All my life I’ve been constipated and then about 7 years ago, shortly after my second child was born, I started having diarrhea and severe abdominal pain for a few weeks before trying to eliminate wheat – my brother had issues with wheat, otherwise I probably wouldn’t have thought of it. Anyway, the pain and diarrhea immediately went away when I didn’t eat gluten from wheat, but then my son had his birthday about a week after going off wheat. I served pizza and cake and decide to eat some – the symptoms came back. Ever since then, I have mostly been off wheat. There have been accidents – always followed by diarrhea, pain and lately hair loss and severe rashes.
Since going gluten-free, I have always eaten other grains widely accepted as gluten-free except for about 5 months of going nearly paleo. Other than that and a brief stint with mostly being a vegan (still ate animal products once a week) for about 3 months, I have not really restricted my diet. People ask me if going gluten free has really changed how I physically feel – my answer is no. Other than the few weeks I had severe pain and diarrhea, I feel no better or worse now eating gluten-free than when I freely ate wheat and barley (never liked rye).
My current health is ok. Things I suffer from usually are low energy, brain fog and mild to moderate depression. I’m 47 and weigh about 110, height 5’3″. According to your definition – I have chronic constipation which most of the time it doesn’t seem to bother me, but when severe it does – wakes me up and hurts. When I was younger, I was slightly over-weight and until recently, acne and insomnia were big problems. For the past year I haven’t exercised much but for the last 3 months I have been lifting 3 times a week for about 30 minutes at a time. I feel it has benefited my physique and endurance when hiking for pleasure. My history with exercise has ranged between nothing to moderate to somewhat extreme (for about 2 years I did 90 minutes of cardio a day with weight training 3 times a week).
I am very new to this site and have not read any of the books – even though they don’t cost much, I can’t afford them till next month…. But from what I’ve read here, I’m confused if there really are people who absolutely can not have wheat (and also rye and barley). Or if diet is improved upon via refeeding, and raising one’s metabolism etc.. is it possible for anyone who has had bad symptoms from eating wheat to be able to eat it again?