Wheat belly (Page 2)

Well, gluten IS a scientifically valid cause of problems for people with celiac disease.  But yeah I get what you're saying.

The thing is, though, some people with celiac have never been properly diagnosed.  They might have very minor symptoms and never correlate it with the disease.  The only way they'll find out is if they try out a gluten free diet for awhile and notice improvement, or if they get genetic testing done.

There's no harm in trying a gluten-free diet for awhile if you don't mind the meal planning.  Some people will truly improve, others may have a placebo effect, and some won't notice anything.

Interesting perspective.
I know lots of folks like you describe, who are self-proclaimed "gluten free" but don't go 100%. I don't mind - that's on them and their body, not me. It doesn't change how I eat and I couldn't care less what others think, they're not the one who gets sick. Maybe this comes from doing this for 34 years

I actually LOVE that so many people are on the GF bandwagon because the market has expanded 1000-fold since the early 80s. Growing up my mother had to order (cardboard tasting) rice bread that was delivered via refrigerated truck. It took like 2 weeks to arrive. Today I can walk in my everyday Kroger grocery store and be presented with 100s of gluten free products at my fingertips. Give me a Trader Joes or Natural Grocers (or heck, the internet with 1000s of dedicated gluten free food blogs) and I'm like a kid in a candy store

I mean to post this earlier - sorry. Here are some of my favorites:

Bread: Udi's, Canyon Bakehouse (both AMAZING right out of the package. So soft.)
Pasta: Tinkyada, Glutino
Bagels: Glutino (MUST microwave THEN toast)
English muffins: Kinnikinnick (microwave THEN toast)
Waffles: Vans (just toast)
Pizza: Amy's organics
Lunches (tamales/enchiladas/mac-n-cheese, burritos) - Amy's organics 
Canned soup: Amy's organics
Veggie burger: Amy's organics (check variety, some are not GF)
Crackers: Nut Thins, Glutino, Mary's Gone
Granola: Udi's, KIND
Bars: Larabar, KIND bar, Perfect Foods Bar
Mixes (pancake, brownie, cookie, etc.): Pamela's, Gluten Free Pantry, Bob's Red Mill
Oats: Bob's Red Mill (just add water and microwave for oatmeal)
Cereal: Chex (all except wheat variety). All other commercial cereal has some form of gluten - usually in the form of malt or barley flavoring. Rice Krispy used to have a GF version but I haven't seen it in about a year.
 

I used to grind flour from wheat berries and made my own bread for years-and I felt the whole gluten sensitivity thing was a bandwagon too... Until I cut it out for a while.

My wheat/gluten issues are not digestive- but I do see a huge (seriously) difference in my energy levels, attention span, and memory leaving gluten alone since the beginning of this year. 

FWIW I have not lost any weight. 

I live rural so no Trader Joes handy-the easiest way for me to avoid gluten is to eat mainly vegetables & fruit, seeds, beans, nuts,a little lean meat, & eggs. 

Yeah - I agree with all that. I love that there's more and more products every day. I'm a bit sensitive because some people in my life (inlaws) say they're GF then proceed to eat things like boxed hamburgers (gross) with wheat as the second ingredient and them roll their eyes etc when I politely decline. It happens socially a bit too. But I will say I think it's getting better. Many people know about Celiac that never heard of it before and I think folks are a bit more sensitive to the issues.

I can't compete with the 34 years of experience Lisa's got, but being GF for 4 years (100% GF), here are some of my (and my fam's) favs.:

Bread:  homemade with the Kitchen Aid mixer.  We bake loaves, slice, and individually freeze for ease of sandwich-making after thawing out in microwave.

Pasta: Tinkiyada rice pastas (but the package recommends 12 to 14 minutes boiling I think, but we find that to be overcooked, 10 minutes works for us), corn pastas we haven't had one we wouldn't recommend yet.

Bagels:  LOVE the bagels homemade using pamela's flour mix.

Donuts:  Kinnikinnicks are ridiculously yummy.

Pizza:  homemade is our usual, but we recently tried Udis and it was good.  If you're in the Philly/Wilmington, DE area Season's Pizza is hands-down the best GF pizza.  btw, don't fall for the Dominoes nonsense.  They advertise a GF pizza, but they don't have a system in place to guarantee your pie is GF.  It's a total marketing gimmick.

Crackers:  Nut Thins are great, but my fav. is the Crunchmaster Multigrain crackers sold at Sams Club.  

Bars:  Nature Valley Nut Crunch bars

Chips:  I enjoy Lays Stax...Pringles aren't GF.

Cereal:  Huge Chex fans here as well.  All except Wheat and Multi-Grain.   

Brownies:  glutenfreebaking.com has the best brownie recipe ever...it's sorghum flour based, but oh man, seriosuly the best brownies I've ever eaten.

...all in all, being GF, I never feel deprived of anything.  The only thing I missed was bread, because I never found a perfect replacement...until multiple recipes later.  Then, when we discovered the Pamela's homemade bagels, that was magical.  The biggest negative (if you choose to look at it negatively) is convenience.  Personally, my wife and I enjoy preparing foods...but not everyone out there likes to plan what they're going to eat.  A lot of folks want to just pick up food that's available in snack bars or fast food restaurants.  We're the fam with the cooler of our own food.  

