hi, I’ve gone gluten free and feel loads better, bloating is down and ibs symptoms improved etc it’s been a few weeks/ months now.
But, does anyone else struggle with gluten free breads/cereals?
I seem to go backwards after eating some GF products. crackers seem ok but breads, even home made (I made GF sourdough starter from scratch) with no additives and that didn’t agree with me.
Am dairy free to and dear old Mum 84 who is an amazing bake-off level cook made dairy lactose free low sugar home grown fruit deserts the other day and I was back to loose bowels again following morning.
Beginning to think I need to just eat meat and veg 🙈
All thoughts most gratefully received.
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I would spend a month at least without any of those foods so that if you then re-introduce it you will be sure which food is causing the problem. You sound quite sure now to be fair but it might be worth being systematic about it just in case it is something else.
Another option is that you need to allow a few months or longer for your gut to heal from whatever is causing the inflammation. After that you may be able to tolerate those non-gluten grains better (as long as you are not eating gluten). For instance, follow an elimination diet and see if bowel movement problems and bloating subside.
You might be getting cross contamination, if you are using equipment previously used for gluten baking. Some people are very sensitive to that. I was reading on some celiac forums people replace everything, toasters, baking trays, bread machines, cutting boards, sponges, etc. Gluten is notoriously sticky and hard to remove from surfaces.
And just talking out loud here, I'm lactose intolerant. But i need to take lactaid, a lactase supplement, even for some things that don't contain lactose, like raisins. My mother has fructose malabsorption (certain fruits and veg send her to the loo) and is finding that lactaid helps for that too. No idea why it helps but maybe worth experimenting.
Ah now this rings bells, hubby eye rolled when I asked him to wash regular breadcrumbs off the chopping board… I was onto something. Ok, will try both these approaches and keep going. Much appreciated 👍
Pinning down dietary issues is a minefield tbh. Other than what others have already said, some folks with dairy and gluten intolerance can't tolerate soy either. So that's something to consider. Also you may have FODMAP issues. hve you ever done a low FODMAP elimination diet?
Yep am also no soy, no alcohol and no/low sugar. It’s definitely all helping just need to refine. FODMAP yes. Over the years I’ve done every diet/eating plan. Following Izabella Wentz Hashimoto’s Protocol for Root Cause, AI and then Paleo has been THE most successful yet, it was just the introduction of GF grains after doing this for weeks which surprised me. Now I know it’s not that simple and the whole two toasters thing is a whole mother challenge! 🙈 much appreciated thanks for the thoughts and tips 🦋💚🦋
quick thought - how well GF works will depend on what ingredients you use/eat instead and how well they agree with you. GF is a very broad sweep. Many supermarket GFs include millet which is known to prevent thyroxine uptake so I avoid even tiny amounts. Many include psyllium husk, which can be a GI irritant, I have had to avoid it for years due to IBS. Large quantities of fruit/fibre in anything, ditto. Least GI irritant are rice & oat flours. Pre-made cakes, biscuits etc are often a bit frankenfoody, with huge numbers of bizarre ingredients! Fewer ingredients & closer to actual food, the better.
Once you've gone through the initial steep learning curve it just becomes normal, honest. It just takes a little while to read labels and get your products/ingredients sorted out, then it's ordinary life.
You mention being no/low sugar. Are you taking any sugar substitutes or artificial sweeteners instead?
I'm asking as I had a reaction to a sugar substitute when I ate some sugar free biscuits. After reading the packaging and doing a bit of googling I found it was the sugar alcohol, maltitol that had caused me issues. I felt like I'd been drugged, severe digestive reaction and vomiting that happened quite rapidly after I'd eaten them. I also felt unwell for a few days after.
I did try eating the same biscuits a week later so I worked out it was best for me to avoid maltitol and low sugar products. There are other sugar alcohols so I read any labels very thoroughly and avoid sugar free stuff.
I don't want to add to your list of things to avoid but thought it may be helpful to find the source of your problem.
Thanks so much for this tip, I’m quite anti low-sugar already (kids used to wet themselves after fruit shoot drinks with aspartame or asesulfame K in when they were small) but I will look at this as it may well be in some of the processed GF foods we’ve been trying out and I’ve not thought about it. Much appreciated!
I've just thought of something else. Are you using psyllium husk in your gluten free baking?
That can also cause digestive upset for some, loose bowels, excess gas, nausea etc.
I'm only just getting into gluten free baking so have a lot to learn about what can be used as substitutes for ingredients that you either don't want to eat or react to.
