[Vowel Lady]

Years ago in an effort to find out why I have so many headaches, my Dr. took a test and told me I was gluten sensitive.
I have noticed a few odd things over the years. For example, if eat pancakes, I often get "sick." Rye toast, makes me exhausted.
If I eat bread a few days in a row, I will gain a good three pounds that are hard to get off.
So, what I did was just stop eating bread and pancakes. Once in a great while, esp. when we go out to dinner, I'll have a bite of a roll, etc....but I have basically elimnated this food group w/o going on a true gluten free diet. It seems I can be a tad lazy and stubborn. Sigh.
However, I've got a big birthday coming up.
I am having big trouble losing weight. I watch my portions and exercise regularly. It's barely coming off.
I recently saw in a woman's magazine that there is a book (I think it's new) about losing weight gluten free. I think the idea is that if you are having trouble losing weight it could be because you are gluten sensitive and this is messing you up.
Questions:
1) Does anyone know what this book might be?
2) Does being gluten sensitive and still eating gluten cause weight retention and/or gain?
3) Am I probably still getting a lot of gluten in my diet?
4) Can someone suggest a really basic website for me to look at...seems I'm extra stubborn on the subject

Thanks for your patience.

[KimS]

Originally Posted by Vowel Lady

Questions:
1) Does anyone know what this book might be?
2) Does being gluten sensitive and still eating gluten cause weight retention and/or gain?
3) Am I probably still getting a lot of gluten in my diet?
4) Can someone suggest a really basic website for me to look at...seems I'm extra stubborn on the subject

Thanks for your patience.

What kind of test was it??? I'm SOSOSO-o-o-o curious!! I want to try one!

1) Sorry.

2) Anything that is associated with 'toxins' can relate to water retention. It may be that the body hangs on to water in an attempt to dilute the toxins... that's my theory anyway and I'm sticking to it!

I did a total elimination diet... got rid of all my big offenders and most of my smaller ones and even though I ate loads of food, I lost at least 20 lbs.

I'm now 5'4", 108 lbs (40 yrs old) and stable there for about a year and a half without trying (before that I was pregnant - and before that I was 120 gf - before going gf my pregnant weight just never came all off and I was stuck at 140/5 for a long time -- I'm not a dieter though, so I didn't really try to get rid of it.)

3) If you have gluten in your house and are eating out at restaurants regularly and taking bites of buns and cake, then yes you are... or at least enough that it's bad for YOU.

4) What kind of basic website are you looking for? Specify the type of info. you're looking for... I'm sure we can come up with something.

[Vowel Lady]

HI and thank you for your response.
This was a few years ago that I took the test and it was a blood test. I'm not sure, but I think I took one both in the am and in the pm
Ironically, I recall having a bladder type problem once and avoiding foods that were acidic and losing weight unexpectedly.
I thought that all I had to do to avoid the great majority of gluten in foods was to avoid bread and flour.
It seems there is much more to it.
I DO eat at restaurants regularly and once in a while have a small piece of a cookie, etc. However, I do keep any intake of a bread/cake product very, very small. Why is there more gluten in restaurant food?

[loisba]

For someone who is gluten sensitive, even the cross contamination one gets from having a non-gluten food cooked in a pan that was just used for a gluten food, or getting a few crumbs from a gluten dish dropped into a gluten free dish at a buffet, can cause problems. When you think that even an accidental "dusting" of flour on a gluten free dish, or just a crumb of crouton on your salad, can cause problems, you eating a few bites of roll, cookie, etc, is actually a big amount of gluten.
I had to learn the hard way that I just can't do most restaurants. Buffets especially always give me problems. Even the Mexican restaurant, and ordering Rice, beans, and corn tortillas, gives me problems. One of my Mexican friends said that sometimes cheese in Mexico is made with wheat flour included, I guess as a sort of filler. If nothing else, the corn tortillas are probably cooked in the same pan as the flour ones.
On the plus side of losing weight, the first week I went gluten free, I lost about 5 pounds. I think all of it was the bloating and swelling I had had from the gluten damage.
Hugs,

[KimS]

What Lois says is very true.

Our first year gf (because of my son who never grew properly - we did an elim. diet to figure out if food was the culprit and found that he was reacting to multiple foods), we eliminated all gluten from our house.

Turned out that the fatigue my daughter was suffering (which we put down to our busy life), was due to a gluten reaction. It was amazing to see her energy just ZOOM! I now firmly believe that a four year old who complains of being too tired to do anything at 10 a.m., is not 'just trying to get some attention' like many people say... They are eating a food that they're reacting to!

EVERYONE, including our dogs and cat were SO much healthier. The added expense of the special flours was worth it.

My son, who was often sick, was not sick AT ALL anymore. He used to visit the hospital or dr.'s office for viral illnesses about every six weeks. Suddenly, he just wasn't reacting to these viruses the same way anymore. Also, his joints, which were extremely stiff (diaper changes were AWFUL because he did not like his legs to be spread apart AT ALL) loosened up and he was happy/outgoing all the time instead of being tired and clingy.

Then spring came and we got some new chicks. Of course with chicks comes medicated chick feed. Well, both my kids got sick - really sick... and that was just handling chicks that ate the chickfeed (which has gluten in it).

Now, I did not get sick (migraines are my 'telling sign')... but I probably washed more careful than the children, even though I had them washing all the time.

So, you need to be a lot more careful! Packaged foods are a big 'no-no' unless you have called the company and know what's in them. Celiac.com has really good articles about what you need to do to prevent yourself from getting sick.

It seems like a lot at first, but we've been doing this for five years and it's really second nature. The first year was the hardest for us because we kept trying to go to restaurants and eating packaged foods. That made for a lot of mistakes - and we knew it, every time. Finally we just 'let all that go' - and BOY - has it paid off!!!

[Swuzly]

I am new to your site, having been over at BT for the past 2 months or so. I'd never been on any site before then- whole new world to me and a great support system.

I have been gluten free for about 7 months and it is worth all the "giving up" of glutenous foods.

I am not certain that this is the book you are looking for- but this one is new, Nov'06, addresses gluten free living and is easy to read.

Titled: The Gluten Connection, by Shari Lieberman. She gives excellent information and much resourceful data. The book can be purchased for abt $18.

I was diagnosed originally with dystonia and gluten ataxia, I am free of all symptoms on a gluten free diet. I lost 40 lbs to boot and that wasn't even part of my hopes.

I have followed this diet very carefully as just the tiniest amount of gluten will result in an ataxia event for me. Eliminating bread will help a little, but it won't go far enough to eleviating fluid retention helping you reduce your weight. I lost the first 22 lbs in about 5 weeks.

I agree with Kim, inflamation causes fluid retention. It was also explained to me that our body holds fluid to protect itself from the inflamation. That "jellowy fat" as I call it, is often fluid retention. Where ever that is, most likely your body is storing the offender like gluten or casein, resulting in inflamation and fluid retention.

Removing gluten was the best thing I ever did to improve my health. Then a few other things surfaced. I can't have corn, nightshades, (yes, this includes my favorite- potatoes) or soy. With these things out of my diet- I am a size 6pants! Many people with celiac are trying to gain weight, but this was not my experience. The only time I have ever worn a size 6 is when I had size 6 shoes for a brief time before I jumped to an 8.

Kim's plan for an elimination diet is a good idea as it could be something else that is your key trigger. but in my opinion, gluten is good for noone- All will benefit from a gluten free diet.

Leslie
teaandtoastgirl on BT