Gluten free?

Hi everyone. I am still in the midst of about a three month flare and am ready to try anything at this point. I've already got a pretty basic diet going with foods I've historically been able to handle, but I am still constantly waking up through the night with moderately painful bms. I was curious if anyone had gone the gluten free route and what kind of results they have seen from this? I'm up for any and all suggestions at this point regarding diet plans (even though most are unique to the individual). Thanks!!

Immediate results showed more severe inflammation than previous scopes, and I believe the wording was inflammation to the descending colon secondary to left sided UC. Still waiting for in depth results on the biopsy, have a meeting with doc next week. Until then they bumped me back up to 40mg of the Prednisone.

Going gluten-free for a month will give you answers. I had to try gluten-free two or three times before I figured out that gluten was negative for my gut. In-office test said I was not celiac but the gold standard of celiac testing is a biopsy in gut while you are still eating gluten (I never had that).

I actually thought bread was good for me because my colon "calmed down". Nope, it came to a dead stop into severe constipation and bleeding. My gut cannot process gluten and other grains are also not good for me (found that out years after gluten stop).

Try not to replace bread and other gluten with "gluten-free" crap. Just eat whole foods that have no gluten in them. I tried lots of products and the only one my gut tolerates is Udi's White Bread and I also do a little baking with GF flour (rice blend) but not much (see grains note previously).

It can be very hard to detect what food causes what symptom and took me a very long time to arrive at the food my gut tolerates. Good luck with your test, hope you get some answers and a path to remission.

It took more than eliminating gluten to get there for me but once you see any improvement you will know whether diet modification can help you too.

Post Edited (imagardener2) : 8/25/2016 3:41:10 PM (GMT-6)

CCFA recently did a study through its CCFA partners survey that showed those who go gluten free tend to have longer remission times. They are now studying the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for use in treating Crohn's disease in a national, multimillion dollar clinical trial. Without getting too complex, you can simply try eating a no processed food diet for two weeks. Do all of your shopping in the meat/fish and produce departments and don't eat anything else. Meat, vegetables, fruit, eggs. Drink water. Avoid dairy. Nothing in a can/jar/box. Keep away from starchy veggies like potatoes. Pretend you are a caveman and boxed/manufactured food does not exist. If this helps after a month, look into trying SCD or paleo long-term. They are almost identical with a few exceptions.

I was able to be very strict for close to a year. Now I'll have a period of days here and there where I'll veer off course a bit (usually involves pizza or eating a hot dog/hamburger on a bun) but will follow that up with a couple weeks of being very strict. So far, no more flare ups other than some minor stuff here and there. Feeling like I'm in a mini flare now but I haven't been 100 percent strict lately. I think this is why its so hard to know whether or not it works...nobody can do it all the time. Right now I just go 3-4 times in the morning, semi-formed but I have that feeling like I haven't finished and I have sort of a burning feeling in my gut and very minor proctitis. No major urgency. I look at SCD as a no-risk experiment...if it is shown to be ineffective, I haven't lost anything except a year or two's worth of junk food and several pounds.

Your diet looks really good and healthy. If you wanted it to be SCD "legal" you would just have to swap out the toast/bagel/brown rice for something else like black or navy beans and cauliflower rice. I'll usually eat a fruit and a vegetable with every meal just so I feel like I have variety.

darn I miss a good bagel. I think that will be my next cheat.

I don't find the missing out on food to be the hardest part...its all the prep you have to do to keep food in the house. There's not a lot of grab-and-go type food other than nuts and certain cheeses. To be honest, I'm completely sick of the diet but I'm not ready to give up on it mostly out of fear.

I'm not trying to sway you one way or the other, but for me, I just felt it was worth trying to see what happened...so far its working out OK. Not yet convinced that it is some miracle cure but we'll see.

Brvoncofan

The other important eliminated food that helped my gut substantially was going "low fiber". My gut just can't handle fiber and when I eat it (by choice) I'll have constipation, bleeding and painful BM's.

Post Edited (imagardener2) : 8/26/2016 5:30:24 AM (GMT-6)

Yes. I am gluten free.

