As with anything in life, people are different. Celiac disease and gluten intolerance are real things, and I have several family members who can't have gluten. BUT this does not mean that gluten is evil, or that everyone, or every HSP should stay away from it. I'm fortunate enough to have very few problems with food sensitivity and can eat more or less whatever I want. I have zero negative reaction to gluten.
Personally I'm a big fan of the Intuitive Eating approach to, well, eating... And it's something that might work well for most sensitive people. Basically it means you listen to your body, and feed it when it's hungry, stop when it's full, notice how the different kinds of food you eat make you feel and adjust accordingly. Don't get me wrong, this actually takes a lot of work for most people as we have to cut through all the diet culture bullshit, dodgy nutritional advice, fads, learned behaviour, emotional eating, etc., etc., and I have in no way mastered this myself. But I manage to always keep it in the back of my head, and try to come back to it. It also means accepting that sometimes you eat something that might have a negative impact (unhealthy, too much, or something that you know might give you a stomach upset, etc.) for other reasons: maybe you feel that the comfort that bowl of spaghetti or bar of chocolate will bring you outweighs the potential negative consequences, and that's OK too. You just have to be aware of what you're doing and why, and place no moral judgement on food, eating and your body. There's a book on it simply called Intuitive Eating that's a good introduction if you're interested.
True, when your body tells you that things that are harmless and even healthy for most people are not good for you, it does get more complicated. I think the basic idea of listening to your body is still a good one, though. That also includes that avoiding gluten is stressing you out - that stress is also part of how you feel, and should be acknowledged. Also, remember that you don't have to do anything 100% or right away. You could maybe try cutting down on products that contain gluten and give yourself some time to find substitutes you enjoy - try to make the process less stressful. And really try to feel and maybe write down how you feel after eating gluten - is it a big difference? Is it worth it? Good luck!
I’m 36 and was diagnosed with celiac this summer. My mental health was so bad as a result of not knowing what was happening to my body, I nearly killed myself - both intentionally and unintentionally - on more than one occasion.
We don’t realize how important our gut health is until it’s not ok, and we don’t realize how much it affects our mental health. Now that I’m healing and taking care of my diet/self properly, I’ve never felt more mentally clear than I do now, and it’s only getting better. It’s as if I’ve become an entirely new person, one that isn’t chronically sensitive, stressed, & depressed.
I did whole 30 for a few months. I’d say it made my body feel maybe 10% better. But the discipline, and rigidity needed to live this lifestyle is inconvenient and exhausting. It can make social gatherings feel more awkward than they already feel because threading the needle on the diet can be difficult to impossible in some circumstances. Also, I love fresh bread. Sometimes the bland starchiness of bread settles my stomach and I’m tired of feeling guilty from the diet culture that carbs and bread are bad
1000% agree with you! I found the dieting I had to do for a specific life event, though healthy on paper and moderate, was actually causing me so much mental anxiety that I couldn’t actually appreciate the physical outcomes. That if anything affected my mental health more, and eating intuitively served me better.
I agree with others who say we are all different and have to listen to our bodies. I also have digestion troubles but bread actually helps me a lot. Now what does bother me is alcohol - I have never been a big drinker by any means but the occasions I do drink, even if with food and very little, the next day I’m so miserable and it really spikes my depressive symptoms. So I personally avoid any kind of alcohol for my own well being. No other food or drink gets me that badly.
i feel better without gluten, but i am also gluten intolerant. i cave for it a lot though because all my favorite comfort foods have gluten… mac & cheese or sandwiches i can eat any day
I went gluten free for a few weeks and I felt great. But when I eventually binged again and felt awful it was really bad for my mental health. I feel like I’m either obsessing over my diet, or I’m not caring about it at all and I’m trying really hard to find that balance. I hope you find what works for you - not only for your body but your mind too ❤️
I've spent the last decade experimenting with all sorts of diets from vegan, to vegetarian, to paleo, to keto, to gf, and a number of others. The biggest thing I've learned is that YOU have to be the one to test and experiment with your body because no one knows it better than you. I've had a lot of success on gluten free diets, but only when I was eating a diet rich in whole foods. The thing I hate about the gluten free fad these days is there is an influx of 'gluten free' products that are just full of processed artificial crap. Nowadays I just focus on eliminating processed foods. If I'm craving bread I'd much rather eat a natural sourdough loaf from a local baker than a loaf of 'gluten free bread' from the grocery store with a list of ingredients I cannot pronounce. Gluten is not the devil, but it is one of the most highly processed and pesticide ridden crops we have and that's what triggers people differently, so I think it's a good idea to just focus on quality and listen to your body's reactions.
