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Is It Possible To Be Over-Weight And Have A Gluten Problem?

posted on May 7, 2010 by

Does this surprise you, like it did me at one point in time? I would love to hear your stories.


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Comments

  1. terry says
    May 7, 2010 at 6:04 pm

    I AM overweight and have a gluten problem, so no…! Not surprised at all. Her explanation of the metabolic issues makes perfect sense to me.

  2. adventuresofaglutenf says
    May 7, 2010 at 6:10 pm

    Thanks for sharing Terry! I had that problem for a while too, it was one of the many reasons I denied my disease for so long, Dr's kept looking at me like… "How? Maybe your diagnosis is a false positive…" Nope, not a false positive, just off your radar. 🙂

  3. Budger says
    May 7, 2010 at 10:50 pm

    I am obese as well. And as part of my 15+ year quest to try and find the root of the problem, my weight was ALWAYS an issue. If I had a dollar for every time I heard, "You need to lose some weight.", I could retire. And no matter how hard I tried I could lose weight with a huge struggle but could not keep it off. I was constantly hungry, and it was a vicious circle as every time I dieted I went on the high fiber, whole grain, less starch and protien type of diet, which would only make me sicker. Now that I have been 2 months gluten-free, I have GAINED weight, and my doctor told me not to worry about it. I have never had a doctor tell me that.

  4. Deanna says
    May 8, 2010 at 12:35 am

    How very interesting. I've gained a little weight since going glulten free, which I attribute to my body finally digesting everything I eat, and the re-training of my body as to what "full" feels like. (Hint: it's not bloated.) But, I don't have celiac – just gluten intolerance.

  5. adventuresofaglutenf says
    May 8, 2010 at 3:14 am

    Rhonda,Terry and Deanna,

    Not sure if you have read this article yet by Dr. Ron Hoggan, Ed.D., it's titled, "Food Cravings, Obesity and Gluten Consumption."
    http://www.celiac.com/articles/1034/1/Food-Cravin…

    That article was so interesting to me, it really makes you wonder! I just ordered Dr. Hoggan's book, "Dangerous Grains." I have had many people tell me how eye opening it is and I am excited to read it.
    http://www.amazon.com/Dangerous-Grains-Gluten-Cer…

    I never had a weight problem growing up (but I wasn't "skinny," either). I have a muscular build and was very active in sports as a kid (even with unknown gluten sensitivity at the time. I am coming to realize that I have had this problem well over 20 years, if not my entire life, but I did not exhibit like a "classic" celiac so I went under the radar).

    My weight wasn't a real problem until after I had my thyroid ablated due to Graves' Disease and wasn't absorbing my thyroid hormone, for approximately 10 months! My TSH levels peaked in the 150's before my celiac was discovered. I was so lethargic from the severe hypothyroidism that I sought out the high carb and high sugar foods like bread, pasta, cake, pie… 🙂 for "energy." Little did I know at the time that those foods were literally poisoning me and keeping me from absorbing my thyroid medication!

    I finally started to lose the weight about a year ago, and have since dropped about 50 lbs. Not sure if it had more to do with learning to cook at home and making healthy adjustments to recipes (plus walking) or… If it has more to do with my ADD diagnosis a year or so ago, and the medication I take to manage it.

    I am also really interested in reading more about the Opioid Peptides found in gluten. This is a new area of exploration for me, but I wonder if my 3 years of "cheating" on the GF diet wasn't just an emotional issue for me. I have long thought I was just stuck in the denial stage of "The 5 Stages of Grief," but, as it was recently brought to my attention, denial can be part of addiction too.

    Check out this article I just found (it is from 1979), titled, "Opioid Peptides Derived from Food Proteins:"
    <a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=6&ved=0CCwQFjAF&url=http%3A%2F%2 Fwww.jbc.org%2Fcontent%2F254%2F7%2F2446.full.pdf&ei=qnnlS4r-K4P48AbMof2GDA&usg=AFQjCNEtChAcU19lsxP8tHwVdQPsijiMsg&sig2=qR2Y1oNJrTdKd_ANVG0arQ” target=”_blank”>http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&amp…” target=”_blank”>Fwww.jbc.org%2Fcontent%2F254%2F7%2F2446.full.pdf&ei=qnnlS4r-K4P48AbMof2GDA&usg=AFQjCNEtChAcU19lsxP8tHwVdQPsijiMsg&sig2=qR2Y1oNJrTdKd_ANVG0arQ

  6. tastyeatsathome says
    May 8, 2010 at 4:35 am

    My dad was diagnosed as celiac (I wasn't) but he was overweight at the time…so yeah, totally doesn't surprise me.

