I'm eating gluten free. Any one else?

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I had a blood test done a few weeks ago (it was awful, they had to hold me down to get the needle in because I was screaming and trying to get away) Anyway the blood test said I can't eat gluten any more. For the rest of my life. Gluten is in all breads, cakes, brownies, crackers, cookies, pizzas, pies, beer, chips, seasonings and some candy. Really all I can eat is fruits, veggies, rice and plain grilled meats. That stuff wont fill you up like bread will. I hate eating gluten free but the upside to all this is that people with aspergers and autism get a little bit better after then stop eating gluten if their body had a problem with in the first place, like mine did. I have not seen any change in myself but I have only been eating gluten free for 1 week or so. Any one else on this bland diet?

it does not have to be bland.

Udi's has gluten free bread, pizza crust, muffins
enjoy life has bars you can eat
there are gluten free granola
chex has cinnamon, honey nut, and gorilla munch cereal
there are gluten free pastas and sauces
beatty crocker makes gluten free cookies
pamela cookies are gluten free

I know. I have tried them and they just dont taste the same as the stuff I used to eat. They taste really bad most of the time.

I've toyed with the idea, but I'm not sure how sustainable it is.

I wouldn't be so sure about that. I found that when I was on high carb/ high gluten diet, when I got hungry, I felt starving. While non-gluten wasn't stuffing at the time, I did find out that I stopped getting so extremely hungry. Hunger on a non-gluten/low carb diet seems milder. It becomes very noticeable when I slip and eat gluten and high carb for a couple of days. Then I get very hungry very easily.

Look for the paleo-diet forums online. Paleo lifestyle is non-gluten (and non animal milk). You'll find a world of recipes and advice from the MANY people who live it. It doesn't have to be boring. Heck, want a career? How about Paleo-Chef?

it will take a few weeks for your taste buds to change but give it time a week and you may find you love eating the foods that are the worst for you.

Yes, well I am trying. I feel better when I stick to a mostly paleo type diet but I have not taken dairy completely out yet.
I miss the breads especially the rolls and loaves I used to make myself. Yesterday I was at a bakery that sold their own non-gluten bread, and it tasted good. (!)
She had a loaf with cinnamon and walnuts, and another, savory loaf with cheese and chiles.

They told me to go to a website for King Arthur Flour, because this company supposedly makes the best non-gluten bread flours and mixes.

i may be able to get back to baking if these mixes and flours taste as good made at home as at that (professional) bakery.

KingArthurFlour

I'm not. Honestly as a bread baker it sounds like a source of torture. I certainly wouldn't do it for AS reasons as I find the scientific evidence behind it extremely shaky, but of course you have a real reason. I think it will be really hard for a while, but you'll adjust. My suggestions from people I know who are gluten-free is

1. to check everything. If you don't cook you might not realize all the sources of gluten. For example in many dishes you coat the meat in flour before browning it so if you go to a restaurant and don't know that it wouldn't be great. You can't be sure oats haven't been contaminated with some gluten unless they are certified gluten-free. Flour is often used to thicken soups. There are all kinds of hidden sources of gluten.

2. Don't eat gluten-free bread for 6 months. You need to kind of tastebud wise forget the taste of bread so when you eat the gluten-free stuff you aren't comparing it so much.

3. If you don't know how to cook, learn the basics. In the long run, it will make your life a lot easier. Gluten-free stuff (like rice pasta) can be really expensive and you need to know how to fix a meal if you don't have a whole bunch of stuff to work with.

4. Think about cross-contamination. For example peanut butter is naturally gluten-free. But if you live with someone and share that jar and they use it to spread on their gluten bread when they dip the knife for more it can contaminate your food with gluten.

5. Be aware of alternatives. Like I said there's stuff like rice pasta and gluten-free bread, but also more natural stuff like use cornstarch to thicken your soups instead of flour. Eat rice and quinoa instead of pasta and bread. Use corn tortillas instead of flour ones (make sure they are 100% corn masa). Eat rice krispies instead of shredded wheat.

