Gluten Free

William F wrote: »

Is the diet that healthy? From what I have read, most people have suggested that we as a people should be eliminating grains entirely from our diet (where gluten is most prevalent) as they are nutritionally useless and are more harmful than good. Is this true and are starches an ok supplement?

Its a load of crap. Unless you are celiac, have crohn's etc they are completely fine, eat away.

I have heard so many idiots telling me they have gone gluten free coz they were allergic to gluten

Less than 1% of people are allergic to gluten

But 100% of stupid people are allergic to gluten


Its a grest source of fibre helps give a healthy gut, reducing cancer and is a healthy source of carbs. Grains also feed beneficial gut bacteria.

househero wrote: »

I have heard so many idiots telling me they have gone gluten free coz they were allergic to gluten

Less than 1% of people are allergic to gluten

But 100% of stupid people are allergic to gluten


Its a grest source of fibre helps give a healthy gut, reducing cancer and is a healthy source of carbs. Grains also feed beneficial gut bacteria.

Many people are intolerant to gluten. I'm not coeliac but there are a lot of people like me who suffer from IBS and eating gluten would make your life hell.

Gluten intolerance was never intended to be a lifestyle choice. It is the name given to a severe medical condition that results in levels of pain and discomfort ranging from mild to excruciating.
If someone tells me they are on a gluten free diet I always ask them when they were diagnosed as Coeliac or gluten intolerant or if they have had a scope down their throat and found their Villi were abnormally short. If they haven't I tell them they are wasting their time as there are no benefits to refraining from gluten.
There is nothing healthier about refraining from eating gluten free products. Gluten is not an E Number, an additive, a preservative or flavouring.
If anything going 'gluten free' as a lifestyle choice merely restricts your choice of foods somewhat.

My wife has just got out of bed today after two days of excruciating abdominal pains, cramps and spasms that left her in tears.
She didn't eat anything containing gluten. We pinpointed it down to a casual error resulting in a minor cross-contamination.
If people want a healthier choice of foods speak to a nutritionist just don't think refraining from gluten will benefit you.

Longandgirthy wrote:

Gluten is proven harmful effects in humans. It contains anti nutrients and causes immune responses due lectins. There is growing evidence that it causes parkinson's diseases and other diseases similarly caused by the immune system. These are long term effects. You can't show these effects in short term studies.

A load of vitamins and nutrients are anti nutrients to other vitamins and minerals. If you can't show the effects then where is the evidence coming from?

My wife had multiple test for gluten allergy, including endoscopy, and all came up negative. however, there is no denying that after going gluten free her quality of life has improved, as she had digestion and gall bladder issues that have dramatically subsided since.

So perhaps the 1% stat is for a particular category of gluten related illness, but there could be a much higher percentage who are legitimately intolerant, and as a result much better off without gluten.

Its easy to dismiss if you have no issues with it yourself!

tails_naf wrote:

My wife had multiple test for gluten allergy, including endoscopy, and all came up negative. however, there is no denying that after going gluten free her quality of life has improved, as she had digestion and gall bladder issues that have dramatically subsided since.

Did you ever think that it's not the Gluten but something that generally goes along with Gluten that is the intolerance? Or that when you avoided Gluten you ate much healthier?

The Lazy Raptor wrote: »

The skeletons of hunter gathered who lived side by side with farmers has consistently shown that hunter gatherers were more healthy. They were bigger, had stronger skeletons and even showe'd almost no signs of tooth decay. The evidence against grains, gluten being amongst the worst, is very hard to deny.

Yes it is, farming is a lot less demanding than a hunter gather lifestyle allowing "less healthy" people to survive.

I am the exact same as jam_mac_jam above.

I have IBS and as a result, cut out wheat as best I can because I know it effects my symptoms. I have a friend who is an extreme coeliac and our symptoms when eating wheat are extremely different- the tiniest cross contamination with gluten and my friend is head over a toilet bowl and bed ridden sick for days where for me, a bowl of wholegrain pasta leaves me bloated for 2/3 days, tired and generally uncomfortable but never sick.

I gave up bread entirely over two years ago. I wouldn't have eaten it any more than the normal person in the first place (maybe a slice of toast for breakfast or a sandwich for lunch) and I lost over a stone within 3 months as a result. I don't eat that many gluten free products because as someone already said, they are packed with sugars and god knows what else- I mean, some of the breads keep for like 6 months?! Toxic! I do eat the gluten free corn pasta from Aldi though because it's cheap and doesn't go gloopy like other gf pastas.

