Gluten-Free Diets: Latest Fad?

I'm not a doctor, but this info contradicts what my doctor tells me. For one, you can be allergic to wheat and grain (and therefore follow a gluten-free diet) without having celiac disease. Also, the blood test for celiac disease isn't reliable. The only trustworthy test for celiac disease is for a doctor to take a biopsy of your intestines after eating gluten.

My personal story: I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue and was too ill to work. I'm not just saying this - I was seriously sick. I was bed-ridden and could only hold a book for a few minutes at a time. Under doctor's supervision I went on a gluten-free diet (even though my blood work for celiac disease came back negative). I was able to return to work within a month.

I've been on a gluten-free diet for 3 years now and I still don't know if I have celiac or not. I have a biopsy scheduled at Stanford Medical Center in June. That should tell me for sure. But if it comes out negative, it just means I'm allergic, not celiac.

I do understand the fear that gluten-free diets will become a fad. I've talked to people who aren't sick who think they should try a gluten-free diet just becuase they heard about it on NPR. But on the flip side, there is a bit of a stigma attached to this diet. I hope no one who reads this blog will look donwn their nose at people like me.

Thanks for bringing some excellent balance to this post. Your story serves as a great encouragement for people with similar health problems.
-Jim

Hey Deborah - I just wanted to mention that if you have been gluten free for the last three years your biopsy will be negative even if you have celiac disease.

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I struggle with obesity and I have heard that a gluten free diet can reduce cravings that cause me to binge.

Has anybody ever heard of Gluten free for weight loss or food addiction???

I can't tell you how glad I am that gluten-free food is the latest trend- my 12yo son has just been tentatively diagnosed with coeliac disease following a gastroscopy (the surgeon saw damage consistent with coeliac disease looking down the scope, but until we get the histology results tomorrow he has to keep eating normally, in case he needs more tests). It's good to know that he will be able to eat many of the foods he likes, even if that's just because silly people think they've found another easy way to lose weight without exercise and dietary restraint! Of course, it would be interesting to let those people spend a day with my son's condition and see how "cool" this trend really is- he enjoys a range of symptoms including vomiting, pain, nausea, constipation, halitosis and rectal bleeding- all great topics for discussion at your favorite inner city cafe, assuming you're well enough to get there! Oh yes, and his risk of intestinal cancer is greatly increased unless he faithfully adheres to the diet for the rest of his life, even if his syptoms disappear forever.
BTW Deborah, you are confusing the words "allergic" and "intolerant". An allergic reaction involves the realease of histamines and can be fatal (like a peanut allergy).

Amber, from what I hear it is worth giving it a try. The theory behind it is that if you are gluten-sensitive in any level (and that celiac would be just the extreme end of the spectrum, and there would be several levels of sensitivy), that eating gluten would lead to malabsorption, and your body in this undernourished state would cause you to overeat and have cravings.

I belong to several autoimmune disease groups, and this same theory also says that people who have autoimmune diseases are more prone to this sensitivity. Several members of the group tried the gluten-free diet and the majority of them felt better and had no cravings and allergies. So it is worth a try. Do it for 2 weeks and see how you feel.

I found out I had celiac two years ago and have been gluten-free ever since.

Yes, there may be health benefits to a gluten-free diet unrelated to celiac disease. Regarding the comment in the original post that "Other than [having Celiac disease], there is no special reason to follow a gluten-free diet." Not necessarily. Grains are only edible once they have been cooked, but even then, not all of thier toxins have been eliminated. For a very clear explanation of the toxicity in grains, I recommend the following website:

http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html

While it is an explanation of the Paleolithic diet, a much stricter regime tailored to eat only those foods we are genetically predisposed to digest, the support for diminishing grain consumption is also covered. Also interesting are various stories of how following this diet helped cure Multiple Sclerosis. One example can be found here: http://www.paleodiet.com/ms/ What we put in our bodies undoubtedly affects our health, and although nothing has been proven with regards to the benefits of eliminating gluten (or more), nothing has been disproven either.

Finally, thank you so much for your comment, Kath. I defy those who are interested in this as a "new craze" to actually stick to a gluten-free diet for more than a few weeks!! This isn't just a question of buying "gluten-free pasta" instead. To truly eliminate gluten from your diet, be ready to stop eating at all but a few restaurants (Outback Steakhouse, PF Chang's, and Don Pablo's), to check the ingredients of everything you buy, to constantly call company 800 numbers to check the gluten-content of its products, and to make long trips to specialized grocery stores to buy the products you need.

