General Diet Plans and Questions General diet questions, support for various diet plans other than those listed below.

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Old 06-20-2014, 05:26 AM   #1  
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Default Trying 'almost' gluten-free

I don't have celiac disease, and I don't have any known issues with gluten.

But I do want to lsoe weight and I have heard a lot of people seem to do it faster and better without wheat-based cereals.

So I am going to try it.

My question from those who have tried it is - is it worth doing, if you're not totally gluten-free, or does it have to be all or nothing?

Because I don't have celiac disease I'm not going to avoid trace ingredients, so I will happily eat porridge made from oats which may contain traces of wheat, and also malt vineger which is made from barley. But for the most parts I am going to try to cut out wheat, so yes to rice, potatoes and oats, but no to wheat or flour or bread.

However - once a week we have pizza night. It is my treat and I still have it even though I am dieting - I just have a smaller amount of pizza - a third of a large one instead of half, which is about 600 calories instead of 900.

Would I still get some benefit if I cut out wheat the rest of the week, but still treat myself to my pizza night or is it like I said, an all or nothing thing?

Also, has anyone tried making gravy with something other than wheat flour? What did you use, and did it taste as nice? I likes me my Sunday roast chicken dinner and while I can live without Yorkshire puddings, I don't want to give up gravy.
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Old 06-20-2014, 06:16 AM   #2  
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My life has improved in ways unexpected since kicking wheat,(sugar,gluten) to the curb. My insatiable desire to binge eat is gone! THe bloating in my belly, the bleeding in my gums, the sluggish throbbing in my joints gone.
And I have lost weight . I can now exercise. I look and feel great.
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Old 06-20-2014, 06:28 AM   #3  
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my life had been improved. gluten free is the way to go.
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Old 06-21-2014, 08:35 AM   #4  
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Technically, a gluten free diet is not a weight loss plan but something one does for medical reasons - Celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or wheat intolerance. People with these conditions eliminate the food products they cannot eat and instead substitute ones that they can eat. Often, gluten free items contain more calories and carbs than the ones they are replacing.

Most people following a low carb diet eliminate most grains and starches because of the high carb amount. Unlike a gluten free diet, a low carb diet IS designed to produce weight loss. Most people find that eating fewer carbs enables them to eat fewer calories per day because you're eliminating a highly caloric food group and because eating higher amounts of protein curbs hunger. (The science of low carb is more complicated than that, but that's the simplified version.)

There is also the paleo diet which eliminate grains as well as a lot of other foods like dairy, legumes, and peanuts. The paleo diet produces weight loss for many of the same reasons as does a low carb diet. It also encourages lifestyle changes for overall health, like strength training (but not cardio), adequate sleep and sunshine, minimizing stress, etc.

So, you aren't doing a gluten free diet because (1) you don't need to and (2) you are still planning to eat gluten. And you aren't doing low carb because you are including high carb foods in your plan. And you're obviously not doing paleo.

I don't know what plan you're following and I don't see how swapping one form of high carb food for a different form of high carb food will be beneficial for your health or assist you with weight loss.

I suggest you research low carb diets or paleo and consider following one of those plans. You do NOT have to strictly adhere to the principles of a low carb diet but once you understand the basic science of it, you can modify it and find a way that will work for you. It is not strictly necessary to eat a ketosis-inducing level of carbs like on the Atkins diet. You can most likely have results from severely restricting portions of grains and starches and reducing your daily carb amount to less than 100 grams.

HTH.

Last edited by Novus; 06-21-2014 at 08:40 AM.
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Old 06-21-2014, 08:44 AM   #5  
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I'm not following any kind of plan. Mostly my weight-loss "plan" involves eating less and exercising more, but I am experimenting with what I do eat to see if varying it makes any difference.

I just read that cutting out wheat and eating different grains instead can help weight loss and I thought I'd try it and I was asking the advice of those who might know.

I don't really want to go too low carb either, because we need carbs for energy. But there are different kinds of carbs and people seem to think that eating non-gluten carbs can help.
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Old 06-21-2014, 09:01 AM   #6  
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Unless you have Celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or wheat intolerance you are probably not going to see improvements in your health from eliminating gluten/wheat containing items.

And if you're aren't adjusting your macronutrients, like lowering your carb amounts, I don't think you'll experience weight loss. If you swap out 50 grams of wheat bread for 50 grams of oats, your body will still process it as 50 grams of carbs.

I could be wrong. But that is just logical to me.

You might want to research Wheat Belly, which is based on the idea that wheat is very very very bad and eliminating it from your diet is a good idea. That might be more in line with what you're trying to do.

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Old 06-21-2014, 09:25 AM   #7  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Novus View Post
Unless you have Celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or wheat intolerance you are probably not going to see improvements in your health from eliminating gluten/wheat containing items.
I do have Asperger's, and I have read that people who have eliminated wheat from their diet do see improvements (although I don't know what kinds of improvements), so that was sort of on my mind. I do get abdo pains sometimes - not frequent but very painful when they come. Like "rolling around the floor in agony feeling like you're in labour" pains.

Quote:
And if you're aren't adjusting your macronutrients, like lowering your carb amounts, I don't think you'll experience weight loss. If you swap out 50 grams of wheat bread for 50 grams of oats, your body will still process it as 50 grams of carbs.

