I talked with a coworker and she and her husband live a more natural lifestyle, like Jesse and I do. No plastic anything, try not to nook food, stay away from crap food...I thought we were the only weird ones. She then asked me if we were gluten-free. She claimed it made her feel so much better and she is able to do so much more without gluten in her diet. She told me to research gluten and infertility. So, I did. I found some interesting articles. Then I googled gluten and male infertility. The findings were a little shocking. Many sites claim that gluten will mess with a man's sperm.
I brought it up to Jess and he said, basically, no way. He said we are very close to a gluten free lifestyle. All the pasta and rice we buy is gluten free. And we don't eat that much. I'm just confused as to what exactly has gluten in it. It seems it's in weird stuff that I never would've imagined.
So, my question to you all is are you gluten-free? If you are, is it hard? How do you know what has gluten in it? What are some hidden ways of saying gluten?
I'm not sure I want to get into this, but it's sounding more and more intriguing. I'm just curious...
6 comments:
I think you know I'm gluten free and have been since about the middle of August. It hasn't been the easiest thing in the world to get used to but I'm doing it and it hasn't been the end of the world. I know I've got a few different posts on my blog that you might find interesting if you want to take a look at them:
Celiac and Infertility http://meganswishingwell.blogspot.com/2010/08/celiac-disease-and-infertilitywhats.html
If You're Gluten Free I Want To Talk To You
http://meganswishingwell.blogspot.com/2010/08/are-you-gluten-free-i-want-to-talk-to.html
Are You Sure You Have Celiac?
http://meganswishingwell.blogspot.com/2010/09/are-you-sure-you-have-celiac-disease.html
I make a lot of the same things I did before going GF just by replacing flour with a GF flour mixture that I got.
The hard thing is that gluten is in EVERYTHING! Gluten is wheat, barley or rye. It's in canned foods, broths, soy sauce to name a few. You have to definitely read the labels.
One thing that my cousin told me, which I found to be good advice is to only buy things that have 10 or less ingredients because the more ingredients it has the more likely one of them is going to be gluten by another name.
Anyway, I'm still learning but if you have any other questions I'd be happy to try and help!
My little one had an alergic reaction to something I ate while breatfedding (ended up being peanuts.) But, I had to do a lot of different diest before they figured it out. One was supposed to be gluten. I couldn't do it!!! EVERYTHING had gluten in it! I couldn't go out to eat or even eat at home. Needless to say I lost like 5 pounds in just a few day bc I was starving bc I couldn't eat. Not for me at all. But, I have since seen alot of gluten free foods advertised in the supermarket while shopping.
I am Gluten Free...or rather, try to be as much as possible. I have fallen off the wagon a little since the holidays hit, but I'm trying to get back on track. I have never been diagnosed, but I know that I feel better when I eat GF, so that's good enough for me! Plus, for the testing to be accurate, you have to have lots of gluten in your system, and I never really wanted to do that since the thought of tummy aches was and isn't appealing!
I have found that most restaurants (at least in CA) have a GF menu, or are willing to make substitutes. Since you don't have Celiac, if there is cross contamination at least it won't be life threatening. (Cross contamination is super serious for people with Celiac).
As for feeling better, I feel SO much better when I stick with my GF diet. Mike doesn't mind eating GF, although he can't stand my GF brownie mixes that I buy, but he does like the Betty Crocker cake and brownie mixes. If you have a Raley's, they have a GF section within the Natural Foods section. Trader Joe's has quite a few GF items too. One of my favorite GF blogs is: http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/ Lots of good recipes and resources on there.
You'd be amazed at what has gluten in it! Hand lotion and even shampoo!!! I haven't switched to GF soaps and shampoo and things like that yet (I like my TIGI shampoo too much!) but since I've cut most gluten out of my diet I've noticed a huge difference.
I did some research on the link between infertility and gluten allergies, and what I found was enough to convice us to at least give it a try. Gluten can mess up your hormones, which can cause (a women) to not ovulate, but I didn't research much about the male side of things. Gluten can also wreck havoc with your DNA and blood cells and in some people (very very small percentage) cause cancer. Crazy! So all that was enough to convince me to give it a try.
I have been on a low carb diet for the last few days and have felt better. Fewer stomach aches. I wonder about the GF diets? I have a lady that is on it and she looks and feels great. She is 46 years old and looks 30. I don't know if her lifestyle has anything to do with it but my guess is that it does. Keep me posted if you do decide to do it. Meijer has a GF section too and I believe Kroger does too. Good luck!
Love you,
Kami
there are also some who will say gluten affects female fertility as well by preventing proper nutrition from getting into the uterine lining -- thus affecting implantation, etc. I'm not sure if i ever bought off on that, but i did get a blood test that showed i had a sensitivity to gluten. if you decide to go gluten free, i at least would check to see if you are even sensitive to it or not (let alone have celiac). because we were getting ready to do a frozen cycle, i decided to give it a shot. and... we did get pregnant. we are 18 weeks along. i was gluten free for about 4-5 months prior to the transfer, and stayed gluten free until about week 7-8, when carbs were about the only thing that helped the nausea. i've been eating gluten ever since, and baby is healthy! so i can't really say if it helps/hurts or not. it is an EXTREMELY difficult diet to stick to.
Hi there,
I just came across your blog from another and thought i'd comment.
I live Gluten Free because I have to, but honestly I'd do it even if I didn't have to. I learned after the birth of my second daughter that I could no longer tolerate Gluten. I was very very sick and the doctors had no explanation. I went Gluten Free and have never looked back! I feel great!
Good luck! :)
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