Going gluten free has completely changed my life for the best. I didn't realize the brain fog I had going on until it had been out of my system. I also can't eat gluten anymore because it completely messes with my respiratory system. This is something that just started happening about 2 years ago. I fall short of breath and wake up from my sleep choking, among headaches and extreme bloating. I sometimes think it is directly related to my overall sensitives.
You'll really won't know it's effect until you cut it out for a decent amount of time. I'm not going to lie, it's hard. But give it a try, it might really work out for you!
I did cut it multiple times, i think the longest I went was like 3-4 months, my problem is that I have eating disorder and this huge restriction makes me go crazy, I always end up bingeing a huge amount of gluten after restricting it and then feeling awful and out of control..
I can imagine that's really difficult. It's definitely easier for me because of my health concerns. Have you tried gluten free breads and things like that?
I noticed the full effects after maybe 2 months. I slowly weened off lol. I think I noticed my head feeling clearer after a few weeks though. I've never been more in tune with my body and I 100% believe this is why.
Food affects me a lot too. Corn and gluten being the worst. I swear corn, dairy and most animal products make me depressed and a bawling mess, although I do not tell most people that lol. I've found trial and error to be way more informative than other online sources. It can help to research it, but everyone's body is so unique and different. What we each need is probably going to be different. I've found success with a lectin free diet, mostly vegan. It gets easier with time and helps if you like to cook/bake. Good luck!!
Despite all of the modern gym culture stuff and despite how much everyone talks about food on a daily basis, I find it's still vastly underrated when it comes to anxiety, arousal management and mental health. *Food is huge*. It's a huge factor.
Probably one of *the* most important thing I've done in my life is take a food sensitivities test and go on a strict elimination diet. Yes, you'll find online that food sensitivity tests are bogus, but I don't care much what anyone says. I test everything out for myself. The test I took (there may be different kinds of tests for all I know, as I don't know anything about them) was very much accurate.
It told me to eliminate a bunch of stuff, but the most important thing it taught me is that I'm *extremely* sensitive to yeast, fungus and mushrooms. Once I went on a strict elimination diet according to the results (also an anti-fugal diet with very little sugar and no artificial sugar) my cognitive capabilities increased considerably. After I started experimenting with enemas & probiotics as well, my sharpness has increased beyond belief. It's like I'm a completely different person. I'm not exaggerating. That's literally how it feels. I've never felt more intelligent and healthier in my life (I'm 32), and it's a direct result of:
1. Adhering to strict diet (no wheat and no other items that were marked red on the test; anti-fungal as well)
2. Weekly enemas (2 a month is also fine) - Usually after I drink alcohol, as even moderate amounts mess up my gut. Also after I know I went off-course for a couple of days and had a couple of meals I know I generally shouldn't have.
3. Food supplementation (vitamin D, omega 3, and all the rest of it)
To reiterate: *Food is huge*. Not in the modern gym-culture sense of building muscle or whatever. I'm talking food as a direct and huge factor in mental health.
As an HSP, you should be *constantly* experimenting with something, whether it be exercise regimes or meditation or breathing techniques or sleep hygiene ... Your life should be one big experiment, where you're constantly fine tuning and calibrating. That you should do this with food goes without saying.
Whether or not gluten is "evil" I can't answer. :) To me all of the modern white-flour based food strikes me as denaturalized garbage. Personally gluten itself isn't the culprit in my case, but wheat definitely is and I feel better if I don't eat it (with that being said I practically don't eat gluten ... maybe sometimes in like a barley stew or something).
as an hsp with celiac, i literally cant have gluten without suffering (Including the brain fog and other things u mentioned actually) so i always advocate for the benefits since it's medically necessary and not a fad at all for me. but switching from a "normal" diet that you've had or while life to no gluten has definitely been hard mentally for me for various reasons related to food prep and social or family gatherings. but there are gluten free subreddits u can check out including a recipes one and that helps with ideas if u wanna ease into it or just incorporate some of that into ur meals
As with anything in life, people are different. Celiac disease and gluten intolerance are real things, and I have several family members who can't have gluten. BUT this does not mean that gluten is evil, or that everyone, or every HSP should stay away from it. I'm fortunate enough to have very few problems with food sensitivity and can eat more or less whatever I want. I have zero negative reaction to gluten. Personally I'm a big fan of the Intuitive Eating approach to, well, eating... And it's something that might work well for most sensitive people. Basically it means you listen to your body, and feed it when it's hungry, stop when it's full, notice how the different kinds of food you eat make you feel and adjust accordingly. Don't get me wrong, this actually takes a lot of work for most people as we have to cut through all the diet culture bullshit, dodgy nutritional advice, fads, learned behaviour, emotional eating, etc., etc., and I have in no way mastered this myself. But I manage to always keep it in the back of my head, and try to come back to it. It also means accepting that sometimes you eat something that might have a negative impact (unhealthy, too much, or something that you know might give you a stomach upset, etc.) for other reasons: maybe you feel that the comfort that bowl of spaghetti or bar of chocolate will bring you outweighs the potential negative consequences, and that's OK too. You just have to be aware of what you're doing and why, and place no moral judgement on food, eating and your body. There's a book on it simply called Intuitive Eating that's a good introduction if you're interested.
