I will second Psi' recommendation. I used to be allergic to various things, cats, pollin, dust etc. And I had fairly bad asmtha, triggered by the allergins and also exercise. I had to take a lot of asthma meds just to exercise. I was also often tired and slept a lot. I often got sinus infections and headaches and I also had acne. It was some time before th ewhole 'gluten free' fad kicked in and although I have wonderful digestion and am clearly not celiac, I finally decided to try it for a stint since it was free and lack of gluten for a week is not a healthy risk or anything. Ironically, my goal was to try to find out what was causing headaches, the rest I thought was just genetic. First thing I noticed is that wheat causes cravings so the first day is hardest, I craved wheat, but that abated after a few days. Second thing I noticed is that asthma was much better after 24 hours. Improvement continued, after a few days, I was meds free. After a few months, the last few traces of chest tightness at night were gone. I had never experienced life without asthma so it was amazing. In the first months, I noticed if I ate wheat, I woudl noticed some asthma symptoms trying to sneak back, but now, years later I can occasionally eat wheat with no side effects. Apparently for me, it's something that builds up so small amounts occasionaly do not show symptoms. I also noticed shortly after I started the no gluten that all my other allergies went away, I can handle cats, eat a food I used to be allergic to (raw apples), sniff in tons of pollin etc with no probs. Chronic low back pain was also gone. It seems wheat was doing something that made me over reactive to other things, once the wheat was gone, the over reaction was gone. Avoidance of wehat was not a huge prob, I eat rice noodles, when I eat out, i get steak, potatoes, and salad, etc. Tiny molecules of wehat do not cause a prob so I don't have to be super paranoid if any is hiding somewhere. But wheat itself has little flavor so I don't miss it, lots of replacements taste as good or better.
But I still had fatigue and sinus infections. I thought they would go without wheat but they didn't. I finally tried cutting out dairy, just recently actually and feel a whole ton better. I sleep less, more energy, no sinus infections, no illness, acne clearing up. There is something about feeling tired and ill that makes everything seem harder and more of a hassle, it really effects outlook. Now that I feel better, I look at things differently, various chores just seem less of a big deal. Emotions are more even keel, I get more done, etc. Might be a bit early but seems like some tendonitis probs I have are getting much better too. Dairy is tasty but thinking about feelign like I have the flu has been enough to deter me. Iv'e experimented with dairy/no dairy enough to know it's definitely the dairy though.
The suspected prob proteins in dairy (betcasomorphins) and those in wheat (gluten exorphin) both bind to opioid receptor throughout the body and hence are mildly addictive and have side effects reminscent of opiates (congestion, slow gut motility, sleepiness, etc). And both are similar in molecular structure and require the same enzyme to break them down, so it' s not really a surprise that many people have probs with both.
Anyway,they make super tasty coconut mik icecream and other nondairy snacks and some junk foods have neither dairy no wheat so peopel could still eat junk and be dairy and gluten free if they wanted. The only thing I really miss is eating tons of cheese as they don't have a good sub for that but cheese is not worth having the flu. ;-P
