Gluten

[undercoverbrother]

What the heck is up with every second person I meet being allergic to Gluten?

This seems like a new thing.

Anyone on here allergic to Gluton? If so when/how did you find out?

[nik-]

Gluten

[undercoverbrother]

cheers was doing to things at once
PS how do you edit title?

[To Be Quite Honest]

Gluttony
Main article: Gluttony


"Excess"
(Albert Anker, 1896)
Derived from the Latin gluttire, meaning to gulp down or swallow, gluttony (Latin, gula) is the over-indulgence and over-consumption of anything to the point of waste. In the Christian religions, it is considered a sin because of the excessive desire for food for its withholding from the needy.[13]
Depending on the culture, it can be seen as either a vice or a sign of status. Where food is relatively scarce, being able to eat well might be something to take pride in. But in an area where food is routinely plentiful, it may be considered a sign of self-control to resist the temptation to over-indulge.
Medieval church leaders (e.g., Thomas Aquinas) took a more expansive view of gluttony,[13] arguing that it could also include an obsessive anticipation of meals, and the constant eating of delicacies and excessively costly foods.[14] Aquinas went so far as to prepare a list of six ways to commit gluttony, including:
Praepropere - eating too soon.
Laute - eating too expensively.
Nimis - eating too much.
Ardenter - eating too eagerly (burningly).
Studiose - eating too daintily (keenly).
Forente - eating wildly (boringly).

[Mass_nerder]

My girlfriend just recently decided she's got a minor allergy to gluten...
It's a nightmare, because anything tasty you can think of has gluten in it.
Thankfully she's not affected by it too badly.

[REDVAN]

Recently decided = on a diet.

[The Reverend]

It's a fad just like any other diet craze. Just another way for marketers to peddle their crap. People with legitimate gluten allergies have to be super careful about what they eat and can't "occasionally" eat gluten without getting ill.

Gluten allergies are trendy!

Now please, excuse me while I finish my Greek yogurt with hemp hearts and chia seeds.

[rabenson000]

The Flames very own Tom Kostopoulos is allergic to gluten

Coeliac disease is caused by a reaction to gliadin, a prolamin (gluten protein) found in wheat, and similar proteins found in the crops of the tribe Triticeae (which includes other common grains such as barley and rye)

Individuals with celiac disease may develop diarrhea, steatorrhea, weight loss, flatulence, iron deficiency anemia, abnormal bleeding, or weakened bones. However, many adults with celiac disease may have either no symptoms or only vague abdominal discomfort such as bloating, abdominal distension, and excess gas.


169915

[scotty2hotty]

While not specifically about gluten, Wheat Belly by William Davis, MD is a good book on this topic.

I don't believe that I'm allergic or sensitive to gluten. I do know that I sleep 182% (stat I just made up) since I essentially eliminated wheat from my diet.

[MRCboicgy]

That just means more yummy bread for the rest of us!

[oilers_fan]

It's a fad just like any other diet craze. Just another way for marketers to peddle their crap. People with legitimate gluten allergies have to be super careful about what they eat and can't "occasionally" eat gluten without getting ill.

Gluten allergies are trendy!

Now please, excuse me while I finish my Greek yogurt with hemp hearts and chia seeds.

No, it's not just a trend. It's something that is just now starting to get diagnosed on a more regular basis.

[wireframe]

That just means more yummy bread for the rest of us!

It's so funny to me to think of the world's supply of bread as a fixed quantity. This post made me laugh so hard.

[AC]

Funny enough its believed that being able to tolerate gluten is the mutation and humans are supposed to be allergic by default.

[DuffMan]

I'd probably think the same, but a girl I work with was diagnosed with Celiac disease about 2 years ago. What a nightmare, and complete lifestyle change for her. This girl used to love beer, chicken wings etc, and she was in good shape, and now :(. Basically if she goes out for lunch or whatever she has to order salad and use her own dressing. Some places offer gluten free menus, but usually the restaurant cannot gaurantee it will not touch other gluten laden foods, so she doesn't trust their foods.
Think of all the foods you love now, and, for me beer, and then think if you were never allowed to have them ever again, or you will get violently sick.
That's her story though and I think a lot of it is a fad, but I know she is completely happy for more gluten free options, as it is opening up more foods etc for her.

[ranchlandsselling]

Wow - I'm surprised this thread is just coming up now. I thought this Celiac allergic to gluten stuff was trendy 5 years ago.

"no, I'm not fat, lazy and unhealthy, I'm allergic to gluten"

I honestly believe there are some people who generally are. But it's become the saving grace of holistic, the naturopathic, nutritionists to peddle their wares and those that need an excuse for what I quoted above. Disclaimer that the above three professions aren't necessarily bad, just some of them are so full of crap . . .