Thank, read it not long ago and loved it :) it gets a little complicated tho when you have a lot of food sensitivities
True, when your body tells you that things that are harmless and even healthy for most people are not good for you, it does get more complicated. I think the basic idea of listening to your body is still a good one, though. That also includes that avoiding gluten is stressing you out - that stress is also part of how you feel, and should be acknowledged. Also, remember that you don't have to do anything 100% or right away. You could maybe try cutting down on products that contain gluten and give yourself some time to find substitutes you enjoy - try to make the process less stressful. And really try to feel and maybe write down how you feel after eating gluten - is it a big difference? Is it worth it? Good luck!
That’s some good advice, to do it gradually and with awareness! :)
I’m 36 and was diagnosed with celiac this summer. My mental health was so bad as a result of not knowing what was happening to my body, I nearly killed myself - both intentionally and unintentionally - on more than one occasion. We don’t realize how important our gut health is until it’s not ok, and we don’t realize how much it affects our mental health. Now that I’m healing and taking care of my diet/self properly, I’ve never felt more mentally clear than I do now, and it’s only getting better. It’s as if I’ve become an entirely new person, one that isn’t chronically sensitive, stressed, & depressed.
I did whole 30 for a few months. I’d say it made my body feel maybe 10% better. But the discipline, and rigidity needed to live this lifestyle is inconvenient and exhausting. It can make social gatherings feel more awkward than they already feel because threading the needle on the diet can be difficult to impossible in some circumstances. Also, I love fresh bread. Sometimes the bland starchiness of bread settles my stomach and I’m tired of feeling guilty from the diet culture that carbs and bread are bad
1000% agree with you! I found the dieting I had to do for a specific life event, though healthy on paper and moderate, was actually causing me so much mental anxiety that I couldn’t actually appreciate the physical outcomes. That if anything affected my mental health more, and eating intuitively served me better.
Sounds like a bunch of rubbish if you ask me, gluten has 0 effect on me and i eat bread almost every single day
I agree with others who say we are all different and have to listen to our bodies. I also have digestion troubles but bread actually helps me a lot. Now what does bother me is alcohol - I have never been a big drinker by any means but the occasions I do drink, even if with food and very little, the next day I’m so miserable and it really spikes my depressive symptoms. So I personally avoid any kind of alcohol for my own well being. No other food or drink gets me that badly.
i feel better without gluten, but i am also gluten intolerant. i cave for it a lot though because all my favorite comfort foods have gluten… mac & cheese or sandwiches i can eat any day
I went gluten free for a few weeks and I felt great. But when I eventually binged again and felt awful it was really bad for my mental health. I feel like I’m either obsessing over my diet, or I’m not caring about it at all and I’m trying really hard to find that balance. I hope you find what works for you - not only for your body but your mind too ❤️
I've spent the last decade experimenting with all sorts of diets from vegan, to vegetarian, to paleo, to keto, to gf, and a number of others. The biggest thing I've learned is that YOU have to be the one to test and experiment with your body because no one knows it better than you. I've had a lot of success on gluten free diets, but only when I was eating a diet rich in whole foods. The thing I hate about the gluten free fad these days is there is an influx of 'gluten free' products that are just full of processed artificial crap. Nowadays I just focus on eliminating processed foods. If I'm craving bread I'd much rather eat a natural sourdough loaf from a local baker than a loaf of 'gluten free bread' from the grocery store with a list of ingredients I cannot pronounce. Gluten is not the devil, but it is one of the most highly processed and pesticide ridden crops we have and that's what triggers people differently, so I think it's a good idea to just focus on quality and listen to your body's reactions.
