How Long Does It Really Take to Heal After Going Gluten-Free?

If you’ve just gone gluten-free, you might be wondering — how long does it actually take to feel better? Is it days, weeks, or months? 

Healing looks different for everyone, and it’s not always a straight line. In today’s episode, I’ll break down what happens in your body after removing gluten, what kind of improvements you can expect and when, and how to tell if your healing is on track. Stick with me until the end, because I’ll share one thing that helped me notice real progress — even when I felt stuck.

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It’s a space where you can connect with others living gluten-free, ask questions, swap tips and recipes, and get support from people who truly get it. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned gluten-free pro, you’ll feel right at home.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Purpose
• 0:38 Host Story And Mission
• 1:38 Sensitivity After Going Gluten-Free
• 2:05 First 30 Days: Inflammation Calms
• 3:15 Microbiome Shifts And Withdrawal
• 4:15 Early Symptoms And Reassurance
• 5:31 Weeks 3–4: Brain Fog Lifts
• 6:57 Months 3–6: Gut Repair And Nutrients
• 8:12 Setbacks, Learning, And Strictness
• 9:54 Months 6–12: Noticeable Healing
• 11:08 Beyond Year One: Maintenance Mindset
• 12:34 Track Progress And Labs
• 14:04 Nutrition, Fortification, And Balance
• 15:17 Grace Through Ups And Downs
• 15:49 Newsletter And Support
• 16:20 Non‑Scalable Wins And Closing

