Gluten-free is good for you: fad or fact?

For the past few years I have been gradually changing our family diet. We now eat food made from scratch, lots of home-grown veges, organic milk, mostly organic meat. I avoid additives and preservatives in food.  I run a food co-op, through which we buy organic flours, rice etc. We make our own bread, based on Cydi O'Meara's Super Mix recipe, fresh everyday from organic ingredients.  We now use home-made soap, green cleaners, less chemicals.

So, I should be feeling healthier than ever, right? Wrong.

For the last 18 months at least I have just "felt unwell".  I think I haven't looked very well either.  I have felt tired, lethargic, occasionally nauseus for no reason, and bloated.  Last Christmas I started having cramping and other bowel issues as well, so I went to the doctor and was checked for various problems including bowel cancer.  Apparently there was nothing wrong with me, except borderline anaemia (for which there was no apparent cause either).  With such vague symptoms it was hard to convince the doctor there was any illness to be checked out.  Despite seeing two different doctors, neither suggested that diet could be a cause or tested me for gluten intolerance.

Meanwhile, I kept reading about gluten-free diets, paleo diets, dairy-free diets. Some of my friends follow various diets like these too.  Now, I am quite skeptical when it comes to diets and usually just dismiss them. I prefer to stick to eveything in moderation, a balanced diet and exercise.  But one day I realised that I felt much worse in the afternoons, after lunch.  I had an "aha" moment - it must be the bread.  Such healthy bread though, it was hard to believe that it was causing health troubles.

I figured I had nothing to lose, so I embarked on a more or less gluten free diet for a week.  The effect was almost instantaneous.  Suddenly, I just "felt well". No bloating, heaps of energy, no nausea.  When my husband got home from work each day he said he could tell if I had eaten bread or pasta or other gluten filled food, just by looking at me.  I went from falling asleep on the lounge at 8pm to knitting by the fire at midnight.

Obviously, the whole gluten-free diet deserved more attention!  My 11 year old son has always had vague bouts of nausea and diahorrea- nothing serious enough or specific enough to warrant medical intervention, but niggling away in the background.  I switched him to gluten-free too. Among other results, he became more cheerful!

Thus began my research into gluten and it's effects on the body (and mind).  Switching to a gluten-free diet is not simple, and packaged products that are "gluten-free" are not therefore additive-free, preservative-free or healthy.  They are also heavy on packaging and heavy on the wallet.  The last thing I wanted to do was go back to expensive, packaged food. 

Next: learning more about the effect of grains and gluten, and can I still eat pizza?