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Old 06-07-2012, 02:19 PM   #1  
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Default Wheat free??

Hello everyone I have been seeing and hearing alot about how bad wheat is for you etc. My family and I only eat whole wheat anymore. My mom started her no-wheat diet on Tuesday and has lost 2 pounds. I'm wondering if any of you have switched to wheat/gluten free (for non-Celiac purposes) and if you have experienced any positive changes such as weight coming off easier, feeling better etc. I know that being "wheat free" has sort of become the trendy thing to do and I don't want to do it unless it has some real health benefits... I don't want to just jump on some random fad diet band wagon. Thanks!!
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Old 06-07-2012, 03:14 PM   #2  
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Since when is wheat bad for you? Must've missed the memo. I eat lots of wheat-based foods, both whole-grain and refined, and find them very satisfying. They don't affect my weight one way or another -- calories do.

If you get pleasure from wheat-based foods and they don't give you symptoms, I would caution against eliminating them as it may trigger feelings of deprivation and diet fatigue. Just my opinion.

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Old 06-07-2012, 03:20 PM   #3  
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Since when is wheat bad for you? Must've missed the memo. I eat lots of wheat-based foods, both whole-grain and refined, and find them very satisfying. They don't affect my weight one way or another -- calories do.

If you get pleasure from wheat-based foods and they don't give you symptoms, I would caution against eliminating them as it may trigger feelings of deprivation and diet fatigue. Just my opinion.

F.
I second this. I tend to go for wheat products that are 100% whole grain/wheat, not just enriched/bleached/unbleached flour.
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Old 06-07-2012, 03:31 PM   #4  
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There are a lot of sources that say wheat, in general, is bad for you. For a lot of people it does make sense to cut out wheat and stick to a wheat free diet or a Paleo/Primal one.

I tried cutting out wheat for 6 weeks and it was HORRIBLE for me. I was tired all the time!! Other people have seen drastic health benefits though, so it's really comes down to how your body works.

I just stick to whole wheat items most of the time, but even now I'll still eat regular white bread (actually I'm eating some at Panera right now, hahaha).
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Old 06-07-2012, 03:47 PM   #5  
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I don't have a wheat allergy but have found if I cut wheat out of my diet entirely that weight loss is significantly easier for me. I don't know if it's that I have a tendency to overeat wheat products or if wheat itself is the culprit.
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Old 06-07-2012, 03:59 PM   #6  
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So I have tested for an actual wheat sensitivity/intolerance, so that discounts my experience a bit. That said, I find the growing discussion out there extremely plausible.

Most people say, "We've been eating wheat for thousands of years." The most compelling counter-argument in a nutshell: The wheat we're eating today has been extremely hybridized and gene-altered in a rapid period of time, far faster than natural breeding/selection would allow for. It is NOTHING like the Einkorn wheat of 2,000 years ago - it literally has at least twice the chromosomes! The argument is that the proteins found in wheat today are very different, and some bodies react to them adversely.

Diet is highly YMMV - so some people may do just fine with this rapid turn of events, but it's not at all a stretch that a large segment of people may not be.

I haven't read Wheat Belly, but I'd recommend you look into if you're interested. This is a decent overview of some of the arguments - not necessarily an objective one, but decent in terms of explaining the argument:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mar...b_1274872.html

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Old 06-07-2012, 05:17 PM   #7  
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Most people say, "We've been eating wheat for thousands of years." The most compelling counter-argument in a nutshell: The wheat we're eating today has been extremely hybridized and gene-altered in a rapid period of time, far faster than natural breeding/selection would allow for. It is NOTHING like the Einkorn wheat of 2,000 years ago - it literally has at least twice the chromosomes! The argument is that the proteins found in wheat today are very different, and some bodies react to them adversely.
This is 100% true. Wheat is so heavily genetically modified now that it's 95% gluten and some people's bodies no longer recognize it as food.
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Old 06-07-2012, 07:40 PM   #8  
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Is there a way to buy wheat that hasn't been genetically modified? Like wheat that is the way in was 1000s of years ago? We have an Earth Fare here and they say that they don't sell anything GMO, is that what that means??
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Old 06-07-2012, 07:56 PM   #9  
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The wheat you buy in the store is never whole wheat, no matter how they market it. The wheat is separated and the bran, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and oils are removed. Synthetic vitamins are added back. It's simply not the same product.

