When I was a kid, almost everything I craved was made with wheat flour: bagels, donuts, cake, flour tortillas, macaroni and cheese, Mexican sweet bread and pasta. I ate them nearly every day. I also spent each night drinking the prune juice my parents set beside my dinner plate. None of us knew why going to the bathroom was so hard for me.
An IBS diagnosis at 19
I stayed on that wheat-and-prune-juice routine through college and into early adulthood, until I was diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Instead of prune juice, my doctor prescribed a medication to make me "regular." At the time I thought regular meant going at least once every four days.
The medication helped, so I kept taking it, but I wondered whether I would need it for the rest of my life. Then it was pulled from the market over heart-safety concerns. My doctor thought she might still be able to get it for me because I was young. At 19, I already knew that didn't sound right. There had to be another way to manage my IBS, and my skewed idea of regular. Could it be my diet?
Two trips to the emergency room
Going gluten-free was not something I welcomed with open arms. First I tried eating more vegetables, cutting out meat and cheese, and doing more yoga on top of walking, dancing and daily workouts. Things improved enough to keep me functioning, but not much more.
Then I went to Cuba. After two weeks of traveling in a place where bread was most of what there was to eat, I came home and went straight to the emergency room. My intestines simply could not empty themselves.
You'd think that would have been my wake-up call, but I kept eating bread until my second ER visit. I had the same doctor both times. He laughed and told me to change my diet and cut out gluten, for real this time. So I did.
Life after giving up gluten
By the time I first wrote this, eight years had passed since I gave up gluten. There are far fewer embarrassing moments, and I'm finally regular. The change also taught me to cook gluten-free versions of all my favorite dishes, so a love of cooking came out of it too.
The biggest lesson I learned is that what we eat shapes how we feel, inside and out. Reading about how wheat is processed taught me a lot about the American food system, and how many of my childhood favorites were built on refined flour and ingredients I couldn't pronounce. What started as a change I didn't want became one of the best decisions I've made.
What the research says about gluten and IBS
A note from the Ora team, added when this story was updated.
Jo's experience is common, but the culprit isn't always gluten itself. Wheat also contains fructans, a type of fermentable carbohydrate (a FODMAP). In a double-blind trial of people who believed they were sensitive to gluten, fructans triggered more bloating and IBS-type symptoms than gluten did, and gluten produced no more symptoms than placebo. That helps explain why cutting out bread can bring relief even when gluten isn't the problem.
Across dietary approaches to IBS, the low-FODMAP diet has the most trial evidence for easing overall symptoms and bloating. It is meant to be a short elimination followed by careful reintroduction, ideally with a dietitian, rather than a permanent way of eating. Experts also point to brain-gut interaction, infections, food intolerances and stress as factors that can play a part in IBS.
If you're curious how the gut microbiome fits in, our guide to three keys to a healthy microbiome is a good next read. Some people also like a daily probiotic for general digestive support; our Trust Your Gut Daily Essential is gluten-free and pairs 16 billion CFU from 6 acid-resistant strains with organic prebiotics.
Before you cut out gluten, talk to your doctor
If you think gluten or wheat is behind your symptoms, ask your doctor about testing for celiac disease first. Doctors don't recommend starting a gluten-free diet before testing, because removing gluten can affect the results.
Severe constipation, like the kind that sent Jo to the ER, needs medical care, not just a diet change. And if you're living with ongoing bloating, our articles on what causes bloating and how chronic stress affects the gut cover other common triggers.
