It's quite real. It certainly isn't a problem for everyone who follows the regimin, but it's serious business for those that cannot break gluten down.

Think of it as a severe allergy. The symptoms are constant discomfort to outright pain in the intestinal track. Bowel movements are frequent and always loose.

How do I know this? As an infant, my now 42 year son had 17 to 24 dirty diapers a day. I remember crying to my Grandmother. Of course, the old-timers had that special approach to life. She told me not to cry; to be glad that he could, at least, function properly. I was told to think of the poor mothers whose babies couldn't dirty their diapers. lol

The doctor was really concerned because he didn't gain weight properly and would dehydrate because he had so much diareah. The testing was long and extensive.
The diagnosis - celiac disease.

Gluten free foods wasn't an option then. I just had to be vigilant. I was. He did well. It doesn't go away. He's learned his own limitations.

Even if it's a band wagon issue for many, no big deal. It's a healthy way to eat and that's always a positive.

Well, if dd eats even a tiny bit of flour she's miserable for at least a week. I'm pretty sure that's not just her head talking. I think it has something to do with Monsanto et al messing with the wheat seed.

I have gluten sensitivity, not an outright allergy or celiac, but have recently cut gluten, soy and dairy out of my diet. I have never felt more clear-headed and sane. Used to have depression issues, and I sniffled and coughed after ingesting these foods...and now I don't. I'm losing weight and feel 20 years younger. Thinking of corn and eggs as the next foods to take out of my diet, and see if that makes any more difference.

It's real for many people. Discovered all this when I'd fast, and feel energetic and great, then ingest one or more of these and go downhill. I don't have to avoid every little crumb of it, but I choose to now. I'm even looking at going mostly vegan.

Celiac disease is a real thing, with real and significant consequences for the approximately 1% of the population that have it.

With that said I read a article just within that last couple of days stating the researcher who introduced the now-popular notion of non-celiac gluten intolerance, has done more tightly controlled studies that seem to indicate that there is no such thing as non-celiac gluten intolerance. I cannot seem to find the exact article I read but this one seems to contain the same information.

Article: Gluten Sensitivity May Not Exist

The article identifies a different possible cause for the discomfort some people experience called by the lovely acronym FODMAP. And it does note that:
"Coincidentally, some of the largest dietary sources of FODMAPs -- specifically bread products -- are removed when adopting a gluten-free diet, which could explain why the millions of people worldwide who swear by gluten-free diets feel better after going gluten-free."

Whether these FODMAPs are in the wheat or in the other ingredients that are used to make "normal bread" I don't know.

My son had Celiacs Disease. His diet was 100% gluten free. If he ate any gluten, his stomach would bloat like he was nine months pregnant. Then he would either have the runs or be constipated. We never knew which would happen, but odds are he would be constipated. At the age of 2 years old, he weighed about 9 pounds because I didn't know he couldn't eat 80% of the food I was trying to fatten him up with. There is a lady I work with who is also Celiac. She only drinks take out coffee with a straw. If the server touched a donut before picking up her cup, she could end up with a reaction. She is extremely sensitive to gluten even in it's tiniest amount. She's tall and very thin. One day a tiny crumb got into her coffee. Within an hour it looked like she was 6 months pregnant and she had cramping really bad.

then you have those who "think" they're intolerant to gluten. Well, have a test done first. My sister for one thinks she's gluten intollerant and goes on and on about the food where she works and how most of it contains gluten, blah, blah, blah....... but then she ate six Timbits on the drive from her house to Vancouver. Excuse me, but you're not that intolerance if you can eat them.

I too, get angry at all the people who think they have something wrong with them. Or eat gluten free food because they think they'll lose weight. I know some people do have an intolerance, but until you've been tested and stick to the diet 100%, get off your high horse. (sorry for sounding snarky..... I've had a bad day.... ;) )

An article linked to by the one I cited above about "FODMAPs" contains the statement:
Common sources of FODMAPs are bread products, chocolate, energy bars that include artificial sweeteners, mushrooms, beans, apples, and anything with high fructose corn syrup.

If these "FODMAPs" are the actual cause of the set of symptoms that is currently termed "Non-celiac gluten intolerance" then one item in that list stands out for me as a potential reason for the increase in the prevalence of these symptoms.