I would be ecstatic if gluten-free became a diet craze. The more gluten awareness (and general allergy/intolerance awareness) there is in the world, the easier it will be for actual gluten-intolerant people to live a normal life and stop receiving annoyed looks and perfunctory answers at restaurants. Chefs able to accomodate a gluten-free diet? Grocery stores with gluten-free products, instead of my 40-minute drive to Trader Joe's or Wild Oats? Clear labeling as to the gluten content of products? Count me in! I couldn't be happier.

I am fairly certain no one needs to fear a true "gluten-free craze," since I doubt anyone without symptoms would have the tenacity to follow the diet.

To Jan and Amber:
Please be aware that eliminating gluten from your diet initially causes a detoxification reaction, just as smokers or drug addicts experience after quitting. For several weeks, I experienced migraines, fatigue, irritability, and various other symptoms, but once these stopped, the improvement in my well-being was dramatic.

I am 17 years old and have been diagnosed with coeliacs disease. As a child was always skinny, but in the last year I put on a lot of weight due to my allergy to gluten. I have lost nearly a stone since sticking to the diet, but it only applies to sufferers of the disease, so really people shouldn't be cutting out gluten, you will become low on folic acid which is vital for concentration and a healthy neurological state. Oh and the no the blood test is not at all conclusive, only the endoscopy and a biopsy from the small intestine will determine if you have coeliacs or not.

Would you only lower the cholesterol and fat in your diet after having a heart attack? It is only once you have the attack that the tissue in your heart is damaged, scarred, and can be thus examined by a biopsy. If you said "I'm at risk for a heart attack." and he said "well, I'll take a biopsy if you have one to see if that is indeed the case," you'd change doctors. But this is the logic currently applied to people at risk for celiac disease - only do the diet once the damage is done.

The intestinal damage, which is the actual definition of Celiac Disease, is the final stage of gluten intolerance. At this point, a litany of other problems is unavoidable, though different in each case: osteoporosis, lactose intolerance, high risk of lymphoma, and universally, the various issues arising from malabsorption. For a biopsy to give a positive result, the doctors must find a flattening of the intestinal walls ("decreased villous height") and a "hypertrophy of the crypts" (basically, if your intestine has somewhat disappeared) in the small sample of tissue they examined. But the auto-immune reaction can be going on even if this is not detected, perhaps because it is in a different part of your digestive track (did the doctor perform a jejunal and duodenal biopsy?) or even somewhere else in the body. But worst of all, by the time your intestines have gotten to that point, it's not always possible to fully repair the harm! Again, doctors are relying on a method that can only give a positive result once the problem has become serious, instead of using preventative ways of ensuring the problem never arises. (however, fewer doctors are requiring the biopsy to prescribe a gluten-free diet now than a few years ago).

Finally, many celiacs can be symptom-free their entire lives. Wait, then what's the point of giving up delicious cookies, cakes, hoagies and soft pretzels, if you feel no consequences when you eat them? Because unfortunately, you can have a completely asymptomatic gluten intolerance, never seeing any direct effects from eating gluten, but you're just as much in danger of nutritional deficiencies, osteoporosis, and intestinal lymphoma (cancer) as any other gluten intolerant individual.

My concern is that many doctors are not up to date on this disease. First, it is far more common than originally thought. Estimates are from 1 in every 120 to 1 in every 500 people for Western populations, the Irish and Italians being particularly affected. Second, new information is being discovered every year. My personal story involves showing my doctor a study in a medical journal involving celiac disease and the IgA / IgG ratio in the blood tests after he wouldn't believe me that my test results *did* point to having celiac disease. And third, because the risk that this is a "fad" (much like ADD) could cause doctors to dismiss a patient inquiring about gluten intolerence instead of seriously looking into the problem. I changed doctors three times and went to a gastroenterologist (who still didn't catch on to what I had) before I finally found a doctor who specialized in celiac disease that properly diagnosed my condition and allowed me to finally regain my health. Due to all this, and because this disease is grossly underdiagnosed today, it would be preferable that the public be oversensitive to gluten intolerance, even if it means a little dose of mass hypochondria. :)

P.S. My apologies for the long posts. There's just too much confusion out there on this topic.

