To Gluten or Not to Gluten...

This topic has been on my mind a lot lately. Gluten-free products are becoming much more accessible, and for good reason. Apparently 1 in 126 children suffers from either a gluten allergy or Celiac disease. For adults it's 1 in every 111. With close to 15% of the world's population having some sort of gluten intolerance, it's no wonder the gluten-free market has really opened up. These gluten issues are really nothing new, they are just more commonly diagnosed today.

Often diagnosis of a gluten allergy or intolerance is diagnosed after several steps. First, some of the common symptoms must be present. If some are present and there's no other medical reason for it, then the patient is recommended to remove gluten from their diet for a few days or weeks to see if the symptoms subside. If they do the doctor may simply recommend removing gluten from his or her diet (or avoiding it as much as possible) or may call for further testing for confirmation. A blood test can be done to detect antibodies that suggest Celiac Disease. Damage and inflammation to the small intestine can also be detected via endoscopy to also confirm Celiac Disease.

Why the sudden interest in all this gluten nonsense? I myself possess several of the symptoms and think I may be gluten sensitive or have a gluten allergy. I'll spare you the details of my specific symptoms, and instead have shared a general list with you below.

Symptoms of a Gluten Allergy

• Upper repository tract problems
• Fatigue
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Mouth Ulcers
• Anemia
• Infertility
• Acne
• Weight Loss
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Abdominal Bloating
• Crohn's Disease
• Diverticulitis
• Depression
• Attention and Behavioral Problems
• Asthma
• Keratosis Pilaris
• Irritability
• Eczema
• Wheat-Dependent Exercise-Induced Anaphylaxis

I did a 3 day trial- removing most gluten from my diet and my symptoms literally disappeared. Though I'm happy I may have found a solution to my stomach and skin problems, I'm also a little sad. Gluten is in some of my favorite foods!

First, beer has gluten. I'm not a big beer drinker, but I do really enjoy good beer. I like rich dark beers with lots of flavor and am known to jump at the opportunity to try a new micro brew or attend a beer festival. Luckily, most of the other alcoholic beverages I enjoy (wine, vodka and tequila) typically do not contain gluten.

For those of you that don't know, gluten is found in wheat, barley, rye and triticale. Because I eat healthy and run a lot, whole grains are a large part of my diet. I'm going to have to do a lot of learning quickly if I need to sub my whole grains for gluten-free versions.

I keep looking at Healthy Pancake Recipes on the Peanut Butter Fingers Blog and have been anxiously waiting to try most of them. I don't think any are gluten-free, so they may require some modifying.

During my many hours spent online researching all this gluten stuff, I did find a delicious looking recipe for Gluten Free French Toast Brownies. Click Here to check it out.

I think my next step is to discuss it with an actual doctor. Self diagnosis can only do so much plus gluten free alternatives are not cheap. If I'm going to be gluten free there better be good reason for it. This brings me to another point. Some believe that removing gluten will help with weight loss but there is no evidence to support this. Gluten is in a lot of cards, which really is the only correlation with weight loss. Removing gluten has only proven to be beneficial to those with gluten allergies (thought removing gluten certainly will not hurt you if you are not sensitive to gluten). I guess this means I have to find a primary care physician.... this could take a while.