This post was edited by bob_cville on Sat, May 24, 14 at 10:49

I have a relative who could have written a post similar to yours, Ruthie--until she was diagnosed with celiac. She has had to be extremely vigilant about keeping gluten out of her diet. She told me recently she had to give up vodka, because most of it is made from wheat. (Some is made from potatoes.) That wouldn't have occurred to me.

Toothpaste is another with the hidden ingredient.

If you are indeed a undiagnosed Celiac and while you continue to eat gluten..thinking you feel bad a lot, you can be destroying your insides, inhibiting your ability to get pregnant, living with chronic skin conditions...

I have a friend who has a thyroid that's wonky..when she sticks with a gluten free diet, her life is a lot easier to live.

I have a co worker that fought psoriasis from 17-30's until she read the book Wheat Belly, and went Gluten Free...skin cleared up, energy levels were up, and several other things that improved her quality of life.

I completely agree there are a small number of people who are truly gluten intolerant. I have a neighbor with celiac disease. Then there are the thousands of others who aren't gluten intolerant but just like to jump on board with the latest food fad. Fat is bad, carbs are bad, anything that isn't organic is bad, gluten is bad.....

My mother had a lot of stomach and intestinal problems all her life. In retrospect I've wondered if she had a problem with gluten.

As is usually the case, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

The good news is multifold - there has been more research leading to better understanding of these problems and what to do about them. There's heightened awareness and an avalanche of medical recommendations, available products, etc to deal with these and other allergic or autoimmune triggers. But the understanding is far from complete.

The bad news is that like ADD, there are many who believe that double digit percentages of the population suffers from each given problem. Including, in many cases, themselves.

Why do people care so much what others eat and whether they are medically diagnosed or not? I don't see any negatives to avoiding gluten.

Personally, I think it's great that gluten-free is so popular because it's led the way to a lot of different foods that were not available even a few years ago.

Why do people care so much what others eat and whether they are medically diagnosed or not?

Good question, Chi!

I agree, chi raises a good question.

Just like the ADD phenomenon, my experience is that the uproar if any comes from the sufferers (real and imagined) who choose to talk incessantly about nothing other than what they eat and how they feel as a result. Just as others who believe they've had a revelation of some kind, they tend to be less tolerant of those who don't share their views.

I think I have exposure to every kind of "-tarian" among my family and friends. What one chooses to eat is very personal and those who make such choices in a quiet and private way are in the majority in my circle but are otherwise the minority in my area.

snidely - "I think I have exposure to every kind of "-tarian" among my family and friends. What one chooses to eat is very personal and those who make such choices in a quiet and private way are in the majority in my circle but are otherwise the minority in my area."

I'm probably in the same position as this. I have people who are vegetarians, gluten-free, vegans, lactose-intolerant, band-wagon dieters (you know the ones,- those are the people who one week are gluten free because they read The Wheat Belly book and then become lactose free because they read something else,, etc...). I don't care what you eat as long as it makes you happy.

What ticks me off are the people who become holier than thou because you aren't vegetarian (I have a sister who is like that) or gluten-free (I'm not giving up my raisin toast for anybody), or followers of the paleo diets.

For every article that one can find touting the advantages of a gluten-free diet there is one touting the unnecessariness of it. (I'm talking about for the general population and not those who have tested to be gluten intolerant.

I think for me it is the endless proselytizing from a position of unwarranted certitude that bothers me. So many people will read a book, (or more usually listen to a person talking about that book), that makes some number of claims and assertions that may or may not any valid scientific facts supporting them.
The people may then perform a simple unscientific test, such as "I ate gluten free for a month and I believe I felt better" and they suddenly believe and adopt all of the claims in that book and talk incessantly about their new found insights.

If I'm cooking for people, either in my home, or for a potluck, and someone expresses the fact that they are avoiding meat, or pork, or shellfish, or wheat, or pasta, or dairy, or nuts, or eggplant, or whatever, I will make something that meets those restrictions, or at least let them know that the dish I made does contain the unwanted substance. But if they then launch into what amounts to a sales-pitch, trying to convince me that their decision is right for me, spouting unsupported claims and anecdotal evidence, well I'm not buying, so shut up already. But I can't say that because then I would be deemed rude.

This applies to you snidely and your insidious pro-eggplant agenda. :-)

Another vote for skeptics to read Wheat Belly, written and researched by a medical doctor. Wheat was "re-engineered" some years ago to produce a crop that was more abundant, cheaply grown, etc., resulting in the very unhealthy flour which is sold today. Daughter's bf has celiac disease and has to read even shampoo labels because yes, they add flour to that also! He gets extremely ill if there is flour in anything he ingests. Having hypothyroidism myself, I also try to avoid wheat products but I cheat because it is Everywhere and hard to avoid. Wish there were "do-overs;" I would feed my children very differently than I did when they were young, both as to wheat and sugar.

