I have taken all gluten out of my diet virtually all of the time. I have loads more energy, have stopped falling asleep on the lounge in the evening and have lost several kilograms. I am still eating raw muesli for breakfast, because oats contain a slightly different kind of gluten which some people, including me, can tolerate. At first I found that I craved bread and got really hungry without it, but that passed and now I don't really miss it. I did try to make gluten free bread quite a bit at first, and I found that too much bread type foods even with other grains would make me feel bloated and tired.
My son, 12, is also gluten free almost all of the time. He has less issues with bouts of nausea and other bowel problems. The most amazing thing is that he is happier! I didn't realise that food can impact on emotions so much.
Both my son and I have noticed that if we do have gluten now we react to it noticeably. Nathan can eat two lollies containing gluten and immediately feel nauseus. I react to wine unless it is organic. I probably always had a reaction but now I can detect it.
My husband has greatly reduced the gluten in his diet. He has found that he has more energy, particularly in the afternoon when he would usually have quite an energy slump. Did you know that the old song about baked beans and flatulence is wrong? Or at least it doesn't tell the whole story, because it is really gluten that causes all that wind :)
My daughters still have gluten but again much less than they used to.
It has been a difficult change to get used to but it is getting easier all the time. The main challenges for us were replacing bread for lunches and also cutting back on pasta. Lunch now tends to be salads with eggs, cheese, veges and nuts to help fill us up. It is harder if we need to be out and about as I find I need to be really organised to make sure I have something that we can take out with us. We eat more meat than we used to as we needed to replace bread and pasta with something filling.
Packaged gluten free foods are expensive and full of additives so I avoid buying them, although at first I did buy some just to try to help get through the initial stages of our dietary changes. I experimented with different flours to find the ones we liked. I mix our own gluten free flour mix which we use for baking, pancakes and any recipe that calls for plain flour. It is like a wholemeal flour in that it is heavier than a white flour.
150g tapioca flour
150g potato starch
200g brown rice flour
200g buckwheat flour
150g millet flour
150g quinoa flour
So, is it worth the trouble? Definitely yes. I need to be more organised for breakfast and lunch, but as I gather a new repertoire of GF recipes it is getting easier. The results for Nathan and myself in particular have been significant.
I recommend anyone considering removing gluten from their diet to give it a go. You have nothing to lose and it may be a life changing decision.
