N=1: it's wheat! But not gluten ... what is it?

(Doing a Mediterranean Keto) #1

I have lost about 25kg in 3 months, using a low calorie keto diet. It has worked wonderfully so far. I am close to not being even overweight.

A few days ago, I bought some supposedly keto bread:

https://www.prozis.com/es/es/prozis/lean-bread-pan-multigrano-360-g

The nutritional components were relatively similar to the protein bars I have eaten so far. But:

  1. The weight loss has stopped for a week. This is quite strange, since the pattern for weight loss was very predictable so far (one day my weight was increasing quite a lot, and then the other 4-5 days, weight was going down; I assume there was water retention the first day).
  2. I started to make noises with my throat. This used to happen before, and doctors told me it was that my esophagus was not closing well, and acid from the stomach was going up, until the vocal cords, irritating them, and forcing me involuntarily to make noises. Since I started keto, this effect had disappeared. But in the last few days, my wife told me it was happening again

Since I am a scientist, I think making predictions is a way to learn. I predict that the reason for (1) and (2) is the wheat from the bread.

And it cannot be gluten, since before I was eating quite a lot of “keto toasted bread” from another company, and I had zero problems with that bread. But that bread only had wheat gluten, nothing else from wheat (protein is mostly milk).

What could it be that leads to such a strong negative reaction on me, from wheat, if it is not gluten?

#3

By any chance is there corn or tapioca starch in the bread? My first thought is tapioca, I have a bad reaction from trace amounts, but corn causes issues too for me - both seem to be heavily used as subs in gluten free products.

(Windmill Tilter) #4

As a layman, I don’t think you should eat that bread… :yum:

In all seriousness though, I didn’t start making real progress with keto until I stopped buying food with more than 1 ingredient, or that could fit through a sieve. That sorted things out in a hurry.

I do appreciate a good mystery though, so I’ll be curious to hear what the culprit was. Food intolerances are a bear to track down sometimes, and it’s always a pleasure to catch one of the buggers!

(Jenna Ericson) #5

I have had similar experiences with sensitivities to specific forms of certain foods. When I eat something that doesn’t agree with me I have several symptoms, with the most obnoxious being that I wake up the next day having gained between 1 and 3 lbs.

I have a pretty consistent diet, including consistent salt, water, etc., so I can control for variables if I eat anything out of the ordinary. Recently I’ve found that I have a reaction after eating cornstarch and certain corn sweeteners, but don’t think I have a problem with corn on the cob. I have reactions to products with most types of flour in them, but not specifically to gluten. I tested this by eating a batch of home cooked seitan and had no reaction.

Recently I ate a lot of fathead pizza and gained 2.2 lbs the next morning. I was distraught, but decided to turn it into an experiment. I still had all the ingredients and had a feeling that it was the almond flour that I was sensitive to. I remade the pizza with everything but the flour and ate the same amount that next day. The morning after the second pizza I had lost 0.4lbs and my weight continued to go down over the next few days. While I’ve concluded that I can’t tolerate almond flower, I don’t seem to have a problem with almonds or almond butter. I know that weight fluctuations can be caused by a myriad of things, but I am pretty confident in my findings! I don’t have an explanation for why this happens and I really wish I did. While I’m not glad to hear about your symptoms, I’m glad your experience is somewhat similar to mine, and hearing about it makes me feel a little less crazy :slight_smile: