Low Carb and Gluten Free?

[TAMUKmom]

Is anyone eating gluten free and low carb? I have been low carb for many, many years. When I would get off my low carb diet, I would feel bad and blisters popped up on my hands. Found out I had DH a form of Celiacs disease. Most of the gluten free breads and processed foods are high in carbs. I decided to get back on a Low Carb diet and it's a little hard. I know low carb is best for me but so many things that are low carb are not gluten free.

[Jinny]

I have gluten sensitivity\wheat allergy. I think low-carb lends itself particularly well to gluten free WOE. The key for me was to shift from pre-packaged and processed foods to whole foods.
If you feel you can't go without baked goodies, look into alternative flours like almond flour, finely ground seeds, coconut etc.

[RavenG]

I'm low carb and gluten free due to Celiac Disease. I would get the same blisters on my feet and legs. My doctor says if you have the rash, you have Celiac. I felt much better when I ate low carb but I feel AMAZING now that I'm completely gluten free as well. Just realize that wheat is in EVERYTHING. I had a multi-page list of unsafe ingredients I had to look for on every package of food I bought.....it's much easier if you stick with whole, unprocessed foods. It will give your body time to heal.

And if you have the rash you need to watch out for iodine as well....it's a trigger for it.

[ergowoman]

I have been gluten free and low carb for 3 years. Yes, it is hard, and you will fall off the wagon, but in time you will get used to it and it will become second nature. It is worth the effort--I feel better on a gluten free eating plan.

I no longer need anything that resembles bread. Any baking I do is done with almond flour. This site has tons of ideas on how to become gluten free. Also, if you need more inspiration, read "Wheat Belly ".

[Macc0021]

I have a wheat allergy so I am gluten free, and I eat low carb (everything that is gluten free is wheat free, but not everything that is wheat free is gluten free). It is a bit challenging, but it is something that I have to do so I just suck it up! I stick to whole, real foods - nothing processed, and I don't eat potatoes, rice, quinoa, etc. Every meal has to be homemade. Going out to eat can be troublesome if you can't pick the place, but there are a lot of restaurants with gluten free menus. Some even cater to gluten free. It definitely can be done, but it is a bit challenging! If I can do it, you can do it!!!!

[drjlocarb]

Come on over to the recipe help section. There are a TON of GF/LC recipes there.

Lowcarb Recipe Help & Suggestions - Low Carb Friends

[Mimosa23]

I don't need to eat gluten free, but I mainly do as I have a wheat allergy (no problem with gluten) and wheat free regular stuff is so high carb, I decided to cut it all out.

Sometimes I may accidently have some, which for me is no huge problem, but for someone with celiac disease could be very bad. Anyway, eating gluten free and low carb actually is easy.

Stick with real foods, like vegetables, fish, meat, fats, and use sparingly of cheeses and nuts, and you will rock this WOE!
Lice Macc0021 I stick with making my own foods from scratch and only eat whole real unprocessed things. If there's something I cannot pronounce on the ingredients list or I cannot make a mental picture in my head of what it looks like, I don't buy it.

If you like baking, check out the the recipe room here and the healthy indulgences blog. There are tons of great recipes there that are gluten free and low carb and delicious!

[Chocolate Rose]

I'm LC and gluten free. Actually I don't do any grains. Almond flour and coconut flour are what I cook with. For bread, I make Maria's Healthified Subs. There is a big thread for both that and her pizza crust on the Recipe Help Forum.
Most of the time though, I just do without "bread". I've been doing this for almost a year and at first it was hard for me. But, I haven't "cheated" yet. It's definitely a doable lifestyle.

[ravenrose]

really? other than that "low carb bread" stuff that is questionable anyway, I can't think of a single low carb food with gluten in it.

[Emily-D]

Since I don't eat grains or processed foods, I have ended up eating gluten free. It's not hard to do if you're eating low carb.

[Mistizoom]

I don't eat any grains so I suppose I am gluten free, though I don't read labels that closely to check for hidden sources of gluten.

[Macc0021]

Lots of sauces, salad dressings, seasonings, gravy, etc. have gluten in them. Low carb bars, shakes, Dreamfields, frozen meals, etc. are all no go. It just limits your options even more so than LC alone would.

If you make homemade meals with real ingredients for every meal, then it is easy. I just find it a bit challenging to eat completely homemade from scratch for every meal... but I do it because I have to!