Celiac disease is definitely something that most doctors aren't very educated about. I wonder if there are tests being developed that could diagnose celiac disease in the early phases, before intestinal lining is destroyed. It seems to me like that would make the most sense. Once scientists find the genetic marker for celiac disease, they will probably be able to test for it more definitively and accurately. As far as following a gluten-free diet just to "make sure", I think that's unrealistic. Gluten is in so many products that for the general public to start avoiding them is just not going to happen. But I think anyone who has symptoms of a gluten intolerance should definitely start avoiding gluten ASAP to avoid damaging the intestines.

i have a friend who has celiac and my wife has ibs.both of them have tried atkins and told me that when following atkins they had no symptoms of their disease/syndrome.
my friend told me that the disease is very prevalent in ppl of irish and/or italian lineage.he is both.

Wow! What qualifies someone to discourage a person from a diet that could be very helpful to them? It is not true that a GF diet will not help someone that doesn't have celiac disease. I wish someone had advised me about these possible dangers and symptoms before I developed an auto-immune disorder. Chronic fatigue, hives, headaches, edema, weight gain, nausea--to name a few symptoms. My health has deteriorated tremendously during my search for the cause of my disease. These symptoms can come on slowly, so slowly you may have no idea they are coming from a food eaten. Please, be careful and not give advice unless you are certain you know the facts. There are many that do not. I do not want another person to go through the agony I have endured with this illness.

Spectra, I don't think it is unrealistic as long as the person actually finds a cure for their symptoms. You are talking about a perfectly healthy person who would cut out gluten just in case - then yes, it is not worth it. I'm talking about people who don't feel ok, and have strange and previously unexplained symptoms, that will try a gluten-free diet and find the solution to all these symptoms. If that had happened to me when I tried it, I'd be gluten-free for life. Not eating gluten is a small price to pay if my symptoms had been resolved or improved.

Eva, I didn't have any negative reactions in my gluten-free month. Maybe it is because I don't eat much carb or much gluten for starters, at most 4x a week. I eat mostly brown rice, yams, and fruit for carb already. So no detox. Unfortunately I also didn't have any change in my symptoms, so not worth sticking to it.

I went to a doc yesterday. Have bad Crohn's (IBS)disease for 20 years. Am scheduled for celiac testing biopsy tomorrow. He suggested I look up Paratuberculosis on-line. This is very compelling information to consider if you have the symptoms of IBS or Celiac Disease especially if you have not been able to obstain a definitive diagnosis.

I can understand not eating gluten if you are suspecting that you may have issues with it. If that's all it takes to prevent you from having serious problems down the line, it's definitely worth the extra effort to eat GF. I have IBS (which isn't the same as Crohn's disease), but I've been able to keep it under control with a diet rich in vegetables and fruits. It's what works for me and gives me fewer symptoms. If you have digestive issues, it's definitely a good idea to play around with your diet and find the culprit. For me, it was excess fat and dairy and wasn't gluten, so I don't feel the need to avoid it. But if a person finds out that gluten does give them a bad reaction, then they should avoid it.

I have been suffering from IBS since childhood (I'm now 44.) I was checked out for coeliac disease which was negative.Under medical supervison I went on an exclusion diet and found that I cannot tolerate wheat or uncooked dairy. I also cannot tolerate gluten. In the first month on 'normal eating' after the exclusion diet, minus all the foods that were making me ill, not only did I lose a stone in weight but never felt so good.I also found that my arthritus completely vanished.
I've let things slip and the weight & IBS symptoms are back. I've also got joint pain again.Reading other people's comments has spured me to be more strict and go back to the most heathy way of eating. Wish me luck.

Does anyone have any evidence of a Gluten-Free diet being dangerous, especially for a person with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

My Son is six years old and he is autistic. He is on the Gluten Free diet, and it has done wonders. If he has gluten he is a different child. It has not cured his autism, however it has improved many of his autistic behaviors. (HE IS NOT A CELIAC.) I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia in July and they gave me antidepressants.
I did not like how I felt on the drugs, so I heard about the gluten free diet and I tried it. I feel great!!!!I no longer have migraines, my energy level has increased tremendously, I no longer have IBS and I can sleep. My sore joints and muscles are getting better every day. (I AM NOT A CELIAC EITHER) My son and I will be on the gluten free diet for life, it is worth the extra effort.