The effect of gluten on the digestive system is not just immediate like other high-fodmap foods.

High-fodmap foods ferment in the intestines. The fermentation results in gas and diarrhea. The relationship between high-fodmap foods and gas/diarrhea is immediate. Plus, excessive gas and/or diarrhea can result in inflammation.

However, gluten isn't just high in fodmaps, it also causes leaky gut over time. Leaky gut (enlarged holes in the intestinal lining) allows the absorption of particles that shouldn't be absorbed. The body doesn't recognize these particles and attacks them, resulting in inflammation and auto-immune disease(s). The relationship between gluten and inflammation/auto-immune disease is not immediate.

In regard to diets:

The SCD diet is very similar to the Low Fodmap diet, which is the diet I'm on. Honey, which is allowed on the SCD diet, may cause diarrhea and/or gas. Rice and white potatoes, which are not allowed on the SCD diet, can help to bulk up the stools.

Some foods on the Low Fodmap diet are pro-inflammatory and should be avoided. For example, many oils and nuts that are allowed on the Low Fodmap diet are high in omega-6, which is pro-inflammatory. I recommend macadamia nuts, chestnuts, olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil.

In addition to the Low Fodmap and anti-inflammatory diets, I recommend consuming homemade yogurt and homemade bone broth soup, both of which are allowed on all three diets and are very beneficial for the colon.

I also recommend juicing vegetables for added nutrients.

And I recommend making homemade yogurt with A2 milk. The A2 protein is a lot easier to digest than the A1 protein. Modern cows produce A1 milk. Heat the yogurt for 24 hours to breakdown the lactose.

Aged, hard cheeses do not contain lactose.

Butter is also okay.

Of course, the worse the flare, the harder it is to tolerate foods. Homemade bone broth soups are best for nourishing the body when flares are at their worst. Avoid store-bought broths/soups.

Post Edited (subduedjoy) : 8/26/2016 12:12:48 AM (GMT-6)

momto2boys said...
I found going gf to be very helpful, but the trick was to not buy lots of gluten free products. I made my own bread until I found a local bakery that discloses all of their ingredients. I cheated this summer and ate a few bites of a croissant and was miserable the rest of the day and I sometimes do ok with a few bites of a sourdough bagel it bread made at another local bakery. You could try switching to sourdough first, as the fermentation process breaks down a lot of the gluten in the wheat. If you search, maybe two years ago there was a long thread about sourdough. Interesting read.

So true about not buying lots of gluten-free products, especially gluten-free breads. A lot of store-bought, gluten-free breads contain pro-inflammatory ingredients.

Great advice about switching to sourdough bread before going totally gluten-free. I did that. Although eating only sourdough bread wasn't enough, it did help me to get off gluten because sourdough bread is not as tasty as some of the other breads. Plus, it gets boring to only eat sourdough bread.

Bread used to be one of my top five foods. It's been a long time since I've had bread. I no longer miss it.

I also thought I would have a problem getting off wheat noodles, but I was wrong. The thick, flat rice noodles taste good. I buy them at the Chinese food store. They are also quick to cook.

I am gluten free, but reluctantly! I have tried testing myself every now and then to see what happens, if anything changes when I eat it and all i can say is that my stomach balloons up like I'm pregnant and that's it!!! obviously that isn't great and so I have to keep on not having it, but the thing is there are other foods that make me feel far worse and so I suppose I dont see it as being that detrimental on my body, or maybe it is and i have just got so muddled with all the foods that make me feel unwell that i cant see clearly anymore. Anyway I digress, it is worth giving it a go, and really if you do you need to do it properly, strictly, as mentioned a month without gluten should tell you what you need to know..some people can be very ill from gluten and you wont know until you test yourself.

Maybe try white rice? Brown rice might be too fibrous for you atm, if you're eating a lot of it.
I noticed a whole lot less gas since I ditched wheat and cereals, so it's worked well for me. Hope it works for you too - good luck!

Awesome you all rock. I've got tons of good info here and a lot of trials and errors ahead of me to figure out the right diet for me. Again thank you all, and keep the suggestions coming because who knows who these suggestions may help next. Thank you!!