Oh wow yes! 10g in the flatbread I just made 🙈 you are right, I was using half a teaspoon in smoothies too. Thanks! Yes so many recipes are not quite right for home baked GF. Let me know if you come across a good one. Buckwheat pancakes are the only consistent non reactive recipe I’ve found so far 🦋💚🦋
It might be that you've consumed too much psyllium husk over a short period of time and you may be able to possibly tolerate it in smaller amounts?
Maybe you could not eat any foods with it for a week or so then take it slowly and try having it again. See how your digestion reacts to it?
I'm still experimenting and exploring gluten free bread recipes so not fully gluten free yet. There's a no knead bread recipe that I make a lot; unfortunately it's not gluten free but the finished loaf resembles an artisan sourdough open type of texture. So until I find a good replacement gluten free recipe for that I won't be fully gluten free yet.
I will let you know if I make anything that I think works well.
Yes, I have problems with gluten free breads and cereals.
I am not coeliac, but I have food intolerances. I was tested some years ago and my main intolerances were to oats, wheat, alcohol and some others which weren't so bad. I did pretty well on this, but had occasional problems which I finally tracked down to potatoes which weren't included in the original test.
Unfortunately many manufacturers use potato starch in gluten free food - oh dear - after all it is gluten free! I have to avoid any of those. I also avoid gluten free oats, as it's the oats which affect me, not the gluten. This cuts out many of the products in the free from section.
I have yet to find a gluten free flour without potato starch (I keep looking) unless I make my own blend from other flours, such as corn, tapioca, chick pea etc so that rather cuts down any baking for me. Health food stores have more choice than the supermarkets in my opinion, including the range of flours made by Infinity Foods. They will have Corn Flour (yellow maize flour) which is not so fine as the cornflour I used to get.
I now have a restricted range of foods which work for me. The Schar products (not trying to advertise) are usually potato free (but still need to check); their crispbreads are fine, and their breads are not too bad but I only eat this occasionally. There are 2 brands of sausage which I know are ok. Polenta can be useful as a mashed potato substitute. GF pasta seems to be ok but I prefer an own brand which includes quinoa. Indian style ready meals are usually safe.
I know soya is bad for us, but there are limits. If it's well down the list of ingredients I ignore it.
Cereals - I seldom eat them - I have mushrooms and scrambled eggs most mornings.
Good luck. I hope this helps. Keep reading the labels!
This is very helpful thank you, yes I’ve been grinding my own millet, quinoa, brown and white rice flours (luckily we inherited an amazing Swedish food mixer with a gazillion attachments and one grinds grains so we are very lucky). I’m question marking corn/maize at the moment will introduce it after a clean break next week and try. It’s the Schar bread we tried but I notice lots of maize ingredients in that. This is all very helpful thank you! 🦋💚🦋
Thanks for reminding me of that. I think I gave up on them ages ago as they have potato starch in all their mixes.
They seem to have changed to call themselves Freee since I last looked. Also have several different flours and recipes on the Freee website (and yes, that isn't a typo).
Another thing I nearly forgot is Corn Thins - they don't put them in the FreeFrom section, but I can eat them.
"But, does anyone else struggle with gluten free breads/cereals?" Yes.
I was dx coeliac Nov 20............so, have since then been reading the coeliac forum on here, and there are quite a lot that have given up on GF bread and feel better for it. Three months ago, I decided that I needed to lose the extra stone I'd put on, and swapped my lunch-time GF sandwich for salad. I won't eat GF bread regularly anymore because I definitely feel better without it.
I'm OK with GF crackers too.
I feel for you with the dairy free..............I think that must be hard to be both.
Thanks so much for your message, that’s interesting about the GF bread and GF crackers. Dairy is yet to be confirmed it could just be additives, corn based ingredients or contamination in the kitchen for GF. I’ll do as others here suggest and eliminate again and try dairy first this time. Thanks for taking the time to message 🦋💚🦋
Hi, not sure if this will help, I've been on a gluten free diet for about 20 years, and I also avoid oats (including g-free oats). I am pretty well overall and eat a wide range of food, as avoiding a long list just made me stressed and symptoms worse. I have found that having lots of yeast (in most g-free breads), high fructose etc gives me bloating and some candida symptoms, so I try not to have lots at one time. Corn thins work well to calm down my system if I'm craving something crunchy, and there are other yummy crackers (in moderation). I have found L-Glutamine invaluable for soothing and healing the digestive tract (once irritated, it annoyingly takes a while to calm down), and pro-biotics and herbs like fennel and marshmallow root really helpful, as well as essential fatty acids (I have crushed flaxseeds and supplements).
