Gluten-free need not taken seriously by radio prog

I wish this would have happened in my case too. But sadly - no.

I think there are so many reasons for obesity, and my impression is it's complex.

 

On paper I had no reason to give up gluten - I don't have coeliac disease, I don't suffer from bloating or gas or other effects of a gluten sensitivity. But I decided to give it a try because I'd read that it is helpful to people who are hypothyroid. Within a week I found that my uncontrollable and very scary temper had vanished, and my poor balance improved. Gluten doesn't just affect the gut, it affects the brain as well. And the improvements I got seemed to be ones connected with my brain. Since there were times I used to feel homicidal, and now I never do, I'm going to continue eating gluten-free.

 

Can you elaborate on this?

 

Same here. I was already slim to begin with so was pretty shocked when my jeans just fell off. I'm not sure what I lost.

 

Ditto. I lost 20 pounds over 3 months with zero effort, just switched to GF bread and pasta. I was actually consuming more calories, yet the excess weight fell away, leaving me at pretty much my ideal body weight. Avoiding gluten also brought the biggest improvement in my symptoms I've had in 17 years of illness, taking me from borderline severe to moderate. I would take some convincing that gluten wasn't doing something very strange to my metabolism.

 

I was definitely overweight, which had developed during a time of extreme stress. Since going gluten-free my appetite has stabilised and it's effortless.

Hope you had some clothes of the right size, @Mij!

 

Everyone saying they lost weight when going gluten-free... I'm very, very jealous. If anything, I got fatter than ever.

 

As usual, there appears to be variation. Sorry to hear about your experience, @Arnie Pye.

 

@Trish have you tried digestive enzymes?

I had gluten sensitivity tests done years ago but they came back negative. My functional doctor suggested I try a gluten free diet for 6 months to one year to see if it would improve my malaborption issues etc,. It did not help but I found digestive enzymes very helpful.

 

I can't cite papers.

From the German Wikipedia:
"Today's wheat originated from the crossing of several cereal and wild grass species. The first cultivated wheat species were Einkorn (Triticum monococcum) and Emmer (Triticum dicoccum).
...
In the US, a transgenic wheat produced by Monsanto in 2004, which confers glyphosate resistance to the herbicide Roundup (glyphosate), was approved for cultivation in the United States."
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weizen

and Gluten content of
Spelt (10.3 g / 100 g flour type 630)
wheat (8.66 g / 100 g flour type 405)
Rye (3.2 g / 100 g flour type 815)
oats (5.6 g / 100 g whole grain flour)
barley (5.624 g / 100 g whole dehusked grain).
https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluten

I couldn't find the numbers for emmer, kamut, einkorn, but I read it's slightly less than wheat.

So I can't prove that wheat today contains more gluten than the wheat in the past. There is only an indication, namely that via gene technology new wheat sorts were made with a higher gluten portion (which is desirable since food like bread tastes better and is longer fresh) or other desired characteristics (-> Monsanto).

But it seems food today contains more gluten:
- As mentioned, gluten makes bread, processed food etc. more moisterous and fresher. Plus it's cheap.
- In the past, dough lay or hung around which led to fermentation which reduces gluten content (e.g. sourdough). This isn't done today.

Low-carb bread normally contains a lot of gluten. (At least the ones I ate in the past.)

So, no proof, just an indication.

 

Which ones do you take and how much?

 

@Inara I take the NOW Super Enzymes with every meal. They are reasonably priced.

 

This study concludes that gluten content in wheat doesn't seem to have increased.
Can an Increase in Celiac Disease Be Attributed to an Increase in the Gluten Content of Wheat as a Consequence of Wheat Breeding?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3573730/

 

yep, I think the idea that gluten content of wheat has increased significantly has been shown to be wrong now. There's a theory that it's actually other characteristics of wheat that are problematic, as:

[https://www.wheatbellyblog.com/2013/02/is-gluten-on-the-increase/]

And this may be a pretty good summary:

[https://www.npr.org/sections/thesal...xplain-rise-of-celiac-disease?t=1531842754619]

We're still a long way from understanding this stuff, but something like antibiotic use leading to acquired reactivity to certain proteins may be involved..

For now, as Jaime said earlier on, if you do much better without gluten-containing foods in your diet you shouldn't eat them.

Having food clearly labelled and having non-gluten food alternatives for those who need to avoid it are GOOD THINGS. If food manufacturers are cashing in, well, nothing new there. Just be an educated consumer and avoid the rip-offs. Gluten-free bread and pasta aren't very expensive. Much of the rest of what's in the GF aisle at my supermarket is basically junk food and best avoided.

 

The protein in oats is actually avenin - see https://www.coeliac.org.uk/gluten-free-diet-and-lifestyle/gf-diet/oats/

 

Same. Lost 22 lbs.

 

Just saw this, thought it was topical,

https://m.jpost.com/Middle-East/Worlds-oldest-bread-found-at-prehistoric-site-in-Jordan-562680

 

Probably because you ate less carbs?

Gluten free calories are no different to gluten containing calories. Gluten doesn’t make you fat?