Anna - there is no danger whatsoever. Just get your carb from other sources. If you are also casein-free (dairy-free), take a calcium supplement.

How long on average does it take to feel the difference on a gluten-free diet?

Gluten-Free Diet can be dangerous for a person who suffered from Celiac Disease.

Susan - you are wrong.

Anna, in theory, you should feel better within 2-3 weeks. If you don't, then odds are it is not going to help you.

I know a number of people who are gluten free but don't have celiac disease, and frankly the claim that they are on a "fad" diet, or "silly people who think they found an easy way to lose weight", is just plain wrong.
Yes, for one thing there are a lot of autistic kids who's parents swear it improves their child's behavoir, and there are a lot of people with fibromyaglia or other problems, but no celiac, who swear to it.

And some people find that gluten was part or all the reason for their problems with compulsive eating. That group is NOT just doing it for a "fad diet", or an "easy way out". They find that when they don't get gluten, they simply don't have the same problems with food-often after years of therapy and "behavoir motification" failing to solve the problem.

But either way Kath, I think you are being just a tiny bit unfair to want to benefit from these people and at the same time write them off as "silly", without really knowing their situation or their reasons.

I have celiac and want to weigh in on this. The biopsy diagnosis is not reliable if you have been on a gluten-free diet for a while or have a minor form of the disease. True celiac sprue is a genetic disorder and there is now a DNA test for it. If you've been on a gluten-free diet then to do the biopsy you have to go back on gluten for a week or two to cause enough damage to your intestines to show up on a biopsy.

For myself, I had tremendous improvements after a week on a gluten-free diet. I am highly sensitive and going back on a gluten diet for a solid week would be an extremely horrible experience, thus I've never had a biopsy. However we've found quite a few members of my mom's side of the family have celiac and the fact that a gluten-free diet helps is enough for us.

As to self-diagnosis, that is quite common among people in the Kansas City support group. Doctors simply don't know enough about it because it wasn't well known until very recently. They used to think 1 in 10,000 Americans have it. Now they are finding up to 1 in 300 have it, though it is diagnosed as about a dozen different things because of a very large range of symptoms.

Many people spend years with multiple doctors trying to identify the cause of their problems. Eventually they become more expert (in a general sense) then their doctors and come across celiac (or plain old gluten intolerance). Going on a gluten-free diet either shows a noticeable improvement or it doesn't. If it does, then that's a good enough diagnosis for most people.

In my family doctors have diagnosed the symptoms of celiac sprue (which are completely different for myself, sister, and mother) as everything from irritable bowel syndrome (a general catch-all), and separation anxiety.

Anyway, gluten intolerance is a lot more common than was thought just 3 years ago and it is very hard to diagnose. Thus it will be described as a fad even though a gluten-free diet will help a large number of people.

By the time celiac disease shows up in a biopsy, the damage has already been done. A better and extremely accurate way to test for it is through a stool sample.
There's a great website, http://enterolab.com that explains all this and allows you to order the tests online. I found it very helpful!

I actually am another gluten-free non-celiac, for whom a combination of gluten free and excitotoxin free (really a poor name, but it's hydrolyzed protein class additives and flavor ehancers) diet has been nothing short of a miracle.

I've struggled with compulsive eating all my life and found that cutting out both the gluten and that class of additives, has completely cured my problem. After dozens of therapists, years of 12 Step, Fen-phen, Meridia, antidepressants, various vitamins and naturopathic solutions, and more diets than you'd ever want to hear about, failed miserably to do anything about the problem, I've found that THIS diet/lifestyle has been a total cure.

And it's not just about losing weight, but frankly just being able to read a book or watch a movie without being distracted with constant obsessive thoughts about food has been extremely liberating, and given me a whole new life. The difficulty of maintaining this diet (and sometimes the excitotoxin part is as difficult or more so, than the gluten part believe it or not), has been a tiny price to pay for not just the weight loss, but the personal and psychological freedom I've gotten from being freed from the mental aspects and shame of compulsive eating.

Of course, the weight part was problematic not only medically and in terms of social discrimination, but also in terms of simple things I couldn't do. But the part about never being able to stop thinking about food, was much more debilitating if less visible.

