Gluten free by necessity or by choice?

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caseydog

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I have a cousin with Celiac Disease. He can't eat gluten. I had never heard of a "gluten free" diet before he was diagnosed. Then, it seems like being gluten free has become the latest food fad. I honestly don't know why.

It seems like every year there is a new movement to eliminate something from our diet. Fat, carbs, dairy... gluten. And, it is not just people who MUST eliminate these things, but because these things are on the latest "bad for you" list.

So, can somebody explain to me why so many people are shunning gluten after centuries of humans eating bread, and living to tell of it?

CD
 
I think it is more a case of too much of one thing. People rely on it. I know we used to eat bread with every meal. It was fine when we lived on the road, burnt off all the calories and were active enough not to notice any build up of gases... But we do limit the amount of bread we now eat. Dieting is much easier for one thing without it in every meal.

I do know that the one time we made our own seiten, we both had really bad, painfully bad wind afterwards. We avoid seiten now as a result but commercial seiten isn't 100% wheat gluten unlike homemade.

My mother has gone totally gluten free. She says get IBS is better without it. Personally I've always known her following the latest fad diet and I know she's responsible for my anorexia as a teenager and for my issues with oil (I don't actually get enough in my diet and have to consciously work in including it). That's from the 80's fat free diet fad she followed

So, whilst I know one person who is totally gluten intolerant and another who is only wheat intolerant (luckily on the same household), another who avoids it because if issues and 1 who believes it is a problem and frankly it's anyone's guess if it actually is a problem (just like tap water was a problem for her initially in Australia, so only drank mineral water until she found my lemon juice water container in the fridge, liked it and drank that instead, and that's rain water that's totally untreated, not even filtered! A quiet word with my step-father involved the phrase 'don't mention it'...)

I think mostly the human race isn't good a moderation and a lot of these diets get followed as a way of moderating what you eat rather than excluding it totally.

I get subjected to gluten free this that and the other because usually dairy free and gluten free go hand in hand in the commercial world for ease which annoys the hell out of me...
 
I have had a lot of grief over the gluten free fad in the sandwich counter..we have all kinds of kooks in thinking it is a healthy choice..most people who truly have to eat gluten free products would rather not. Usually, because the products themselves aren't good that good. The fad is dwindling, though..we used to go through a case of 48 gluten free buns a week..now, it lasts about a month..
 
caseydog said:
So, can somebody explain to me why so many people are shunning gluten after centuries of humans eating bread, and living to tell of it?
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Sorry, not I. I eat whatever I like and have done for over 60 years. Before that I was forced to eat whatever my mother put in front of me.
 
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I have been gluten free, just before I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. A doctor believed that something was wrong but the tests were inconclusive, so he had diagnosed me with 'non coeliac gluten sensitivity' which actually seems to be a major fad.

But because of that I was gluten free for about a year before the correct diagnosis was made. And honestly I am glad I don't have to be gluten free anymore, because gosh that's expensive. I am sorry for those who really need GF food. Seems tough to me. Not to mention lots of gluten free bread, cakes etc are barely edible.
 
Yorky said:
Sorry, not I. I eat whatever I like and have done for over 60 years. Before that I was forced to eat whatever my mother put in front of me.
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That makes two of us...
And to be brutally honest, I can´t recall a single person at school or at university who was gluten intolerant.
 
karadekoolaid said:
That makes two of us...
And to be brutally honest, I can´t recall a single person at school or at university who was gluten intolerant.
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I think a lot of people who were gluten intolerant back then did not know what was wrong with them and they certainly weren't going to be discussing openly their bowel movements. At our age, it's a topic for discussion among good friends at times without much embarassment, but teens and early 20s? Not unless you wanted to be the "butt" of many jokes!

My friend's husband is gluten intolerant and didn't know what was wrong with him. He developed the gluten sensitivity as he got older and it got worse in his late 40s (he is mid 50s now). He likes to go running, and one of his daughters noticed he came home regularly without socks on, knowing full well that he had them on when he left the house. When he told her what happened to the socks as he was jogging in that rather secluded path in the woods of the park, she was obviously disgusted and said, "Dad, you need to go see a doctor!" And that's when he was diagnosed by an MD. He has no loose issues these days since going gluten free and everything is quite solid, if you get my drift.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
I think a lot of people who were gluten intolerant back then did not know what was wrong with them and they certainly weren't going to be discussing openly their bowel movements. At our age, it's a topic for discussion among good friends at times without much embarassment, but teens and early 20s? Not unless you wanted to be the "butt" of many jokes!

My friend's husband is gluten intolerant and didn't know what was wrong with him. He developed the gluten sensitivity as he got older and it got worse in his late 40s (he is mid 50s now). He likes to go running, and one of his daughters noticed he came home regularly without socks on, knowing full well that he had them on when he left the house. When he told her what happened to the socks as he was jogging in that rather secluded path in the woods of the park, she was obviously disgusted and said, "Dad, you need to go see a doctor!" And that's when he was diagnosed by an MD. He has no loose issues these days since going gluten free and everything is quite solid, if you get my drift.
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Celiac disease is not very common. My cousin was diagnosed when he was about five years old, after being sick and undiagnosed for quite some time. When he was taken off gluten, his health improved immediately.

The best thing about the fad, and I discussed this with his grandparents (my aunt and uncle) is that there are now all kinds of gluten free foods available for him to eat. When he was first diagnosed, that wasn't the case.

CD
 
caseydog said:
Celiac disease is not very common. My cousin was diagnosed when he was about five years old, after being sick and undiagnosed for quite some time. When he was taken off gluten, his health improved immediately.

The best thing about the fad, and I discussed this with his grandparents (my aunt and uncle) is that there are now all kinds of gluten free foods available for him to eat. When he was first diagnosed, that wasn't the case.

CD
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Gluten intolerance and celiac dusease are not always the same thing. Celiac disease is much more serious and debilitating.
 
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JAS_OH1 said:
Gluten intolerance and celiac dusease are not always the same thing. Celiac disease is much more seious and debilitating.
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Yeah the doc that diagnosed me thought it had to be coeliac related because my niece has it and no other bowel disease was present in the family. Well, that was until I turned out to have UC.
 
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