I find living a gf diet is fairly easy when you're used to preparing meals from scratch. A lot of processed foods and sauce packets eg Knorr sachets are wheat based so some people may find it difficult to adapt at the start. I wouldn't recommend a gluten free diet for losing weight or a better lifestyle if you're planning on replacing everything with gluten/wheat with a gf processed version though! I mean eating a 6 pack of gf butterfly buns as opposed to a 6 pack of normal buns is going to have the same effect on your waist line!! Although, Super Valu do a great range of homemade gf cakes and biccies if you want to treat yourself

I do think it's a healthier lifestyle and even my mum says she wouldn't feel as bloated when she replaces wholegrain pasta with gf pasta. It annoys me when people say things like "oh you shouldn't cut out gluten unless you have to" or people who shrug it off as a fad diet.There definitely doesn't need to be a medical reason for doing so. Many people can't stomach wheat or gluten and this doesn't necessarily mean they have a serious medical condition. It's the same principle as people who just can't stomach spicy foods or tea/coffee.. A colleague of mine suffered heavy bloating and weight gain from eating dairy even though tests for intolerance came back negative! She cuts it out entirely and as a result lives more comfortably. Completely agree with someone above who said they aren't prepared to under-go scopes etc for someone to tell them they are intolerant to wheat. My doctor told me that in order to test for an intolerance I would need to eat as much wheat as possible for 6 weeks and then assess the effects- eh noooo.. Not prepared to put myself through 6 weeks of feeling like a blow fish to confirm my relationship with wheat!

There's a great book you can buy in Easons- it's called Wheat Belly by Dr William Davis and it's a great starting point for those who may think that wheat especially is having an effect on you. Would definitely recommend it

Boosroles wrote: »

The average lifespan assuming no birth deaths or injuries was about 70 I believe.

older than expected. Still, gluten is fine unless you have certain diagnosed medical conditions.

clanpiper wrote: »

Gluten intolerance was never intended to be a lifestyle choice. It is the name given to a severe medical condition that results in levels of pain and discomfort ranging from mild to excruciating.
If someone tells me they are on a gluten free diet I always ask them when they were diagnosed as Coeliac or gluten intolerant or if they have had a scope down their throat and found their Villi were abnormally short. If they haven't I tell them they are wasting their time as there are no benefits to refraining from gluten.
There is nothing healthier about refraining from eating gluten free products. Gluten is not an E Number, an additive, a preservative or flavouring.
If anything going 'gluten free' as a lifestyle choice merely restricts your choice of foods somewhat.

My wife has just got out of bed today after two days of excruciating abdominal pains, cramps and spasms that left her in tears.
She didn't eat anything containing gluten. We pinpointed it down to a casual error resulting in a minor cross-contamination.
If people want a healthier choice of foods speak to a nutritionist just don't think refraining from gluten will benefit you.

This is something that really really frustrated me when I was first became diagnosed as a Coeliac as it became more noticeable to me that people were just eating the GF food for 'clean eating' and 'healthy eating'...
its still a bugger and even a girl I was in college with questioned me (shes also diagnosed coeliac) why I was saying seeing 'Gluten Free' on the bulmers bottle was the bane of my life!
When i had the blood test done & it came back positive i was told to cut out gluten and start on the GF diet but then a few days later the person doing the scope to confirm told me to start eating gluten again for at least 4-6 weeks so it'd be a true result and it was the worst 4/5 weeks of my entire life spending hours upon hours in the bathroom... (currently been glutened so reliving that atm).
It's an awful pet hate of mine especially since its defiantly not a healthy diet of any sort so I was delighted to see your post on this topic and I'm not alone envious of these people who can go on the 'fad diet' and come off it whenever they please!

ch750536 wrote: »

The hunter gatherer of 10,000 years ago wouldn't be eating the same meat that we have today. Our meat has been bred to be more profitable for the supply chain which results in less nutritious for the consumer, fact.

The same is true with wheat products. Since bouncier dough demands a higher price the wheat we use is not what the ancestors of europe would have consumed. Gluten in modern wheat is 8 times higher than ancient or spelt wheat.

Most people who are intolerant of modern wheat products are not gluten intolerant when gluten is at normal natural '10,000 years ago' levels. They are intolerant at the extremely high, un-natural levels that we have today.

I fall into this category myself, proof is in the results. If I eat 4 slices of bouncy modern bread today I will be ill tonight. If I eat 4 slices of spelt bread I will be fine.

Deny this all you want, I see & feel the results.

The hunter gather of 10,000 years ago would also probably be dead before he hits 30. We have evolved a lot since then and our guts have similarly changed. Just because someone did something a long time ago under different circumstances doesn't mean its directly applicable to modern humans. Anecdotal evidence isn't real evidence, no matter how great you may or may not feel after a sandwich.

I'd be interested to see why modern irish beef is less nutritious than cattle 10k years ago.