Good luck.  Let us know what ya like and even better, what ya don't like!  

Don't forget cornbread!  Most recipes use a portion of flour, but you can substitute rice flour for that.  The flavor comes from the cornmeal anyhow.

I don't eat gluten free but I occasionally cook for other people

Correct, my wife and kids enjoy cornbread...but I will tell you this.  There is one GF baked good that BLOWS AWAY the glutenous version.......BANANA BREAD!!!  Mrs. CD makes them into banana muffins with the mini-muffin pan.  Unreal.  Perfect solution to bananas going brown on the counter.  

"...all in all, being GF, I never feel deprived of anything." 

Thanks to all of you I can get rid of this "deprived" feeling...

So many things I'm used to (read LIKE) are just wheat, wheat and more wheat...

I like the way I feel so sticking with it!

With your help I can start to replace those things I like with GF versions rather than doing without.

Had rice pasta tonight and so far so good! NO “bad” feeling in my (Wheatless) belly!

Wish I would have checked in before cooking as it was just a little overcooked, ok a lot overcooked.

Isn't that crazy?  Check it next time at about 9 or 10 minutes...just take a noodle out and test the consistency.  Voila!    

Oh my. Yes. I might even use the word dangerous
Udi's also makes pre-packaged cookies and muffins. The muffins are great for traveling or if you have  company. And the cookies are just delicious. 

Another note that it's easy to get caught up in the available items and feel like you have to buy/try them all, all the time. Which is okay if you don't need to watch calories and/or have an unlimited budget. But if you do, a lot of the times the gluten free versions are much more calorie dense. Guess I'm trying to say that just because there is a substitute, it's not always the best solution. 

Growing up feeling "deprived" (and I think adults have this way worse making a sudden switch) I sometimes recognize this weird emotional attachment to previously-forbidden foods like discovering a local pizza place has a gluten free pizza crust. I MUST have it every time I visit. And eat all of it. Gah.

Personally, I've always been a slave to sugar.  Being GF does not cure a sugar addict like myself.  I can give up candy for long periods of time, but if I fall of the wagon and "just have one piece," it turns into 5, 10, 20, whatever.  Thank goodness I'm active.  I'm 9 days and counting without candy.

re:  the kinnikinnick donuts, I never really ate gluten donuts back in the day, but I'd say once or twice a year we'll pick these up.  They're amazing.

My wife makes a GF cinnamon roll that is out of this world.  Cinnabon has nothing on these things.  That said, again, twice a year including Christmas morning is the tradition for us with these morsels from heaven.  

Thank you both for posting these lists.  I was diagnosed just 4 months ago (via endoscopy), so I'm still adjusting to the dietary changes.  Luckily I have always been a healthy eater, sticking mostly to fruits, veggies, and lean proteins, so the change hasn't been too difficult.  The hardest part is the social eating (gatherings, parties, etc.).  A couple weeks ago my dad made a snarky comment about the "diseases doctors come up with these days" in reference to my Celiac disease, as if it weren't a real problem.  I was deathly ill when I sought out help, and he didn't see that firsthand.  It's attitudes like my dad's that make social eating difficult.    

Are Envirokidz cereals truly GF?  I was under the impression that they were.  I don't eat much cereal, but PB Panda Puffs are a treat, particularly since my IM training is ramping up.  

Crunchmaster crackers are the bomb, btw.  So yummy.  

Also, I tried some teff flour wraps and they were disgusting.  Any quality GF wraps for burritos?  

For bread products, I'm partial to Food for Life:

http://www.foodforlife.com/products?tid_1=All&tid=2

Most of the other GF breads available in my area are made with potato starch which I don't care for.  Food for Life is mostly rice based.

I hear where she is coming from...but I think she's undervaluing the benefits she has reaped from the explosion in GF items.  That $12 loaf of bread she was able to buy (which btw can be purchased cheaper, and made at home much cheaper) would have been much more expensive without the current, high level of demand.  Yes, with the GF lifestyle going more mainstream, there are going to be growing pains as establishments try to cash in without being fully prepared to provide GF in the manner needed for Celiacs (<20parts per million).  But, the # of establishments actually doing it right have multiplied exponentially.  That would not have happened if it were only diagnosed Celiacs eating GF.

In fact, the GF movement is pretty great considering only about 3% of estimated Celiacs actually have a diagnosis of Celiacs disease.  One in 133 people have Celiacs.  Only about 3% know it.  Hopefully, some of those folks have tried going GF, and in the process got healthier.

With regards to the comment about GF increasing one's weight.  I disagree.  You can be fat thin or in between with or without GF.  Yes, GF is more expensive...but so is buying organic.  If establishments don't do it right, they get sued.  It's a nice system. 

btw, lots of folks out there have gone GF without a celiac's diagnosis, and feel much better.  just sayin'.

Good on them!

I say do whatever it takes to make you feel your best. Why is that frowned upon?