At first I thought you were saying all people with autism, then I realized I saw the last part of what I bolded (bolded isn't a word ). I eat 3 servings of oatmeal every morning

I've been gluten-free the past couple months and it's been great. I used to constantly feel sick and now I don't. I eat a lot healthier too. There's not much junk food out there without gluten in it, and it's just easier to grab fruits or vegetables that I know are good for me anyways. Pretty sure I've been gluten intolerant for at least ten years and I've just now found out more about it because of other health problems. The amount of gluten intolerant people has risen drastically in recent decades because seed companies make the wheat have way extra gluten, so people are consuming too much and hurting themselves because of it. I think even if I wasn't certain that I needed to be gluten free, I still might try it for a few months and see how I feel. It's not easy, but it's not the hardest thing either. It has helped a lot of people with neurological issues too, so maybe something worth giving a shot.

~K

I'm voluntarily gluten free a few years now (intolerant but celiac test came out negative). I still 'relapse' from time to time, but the more practice you get the more able you are to find great substitutes for the foods you like.


There's actually lots of different brands of gluten free spaghetti and I prefer the one I eat now to standard spaghetti. Pretty much every pizza chain (in Australia at least) has a gluten free pizza base, and even in the last year or so the standard has improved and most of them are nice and crispy. The taste really grows on you, especially if you are a gluten intolerant, because you feel better when you eat it, and you find yourself no longer wanting to have a wheat base. Same applies for muffins and bread. The trick with gluten free bread is it needs to be toasted to taste good - it's seriously good toasted but no good uncooked. Most places offer a gluten free alternative, eg. with Pancake Manor you can have gluten free pancakes and with Cupcake Parlour they sell 2 or 3 varieties of gluten free cupcakes along with their standard range. It's not the end of the world (although it may seem like it at first, it sure did to me). Another thing that's a good idea is to go for more rice based food plus rice noodles and that sort of thing.

I have a friend who is a coeliac (allergic to gluten) and he said he hated it at first but that you do get used to it. He no longer misses bread or pastries or anything like that and is able to eat filling meals without eating foods as this. He used it as an opportunity to discover other foods he may find he likes considering there was nothing he could do about his predicament. There are times when I find I cannot eat anything with gluten in and I just eat curries without flour in them, chinese food (homemade), thai food (again homemade) and gluten free pasta dishes(it's actually ok) just as examples. I am also a big fan of potatoes and so get my carbs from them in their various states. If you look around you will find that there are plenty of dishes out there that do not contain gluten. I would be wary of shop bought curries or ready meals though as they are likely to contain gluten as a thickener, but then you can always check the label.

I was at the doctor's today and I requested to get tested for gluten. I know I have gluten and ceasin sensitives. But I love foods from both those groups, especially dairy. But ever since I decided to reduce my gluten and dairy foods and eat more veggies instead I have noticed a major difference in my thinking. I can eat small amounts of gluten and dairy without any trouble which makes it very tempting for me to keep some stuff stashed away as a quick snack no more than once a week. But if I don't plan my meals and I run out of food then I can't help but fall back on the dairy and gluten like I have recently. It will come back to haunt me later so I think I will have to stop doing that completely.

If they told me to eat gluten free, I'd ignore them.

And I don't think gluten has s**t to do with autism.

This is absolutely true. I tested negative for celiacs but went gluten free because I had celiacs symptoms whenever I ate gluten. Since I went gluten free I've had a significant improvement in the neurological symptoms of my spinocerebellar ataxia.

My guess is that going gluten free helps some people with AS function better because it's easier to deal with stress and other problems when you feel super healthy as opposed to crappy. And maybe you've felt crappy from foods for so long you're used to it and don't know what it's like to feel different.

Yes, I pritty much have the same opinion.
I hardly drink milk and this helps me. When I drink too much milk I feel sick.
I reduced gluten, but I still eat it. Totally reducing it doesn't really help more.
So I don't belive in the "opioidtheory" and gluten and casein in autistics.
I also believe that it's just more stress for the autistic body in some cases, because some people with autism just can't handle certain products, foods, whatever, well.

Last edited by Raziel on 23 Jul 2012, 11:38 pm, edited 3 times in total.