I'm wheat free unless I grind it myself. For me, it makes a lot of difference in how I feel and my health. Commercial wheat makes me swell and get rashy. That doesn't happen when I grind it and use it right away.

http://www.thesweetbeet.com/whole-grains/
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Old 06-07-2012, 07:58 PM   #10  
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Is there a way to buy wheat that hasn't been genetically modified? Like wheat that is the way in was 1000s of years ago? We have an Earth Fare here and they say that they don't sell anything GMO, is that what that means??
I apologize, I need to change my wording. Genetically modified in this day and age is often (and rightly so) interpreted to mean that it's had it's genes messed with by scientists. The word I should have chosen was "hybridized" because wheat these days has been heavily cross-bred and hybridized for various reasons to improve taste, yield, resistance, etc. Like many crops. The problem is that it has resulted in wheat having a much higher level of gluten than the wheat a few hundred years ago had.

As to whether you can find it in it's old form- that I don't know the answer to. The problem with hybridized and GMO foods is they tend to get into the non-hybridized and non-GMO food sources through cross-pollenization. But my guess is that you probably can still find it as an import from a country that hasn't gotten into all the "modern" farming techniques to improve resistance, yield, appearance, etc.
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Old 06-07-2012, 07:58 PM   #11  
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Is there a way to buy wheat that hasn't been genetically modified? Like wheat that is the way in was 1000s of years ago? We have an Earth Fare here and they say that they don't sell anything GMO, is that what that means??
I buy my wheat from a local farmer who grows it organically. Or I use wheat that my mom has kept in huge buckets since the early 90's. That stuff keeps forever! They've sprouted wheat from the Egyptian pyramids!
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Old 06-07-2012, 08:27 PM   #12  
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*sigh* sometimes food can be so overwhelming lol.... thanks for all your knowledge and insight
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Old 06-07-2012, 10:05 PM   #13  
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I've not had an allergy test for wheat (because I'm on meds that make the scratch test potentially dnagerous) and I've tested negative for celiac disease, so you'd think I could safely eat wheat, right? Nope.

I found my wheat problem, accidentally. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and started reading a lot in the autoimmune literature that wheat and grains could contribute to autoimmune disease (some experts were certain that grains were actually a cause, and others suggested that grains could be a cause or at least a contributing factor).

I was still skeptical. Then my doctor suggested I try low-carb dieting for my insulin resistance (and he also prescribed metformin). He warned me not to "go too low" but admitted he had no idea how to determine what was too low (carb).

So I experimented, and I found out that I felt rotten on a super low-carb diet (under 30 grams of carbs) but felt really awesome on a moderately low-carb (60 - 100). I used a low-carb exchange plan to control/limit calories and carbs.

Really awesome. I wasn't eating much wheat (because I preferred to spend my carbs on potatoes sweet corn, squash and fruit - because those were "bigger portions" for the calorie/exchange value).

I started to wonder whether carbs, or a specific carb was to blame (grains, sugar, wheat...), so I started experiment.

I discovered that wheat was my biggest symptom trigger. In fact, without wheat my skin issues that I had always considered "just normal for me" such as very sensitive skin, rosacea, occasional acne, seborrheic dermatitis, combination oily and dry skin... weren't "normal" at all. My skin became clearer than it's been since puberty first hit.

Not only did my face clear up, but my IBS symptoms, and arthritis pain improved too. So did my fibro flares (it didn't cure them, but I did have fewer and less severe flares), and I have fewer and less severe flares of my autoimmune disease (attacking respiratory tract, joints, and skin).

