Thoughts on going gluten/casein free?

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Hey all! Long time no post. For those playing at home, the last I was active I had plans to move into the mountains in the hopes that it would help with the anxiety associated with being near the city. Long story short, it's going great. Absolutely beautiful.

I'm going to have to keep this brief as I just got a nudge from my boss about taking too long on break, so... I've managed to eliminate a lot of factors re: depression, I've signed up for a horticulture course which will be amazing etc etc... But stil find myself on a short depressive cycle. Generally about every two weeks I find myself filledwth a horrible sense of emptiness. I just spent a weekend of beautiful weather mainly stuck to the floor in front of the heater. I noted that I had been freely binging on bread and processed vegan junk food because I couldn't bring myself to prepare something decent (vicious cycle...)

I've noted this a few times; enough to wonder if there's a greater connection. For the most part I've become pretty good at self care, keep my house nice and tidy and am involved in my social groups. I can't help but feel that there's an organic cause to all of this...

So! Has anybody had any success with alleviating the typical Aspie depression with changes to their diet? I'm already dairy free, but gluten... It's a big ask but I think it might be the key. It's just a huge undertaking, right? No more bread! No more crappy vegan hotdogs! May as well call it the no fun diet hey!

Thanks in advance

What do you count as "junk food"? (some people mean anything processed even if it has decent nutritional value, some people mean snacks with lots of sugar and not much else)

If you're eating nothing but bread and empty-calorie junk food for days, I think that's enough to make a lot of people feel bad -- whether their bread and junk food needs to be gluten-free or not.



Availability varies depending on where you live, but there are lots of gluten free breads.

There are also bagels, english muffins, regular muffins, toaster waffles, toaster pastries (like poptarts), cereals, cakes, pizzas (frozen and from pizza places), pies, cookies, donuts, cupcakes, brownies, nanaimo bars, boxed and frozen mac and cheese, perogies, dried pasta, etc. There are also baking mixes (for bread, muffins, cakes, cookies, pancakes, etc.).

The gluten-free stuff is more expensive, though (sometimes it's a lot more expensive). Gluten-free diets are cheaper if you bake and cook from scratch, or just don't eat a lot of baked goods or grain products.

There are also gluten-free vegan hamburger patties (no veggie dogs yet, but I think it's only a matter of time before someone makes them -- or, if someone already makes them, before they become more popular).

I went gluten free for a while.

I'd say I didn't particularly benefit from it. My minor digestive system issues didn't change. My mood/mental state didn't change.

I probably didn't continue it long enough for any improvements to start showing. So I will try again. I am almost gluten free even now but I don't think that's good enough.

For someone like me who likes cakes/pies/cookies etc, being gluten free was very difficult. And you have to be very careful when you do grocery shopping as most things, even salads etc, tend to have gluten in them.

I have seen many posts by people who tried it (not necessarily on WP) about positive effects of gluten free diet on their digestive system and their mood.

So despite my not particularly positive results, I'd still say it's worth a try.

Gluten gets an unfair rap. Coeliacs should absolutely eliminate it, and so should people with genuine gluten sensitivities, but currently loads of people without those things are doing it. They're wasting their time.

If you like gluten-rich foods, and you can enjoy them as part of a generally balanced diet, and you don't have a digestive sensitivity to them, then there's no reason not to eat them! Remember that gluten-free substitutes replace protein with higher-calorie alternatives, which could cause health issues if you don't adjust your calorie intake appropriately.

However, this sort of dietary change can have a placebo effect, where you feel significant changes to your mood, easing of brain fog, and even decreased autism symptoms. Nothing to do with what you're eating, just the fact that you're putting so much effort in will convince you that you must be doing something right.

After meeting with a certified herbalist, who determined that I was intolerant to a whole plethora of foods - including wheat - I decided to eliminate gluten and casein from my diet. Suffice to say that I had wasted £70 as it made no difference to my mentally crippling anxiety whatsoever. If anything it made me even more miserable, assuming of course that is possible.