I was only recently diagnosed with celiac disease just before Christmas and I can't tolerate many of the gluten free breads. I was eating Warburtons sandwich thins and after a while they made me feel like I had been glutened again. I found out that they contained pea fibre, as well as a Morrison's gluten free pizza I had been eating too. I had to stop eating them and now avoid anything that contains pea fibre, as it gives the same reaction as eating gluten. I now make my own bread. I can only eat certain brands of gluten free muesli and I can also eat the Nestle Go free gluten rice pops.
h interesting, I tried a pea protein for smoothies and it gave me terrible wind. In hadn’t realised it was in GF products thanks so much for the tip. Yep homemade is the way to go I think 🦋💚🦋
Good that things have improved for you. I went totally GF a few years ago even though I didn’t get tested to see if I was coeliac first. I watched my thyroid antibodies drop steadily and I’ve noticed a huge difference in my IBS too.
I hardly ever eat GF bread - I don’t really like the taste, the same with most GF cakes and biscuits - they are all sort of sweet, I find them sickly, I eat GF rice crispies every now and again with lactose free milk but sometimes I sometimes find them a bit sickly too
I tend to try and avoid sugar although I’m not always all that successful there. My diet is mostly eggs, fish, meat, the odd bit of cheese, I eat real butter and some cream, lots of veggies - mostly veg that grow above the ground (less stored sugar) and fruit - mostly berries there again because of high sugar content of some fruit even though it is from fruit rather than the nasty white stuff.
If you join Coeliac U.K. you will get loads of useful information and also their ‘food bible’ which lists every gluten free food and ingredient known to man, well worth joining for that alone.
Thanks so much for sharing this, it’s really helpful. Very similar to what I chose to eat before trying GF products 🙈 I’m contemplating 6 weeks of gluten and testing for Coeliac and then going from there. If my kitchen and baking is all contaminated then I’m likely not actually GF despite the efforts. I can finish off the spelt flakes and such in the cupboards and go from there. Yes! Coeliac UK website was super helpful, I took their online assessment and ticked enough boxes for the report to ask my GP to test me. I found a £20 online fingerprick so I’ll do that. After that I’ll look at dairy testing.
It’s probably a good idea to test first but I didn’t - eventually I had been doing it for so long and my antibodies had reduced and I just couldn’t face going back to eating gluten packed goodies just to find out. I think I’m probably gluten intolerant- I’ve got a photo of myself after I’d eaten French bread, pains au raisins and croissants all the way to the south of France. I look so bloated and puffy that a friend didn’t realise it was me. That was when I decided to try being GF and it made an enormous difference.Not that I wouldn’t have loved tucking into some big fluffy fruit scones and granary bread 😉 but the end result if I tested positive would have been the same - stop eating gluten. There’s only the two of us in the house so we both eat gluten free and my husband just eats non GF if we’re out in a cafe or anywhere.Yes, Coeliac U.K. is terrific isn’t it. Good luck with it all, I
I’ve been GF , DF and avoiding soy for over 2 years, after putting on about 20kg with Hashimoto’s and finding that nothing made any difference. I turned to Isabella Wentz’s book in desperation and despite my cynicism I decided I had nothing to lose by trying out her elimination process for 3 months and I suddenly found I no longer resembled a spacehopper in the waist area, and I was losing weight! I agree with much of what has been said previously. GF breads (shop bought) are the work of the devil in most cases. Many improve with toasting, but making a GF bread sandwich is generally like trying to juggle sawdust. I’m lucky I’ve never been much of a bread person so I live without it most of the time. People who have problems with potatoes may also have problems with other nightshades: that’s tomatoes, peppers and chillies. Personally I don’t think they cause me any issues but I’d be heartbroken if I had to stop eating them as well as gluten and dairy. I’ve personally found I can replace most of my dairy needs with coconut milk and associated products (coconut milk yogurt is fab) and that after a while I’ve forgotten all about real milk and milk products. Eating out can be a bit of a mare…I’ve lost count of the number of places I’ve eaten steak and chips. Plus, when you’re “out” you forget the little things. Like having breakfast in a hotel having asked for GF toast, when the waitress came back to tell me that I’d probably do well not ordering the sausages which, of course, have wheat as a filler 😢.
I credit the changes in my diet (which, incidentally, I’d always regarded as super-healthy) with not only my weight loss, but a general improvement in all things Hashimoto’s related. Levothyroxine did not seem to help me shake off the lack of energy, brain fog etc., but gradually through dietary changes they’ve all disappeared and I have the energy and (almost!) mental capacity I used to have. As one of the most cynical people on earth, nobody was more surprised than me. I think the most important thing is to stick with it, and once it becomes a habit you might even find (as I do) that the occasional slip (intentional or otherwise) doesn’t do you any harm at all.
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