[Mark]

From my understanding, (girlfriend is recently gluten sensitive) gluten allergies are primarily towards our massively genetically modified grains and not the actual grain/gluten. My girlfriend developed this after coming back from Europe where she was eating a less genetically modified grain and now after returning can no longer handle our grains. Many gluten sensitive people can still eat spelt flour even though it has gluten because it isn't as genetically modified as many of our common flours. Science has failed us here.

[Notorious Honey Badger]

My friend lost about 50-60 lbs not eating gluten in 13 months. Now he's kind of stalled out and put on 5 lbs since. I dont think crash dieting, and I include this, is tenable for most people, most of the time.

[oilers_fan]

Are peanut allergies trendy as well? If you have an intolerance to a certain thing, then you have an intolerance. I've never heard of this trendy thing before for food allergies. I certainly wouldn't choose to eat more expensive food and always concern myself with how food is prepared, what it touches...etc.

Note, I'm not celiac, I just have family members who are.

[Kybosh]

FYI - it is a simple blood test to determine if someone is a celiac.

[undercoverbrother]

Is there a difference between Gluten allergy and celiac?

[Meelapo]

Is there a difference between Gluten allergy and celiac?

I think there is. I'm allergic to gluten. I can have it but if I do I'm out of commission for a day or so. If someone that is celiac has it then they are out of commission for a while.

[ranchlandsselling]

Are peanut allergies trendy as well? If you have an intolerance to a certain thing, then you have an intolerance. I've never heard of this trendy thing before for food allergies. I certainly wouldn't choose to eat more expensive food and always concern myself with how food is prepared, what it touches...etc.

Note, I'm not celiac, I just have family members who are.

No - but unlike a peanut allergy the average random (and it's usually chicks) can complain that they're tired and lacking energy and that's why they're so useless because of this new found sensitivity to wheat that their holistic super naturopath told them about and now they can't eat anything like that and that's why their 20-30 lbs overweight.

I've heard it about a dozen times from people who were perfectly fine months before and suddenly were enlightened by some Dr. of the herbs that has discovered why their fat and lazy.

As well, with regards to:


I certainly wouldn't choose to eat more expensive food and always concern myself with how food is prepared, what it touches...etc


You might if you were lazy and needed an excuse for why you're too tired to go to the gym or get some exercise.

It's like the "thyroid problem" of the 80's. Everyone who was fat back then had a thyroid problem.

In the 90's it was because . . . Well I can't think of a good reason for being fat in the 90's maybe it was cooler to be fat.

Now it's because you're a celiac... or a celica, I'm not sure how it's spelt. Celica's were cool in the 90's too. That's probably where the confusion came from.

Disclaimer 2. I'm referring to people who have suddenly out of nowhere decided they have a wheat allergy or are celiacs when they've generally been fine for 99% of their prior lives. They've usually determined this after attempting to lose weight or going to see some crackpot holistic dr. or some combination of both. Generally these people are women who have also at some point been yogi's, failed vegetarians, believe in chiropractors, and read the secret.

If you are a true celiac I feel bad for you as that's got to suck!

[Pilsner12]

It's a fad just like any other diet craze. Just another way for marketers to peddle their crap. People with legitimate gluten allergies have to be super careful about what they eat and can't "occasionally" eat gluten without getting ill.

Gluten allergies are trendy!

Now please, excuse me while I finish my Greek yogurt with hemp hearts and chia seeds.


I can't begin to express how much this comment infuriates me.

Yes there are individuals that are gluten free to be "trendy" but for some this is a very real medical concern which you have recognized.

Many people are born with the intolerance that can remain dormant until a traumatic event to ones body. (child birth, stress ect...)

Within a year of meeting my wife she developed a skin rash that was misdiagnosed as eczema for the better part of seven years by a family doctor, dermatologist and various medical professionals at clinics. It wasn't until this past summer that she had such a bad breakout that she tried to see our family physician and when she couldn't get into see him she went to emergency at Foothills where the Doctor that she saw suggested that he was confident that she had the allergy and ordered the proper blood tests. With the disease unknown to us we questioned it to the point where he said if the tests don't come back positive for Celiac that they should take away his medical license.

Since the tests that diagnosed her with the disease we have had a major change in lifestyle and diets. From that point my wife has seen a change in her overall health, skin and fatigue all for the better. About three months after the change she consumed gluten in a moment of weakness and within twenty-four hours her skin had broken out into the same condition that it was prior to her diagnosis.

We try very hard to remain GF and have found that foods that she thought bothered her before such as cream sauces would be the thing upsetting her stomach. She now can eat GF sauces with rice pasta and have no side effects with her stomach.