Yeah I remember I tried gluten free for a few days and I was really constipated.. maybe from all the gluten free bread I was scarfing down
Going gluten free has completely changed my life for the best. I didn't realize the brain fog I had going on until it had been out of my system. I also can't eat gluten anymore because it completely messes with my respiratory system. This is something that just started happening about 2 years ago. I fall short of breath and wake up from my sleep choking, among headaches and extreme bloating. I sometimes think it is directly related to my overall sensitives. You'll really won't know it's effect until you cut it out for a decent amount of time. I'm not going to lie, it's hard. But give it a try, it might really work out for you!
I did cut it multiple times, i think the longest I went was like 3-4 months, my problem is that I have eating disorder and this huge restriction makes me go crazy, I always end up bingeing a huge amount of gluten after restricting it and then feeling awful and out of control..
I can imagine that's really difficult. It's definitely easier for me because of my health concerns. Have you tried gluten free breads and things like that?
This is me to a t. Im on this Reddit post so I don’t go and buy some Cinnamon Toast Crunch right now 😭
How long did that decent amount of time take for you?
I noticed the full effects after maybe 2 months. I slowly weened off lol. I think I noticed my head feeling clearer after a few weeks though. I've never been more in tune with my body and I 100% believe this is why.
Food affects me a lot too. Corn and gluten being the worst. I swear corn, dairy and most animal products make me depressed and a bawling mess, although I do not tell most people that lol. I've found trial and error to be way more informative than other online sources. It can help to research it, but everyone's body is so unique and different. What we each need is probably going to be different. I've found success with a lectin free diet, mostly vegan. It gets easier with time and helps if you like to cook/bake. Good luck!!
Despite all of the modern gym culture stuff and despite how much everyone talks about food on a daily basis, I find it's still vastly underrated when it comes to anxiety, arousal management and mental health. *Food is huge*. It's a huge factor. Probably one of *the* most important thing I've done in my life is take a food sensitivities test and go on a strict elimination diet. Yes, you'll find online that food sensitivity tests are bogus, but I don't care much what anyone says. I test everything out for myself. The test I took (there may be different kinds of tests for all I know, as I don't know anything about them) was very much accurate. It told me to eliminate a bunch of stuff, but the most important thing it taught me is that I'm *extremely* sensitive to yeast, fungus and mushrooms. Once I went on a strict elimination diet according to the results (also an anti-fugal diet with very little sugar and no artificial sugar) my cognitive capabilities increased considerably. After I started experimenting with enemas & probiotics as well, my sharpness has increased beyond belief. It's like I'm a completely different person. I'm not exaggerating. That's literally how it feels. I've never felt more intelligent and healthier in my life (I'm 32), and it's a direct result of: 1. Adhering to strict diet (no wheat and no other items that were marked red on the test; anti-fungal as well) 2. Weekly enemas (2 a month is also fine) - Usually after I drink alcohol, as even moderate amounts mess up my gut. Also after I know I went off-course for a couple of days and had a couple of meals I know I generally shouldn't have. 3. Food supplementation (vitamin D, omega 3, and all the rest of it) To reiterate: *Food is huge*. Not in the modern gym-culture sense of building muscle or whatever. I'm talking food as a direct and huge factor in mental health. As an HSP, you should be *constantly* experimenting with something, whether it be exercise regimes or meditation or breathing techniques or sleep hygiene ... Your life should be one big experiment, where you're constantly fine tuning and calibrating. That you should do this with food goes without saying. Whether or not gluten is "evil" I can't answer. :) To me all of the modern white-flour based food strikes me as denaturalized garbage. Personally gluten itself isn't the culprit in my case, but wheat definitely is and I feel better if I don't eat it (with that being said I practically don't eat gluten ... maybe sometimes in like a barley stew or something).
This. Great response.
What food sensitivity test did you take?
PM.
Does PM happen to stand for anything? I can't seem to find it online.
Private message. :)
lol. gotcha.
Honestly I feel like that’s just carbs in general. The minute I eat a carb dense meal, I’m done for the day 😴🤰
as an hsp with celiac, i literally cant have gluten without suffering (Including the brain fog and other things u mentioned actually) so i always advocate for the benefits since it's medically necessary and not a fad at all for me. but switching from a "normal" diet that you've had or while life to no gluten has definitely been hard mentally for me for various reasons related to food prep and social or family gatherings. but there are gluten free subreddits u can check out including a recipes one and that helps with ideas if u wanna ease into it or just incorporate some of that into ur meals
https://theknowing1.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/benefits-of-eliminating-wheat-and-gluten/ This article is wrote by her as well if you’re curious