I still have problems talking to doctors in terms of getting through their thick skulls, that the no excitotoxin part was not just about abstaining from junk food, and the no gluten wasn't just about "carb cutting". (In fact, I still enjoy chocolate and ice cream ocassionally, and love baking things with millet, and teff.)
At first I would go to restaurants asking for "safe" meal, and get all kinds of nasty comments from fellow diners and even waiters to the effect of, "Hey! If you want to know what your real problem is. I can tell you right now! You eat too much!" Only they were often using nastier language. But having been fat much of my life, such talk wasn't really anything new. And now that I've lost much of the weight people treat me very differently not only with my requests regarding food but in every situation.

When I first did this, I thought I was the only non-celiac in the history of the world to ever go on a gluten free diet. When I started seeing more of the other gluten free folks out there, I started to see that I wasn't as unusual, as I had originally expected, which was a relief. But I never dreamed that I'd be accused of "jumping on the bandwagon" or buying into a "fad diet".

Grace, it is terrible that people are judging you and giving you attitude about not eating a substance that so many are intolerant to... People are very close-minded. Congratulations for doing what is best for your health.

How can GF diets be considered a fad diet or an easy way to lose weight? Some people do lose when they go gluten-free but many of us actually gain weight (myself included). Now I have to struggle with how to manage my weight while being gluten-free.

Yes, there is a connection between gluten intolerance and being overweight. First, Dr. Joseph Murray at the Stanford Celiac Disease conference in 2005 reported that a significant number of celiac patients present with overweight, which is sort of a paradox considering that celiac disease is a disease of malabsorption.

The answer lies very simply in the mineral calcium. Papers by Holick at the University of Tennessee report that calcium and vitamin D are required to get fat out of a fat cell. (Calcium acts like an "ATM card" to get fat out of the bank.) You can check the literature with Google's Scholar search, or just pay attention to the milk ads claiming that you should drink more milk to lose weight. Calcium is one of the keys here (as well as fat, which is a carrier of fat-soluble vitamins like D.)

Anyway, gluten does its damage by destroying the absorptive surface of the gut. So, the reduced surface area means that you can eat food, even highly nutritious stuff, and still be malnourished for minerals and fat-soluble vitamins (A,D,E, and K). In some, this means wasting away to skin and bones. To others, it's a paradox of starving while not being able to access the body's stores of fat- *and* suffering the stigma of sloth and gluttony. Malnourishment for minerals and vitamins is probably why there are such broad and far-reaching problems with gluten sensitivity, including autism and Aspergers, and an incredible list of associated illnesses.

Interestingly, calcium is involved in many other signaling processes, such as first-phase insulin release from the pancreas, proper ovulation from the ovary (Thys-Jacobs), conversion of tesosterone to estrogen... all factors in Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. So, here's a mechanism for how gluten sensitivity contributes to all of these illnesses.

Many in my community (a Yahoo group for gluten and casein avoidance, called GFCFNN) believe that the success of the Atkins diet has nothing to do with carbs, but everything to do with avoiding gluten. This is also supported by research from Harvard that shows that it's not *total* carbs, but *types* of carbs. (Sheesh... can't pull up my source to get that reference! Ask me later.)

Anyway, the gluten free diet does take commitment, and for help in getting a good diagnosis, www.enterolab.com is a good choice. You can see if you have the genes for it, and then you can get tested for food-specific antibodies in the intestinal tract (as opposed to the bloodstream.) Dr. Kenneth Fine, MD., is probably one of the leading proponents helping people figure out their gluten-related illnesses.

And with regard to the fad idea- hooray to the people who self-diagnose (thanks to the internet and discussion groups like this one.) I think our health care system is a lot better off when patients get active about their own care. It's like peer review, and I think that patients should challenge a doctor's authority. And if the gluten-free person feels better, then who cares what the ill-informed nutritionists say? And if a person doesn't have the genes or any problems and gives up gluten as a "fad", then I say "welcome to my world." If everyone else helps make a market for gluten-free foods, then that's better for me.

Oops- one more thing! It turns out that these milk ads for increased calcium might be making some people worse. For some reason, some people with gluten sensitivity *also* have sensitivity to milk. It somehow has to do with the production of a hormone called "zonulin", which actually lets the gluten and/or dairy proteins into the bloodstream.

So, many people who go on the gluten free diet may *not* lose weight, if they also have this problem with dairy.

