after a week start to look for a sharp improvement to your well being. 
If the improvement is obvious, leave it for a further spell to see if you maintain that well being, and then introduce gluten it back into your diet.
Then if you start to feel lousy again there's not much doubt.

The problem with this procedure is that not many people are capable of seeing it through. Let alone doing it properly.

Bread making requires a higher gluten wheat than other flour based products such as cakes and pastries. It's the gluten strands that allow the bread to rise without collapsing.

I would urge people though to avoid eating factory made bread as much as possible. Try baking your own, it's very easy to make a basic loaf and you know what's in it.

500 g bread flour
300 g water
2 teaspoons salt
15 g active yeast

That's all you need. Can add up to 40 g olive oil or butter to the above if you like.

The second major problem with the procedure I outlined above, is that food intolerance usually involves multiple foods.
It's rare for someone to be sensitive to a single food.
So eliminating one from your diet won't allow you to feel much better.

It's like having four nails in your shoe sticking in your foot.
If you remove one of them you notice much difference.

Yes the irony, wholemeal is supposed to be good for your digestion but I believe it was actually the cause of my digestive issues. The worse I got the more I ate. We need fibre yes, but soluble fibre rather than insoluble, in my opinion.

You need to watch out for gluten-free stuff, it is very bad for you because of the other flours they use to replace wheat, bad for your bloodsugar/diabetes risk (you'll learn that from that book HH mentioned).

I quite agree about the energy. I hope you find the same, suddenly it was like I got new arms and legs. Have to say it's been a year and 4 months and the digestive issues, the aches and pains remain gone and my limbs feel great still. Everyone's going to report variations from nothing to a million times better though.

I agree with FlowerMyth about wholemeal bread. White bread is much easier to digest.

One thing you must remember though, is that although wheat is a major candidate for suspicion if food intolerance is suspected. Milk is just as likely to be the cause of your illness.

I'm no expert Dr, but a few people have told me a blood test is available but they could be misguided.

I don't drink cow's milk, have ben on Alpro almond milk for a long time.

Good advice in your 13-56 FM, noted.Thanks.

I do my best to avoid cats.  They really raise my hackles.

I avoid almonds too - they're for nutters

j/k Kenny mann

Almond Brothers are pretty good, and so was Mark.

I prefer the Bros

Mrs Sales is coeliac, so yes

i'm quite the expert at making gluten free waffles (and other g/f stuff)

You'd better have a look at FM's 13-56 then Fishy.

interesting, but she's not gluten free by choice

fair enough.

Try avoiding just wheat first.

I believe there is now a blood test for coeliac disease but probably a biopsy is still the ultimate test.
Note that coeliac disease is not just an allergy to gluten it is a total intolerance which can kill you. Basicly the sufferer starves because their system cannot absorb nutrients after the gut wall becomes inflamed after eating gluten. It is hereditary but can differ in severity between sufferers.