Is gluten ever Worth It?

[Mhairilou]

I’m on day 23 of the elimination phase. I’ve done my share of whole30ing over the last 7 years but have always neglected the reintroduction. At 16, I decided gluten was an incarnation of the devil himself and am regrettably in the category of people who will liberally use the c word (celiac) in restaurants. Sorry. 

Having recently read Food Freedom Forever (thanks Melissa) I am determined to follow through with the thoughtful reintroduction it deserves. With all the GF options available, I haven’t touched gluten for years. I’m actually a little scared of it. Previously I attributed it to unshakeable sleepiness and intense despressive episodes, dark enough to make quitting a lifelong love for toast surprisingly straightforward. I don’t miss it, but there are some glutenous things (namely French pastries) I’ve never had that I might want to experience, if I knew they was worth it. 

For science, I feel that I should check if this fear is still valid. 

But I also really don’t want to trigger a nasty psychological response, nor would I want to regularly include gluten in my post whole30 life even if it has no effect. 

To reintroduce or not?

Your thoughts would be much appreciated. 

Thank you

[ShannonM816]

Maybe for you, since you've been without gluten for so long anyway, do all your other reintroductions, but for gluten, wait until something comes up that truly would be worth it to you -- basically for this one thing, use the Slow Roll Reintro approach, explained here  https://whole30.com/2014/09/dear-melissa-slow-reintroduction-roll/.  I don't think it's good to be scared of reintroductions, but if you already have evidence that something isn't good for you and you feel better without it, and that evidence was strong enough that you walked away from that ingredient with basically no regrets for several years, I think that doesn't sound like fear so much as making an informed decision. 

 

[Mhairilou]

Thank you very much for your reply  that’s very helpful. Day 31 today and I didn’t feel like reintroducing anything so it might be a case of a “when it crosses my path and seems worth it” introduction.

[SchrodingersCat]

I started the super slow roll reintro in late Feb with the idea that I'd reintro 'when it crosses my path and seems worth it". - Word of warning, I didn't anticipate that so many things would cross my path that have more than one non-compliant item, which has made it so much harder. I kind of wish I had done the proper, structured reintro, now!