Prior to her diagnosis we had experienced issues carrying a child to term and have experienced some losses with no answers. Upon her diagnosis we read every book that we could get our hands on pertaining to the allergy and a common thing that we have been reading is that your body works so hard to fight the allergy that if you are pregnant the body doesn't take care of the baby as required which we are hoping now that we understand the allergy will change our cards when it comes to having a second child.

It is a very real disease that people live with and struggle through everyday. It is becoming more known and everyday there is more and more awareness and products available to make living with the disease easier but every now and then you come across people that are closed minded to the issue. Thank you Reverend for recognizing that there are people that suffer from the allergy but to say that it is "trendy" proves that there is more awareness needed.

[ranchlandsselling]

I can't begin to express how much this comment infuriates me.

I don't think anyone has said anything negative towards those who suffer from the auto-immune disease. If you want somone to be infuriated with direct it towards the pretenders. Granted they'll actually make your wife's issue easier by driving the market to provide more options. So maybe you shouldn't. . . . It's almost a win/win, but still lose unfortunately.

[Pilsner12]

I don't think anyone has said anything negative towards those who suffer from the auto-immune disease. If you want somone to be infuriated with direct it towards the pretenders. Granted they'll actually make your wife's issue easier by driving the market to provide more options. So maybe you shouldn't. . . . It's almost a win/win, but still lose unfortunately.

As I recognized in my post he acknowledged that there are people who suffer from it. The part that upsets me is to say the Gluten Allergies are a fad and are trendy. This may not seem offensive to you but to some it is very real and not a fad or trend. As I also mentioned there are some that see it as healthier living or a means of weight loss but from my limited time that I have become aware of the disease those are fewer than one would think and a majority of people who are living GF have been or in the process of being diagnosed with the allergy and since becoming G Free are seeing improved health and quality of life.

[kermitology]

My fiancée is sensitive to both gluten and corn. She exhibits similar symptoms as a celiac, which is usually major GI issues for the next little while, plus she gets itchy skin.

Corn is a more recent discovery and results in similar reactions for her.

I've learned how to cook just so that I can feed her. The reality is that your options for food aren't really impacted as much as you think, though eating out is often a challenge. It's resulted in both of us rarely, if ever, eating processed food.

You'd be surprised how many products we consume that have corn, corn syrup, or corn derivatives in them.

It's most certainly not a fad though.

[onetwo_threefour]

My friend lost about 50-60 lbs not eating gluten in 13 months. Now he's kind of stalled out and put on 5 lbs since. I dont think crash dieting, and I include this, is tenable for most people, most of the time.

Interestingly, when I decided to lose weight a couple of years ago, one of the biggest changes I made to kickstart eating changes was to almost completely eliminate breads, crackers, rice, and pasta from my diet for several months (in addition to really ramping up the activity level.)

I lost about 70 lbs, but have crept back up about 10 and held there, but am still about 25-30 lbs over what I think would be ideal. The reason I bring this up is because after losing all that weight I slowly reintroduced some of these things back into my diet, although not anywhere near to the same degree as previously, and I'm curious as to whether this may have some bearing on things. Curiously, when I was 60 lbs heavier than I am right now and really as long as I can remember, I had significant regular issues with diarrhea, bloating and gassiness, but always have mostly chalked that up to being significantly overweight. These things improved as I lost weight, but if I think on it, I still have occasional unexplained issues such as this, and wonder if the gluten containing foods that I have re-introduced have some impact on this. Also, I have always been allergic to beer. I'd never heard of a beer allergy being related to gluten allergy/celiac before but maybe it's time I looked into this more closely.

Always love CP for the random info you don't find anywhere else...

[troutman]

Skeptic Hat: Gluten Probably Isn't Making You Sick

http://motherboard.vice.com/2011/8/17/skeptic-hat-gluten-probably-isn-t-making-you-sick--2

Is gluten the new Candida? (http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/is-gluten-the-new-candida/)

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?s=gluten

Only in the past decade or so has the true prevalence (http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/163/3/286?ijkey=50fabe860146f6ef7715fd3f2123df8113e2da59&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha) of celiac disease has become clear: about 1 in 100 have the disease. With the more frequent diagnosis of celiac disease, the awareness of gluten, and the harm it can cause to some, has soared. But going gluten free isn’t just for those with celiac disease. Tennis star Novak Djokovic doesn’t have celiac disease, but went on a GF diet. Headlines like “Djokovic switched to gluten-free diet, now he’s unstoppable on court (http://www.thestar.com/sports/tennis/article/992437--djokovic-switched-to-gluten-free-diet-now-he-s-unstoppable-on-court)” followed. Among children, there’s the pervasive but unfounded linkage of gluten consumption with autism (http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/05/jenny_mccarthy_shows_off_her_knowledge_o.php), popularized by Jenny McCarthy and others. Even in the absence of any undesirable symptoms, gluten is being perceived as something to be avoided.

