Quote:
Originally Posted by cupofjoe
Well Kiddo, (note - I will address you in the same condescending way) here are a couple of facts that you might not know:
I have been tested and have a "moderate sensitivity" to wheat. In other words, I am not Celiac but I do react to wheat. I did this test after going gluten-free. Do I truly know whether it is the gluten itself or wheat that gets me - no. The safest bet for me was to continue to keep eating gluten-free. This was a blood test which can vary in its reliability, the biopsy you refer to so elegantly, is aimed at detecting Celiac's disease. It will not necessarily detect gluten allergies or even all Celiac cases for that matter. Unfortunately, there is no holy-grail test for gluten-sensitivity, trust me I wish there was.
One of best tests for gluten allergy is a person's response to a gluten-free diet. In my case, my symptoms went away when I was gluten-free. When I went back eating gluten, (Xmas has too many temptations), the symptoms returned. Went back on gluten-free, symptoms went away. Do you think that I might have concluded that gluten and/or wheat is probably not good for me, or do you I am still imagining things at this point.? Am I being realistic in your eyes? I have been off gluten for about a year and half, twice I have gone back to eating gluten, both times the symptoms returned (Please note both times I went back, I was eating a healthy diet with some gluten). Now, I am committed to keeping gluten-free. Am I happy that I have to do this - NO, but to me it is worth the effort to avoid the unpleasantness.
Do I absolutely know that I am gluten-sensitive? No, but it seems likely
Do I think that everyone will benefit from going gluten-free? - NO
Do I think that if you eat healthy and still experience gluten sensitivity symptoms that a person might consider trying gluten-free? - Yes
If said person tries gluten-free properly (ie cold turkey, no gluten whatsoever) and gets positive results, should they continue gluten-free? - Completely up to them.
Look Strombad, I not trying to pick a fight with you or anyone else for that matter. This is a personal topic to me and I am sensitive about it. It has been a struggle for me to find relief from some pretty irritating symptoms. Now that I have, being denounce as being delusional or that I am making up a disease doesn't sit well with me.
My goal here is not to convince everyone to try gluten-free. Initially I just wanted to give the counterpoint link in my first reply, not to share my story. I didn't want people to completely rule out gluten-free as an option, especially if they are at their wits end. There is no harm in trying gluten-free properly for 30 days, if it helps you then you have decide your next course of action. If it doesn't, go back to eating the way you were.
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Listen, it's great that you've found something that works for you, but the science just isn't there to back up your claims. The key phrase applicable here is this:
Correlation does not imply causation.
Do you know why there is no holy grail test for gluten sensitivity? There (despite your assertion) are tests that will absolutely diagnose Celiac, Crohn's, Diabetes, etc. So why not "gluten sensitivity"? Because it's not a "real" tangible thing. Are you potentially allergic to wheat? Apparently. Here's a fact you may not know: for any test to be near accurate, you need to be ingesting a full-on gluten enriched diet. Claiming that you were already gluten-free at the time of the test essentially makes it unreliable on every level. If this is of course the blood test used to read "gluten levels" (in layman's terms) and not an allergy test where wheat was tested.
My original statement stands. If you're eating well and avoiding most grains and pretty much all processed food for the better part of a year, and you decide to introduce something new into your diet that you aren't used to eating (like Christmas dinner) what do you THINK is going to happen? That it'll just be magically ok?
I really don't mean to offend you, but the fact of the matter is that gluten sensitivity does not exist. It's a fad. The end. Could you be allergic to wheat? Of course! But what's the point then in posting something that goes against statements about GLUTEN sensitivities when you yourself have never been even remotely diagnosed with anything to do with gluten, and eat gluten free based simply on the advice of fad diet blogs?
People simply aren't gluten sensitive. It's not a thing. Gluten-free diets work because they're healthy (not gluten-substitute diets of course) and of course eating better makes people feel better and going away from that will make them feel worse. If you don't consume dairy for 6 months and then gulp down a glass of milk, you might poop yourself.
Like you, I'm sensitive to the issue because my little brother is celiac, and I've actually witnessed the pain and discomfort it causes, along with the reality that he is more likely to die because of complications related to his disease. It's great eating gluten free if you want to or if it makes you feel better, but as soon as you spread things that encourage fad dieting and diminish actual diagnosable conditions, that's where I take issue. It's just pseudoscience.