[reddarin]

It is a lot easier if you avoid processed foods. I'm wheat-free and mostly gluten free and it is not very hard since I don't eat packaged stuff usually.

[clackley]

Low carb and gluten free as it happens. Easy peasy!!

[nolcjunk]

I think it can be pretty easy if you focus on eating healthy unprocessed foods. I am not celiac but just by the fact that I cook most of my own meals, don't use bottled dressings, spice mixes or seasonings, or other lc products, I am being gluten free. All the stuff that does have gluten- like commercial dressings, lc bars and shakes and Atkins meals and other faux products are not healthy anyway, so best to avoid them.

[Leo41]

I, too, am not celiac, but I have Hashimoto's, and it's recommended to avoid gluten because Hashi's people often have a sensitivity to gluten even if they don't have celiac.

However, like nolcjunk, I find that it's very easy for me to be gluten free, since I never eat grains and mainly eat whole foods (meat, fish, eggs, veggies) that I prepare simply. I never use bottled dressings and make all my soups from scratch.

[JessieBear]

Originally Posted by ravenrose

really? other than that "low carb bread" stuff that is questionable anyway, I can't think of a single low carb food with gluten in it.

Slim Jims, Soy Sauce, Blue Cheese, many varieties of bullion, Atkins Breakfast Bars - just to name a few. Not to mention "low carb" baking products like you can find at netrition - many of them have wheat in them too.

[avid]

lc and gluten free here.
I don't have celiac disease, nor is there any indication that I am especially sensitive to gluten. I don't eat it because after reading 'wheat belly' by dr. davis, I wanted to experiment with gluten free eating as a joint pain remedy.
It worked beyond my expectations. I had daily knee pain that was becoming a real worry. After stopping the gluten the pain started lessening with a couple of days and by the end of the first week I was pain free. I was amazed.
I do get an occasional knee "twinge" but basically I am still pain free.
That's all the reason I need to say "no' to gluten

[JessieBear]

TAMUKmom, I am wheat free first and low carb second. Meaning, if I am out and all I can find is a frozen rice 'macaroni' and cheese, I will eat all blooming 90 grams of carbs rather than go without or eat something like bunless burgers that have wheat in them.

It is not easy by any stretch, but at 20 pounds off in under 6 weeks of no wheat, I am okay with the plateaus for now. I just got a freezer for my garage last weekend (yay!) so will be working on cooking up a storm on the weekends and freezing in portions to take to work.

Eating out is just not an option for me right now until I get a handle on the carbs and gluten. I even got sick after eating at Longhorn, and all I ordered was a plain steak, no seasoning - and they cooked it on a separate grill. Once you are off the wheat, it doesn't take much at all to make you feel like crap if you eat just a smidge of it. If I have to err - I err on higher carbs right now as gluten free is WAY higher in carbs than wheat is.

[Janknitz]

Low carb paleo here--that is gluten free by nature. It really isn't hard, but as everyone else has pointed out, you cannot be using a lot of processed foods. That means preparing food from scratch, mostly. If you must buy something with a label on it, it should only have one or two ingredients (e.g. "coconut oil", or "tomatoes, salt") and nothing that you cannot pronounce or find by itself on the grocery store aisle.

I don't have celiac or even gluten sensitivity. I've chosen this way of eating because I feel 1000% better (no more skeletal pain). When you have celiac, you cannot risk hidden gluten, so this is the best way. You just have to wrap your mind around it.

[Jinny]

You can add yoghurt and ice cream to the list of things where you may be surprised with hidden gluten... Unbelievable, right?
I second reading "Wheat Belly", it made it so much easier for me to have a complete paradigm shift regarding wheat.

[GME]

Originally Posted by JessieBear

Slim Jims, Soy Sauce, Blue Cheese, many varieties of bullion, Atkins Breakfast Bars - just to name a few. Not to mention "low carb" baking products like you can find at netrition - many of them have wheat in them too.

.......ready-made meatballs or meatloaf, sauces that aren't clear at all may have been thickened with flour, lunch meat, I'm sure there's more.

Yes, you can make everything yourself, but can be quite inconvenient to go out or on vacation or to work functions.