What’s been lost in an enthusiasm for gluten avoidance, is the fact that there are some people who do experience undesirable symptoms from gluten consumption, but don’t have celiac disease. It’s this group that was the focus of a recent paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine: Nonceliac Gluten Sensitivity: Sense or Sensibility (http://www.annals.org/content/156/4/309.abstract)?

The idea that gluten sensitivity is real and widespread goes far beyond the current scientific evidence, and the well-established facts of celiac disease. Time will tell if gluten avoidance follows the path of Candida, and other dietary fears and fads that preceded it. But it doesn’t need to. Given the protean nature of CD, symptoms cannot be dismissed as nocebo effects: A CD diagnosis needs to be ruled out before NCGS is even contemplated. Going gluten-free in the absence of a proper medical evaluation may not be directly harmful, but it complicates a diagnosis. Moreover, it can be expensive, and difficult to maintain 100% avoidance – essential with CD, but not established as necessary with NCGS. Besides, who really wants to cut out all gluten-containing products if they don’t need to? Until better diagnostic criteria are established, the N of 1 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_of_1_trial) trial is probably the most science-based (if impractical) approach: single-blind challenges to measure for subjective or objective symptoms. Our challenge in dealing with dietary fads as health professionals is to recognize that some of our patients are suffering, and evaluate them in a science based way: without dismissing the symptoms, and without advocating dietary transformations that may be unnecessary.

[Domoic]

Is there a difference between Gluten allergy and celiac?

Yes. Celiac disease is not a wheat allergy, nor is it a gluten allergy. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder triggered by eating gluten.

Celiac is a genetic disoder. In the presence of gluten, an auto-immune response occurs in which your immune system begins attacking your own body, in this case, the micro-villi of the small intestine.

It is like rheumatoid arthritis, another genetic-based auto-immune disease, but one which attacks your body’s joints, rather than intestines.

The problem with diganosing Celiac is that people's overt reactions can vary wildly - from complete intolerance that can lead to death (this is seen in babies who transition from milk to solid foods) to simple GI distress like farting. Skin manifestations, as mentioned in this thread, are also common.

[moon]

Are peanut allergies trendy as well?

Yes

[hulkrogan]

I think I'm allergic to salsa. When I eat a litre of it I always get the sh*ts the next day.

[onetwo_threefour]

^ Yeah, I get the faddish aspect of it and would just consider having a blood test. My reason for cutting out what I did was to force a shift in my diet away from simple starchy carbs of which I was eating far too much in proportion to complex carbs and protein and the gluten thing is only something I'm wondering about now.

I've never been able to understand my beer allergy and just wonder if there could be a relationship here. I can go out drinking rye, tequila and or vodka all night (within reason) and not get sick, but give me two or three beers and I'll be throwing up within an hour. Granted I don't really like beer so it's not hard for me to avoid and doesn't affect my life significantly, (except for those people who look at you strangely when you say you're allergic to beer).

Anyway, the funny thing is that after writing my first post I went off and looked up some info on beer and gluten and found out that a blood test may not say anything anyway as sensitivity to some forms of the gluten protein found in beer are not detectable by the current blood tests anyway, so I may simply have, if anything, a sensitivity to those particular proteins or something entirely different, like the combination of yeast and alcohol.

I'm definitely not jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon, but I also don't think the first article troutman posted applies to my situation as the author is talking about people who are otherwise healthy changing their diet. While I am not crippled by symptoms or anything, my GI processes are definitely not normal overall even with my 'modified' diet, they are just better than they used to be...

[MattyC]

My ex had celiac disease. She was diagnosed about 5 years ago when it wasn't so "trendy" so it was hard for her for the first bit. I tried my best not to eat it when I was with her and a lot of the stuff isnt bad. They've made huge strides in the past while and I see more and more gluten free things every day.

BTW Rice beer isnt half bad and still gets you drunk.

[anyonebutedmonton]

I have recently been confirmed as having celiacs disease and have only recently decided to do the whole GF diet.

My sister has it so at my last physical I asked my doctor to test for it along with my bloodwork, not expecting to be confirmed. After the blood test came back positive, I still resisted making the change until I had a confirmed biopsy done over Christmas.

I have no stomach issues eating gluten that would indicate the disease, but the long term consequences (ie cancers) are simply too big a risk to keep eating it.

I miss beer and pizza the most. I love the fad diets as it has opened up a ton of options in supermarkets and restaurants.

[Stumptown]

Best thing about the recent craze for gluten-free foods (whether to treat an actual medical condition or just as a diet trend) is that cider is now a lot more popular and available. I just hope that the dieters develop a taste for it and don't go back to beer later.