my gluten-free check in

Thanks, Keeper; I see Google Books has much of the text online for free. I'll be reading that this week!

Closure asked about the expense. Part of it is that you'll have to do much of your own cooking and food prep; that alone will knock down the price of some of the more expensive food items. You learn to shop for bargains; instead of chicken breast at $2.99/pound, you get chicken thighs when they are on sale for $.99/pound, or buy whole chickens for $.69 when they're on sale- that sort of thing. (Cooked chicken thighs are better anyway- much easier to prepare.)

Instead of yogurt at $4.69 for 12 ounces or whatever, you buy one container of the yogurt and a half gallon of organic milk, and make your own. (Note: live cultures in properly prepared yogurt is at the core of the Gottschall SCD diet, and is very important. I recommend Fage, available at TJs, as it has an "acceptable" set of bacteria used for starter cultures, i.e.: no bifidus.) And then there's lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, too, which can bring the price down.

Unfortunately, our disease may ultimately be caused by the relative thrift in our food choices. The products with the most oligosaccharides- those eliminated from the Gottschall diet- are those that are the cheapest: wheat, corn, potatoes, some rice, and so forth. Unfortunately, the vast quantities of these foodstuffs mixed in to our regular diets are not necessarily very healthy; they are cheap, which has helped them gain ubiquity. I mean, really- corn syrup.... in catsup? In soda? In everything else? How is this good for us?

At the very least, you'll eat better. If you are able to source your foods from small stores, farmer's markets, and chains like Trader Joe's and "Fresh and Easy," then you can probably end up somewhere close to what you're spending now.

Like Pollan's "In Defense of Food" suggests- eat food; not too much; mostly plants. (A fantastic book to read, BTW- I strongly recommend it to anyone who eats.)

wow...thanks guys for the info. I knew that the blood tests could come back negative, but didn't know a biopsy could too.

I agree with Osprey...that the cheapest foods are usually the least healthy. at least that's what I was getting from the post.

I try to read labels as much as possible while shopping. For instance I was going to buy generic fruit punch...I know not good lol...and when I read the label I saw how bad it really was...there was vegetable oil in it. That turned me off pretty quick. If I wanted to drink vegetable oil I'd just by it by the gallon and drink it plain lol.

I know a lot of stores have health food sections and what not, but wouldn't it be nice to have a gluten free section? That would be so much easier! lol. Looking around the house though I've surprisingly found quite a few gluten free items already in my kitchen. I guess I'll just see what happens with all my tests and go from there. One thing I do know is I can't live like this much longer...prisoner tied to the toliet...something has to be done.

If you ever need a justification for gluten free diets, just point people to http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/Cereal%20article.pdf
This is a very well researched article that details both epidemiological and cellular research outlining the sources of action of grains on our guts. One thing that surprised me was a mention that it has only been just over 40 years since they connected Celiac disease and wheat. The other thing that is interesting is a suggested mechanism for wheat or other foods to cause a great many auto-immune diseases (see pages 47 - 59).

It is very nice to hear that some peopole found relief from the diet.
Reading the topic, I did not see something about sugar.
So, when you are on a gluten free diet can you eat sugar or it is something that you must eliminate?

I do not speak for large quantities like drinking cola or eating sweets.
Thanks

If eliminating gluten alone doesn't do it for you, switch from sugar to honey. And if you consume milk products, try consuming only fermented milk, i.e.: hard cheeses and yogurts with no added sugar or high fructose corn syrup. The lactose in milk is poorly tolerated by most people; we just don't have the enzyme to break it up, so it feeds bacteria in the gut.

I personally enjoy Fage (Trader Joe's or Whole Foods). A bowl of full-fat yogurt plus bananas, blueberries, and raw honey makes for a fantastic breakfast. You can also use the Fage to make your own yogurt; instead of $4-something for a 12 oz container, buy organic milk for $6/gallon, simmer it and inoculate it with Fage when cool. Incubate at 100-110F for 24 hours, and- bingo. Your own yogurt.

I eat lots of rice ,beans, all veggies , all fruit ,chicken, seafood, eggs, milk products, All Frit-O-Lay products, Boars Head products they are all very inexpensive and available every where. I did try/ buy Gluten free pancake mix and salad dressings specialty items like that but they all tasted so TERRIBLE it was a total waste of money.
I make my own salad dressing fresh just enough to use daily. Olive oil, yellow mustard ,splash of balsamic ,salt and pepper.
Read labels.

and we have missed YOU! I should have listened to you about gluten a couple years ago. there seems to be lots of us here who have found it helpful to cut it out.