Transcript

Carrie Saunders: 0:00

Quick reminder before we get started on this episode. This podcast is based on my personal experiences and isn't medical advice. If you've just gone gluten-free, you might be wondering, how long does it actually take to feel better? Is it days, weeks, months? Will I feel worse first? Hint, yes, you might. Healing looks different for everyone and it's not always a straight line. In today's episode, I'll break down what happens to your body after removing gluten, what kind of improvements you can expect and when, and how to tell if your healing is on track. Stick with me to the end because I'll share the one thing that helped me notice real progress even when I felt stuck. Let's dive in. Welcome to the Gluten Free Engineer Podcast. I'm your host, Carrie Saunders. In 2011, I was diagnosed with celiac disease, a moment that changed everything. But I was determined not to let it hold me back. With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer the gluten-free lifestyle, breaking down recipes, safety tips, travel hacks, and everything in between to rebuild a life I love. Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or simply choose to live gluten-free, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we simplify the gluten-free lifestyle, make it fun, and prove that you don't have to miss out on anything. And for me, the longer I was off gluten, the more sensitive I was to gluten whenever I got a little bit. So do keep that in mind. That might be something that happens to you, especially if you're celiac. Whenever I would tell this to other people who are newly celiac, a few months later they'd come back to me and be like, Yes, you're right, Carrie, this is actually happening to me too. It's, you know, you just heal. So then you notice the little bits of gluten. But let's jump in first into what are the first 30 days like of removing gluten from your body? Say you're newly diagnosed celiac, say you're gluten intolerant. Maybe you want to help a friend because you feel like removing gluten might help them too. What are those first 30 days like? Well, first off, in those 30 days, your inflammation response starts to calm down. No matter whether you have a celiac or not, you're going to have some reduced inflammation. Gluten. Gluten just causes inflammation in everybody's bodies. We just all react a bit differently to it. And some people don't notice that it causes inflammation in their bodies. It's something that's been scientifically scientifically researched, and it's just a plain fact of this food. It's part of its defense mechanism. So your inflammation response is going to calm down once you remove that gluten. And you might have some early improvements. You might feel less bloated. You might have reduced brain fog. You might have a bit more consistent energy. But you could still have some fatigue and you might have irritability, and withdrawal can happen as your body resets. So I was reading a book recently called The Plant Paradox. It's a great book if you haven't read it before. And in hit there, he talks about how when we're eating certain types of foods, we end up attracting certain gut microbiomes. And those microbiomes want to survive. Well, they survive on the certain foods that you're actually eating. So when we take out something that we've been regularly eating, let's say gluten, it could be, you know, many different things, those microbiomes are going to kind of fight for the life and wish, you know, want you to be eating the thing that that helps them survive. So and it sounds a little weird to talk about this, but it it totally makes sense. You know, all living things are are they're wired to survive. So you might become irritable. It might be putting toxins in your body that make you feel bad, that make you crave that, you know, item that you just cut out of your life. Um, you know, in our case, we're cutting out gluten. So expect that you might become more irritable temporarily and you might have some withdrawal symptoms. You might feel um, it's kind of like if you ever have gone on a keto diet or paleo where you've cut out all carbs, you might have those withdrawal symptoms. And for some, it can actually take weeks for digestion to start normalizing. And this is absolutely normal. So don't feel like it's not helping if when you've removed gluten in in one or two weeks, you're still having, you know, swinging digestive issues. You know, one day you have diarrhea, the next day you have uh constipation and so forth. And it's just part of our body healing and re-regulating. So in those first few weeks, that is completely normal. Don't you don't give up if this is something that you're not necessarily diagnosed with celiac, but you're, you know, trying to um eliminate some processed foods in your life. So you're removing gluten, or even if you are celiac, don't get discouraged if you're still like having digestive issues after you've completely eliminated gluten. Our bodies are readjusting. It's something that you've likely been eating your entire life, and your body needs some time to adjust to not eating that um type of food. But I will say that you probably by about three to four weeks, you're going to feel so much better. For me, when I first went gluten-free, that first week, it I just felt like I was in high definition. Like I feel like I could see the world again. And that was probably the brain fog that was lifting. Um, I started feeling actually really good. I didn't have the digestive um continual issues. I don't remember having that. So you may not experience that. Um, another thing that I noticed after about week two or so, my allergies started subsiding. They weren't even sure what I was allergic to, but I was having all these allergy symptoms. And it was likely the high inflammation that was in my body from being undiagnosed celiac, and then I'm eating, you know, this thing that is aggravating my immune system and causing all this inflammation. So then I was more sensitive to the things that I actually wasn't truly allergic to, at least not in a clinical setting. And then as I went probably about week three or four, oh my goodness, I felt like a brand new me. I felt like myself when I was, let's say in childhood, I had so much energy, so much, like I just felt wonderful. So, no, when you stick with it, you're going to feel so much better. But you might have a rough, you know, first few weeks. I would say by about, at least in my experience and most people I've talked to, week three or four, you're going to start seeing the light at the end of the tunnel if you are having those withdrawal symptoms and having that bad, you know, how you don't feel well after you remove this food. And then the first three to six months, your body's going to start repairing itself and rebalancing your intestinal villi, the tiny little nutrient-absorbing structures in your gut that kind of look like fingers if you've zoomed in on them or seen like a um textbook uh view of what they look like, they're going to start begin healing. Hopefully, they're going to grow back. If you've been undiagnosed C like for many, many years, like myself, you may not uh have them all like restore and be good. But then what I've experienced with my kids is they healed so much faster because we caught it so much earlier. You know, they each were, I would, I think about 12 years old or less. Um, me, I was in my uh 30s, and so I had been, you know, damaged for quite a while. And then you're also gonna have your nutrient levels start to readjust and get better. Things like iron, vitamin D, and B12, those might start slowly improving. And if you're celiac or even if you're gluten intolerant, this is going to be some vitamins you're gonna want to work with your doctor to get regularly tested, especially in these first few years, to make sure that you're improving because likely you are deficient in them. It's just very common for celiac or those who aren't tolerant with