Lyme Disease Support Group

I would like to know does anyone here really follow a gluten free diet ? does it really help?

Also,if yes,can someone kindly tell me what food include gluten,like bread,pasta...?anything else?

I have been following a no sugar or yeast diet to get rid of the systemic yeast infection caused by the Lyme. Its been 3 weeks and can be a daunting task. However, with the upcoming plan of having 6 months to a year of antibiotics I think that it is a good idea to get the yeast balanced.

Not sure if I understand your question so my appologies if I answer with the info you already know. Gluten is a protein found in wheat. Gluten will be found in pretty much all your breads, cereals, pastas. etc. Food that is Gluten Free will be labeled as so.

Jenn

Google "foods with gluten" - you'll get a surprising list. It's not only the obvious wheat products. But some brands have gluten-free products - gotta become a label reader to be sure!

No, I'm not gluten-free - I don't find I have a sensitivity to it. Plenty of others here do, though ...

I've been gluten free for 2 1/2 years. I was diagnosed with celiac way before Lyme.

Gluten is in A LOT of foods, often hidden. It goes way beyond items containing wheat, barley, and rye. Oats are not safe unless they say GF on them, it is in a lot of caramel color, even high fructose corn syrup can not be safe.

It's also injected into many meats as a filler, in soups, gravy, etc. used as a thickener, Lunch meat, chips, bottles of dried spices, pickles, licorice, and many, many other items even supplements and some prescription and over the counter medications.

I stick primarily to fresh foods (veggies, fruits, meats labeled as not having water injected in, dairy, etc.) unless it is labeled as gluten free.

This is a good list of things to look out for: http://www.celiac.com/articles/182/1/Unsafe-Gluten-Free- Food-List-Unsafe-Ingredients/Page1.html

There are a lot of lists available if you google that will list safe brands (though recipes change over time so it's incredibly important to read labels always). This is one site I use: http://www.glutenfreeinfo.com/

Post edited by: KristenM, at: 04/25/2010 03:04 PM

You can still have good foods if you use alternatives.

Instead of regular pasta, use brown rice pasta (Tinkyada or Trader Joe's) or spaghetti squash or spiral-cut zucchini with your favorite sauce.

I get sliced turkey (lunch-meat style) from Whole Foods, they have an organic no-junk no-salt variety that I like, and it's about the same price as the other stuff.

I think chips in general are not so good, with oils that are not always the best for you. A tasty alternative is oven-baked sweet potato fries, just spray the pan and the cut-up sweet potatoes with a little olive oil and bake.

For pickles and sauerkraut, I like Bubbies. No junk, nice sour crispy pickles. Or try raw cultured vegetables (I like Healing Movement Orange Blend).

No need to suffer, there are lots of things you can do. It may help to try a lunch or two at a vegetarian restaurant that also has gluten-free to open your eyes to the tasty possibilities out there. Had lunch with a friend yesterday that was really really good, she's not vegetarian and she loved it too!

Going 100% gluten-free was a HUGE part of my healing from this Lyme crap. It's been 1 full year since I have been all GF, Dairy-free, sugar-free, corn-free... it has been amazing. It has helped every part of my body.

I don't miss that stuff at all. Once you find out how good you can feel without it (if you do have a sensitivity/celiac), it isn't appealing anymore.

There is Enterolab.com and they have some good info in the FAQ part of their page and offer great testing for a number of possible allergens, including gluten and dairy.

Hopefully, you are working with a Doc who really "gets" this stuff.

Food allergies are nothing to mess with and if they are present and we continue to inundate the body with them, we will really lower the immune system over time and that helps to give things like Lyme a real foothold in our wonderful bodies.

Check out movies like "Food, Inc." and "King Corn". Great stuff! And while you're at it, check out "Dirt! The Movie". All very very well done documentaries that you'll want to share with friends, family and everyone.

Joy and incredible health to all,

Garret

Hi Lindaca!

Yes! Gluten-free does not mean doing without, that's for sure.

But... I need to point out here that one of the dangers that people face when going GF, is thinking that they can do tons of other grains. Once a person has gluten sensitivities, the odds of them developing other allergies is quite high.

Rice, in particular, is one of the grains people go for after going GF. They want the cakes, the pies, the breads and when you look at the ingreds, it usually mostly rice... and one can get sick if they just transfer the diet over that way.

There is also the thing that grains, in general, are just a bunch of carbs and they have the potential to mess with the blood-sugar and cause weight gain among other potential problems.

Just my two cents.

Grains, in general, have really been slammed down america's throat and it is this writer's opinion that we aren't really designed to be able to really process them in our bodies - especially in the amounts that most of us are eating them.

really warm wishes to all,

Garret

Hi Garret,

You may be my new hero! I am trying to be 100% gluten free, dairy free, soy free, and sugar free. I am doing okay with the gluten free and soy free. The only dairy I have is a little cheese. The sugar, well lets just say, I am not doing well with it.

What do you eat? How did you over come the sugar cravings? I never feel full or satisfied.

Garret, I don't do a lot of grains for exactly that reason - I'm more sensitive to the carb count and just can't eat that much at a time. Still, a little as a side dish is fine, or even some quinoa which has a high protein content.

No troubles with weight gain here, down 30 lbs since Nov/Dec and almost down to my 'ideal' weight. I eat lots of raw, but also some cooked veggies, fruits, some lean protein, grains not so much, almost no dairy.

Rchamp, you come off the sugar cravings naturally over time. I don't really care about the sugary stuff any more. I use agave syrup as a sweetener once in a while, but find that I need it less than I used to. At first I put it in my green smoothies to make them taste better, now I forget about it most of the time and don't really miss it. Living in CA we have more fresh fruit than most states, so I do eat some fruit daily (mostly apples, berries).

I don't think everyone can go 100% vegetarian and still maintain their health. Even Dr Oz agrees with this. I eat some protein most days (turkey or fish mostly) but a lot less than I used to.

I don't find myself feeling like I'm starving, I just follow the advice that you should be eating several small meals/snacks a day instead of the standard 3 larger meals. If I'm hungry, I grab something, regardless of whether the clock says mealtime or not. Good filling (protein) snacks are nuts, almond butter (on celery or rice cakes or apples). Trader Joe's has little individual packets of organic raw almonds that are great for throwing in your purse.

I'm not stressing out about the tiny amounts of sugar in ketchup for example, since I have it rarely and only use a small amount when I do have it. Technically this should be avoided as well though.

Rchamp, you're never full cause you're probably dancing all the time

Sugar cravings will disappear, just as Lindaca said, over time. The longer one is away from it, the less of a pull it has. But... overdoing it on other carbs continues the pull of sugar... yeast overgrowth/candida needs to be fed carbs/sugars and will trick you into eating that stuff. Seriously... candida becomes a puppet master with you as a puppet and gets you to crave (and fulfill) those cravings.

Crazy stuff.

So glad that you are thinking about it! Lindaca had great stuff to say in her post above.

Just as we are all in different bodies, so we all have to find out for ourselves what will work in regard to the feeding and care of them. There is no one size fits all, indeed!

There are some healthy vegetarians, some not so healthy ones. Some incredible healthy meat eaters and some not so well ones.

It is good that we are turning our minds toward exploring and participating in the great experiment that this life is.

Hugs to all,

Garret