I could ask the same as you ...what does it matter to you if I am curious or question the gluten free issue? Idon't think it's a matter of anyone caring what any person includes or doesn't include in their diet but a curiosity about why people are so quick to assume that is a personal issue without a diagnosis....the need to be gluten free to fit in with the latest theory on a stomach ache.....it's like people who try a new off the wall diet because someone told them they lost 20 pounds in an ad...they don't read the small print that says not typical.

For all those that are truly intolerant it's a wonderful thing that so much research has been done and so many products...but the craziness of being in on the latest BS, is what I am talking about. I have a friend who says she is allergic to sourdough bread because she ate it with a meal once and her stomach was literally turned upside down that evening...ok I say maybe. But she ate a lot of other crap that night as well..why blame the sourdough...

Monkey see ...monkey do.

This post was edited by ruthieg__tx on Sat, May 24, 14 at 15:46

bob cville,

I was going to compliment you on your elegant explanation (that I couldn't and didn't express nearly as well) concerning the evangelical attitudes and conduct people can develop about such things. I would have given you an electronic High-Five across the wires and tubes of Al Gore's internet.

Yes, I was going to, until you revealed your true loser's attitude in the last sentence ;-) . I won't now.

But there are many g-intolerant people who keep it to themselves, as much as possible. DD will often just bring her own food as she can't chance contamination. She would never dream of going to someone's house for dinner without mentioning her condition, (so the hostess doesn't make something for her that she can't eat,) and offering to bring her own food. Who ARE these rude people of whom you speak?? To each her/his own, of course!

I've been gluten-free for almost twenty years out of necessity because I do have Celiac Disease. I have my official diagnosis through two biopsies of the small intestine. The first one showed that my villi were completely destroyed which didn't surprise me since I had become increasingly very sick over time. I was malnourished at 87 pounds - and I was in my early thirties.

I had another biopsy after 6 months, during which time I was strictly gluten-free; and the biopsy showed that my villi was returning. Even though I've been gluten-free all these years, I still struggle with issues related to Celiac Disease. Plus, if you have the one auto-immune disease, you usually have more than one. Which I have.

Something I have noticed in all the years since being diagnosed with Celiac, is that there is usually always at least one family member who doesn't understand it. They will suggest that you try a little gluten (ie. 'have a donut, why don't you?'), since they think it can't hurt you. They actually seem offended. I imagine if you don't have to be gluten-free because you are lucky enough not to have Celiac, it can be very overwhelming to actually learn how to be gluten-free, and to understand all of the conscience effort it takes to do so 24/7/365.

To be honest, if someone cares about their family member that is having stomach and other issues, I wonder why they wouldn't encourage them to get it checked out instead of becoming annoyed and angry about it. You make it sound like it would be such a bother to you, and a chore, if you have family members that might have actual Celiac Disease. That's actually the same sort of treatment I had from one of my family members. Other people being sick can be a pain in the ass, but if you care, you do what you have to do.

My stepdaughter has been gluten-free for seven or eight years now and so is my granddaughter. Neither have celiac, but my SD thought it may help her migraines (it didn't). At first I was a little P.O.'d about it because they come to visit for a week twice a year and I cook while they're here. Also she looked at the ingredient list on most of my condiments and couldn't have most of them. It was pretty frustrating! I had no clue, so I read what I could find on the internet and found some really good recipes. Actually, it was kind of a fun challenge to come up with different menus, but you can basically just serve meat, potatoes and a vegetable or salad (watch the dressing, though).

Now, it isn't even a problem. I just don't see how anyone could give up a donut if they didn't have to! LOL!!

My son's girlfriend is gluten intolerant and lactose intolerant - try cooking for that! However, it is not up to me to question, cajole, belittle, or anything else. Like patti, I educated myself via the internet and actually the people at Whole Foods are a wealth of information especially about grains and flours.

I learned some new recipes that I have incorporated into our own menus. My goal was to include her in our family dinners without her feeling like she was a burden to do so. She has her own snack drawer at our house that I keep stocked with cookies and junk food. The primary grocery store that I shop at has a couple of different areas in it that are for gluten-free products.