[svenskamae]

I also eat lowcarb grain-free and gluten-free, but I don't have an allergy to wheat or celiac disease. I try to eat primal/paleo style, making almost everything from scratch. It is possible that I sometimes eat something with a little wheat (say, a hamburger or some blue cheese dressing) in a restaurant, but because I don't have an extreme reaction to wheat, I can't tell when that has happened, though I try to ask the server about ingredients. Cooking from scratch at home or going out to restaurants that have a gluten-free menu seem to be your best options.

[Macc0021]

Originally Posted by GME

.......ready-made meatballs or meatloaf, sauces that aren't clear at all may have been thickened with flour, lunch meat, I'm sure there's more.

Yes, you can make everything yourself, but can be quite inconvenient to go out or on vacation or to work functions.

Yes... lunch meat was a shocker to me. And vitamins/supplements too!

[avid]

On all of these foods that unexpectedly contain gluten....What do the labels say?
any fancy tongue twisters that really mean "gluten"?

[LiterateGriffin]

Originally Posted by Macc0021

Lots of sauces, salad dressings, seasonings, gravy, etc. have gluten in them. Low carb bars, shakes, Dreamfields, frozen meals, etc. are all no go. It just limits your options even more so than LC alone would.

Those things (except home-made) are exactly what we're supposed to be avoiding on LC.

Except for some occasional soy sauce, I'm completely gluten-free. Not through any special effort, but because the foods I'm allowed to eat? Don't have gluten.

[svenskamae]

Originally Posted by avid

On all of these foods that unexpectedly contain gluten....What do the labels say?
any fancy tongue twisters that really mean "gluten"?

One item to avoid is "natural (and artificial) flavorings" (which can mean MSG, which can contain gluten and is just generally bad for us). "Starch" is another seeming innocuous ingredient likely to contain gluten. Soy sauce or tamari can also be a problem, unless one purposely selects a wheat-free brand. Google "additives with gluten" and you'll pull up several links with long lists.

I just read Michael Pollin's "In Defense of Food." He suggests not buying anything that has ingredients you couldn't just stock in your kitchen, not buying anything that your grandmother wouldn't recognize, and not buying anything that has ingredients you'd have trouble spelling or pronouncing. Probably good rules for all of us, but especially so for those who must be gluten-free for health reasons.

[reddarin]

La Choy makes gluten-free soy sauce. Kikoman too but you have to look for it.

Here is an interesting blurb from a Celiac's forum (posted 2009):

La Choy Soy Sauce is made by ConAgra foods. I called them about it a few days ago and was told that their labeling policy is if it has any gluten ingredients (wheat, rye or barley) they will be listed as that ingredient or in the case of things like natural flavors it would be in parenthesis - for example natural flavors (derived from WHEAT). They, like Kraft, go above and beyond the labeling laws. I can't speak for the taste since I haven't tried it yet, but I will say that I will support companies with policies like these with my hard earned dollars.

[Mistizoom]

Originally Posted by reddarin

La Choy makes gluten-free soy sauce. Kikoman too but you have to look for it.

Here is an interesting blurb from a Celiac's forum (posted 2009):

Right, just look for wheat-free or gluten-free tamari instead of soy sauce. I find it in my regular grocery store.

[piratejenny]

Originally Posted by TAMUKmom

Is anyone eating gluten free and low carb? I have been low carb for many, many years. When I would get off my low carb diet, I would feel bad and blisters popped up on my hands. Found out I had DH a form of Celiacs disease. Most of the gluten free breads and processed foods are high in carbs.

I don't have a lot of suggestions but just wanted to commiserate! I stopped eating wheat (not all gluten or grains, just wheat for now) a couple weeks ago. I didn't eat a lot of bread or pasta, but some of my fave convenient lower-carb foods (Sandwich Thins, LC tortillas, flatbread crackers) of course have wheat in them. There are plenty of wheat-free products in my grocery store, but they're very high carb.

I don't have an oven or microwave, so I can't make the one-minute-muffins, oopsie rolls, almond butter bread, etc etc, that would be so handy. :/

The thing I'm finding is...breads, crackers, cookies, tortillas, etc, are usually "extras" and I don't really need them. I miss them, and sometimes I want something I can hold in one hand while I do something else, but with a little extra planning I can make stews & salads instead of burritos and sandwiches, and I often have yogurt or a couple pieces of chocolate for dessert.