gluten. You're also gonna find your hormones and energy levels begin to stabilize. This is one thing that I noticed. I was having such um anger issues, I would call it, and they were all internal. It's not who I was. I'm not an angry person, and so I wasn't sure what was wrong with me. It was almost like an out-of-body experience the more I was on gluten and not knowing I shouldn't be on gluten. And then when I removed it, oh my goodness, my demeanor calmed back down. Um, and and this was something I hid. I hid mostly from my family and my friends because I didn't want people to think I was angry because that's just not who I was. But I had all these internal feelings of anger um inside me. I just get irritable so easily, like little tiny things would just really set me off internally. And so you're gonna start seeing those things start to stabilize and your energy levels are going to start stabilizing too. However, in this stage, accidental gluten exposure can set you back. So this is like your relearning phase. This is going to be your phase of learning how to be really strict with this and you know, listen to your body and make sure you're taking care of yourself and your body. So don't be discouraged if you get accidental gluten exposure. We've got other podcast episodes on how to deal with that. Um, but just note that when that happens, you might feel like you've taken a few steps back. But the more you're gluten-free, the faster you'll recover from accidental gluten exposure. And then in that six to 12 month range, you're going to notice, you know, really noticeable healing. Most people are going to notice it definitely by this point. Many people feel dramatically better. Their digestion is better, their skin is better. I had so much skin issues before I found out I was celiac. That was disappearing by this time. Our energy, our moods are going to be so much better. If you have celiac, your antibody levels on your blood tests often decrease significantly by this stage. You might have some symptoms that might linger. You might still have some fatigue and you might still have some joint pain. I know gluten causes joint pain in a lot of people. And while your immune system is resetting, you might still have these symptoms. And like I alluded to earlier, healing really depends on age, the severity of how you're either intolerant or celiac and other health complications and how strict you are on being gluten-free. So the more strict you are on being gluten-free, the faster you're going to heal. So once you get that nailed down and understand how to be really strict with being gluten-free, you're going to see that good snowball effect of feeling better and better and better each week, each month. It's just going to be people ask me, how can you not eat gluten carry? And I tell them, I'm like, well, it makes me feel so bad, I don't even consider it anymore. Once you get to that point where you feel so good, it just, you know, it'll be like a vague memory of like, well, yeah, I enjoyed that food when I had it, but now it's not worth it anymore, is what I feel like a lot of people feel. And then beyond the first year, you're just going to be a full recovery, hopefully, and maintenance. So your gut lining and the villi can take one to two years to fully regenerate for some people with celiac. And again, some people might be somewhat permanently damaged, but it's definitely so much better for you to be off gluten because it's just going to continually damage you, obviously. And other people might take longer. If you're diagnosed later in life, I know for me, it definitely took me a lot longer. And if you have additional autoimmune conditions, it can also take you longer to completely heal. And feeling healed doesn't mean you can relax on being gluten-free. It means your body finally has a chance to thrive and you're finally on the right track. You're finally doing what your body needs to be doing. It's, you know, think of it like I know it's not an allergy, but I'd like to sometimes equate it to be to it being an allergy. Like you wouldn't risk and take and eat something that you're allergic to. You know, this is we need to treat it like that, even though it's an autoimmune condition and not an allergy. That way it kind of, I feel like our brains associate with allergies a bit more than celiac or gluten intolerance, just because, or at least from our generation that I am, you know, celiac disease, it I had never heard of it until I accidentally figured out I had it myself and then later got confirmed. And then I what I want to encourage you to is I want you to track progress and it will help your supporting and healing. So if you're one of those people who needs to see proof that you're feeling better, keep a food and symptom journal. Look back occasionally, you know, weeks or a month back to how you were feeling, and then look at how you feel today. That can really help you see that healing progression. It also can help you spot triggers of what might have caused you to feel bad. And it can help you celebrate those wins, how much better you feel today. Make sure you're working with your doctor to recheck your nutrient levels, like we talked about iron, vitamin D, uh, B12, um, some other ones too I didn't mention in this episode is like folate or calcium. And then prioritize your rest, your hydration, and balanced meals. Your body is rebuilding after you remove this gluten, and we want to make sure that we are eating the nutrients we need to eat. The one downside to being gluten-free is that, at least in the American diet, we have fortified our gluten-full foods uh with vitamins and minerals because we generally don't eat a great diet that's you know varietied in fruit and vegetables and all the micronutrients and macronutrients. So, what we want to make sure we do is make sure we're eating balanced meals because we need to be getting the nutrients like folate and B12 and iron and D and calcium that are many times in the gluten foods. We want to make sure we're getting them naturally in our diet too. So make sure you're working with your doctor to be checking these things because it is um a pretty common thing to not be eating enough of those in our American diet. If you're American and are listening here, and I want you to give yourself grace. Healing isn't linear, it's definitely a yo-yo. It can be a roller coaster sometimes. So give yourself grace if you um have some setbacks and then you're gonna have to have some triumphs. So just be gracious to yourself. And if you haven't yet, be sure to sign up for my newsletter at theglutenfreeengineer.com. That's where you can get support while your body does its incredible work of healing. And then I want to talk about the thing that helped me see real progress even when I felt stuck. And that was my tracking my non like scalable victories, ones that you couldn't um put a number to. I started taking note of things like not feeling super exhausted, not feeling bloated, not feeling blah. Seeing these little improvements over time reminded me that healing was happening, even if I couldn't always feel it right away. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Gluten Free Engineer. If you found value in this story, please share it with someone who might need encouragement on their own gluten-free journey. For more tips, recipes, resources, and even links to my YouTube channel, head on over to theglutenfreeengineer.com. It's your one-stop hub to make gluten-free living simple, fun, and full of flavor. And don't forget to subscribe so you never miss out on an episode. And we will see you next week. The Gluten Free Engineer Podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. I share my personal experiences and stories about living with celiac disease and navigating a gluten free lifestyle. This podcast does not provide medical advice. Always consult with a qualified health care professional for medical questions, concerns, or advice specific to your health.