Since giving up wheat, the autoimmune disease has gone into an apparent remission - that is it's stopped or slowed the organ damage to imperceptible levels. I still have lung scarring, but it's not getting worse and I haven't had pneumonia or even bronchitis in over a year or an asthma attack in nearly that long (for most of the past 15 years, I've had almost constant bronchitis, and would get pneumonia at least once a year).

I'm not sure exactly how wheat and carbs are involved, but I suspect that I must have a wheat (or gluten) allergy, sensitivity, or intolerance. I tried rye crackers (without wheat) and still got a reaction, but for all I know the rye could have been cross-contaminated with wheat, or I could have a seperate allergy/sensitivity/intolerance to rye. I avoid all gluten grains "just in case."

Sugar is also a problem, but it takes a lot more sugar than wheat to trigger a reaction, and the reaction tends to be much milder, unless I really go nutty with the sugar, then the autoimmune and skin issues crop up - such as a red malar rash (like folks with lupus get) and my nose and ears turn red, swell, and hurt/itch.

Other carbs and overall carb levels in general also play a role, but not to the degree of sugar or wheat. If I eat a very high-carb diet, I get some symptoms, even if I'm not eating wheat, sugar, or grains.

So my first priority is avoiding wheat - my second priority is avoiding processed carbs, and my third priority is choosing whole-food sources of carbs carefully.

I feel best on a moderately low-carb, mostly paleo diet (I do eat some grains that aren't strictly paleo, such as sweet corn, wild rice, brown rice, millet, amaranth, and quinoa - and even potatoes/sweet potatoes - but in very small qantities). I do eat too much fruit (but I loooove it). and I do eat some dairy (trying to make sure it's fermented, because I'm mildly lactose intolerant).

Placebo effect is very possible, but I've repeated the experiments enough to prove the effects to myself (and especially when it came to the wheat, I kept trying to prove myself wrong, because I love, love, love breads and didn't want to give up good bread - and only wheat bread is good bread, sadly). But every time I try a wheat experiment (and I've done dozens and dozens) I have a noticeable reaction (I knew the reaction was "real" when hubby started commenting and could tell when I'd eaten wheat - and he's not the most observant guy on the planet. He once didn't say anything when I forgot and left the house with zinc oxide on my face - I looked like a clown in full face-paint. So for him to notice, it's a big thing).

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Old 06-07-2012, 11:01 PM   #14  
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kaplods, thank you so much for sharing your experience. I'm trying to gather as much information as I can about wheat and intolerance and allergies. I was wondering because of the question I posted of course but also because i have a little sister with Down syndrome. She has been feeling really bad and nobody can figure out what's wrong with her so I turned to nutrition thinking that the answer could lie there somewhere.
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Old 06-08-2012, 05:26 AM   #15  
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Here are some sites on living wheat free:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com
http://www.nerdfitness.com
http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/

After reading them you won't want to pick up another piece of bread, ever, haha. Just be careful. As I said I didn't have the amazing experiences that others had eliminating grains—and I'm not alone. Others suffered adverse health effects from doing so. I know when I was saying that I must be "weird" to need to eat grains that pixelllate showed me a blog of a woman who also had health problems from eliminating wheat. Unfortunately I can't find that link now.

Of course, you know, I would get ripped to shreds if I said this on any of the above sites

We're all different. This is evidenced by the 1290481098 plans out there for losing weight. I know there's a lady in the Atkins forum here that has been doing it for 8 years to keep off her weight! If I go on Atkins I wouldn't last 8 minutes! While for others calorie counting makes them want to cry when I feel it gives me control.

So if you try wheat free living and feel awesome, great. If you try it and feel awful, then you know it isn't for you.

After learning about wheat, I do limit it—but I don't avoid it completely. On average, about 10-15% of my calories will come from wheat and/or grain.

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