SORRY I NEED TO RANT

People diagnosed with coeliac disease need to remove gluten from their diet but there is no good scientific evidence that the whole population or all T2 diabetics need to. I don't think that sort of evidence is very important to some people though.

 

While "the whole population or all T2 diabetics" may not need to abandon gluten, there are a whole spectrum of responses to various grains, so it does no harm to try withdrawing a particular food and if removing it has a beneficial effect then the diet can be improved!

 

I was responding/referring to Canuck fervently imploring everyone to cut out gluten, as if it is some kind of toxin.

You're right, removing gluten is fairly harmless, as long as people don't miss out on nutrients or mind paying through the nose for gluten free products they may not actually need. There's a huge proportion of the general population in developed countries who believe that they are intolerant to gluten, with no adequate scientific evidence to back it up. It's called the nocebo effect, which is the opposite of the placebo effect - the person believes that avoiding a substance will have a health impact.

The gluten free trend has made some manufacturers a lot of money. Just like the fish oil trend and the multivitamins trend. If individuals want to try excluding gluten to see if that helps, that's not an unreasonable thing to do IMO. It's just very subjective and people don't necessarily know if they are just experiencing the nocebo effect. Another problem is when people cut out gluten before being tested for coeliac disease as it messes up the test.

Anyway it's kind of ironic that I happen to be gluten free now, but that's only by default because I low carb, not because I think my body can't digest gluten. As far as I can tell, my body can digest gluten because the bodies of my forbears adapted to it over the last 10,000 years. It's kind of interesting how before the last 20 or so years, only the bodies of coeliacs had trouble with gluten.

 

I am Coeliac and T2 the Coeliac was diagnosed about 15 years ago and T2 5 years ago. I agree with CatLadyNZ when she says you may not actually need to cut out gluten and the cost of Gluten Free products is very expensive. The fact I have to cut the gluten out of my diet has made no difference to my diabetes numbers in fact my numbers continue to rise just like other T2's. So I say save your money unless you really need these products. By the way these products don't taste that good either. Praying they find a cure for us soon.

 

Hi Janice x A lot of us T2s are getting our numbers down by following various diets. I'm doing the low carb high fat diet and keeping mine under control. Have a read on this forum at how others have controlled their diabetes and you'll find a lot of interesting posts about how it really does work xx

 

I've been following a gluten free diet for over 3 years now and don't buy "gluten-free" products - I don't really see how giving it up is such a drama. The only time I've been badly caught out was eating dark chocolate coated liquorice - didn't occur to me that liquorice would be made with wheat. The following 3 days of extreme GI distress taught me a lesson I won't forget - if it's in a bottle or a packet, always read the label!

I recently bought some organic buckwheat crackers because I sometimes miss having a "spreadable" surface - it was like eating cardboard and reminded me of the days of eating Ryvitas and other cardboard-like concoctions. Yuck, never again

My advice to anyone with health issues they don't understand is to try grain/gluten free for at least 30 days to see how you feel - if you don't feel any different, no biggie, go back to eating it. On the other hand, if you feel a big difference, then continue not eating it. Simples.

 

Good advice, I see no harm in trying an exclusion diet and going back to the previous diet if it makes no difference. I think the reason giving up gluten can be seen as a big drama by those who aren't trying to limit carbs anyway, is that they love their regular bread, cakes etc that are offered at parties and restaurants, and having to exclude them can be inconvenient, depressing and expensive. I think it's bad enough that coeliacs have to go through this but to join them when you don't need to is, I think, a bit of a shame.

People might not realise that the belief that gluten is bad for everyone is more marketing than science. I fell into that when I unnecessarily went gluten free - I went to unnecessary expense and hassle, so I like to share my experience when the opportunity arises.

I really enjoy low carbing and if I ever find myself feeling inconvenienced or down about it, I just remember the health benefits I get from it. If I was a coeliac I would feel that way about gluten.

 

Thanks I think I will give it a go nothing to lose only the high numbers I've been getting.

 

Well worth giving it a try Janice. Have you seen @daisy1 post that she does for newbies. There's a lot of helpful information in that as to how to take control so that it doesn't have to be "progressive". It kick-started me into not accepting that it's all inevitable. Plus, this forum is great for advice and support. Good luck and let us know how you are getting on xxx

 

Hi @andreaabbott1,

I'm afraid your thread went off in a different direction. So easy to do. Anyway, I'm Wondering how things are with you after your, obviously much needed rant. I hope you've been able to reach some sort of solution. It's must be a frustrating situation when for you. Wishing you well.

 

Sounds as though you are all suffering - including hubby! Poor guy probably feels as though it's just not worth going on without his food fix and is making you all suffer.

Hope it gets better!

Why isn't your husband on this site?

 

And there are plenty of manufacturers who jump on the gluten free bandwagon game: a while ago I was looking at the labelling on bicarbonate of soda - and was a bit gobsmacked to find that something that had never been anywhere near gluten was actually being claimed to be and labelled as "Gluten Free" - quite unnecessarily - though I suppose it is strictly correct.

Robbity

 

Reminds me of margarine touting that it's cholesterol free. Yippee, lol. It happens to have a bunch of other stuff that is way worse than cholesterol.

 

Tried low carb only 1 small potato and half a roast ond today for dinner. Got a 7.8 - 2 hours later. Ate loads of veg instead. Got butter not marg. Got nuts and yoghurt for breakfast tomorrow. Its a start.x

 

I have also found it annoying to walk through a big grocery store after my diagnosis.

 

I feel the same as you it seems that 80 % of the food is not for us diabetics,

 

Most of the "food" in grocery stores is packaged wheat/sugar/rancid industrial seed oils/salt with various artificial flavourings added in various combinations.

Once you stop seeing it as "food" and see "product" instead, it's not difficult to stop being tempted by it. Reading nutrition/ingredient labels can be source of entertainment if you have a certain sick sense of humour

 

Those cravings for what you shouldn't eat are so over powering so I have a little sympathy for your husband. Think of it more like an addiction than somebody who is just being awkward. However, even addicts have to want to quit their poison in order to be successful in rehab and it doesn't sound like your husband is at that point. I guess you have to decide whether you are happy to allow your kids to be used as emotional punch bags or enablers to his addiction or whether you need to sit down and have that talk that lets your husband know that he can't carry on as he is at the moment, you will support all the way if he wants to help himself but that you can't carry on as you are. You sound like a very caring wife and a good mother who deserves to be treated an awful lot better. Good luck x

 

Actually you can really want to quit killing yourself but still be unable to resist. I know. The mind can play little tricks telling you its ok it's just one more day then you'll begin. It'll convince you that you're buying those cakes for the kids or grandkids. If you come across a reduced sticker on a cream cake - well how can you leave this wonderful bargain behind? It's hard - really hard. And if you've been tricking yourself for a lifetime it's harder still. This poor guy is probably stuck between doing as his wife says (which he knows is right) and longing to go back to the way he was (which he knows he shouldn't). Have some sympathy!

Think of the pull of drugs and all the help people can get to come off them. You can be addicted to behaviour in the same way as you can drugs. The misery this guy is dishing out is the misery he feels within. TALK to him (I know this is difficult with a stubborn fella) but he's miserable and that's why he's making you miserable.