In my case, I tried to eat dairy to lose weight (after that Holick literature came out) and I gained about 50 lbs in 3 years. And there was the whole chronic fatigue bit and IBS and all that, so I was really unhappy. And it wasn't an instantaneous reaction, but a long drawn-out illness. If I had know it was the dairy (and gluten was probably secondary), then I would have given it up in a heartbeat. (However, experience is a good teacher, but I wish I didn't have to learn it the hard way...) -L

I have been gluten free for about 5 years. I didn't know about celiac disease initially. A whole variety of symptoms stopped after I was off wheat for only 10 days --- including the lovely symptoms of IBS, migraines, numbness in my hands, night terrors, anxiety, and bloating. The bloating was bad enough that more than one person asked if I was pregnant. I have a lifelong history of very severe allergies and asthma -- both improved after eliminating wheat, so I assumed it was just another allergy. Then I found out about celiac disease (scary!), and had myself tested. Both the blood test and and biopsy came back negative, although the doctor observed numerous lesions in the upper GI track. At that point I had been wheat-free for about a year.

As far as weight goes, I lost about 12 pounds initially, but it came back and I've managed to fight it off since with diet and exercise. But my shape is totally different because of the lack of bloating. I now look much thinner at the same weight. I still weigh about 15 pounds heavier than I want.

Sometimes people think I'm a freak because of the no-wheat thing. Oh, well, being thought of as weird sure beats the heck out of chronic diarrhea, bloating, migraine headaches, numb hands, and anxiety.

Every four or five months, I try to reintroduce wheat back into my diet. Without fail, I get sick.

Go ahead - call me crazy,
Kristen

P.S. I personally don't have any problems with dairy, and I find that a high dairy diet helps me lose weight as long as it is truly a substitution of calories rather than an addition.

My health improved dramatically when I went on a gluten free/casein free diet a year ago. I was having severe indigestion (this in a person who always was known for having a cast iron stomach) with reflux, asthma-like attacks (I tested negative for asthma), heart palpitations (I am a marathon runner and checked out in good health after a lengthy and expensive cardiac evaluation), hives, white crusty stuff coming from my ears, loose stools, cramps, gas. . .need I go on? In frustration, I embarked upon a lengthy research odyssey on the internet which led me to information about gluten intolerance and convinced me to give the diet a try. Bingo. I am in the fine dining restaurant business so you can imagine how difficult it is for me to stay on such a restrictive regime! It's certainly no fad. Giving up gluten and cow's milk (I can eat goat and sheep's milk products with no problems) was like kicking heroin. My cooking skills have certainly been challenged but there's a wealth of ingredients that make for some interesting and delicious dishes. Much of the world, until recently, did not eat wheat or cow's milk products. And, FYI, gluten (and casein)is a hidden ingredient in many many foods you would never think of.

So glad I found your site!After a month of feeling truly unwell, and several years before that of general lethargy and vague fellings that 'something was wrong' I decided to try a GF diet, with my doctor's approval, as all tests done had been inconclusive. I can honestly say it has taken only 4 days for me to start feeling the benefits. The agonising stomach cramps have already disappeared and given that this time last week I was swallowing painkillers like sweeties, that is an amazing occurence!I'm sure I've hit on the correct diagnosis, purely by chance whilst browsing the net, so I'd say to anyone out there with problems to give GF a try for a while- it's not likely to kill you, but it just might help.Just a pity the medical profession can't come up with tests that are more sensitive/accurate.

GF diets dangerous for coeliacs? Huh?

Can someone please tell me what pre-civilised humans did for their gluten intake? If it is so neccessary to our diet, how on earth did we cope before the invention of agriculture, the grindstone and nutritionless bland gluten-laden ready meals?

I have - in retrospect, natch - been ill my whole life. Told by doctors to "eat up" when complaining of loss of weight and tiredness, habitually unemployed due to an inability to function properly, continually existing in a vicious circle of depression and mania, I found myself aged thirty four convinced that I was dying. If it hadn't been for my girlfriend moving in and observing that my toilet habits were, er, "unusual", I don't know how things would have turned out. Fatally, I suspect.

Instead of sending me back to the doctor for another dose of humiliation, my girlfriend sent me to a health food store for an "allergy test". The test itself was pure quackery, but the person conducting it had obviously dealt with enough like me that just by looking at me and - doctors take note - listening, she was able to give me the neccessary gentle nudge in the right direction. So I gave it a go.

Within a week I was sleeping an hour less every night. Within two weeks my skin was clearer, my eyes brighter and my mood lighter. Within three the verruccas that had been bothering me for years has simply vanished overnight. A month later I was bounding around, my business was flourishing (self-employment had long before become the only option) and everyone was asking me for "some of what you're taking".