I could be wrong. But that is just logical to me.
Well, that had always been my thoughts too, but I have read that people who cut out wheat (but not cut carbs altogether, just replace it with gluten-free carbs) seem to have seen positive effects so I thought I would try it.

Quote:
You might want to research Wheat Belly, which is based on the idea that wheat is very very very bad and eliminating it from your diet is a good idea. That might be more in line with what you're trying to do.
I did, and that pretty much was what I was trying to do.

My question was - does it have to be absolutely totally 100% wheat free to get the benefit, or would cutting down to maybe 95% do me any good at all.

Does it have to be all or nothing?
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Old 06-21-2014, 09:48 AM   #8  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Robsia View Post
My question was - does it have to be absolutely totally 100% wheat free to get the benefit, or would cutting down to maybe 95% do me any good at all.

Does it have to be all or nothing?
I don't know.

I am wheat intolerant and carb sensitive so what has worked for me is 100% wheat free and low carb (between 50-75 grams per day). No wheat for health reasons, lower carb for weight loss.

Hopefully someone else can provide you with a more helpful answer.

Last edited by Novus; 06-21-2014 at 09:50 AM.
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Old 06-21-2014, 10:24 AM   #9  
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I do find non-wheat-based carbs more filling than an equivalent weight of wheat-based carbs. For example:

If for lunch I have a ham sandwich consisting of two slices of bread with the crusts cut off (60g of bread, English bread, not American bread with sugar added), a scraping of margarine, a lettuce leaf or two, a touch of salad cream to give it flavour and two slices of thin-cut ham, that comes to 215 calories. I can wolf that down in about 30 seconds and immediately I want more bread.

If however, I make myself a bowl of porridge consisting of 40g of porridge oats thickened with glucomannan, 100ml of non-dairy almond milk topped up with 140ml water, a couple of spoonsful of truvia-based sweetener, then that takes me a lot longer to eat because it is hot and I am full until evening and is only 163 calories.

So fewer calories, fewer carbs, but it is far more filling.

So I'm not sure that all carbs are created equal.

Also on the wheat belly thing it says don't feel you have to restrict your protein - so every time I feel the need for a snack - which is psychologically-driven rather than hunger-drive, I have a slice of thin cut ham which is 15 calories.

FTR - I loathe vegetables so I struggle there. I do like fruit, but with fruit comes fructose so I have to be careful.
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Old 06-21-2014, 11:08 AM   #10  
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If you are not gluten intolerant, following a low-gluten plan will not be beneficial for you. You may find other forms of carbs that are more filling for you than wheat, but as for actual health benefits, I highly doubt that you will see any health benefits. And if you continue to eat a similar amount of carbs, I don't know that you would see much weight loss either.
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Old 06-21-2014, 11:09 AM   #11  
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Originally Posted by GordonGirl16 View Post
And if you continue to eat a similar amount of carbs, I don't know that you would see much weight loss either.
Well naturally it goes without saying that I would keep my calories within weight-loss parameters.
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Old 06-21-2014, 11:17 AM   #12  
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GordonGirl16 View Post
If you are not gluten intolerant, following a low-gluten plan will not be beneficial for you. You may find other forms of carbs that are more filling for you than wheat, but as for actual health benefits, I highly doubt that you will see any health benefits. And if you continue to eat a similar amount of carbs, I don't know that you would see much weight loss either.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Novus View Post
Unless you have Celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or wheat intolerance you are probably not going to see improvements in your health from eliminating gluten/wheat containing items.

And if you're aren't adjusting your macronutrients, like lowering your carb amounts, I don't think you'll experience weight loss. If you swap out 50 grams of wheat bread for 50 grams of oats, your body will still process it as 50 grams of carbs.
Same thing, said differently.

Yes, you will lose weight if you eat at a deficit. But switching to a grain free diet isn't going to change the amount of weight you lose unless you adjust something else also, like your carb amount.

Maybe there's someone around here who has eaten a grain free diet with a carb allowance of 200-300 grams and seen a difference in their weight loss. But that's not me....and I don't understand the science of how that would work.

Last edited by Novus; 06-21-2014 at 11:23 AM.
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Old 06-21-2014, 03:53 PM   #13  
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My sister tried losing weight eating gluten-free. It didn't work for her. She had the occasional cheat day, but I think what set her back was that she was trading wheat-based high carb processed foods for gluten-free high carb processed foods instead of just eating healthier. I can't say I'm surprised she didn't lose weight. From what I've read, gluten-free isn't really for weight loss. I think to get the weight loss benefit you have to already have a lot of wheat in your diet and then give it up without replacing it with other starchy foods.
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Old 06-21-2014, 06:54 PM   #14  
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I have recently converted to a low GI/wheat diet because of the uncomfortable effects of bloating and stomach issues.

I've always had such effects but it never interfered with my daily life. However, I made the decision to convert due to it having an adverse impact on my training for the ultra-marathon I'm participating in later in the year.

It is NOT intended for weight loss though and I'm NOT gluten intolerant. I believe I'm sensitive to FODMAPs (type of carb). This sensitivity is apparently very common in individuals.
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Old 06-22-2014, 02:22 PM   #15  
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I'm gluten free (for over one year) and keep my carbs low. The one suggestion I have is to swap out bread for greens, pasta for zucchini noodles/spaghetti squash, etc. I don't typically buy gluten-free substitutions because they're pricey and unnecessary, but if I do, I always make sure that the calorie count of the product is as low as I would normally purchase.
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