Well, just wanted to report on how things have changed for me since I went Gluten/Dairy free 1.5 years ago. I'm fanatical about gluten, slip occassionally on the dairy.

My autoimmune arthritis is a zillion times better. I was hurting in every joint and most tendons. At my worst I had pain in my ribs even! Now everything, even my knees feel good! The knees stopped hurting after I started taking Vit. D (4,000 iu a day) as I get zero sunshine.

My intestines are amazing. I used to suffer from chronic IBS (diarrhea mostly). Which is probably the reason I got a couple of autoimmune diseases in the first place (i.e. leaky/inflammed gut). I never have intestinal issues any longer. I also attribute drinking coconut milk kefir to this turn around.
Every now and then I find foods that will cause my intestines to get bad again, so I do have to be vigilant. Seeds do it, for some reason.

Brain fog and memory loss have totally reversed and I was having issues with what I think was neuropathy (pin pricks, vibrations, weird feelings in my body). I have also been taking B vitamins (B12/folic acid and a B complex) so they may also be helping.

Finally, my stomach is flatter! I used to have a big belly pouch even though I'm fairly thin above the hips. Now I turn sideways and suck it in and it is flat, used to never, never be flat.

So all in all, some combination of things has really turned my health around!

Wow, Nancy that is great! Especially the flatter stomach. I am trying to avoid wheat/gluten, but think that dairy is a problem also. But I need to get stricter about avoiding them. Can you tell me what a typical day's menu is like for you? thanks much

Inspirational. I am waiting for my Bio-Tech Pharm vitamin D and hopeful on how it will help me, too. I am using coconut oil now but have not tried the coconut kefir but will investigate. To get out of pain and back to living is a blessing, and you did it. Thanks for telling your story.

Wow, has it really been that long? I remember when you first started.

Thanks to you, Nancy, I've been gluten-free since October (and mostly dairy-free too) and feel better than I've ever felt in my life!

Thank you so much for educating me. You made a huge positive difference in my life.

Pre-breakfast I wash down my supplements with coconut milk kefir.

Breakfast might be a bowl muffin with coconut flour, berries, baking powder, splenda (as you can see, I'm not 100% paleo) and nuts. Or it might be a handful of raw walnuts and some olives (I'm an olive fiend). I try to keep it light in the morning because I'm usually still full from the prior day.

Lunch might be a huge green salad with rice wine vinegar and olive oil and either chicken or salmon on top. I usually put chopped pecans or walnuts on my salad.

Dinner might be a curry (thai inspired), stir fry, some roasted chicken and veggies, or perhaps I've made something in the crockpot, something like that. Sometimes lunch/dinner are reversed or exactly the same.

Treats are usually squares of extremely dark chocolate (like 85% Lindt) without dairy and little sugar. Or perhaps more nuts, or occassionally chopped nuts mixed with a little peanut butter. Sometimes an apple with peanut butter. Sometimes just some olives. Sometimes another bowl muffin. I can't quite break the peanut butter habit.

Yes, it's been 1.5 years, Hybrid!

Tracey, I'm so glad you're doing well. It really is good to feel the results of all these changes.

I think I've learned that my kefir grains are kind of stagnating in coconut milk. I'm going to do a few rounds of goat milk and see if that revitilizes them.

Hi all my first post. The first time I went on the Atkins diet was in 1975 ( yeah I'm an old timer LOL) I just did it to lose 10 to 20 pounds, don't remember much else, but I always had a problem with mood swings, fatigue, mild depression, anxiety and attention problems. By 1995 I had put on more than just a few pounds and an Atkins infomercial caught my attention, within a few months I dropped about 50 pounds and felt better that I could ever remember, I felt great, the mood swings all but disappeared and the carb cravings vanished. Stupidly and I don't remember why but I went back to a junk food diet and of course all the symptoms returned, back in the swamp again. I'm back on a low carb diet and doing a lot more research. So I'm wondering if its the carbs or is it the gluten, the research I've done on celiac disease indicates it might be the gluten and it makes me wonder if I was ingesting small amounts of gluten in things like salad dressing or sour cream dips with MSG. I have no way of knowing how sensitive I am to gluten, but just to be on the safe side I'll eliminate it from my diet. Any comments would be most appreciated.

Bob