Yet those same people, when I explained that I was simply cutting out gluten, began to display the sort of dismissiveness that I'd come to believe an attitude particular only to the medical profession. Suddenly they were backtracking, talking of placebo effects and fad diets.

Observing this kind of resistance to such a simple and - you'd think - innoccuous dietary adjustment, one would be forgiven for assuming that gluten has some sort of hold over them.

It's been a year now since I've been 90% wheat/gluten
free and I've never felt better. After surviving the withdrawal symptoms of a long established high carb, wheat laden low fat diet, in my case dizziness, racing heart and breathlessness I now feel ready to take on the world. Gone is the lethargy, brain fogginess, fatigue, anxiety, PMT and constipation which I'd endured all my life and blamed on my female cycle. My skin now feels invigorated, everyone says I'm looking younger, I've lost weight from my thighs which previously stored my fat and I'm enjoying the benefits of a greater lung capacity with what feels like an excess supply of oxygen.I'm finally getting the benefits of the good diet I eat.
A few years ago I was feeling so anxious that I had a battery of general blood tests. These simply confirmed there was nothing wrong with me. I thought that if this is what'healthy' feels like what must it feel like to be sick. Friends accused me of being a hypocrondriac which was annoying considering I took fewer sick days than anyone in my workplace. Interestingly I always felt better being at work than trying to relax at home. I believe it has to do with the delicate interaction of food intolerance and hormone production. When you take on the everyday stress/challenges in the workplace you release adrenalin and other feel good hormones which help the body cope with the constant challenge and inflamation of its cells in response to wheat intolerance. I often wonder whether the real reason so many of us take on sporting and other physical, mental and emotional challenges, challenges which put us in the limelight and/or physiologically stress our bodies (presentations at work, marathons and fun runs) is to pump our bodies with feel good hormones that create a balance and help combat the inflamation caused by our wheat allergies/ What do you think?

hey, so glad to have stumbled across your site, i'm from australia and have recently been diagnosed with celiacs and am finding it really difficult to eat out at restaurants/cafes. does anyone know if there is an australian list of australian sold foods that celiacs can't have or even one that we can have, i find it awkward telling everyone that i have celiacs then having to explain the whole deal with it. katie

I have had IBS for years, and suddenly 2 years ago developed light-headedness and reduced ability to mentally focus and analyze. My kind doctor mentioned something about food allergies, and maybe even mentioned the word "intolerance," but instead ordered a whole battery of cardiac tests, which were all negative. Months later I stumbled across gluten discussions and decided to try a GF diet. The light-headedness, whose severity had varied from day to day but never vanished, went away in a day or two. Like many of you, I'm undiagnosed, and occasionally question my decision to go GF. Thus a few weeks ago I was out with friends and had a bellyful of pizza and beer. The next day I felt extreme light-headedness, as though my mind was detached from my body. It was just bizarre. Anyone ever experience that? Needless to say, I do my best to stick to GF, but I'm nowhere near perfect. The IBS doesn't ever fully go away, but it has improved. Are there other related intolerances I should consider, or is it just that I'm not 100% GF?

Just to let you all know you don't have to eat dull food when following a gluten, wheat or diary free diet.
Check out these websites www.village-bakery.com and www.ok-foods.co.uk

Honestley I have been in cake heaven since discovery The Village Bakery cakes and OK Foods even do a low fat bar!

HI Kate,
I live in Australia too. My mum is a coeliac. I've had a negative blood test and have no symptoms but my GP is sending me for an endoscopy anyway - just to be sure. Anyway, there are coeliac societies in every state and they have a list of restaurants and other places that sell gluten-free products. Also try typing 'gluten-free restaurant and the state you live in' in google. I've done it for Victoria and was able to give my mum tiarmasu cake for the first time in her life. As a starting point try www.coeliac.org.au.

CD is not uncommon nowadays. I have a friend whose husband has CD. It doesn't take much to cater for it. We had a barbecue and the only thing he couldn't eat were some of the biscuits and a store bought salad. Everything else was gluten free! When my mum visited a friend came round with gluten-free dips and some gourmet gluten-free rice crackers. We ate better than if it wasn't gluten-free!

You're right though, it does take a bit of effort - and a bit of education. Best of luck.
M.