  7. BeyondRiceandTofu says
    May 8, 2010 at 8:13 am

    My (old) gastroenterologist told me I couldn't be celiac because I wasn't losing weight (this was in 1995) despite my biopsy report coming back saying villous atrophy = celiac! (He also told me I could probably eat wheat once in a while…um, no!)

    I think many undiagnosed celiacs have problems feeling full and satisfied. When I was young I was always told I must have a "hollow leg" because I could put away so much food. I can eat A LOT! And I still can (and do) even after diagnosis… so I have to watch my weight carefully. I know I have a food addiction of some sort…

  8. Tai says
    May 8, 2010 at 1:05 pm

    I have a friend whose son wasn't diagnosed for a long time because he was "chubby". And I have read articles saying just what the dr. in the video said that the body, due to a lack of nutrients being absorbed actually goes into starvation mode.

    I have always been super thin. And I ate a TON! I never felt full. I remember being so bloated and yet my stomach was growling with hunger pains. People just said I had a great metabolism…go figure. Then after my last baby was born I started losing muscle and gaining fat. That had never happened to me before! I got my pre-diabetes diagnosis prior to finding out I was celiac. So I was doing everything I could to get my glucose under control only it wasn't budging. I can't wait to get tested again now that I am gf! I want to get tested for all the other sensitivities, although I don't seem to react I just want to know! Ironically, my husband and I got really into "natural health" about 8 years ago. We got our own grain mill and made fresh whole wheat flour all the time. I used it for all our baking, and I baked A LOT! I could consume so much people were astonished that I only weighed 108 lbs at the time (my thinnest as an adult). I had no idea what I was doing to myself because I didn't have the typical reactions…nothing like what Olive went through. I hate to say this, but I am glad that she did get so sick (not that I want her sick but you know what I mean) because I would have never known how sick I was if she hadn't been diagnosed!

  9. CC says
    May 9, 2010 at 1:48 am

    Thank you so much for this! I was overweight for a long time (and couldn' t figure out why since I was eating so healthily) and then found out I had gi issues. Once I got rid of the gluten, about 6 weeks later the weight started FALLING off! I've lost 34 pounds in the 10 months I've been gluten free.

  10. Stacey says
    June 1, 2010 at 9:52 pm

    Ditto the obesity and GF issues. I was a binge-eater until I went GF. I not only feel much healthier, have higher vitamin D levels, get sick rarely, and have a more varied diet, I also lost weight EFFORTLESSLY. This has also been the case with family members who have struggled with their weight forever… my mom lost 40 pounds "without even trying" (her words). She's a lifelong yo-yo dieter who has gone on and off every diet. Unfortunately, she didn't stay GF, and the weight came roaring back.

    As a side bar, when I was pregnant, gluten did not bother me. My naturopath said it was probably because of the increase in circulating steroid hormones during pregnancy. Any thoughts on that?

    • Adventuresgfmom says
      June 1, 2010 at 10:12 pm

      Stacey,

      That is really interesting (and to be honest, I have never heard of steroid hormones! 😀 ) Have you been diagnosed with celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity?

      • Stacey says
        June 2, 2010 at 11:46 am

        No, I've never been officially diagnosed. I had gall bladder pain after my first daughter was born, and instead of having it removed, I went to a homeopath/naturopath who said first thing you do it cut out gluten and dairy. The dairy came back slowly, with few ill effects (tho I don't eat much of it), but the gluten stayed away. As I've tested whether or not I'm REALLY gluten sensitive, by falling off the wagon here and there, I notice that the symptoms are worse each time I eat gluten again, except for when I was pregnant with my second daughter. Then I just felt like I couldn't get enough to eat, because the rice pasta and rice in general made my blood sugar spike, and I just felt woozy and on this terrible roller coaster all day. I ate wheat pasta and didn't have the same blood sugar issues. (not diabetes, just feeling the blood sugar spikes).

        The psoriasis on my scalp also goes away when I'm pregnant, and it was vastly improved once I became GF.

        With autoimmune stuff, you never know what's linked! But treatment for autoimmune diseases is frequently steroids, isn't it?