Quote:
Originally Posted by Pattience
The only reason to go gluten free is because you have coeliac disease. coeliac disease is a digestive disorder. Hashimotos disease is an endocrine system disorder.
I think this advice is just as extreme as suggesting that gluten-free is a cure-all.
Wheat and gluten allergies are another good reason to go gluten-free.
Avoiding gluten and gluten-like proteins is also very common, research supported advice for autoimmune disease.
When I was first diagnosed with autoimmune connective tissue disease, I read every book I could get my hands on, regarding AI disease. The vast majority recommended following, or at least trying a low-carb diet or at least the elimination of grains, especially gluten grains.
Low-carb did drastically improve my autoimmune and other immune issues, including my fibromyalgia, arthritis, COPD, IBS, and rosacea but I wondered whether it was the carbohydrates, the grains, or specific grains that were triggering symptoms, so I started experimenting.
It took about a year of experimenting and documenting symptoms to convince myself that the patterns I was seeing were not placebo effects. Large amounts of sugar or grains triggered symptoms, as did small amounts of gluten grains.
One incident in particular helped convinced me that I was not imagining my reaction. I ate a noodle dish at a restaurant that I thought was wheat-based, but I did not have any skin reaction whatsoever, which was very unusual. I later learned the noodles were rice, not wheat.
Many experiences like this convinced me that avoiding wheat and other gluten grains was essential.
Trace amounts usually do not trigger symptoms, so I do not have to be as vigilant about gluten grains as celiac patients.
I know that barley and wheat trigger symptoms. Oats do not. I have no idea about rye, because I've never found a food that included rye, but not wheat.
I could be sensitive/allergic/intolerant to the barley and wheat, rather than the gluten, but since most gluten is wheat gluten, it makes the most sense to avoid all sources of gluten.
I did not come to this solution lightly, becaus I've always believed that the best course of action is the least restrictive method that is also effective.
For most people that isn't gluten-free, but for some of us (not just celiac patients) it is.
The key to discovering whether or not it is necessary is experimenting, and by experimenting I mean a year or more of 2-month trials keeping a diet and symptom log. And by trial, I mean eliminating or adding only one food or food type at a time.