What’s up with Gluten-free?
Why Should I Go Gluten-Free? What is Gluten?
Almost every store you walk into now has “Gluten-free” products lining the shelves, or better yet, a whole “Gluten-free” section. What’s the deal? Does going gluten-free really matter, and can it really make a difference in your health and fat loss?
Let’s start with the basics…what it is.
When you think of the gluten, imagine the word “glue”, because gluten is essentially the protein found in wheat that keeps your favorite bagel, your favorite bow-tie pasta, and your favorite Fruit-Loops cereal from falling apart before it reaches your mouth. It keeps your pizza crust doughy, your crackers crunchy, and your toast, well…toast-y.
So you may think, “That doesn’t sound so bad, what’s all the hype then?” The fact is while this “glue” does so well at holding your favorite slice together, its making us fall apart. And it’s not just in breads and crackers anymore. It’s in everything from sauces and soups to milkshakes and ice cream. And it’s causing dangerous health concerns among almost everyone who is consuming it. In order for you to understand how its affecting you without you even knowing it, I’ve compiled a list of issues that have been researched and scientifically proven to be caused by a gluten-sensitivity or intolerance.
1. Do you have digestive upset, gas, bloating, and constipation or diarrhea? Knife-dagger like pain in the gut? Indigestion or heartburn? Any or all of these is one of the first indicators that you are sensitive to gluten. And it’s not something you should just “deal with” and treat with a Tums or a purple pill. Overtime, this inflamed response in the gut can and will set the stage for cancerous cells in the colon. If your gut does not respond to the food you are consuming with a “peaceful easy feeling”, then chances are you probably shouldn’t be eating it.
2. Maybe you don’t have digestive upset, but you do get frequent headaches or migraines? Inflammation doesn’t just happen in the gut, but can also result in the brain as neurological inflammation. Many scientific studies have linked headaches, migraines, and other brain issues even such things as parkinson’s and alzheimer’s to continued exposure to gluten.
3. No headaches, no digestive upset? What about acne, rosecea, and other skin issues? Redness of the skin and zits and pimples are not just hormone related. If you are chronically experiencing these things, chances are it’s what’s coming into the body that your body is working hard to get the toxin out, and it’s usually through the largest organ of the body, the skin. Not only are the skin cells inflamed because of the inflammatory response of the gluten, but they are also continually trying to get that crap out, leaving you with pimples, redness, and whiteheads.
4. What’s your energy on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being “I could run a marathon daily”, 1 being “It takes all my energy to roll over in bed.” If you are closer to 1, you could have an auto-immune disorder known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, due to a gluten-intolerance, where your body is fighting so hard against itself, that is has no energy for anything else. Why is it fighting against itself? In auto-immune disorders, gluten molecules can mimic similar structures of the body and when the body sees the gluten come in, it marks the cells that also look like to be destroyed. So your body thinks it’s attacking the gluten, but it actually starts attacking itself.
5. RA…also known as “Rheumatoid Arthritis”….and virtually anything else that ends in “itis” can be linked back to gluten. “Itis” means anything that is inflamed or experiencing inflammation. Joint inflammation among the most common and the reason being GLUTEN IS ONE OF THE MOST INFLAMMATORY FOODS TO OUR BODIES THAT ONE CAN CONSUME. Gluten is virtually an “anti-nutrient”, meaning anything that contains gluten prevents you from absorbing the vitamins, minerals, and nutrients in food. So you eat a whole wheat sandwich with some baby carrots for lunch, and the bread on your sandwich completely prevents you from absorbing any vitamins or anti-oxidants from the carrots. Wasted health. What’s more?
Do to that lack of absorption, your body starts to get red-hot and inflamed specifically in the joints, and in the brain. The cells lack the nutrients they need to function properly and start to break down. The brain slows, the thyroid function comes to a halt, and the digestion and elimination is at a stand still. When the elimination system gets blocked up, that toxic waste has to be dumped somewhere so it starts to sludge up in your blood and joints. Think of it as taking your garbage out of your house, and just sticking in the garage but never taking out of the garage. Eventually the smell coming from the garage will affect the house. The whole establishment becomes toxic.
6. Addiction. Gluten has been scientifically linked to furthering alcohol cravings, as well as furthering opiate addictions. Why? Gluten has an opiate-like affect on the brain, which is why many people cry at the idea of giving up bread. It’s not their fault. They don’t realize they aren’t weak-willed or bread-addicts, but rather the hybridized gluten in our food system as caused their brains to need the hit that only gluten can deliver. For those suffering from addiction, just a simple taste of gluten in bread, pasta, or even crackers can set them up for the craving of alcohol since alcohol is made from wheat (in most cases). Their brain has felt the hit that alcohol brings it and finds that it can gain a similar response from gluten-containing foods, and so then the craving is set for both.
7. Feeling blue? Anxious? Depressed? There is nothing wrong with you. You are not broken. You are simply contaminated by the industrialized food system. Namely gluten. Just as gluten has that opiate-like affect that hits the brain quickly giving it a rush of momentary “feel good”, it also crashes hard and fast shortly after, leaving you depressed, sleepless, wretched, anxious, possibly a racing heart, with restless legs, and a sad, blue, state. So in comes the set-up for addiction, as your brain recalls what made it feel good prior to feeling bad and in comes the craving for more gluten. Feeling then a little lift and then a bigger crash, and overtime, the hits won’t even be for more than a minute, and the sadness lingers for what seems like eternity. Motivation slips away, and in comes depression. This is not you. It doesn’t feel like you. And it doesn’t have to stay this way.
So now you can see and perhaps even resonate with how gluten might be affecting you on some level. I have yet to meet one person in my practice who wouldn’t benefit in some way from going gluten-free. Sure, back in the Bible-days, bread was considered the “staff of life”, but the bread of today is NOT the stone-ground, hand-made, sprouted, and fermented, fresh heirloom wheat bread that it was in those days. And there’s even more. Check the list of gluten-sensitivity symptoms below and see if something jumps out at you:
- Fibromyalgia
- Insomnia or Restless sleep
- Frequent urination
- Brain Fog
- Erectile Dysfunction
- Tinnitus or ringing of the years
- Dizziness or Dizziness upon standing
- Loss of vision or hearing
- Impaired cognitive ability
- Trouble speaking
- Loss of coordination or balance
- Chronic cough
- Lactose or dairy intolerance that used to not be there
- Bedwetting in children and adults
- Carpal tunnel
- Nerve damage and neuropathy
- Insulin resistance
- Pancreatitis
- Osteoporosis
- Psoriasis and eczema
And I could go on…there is so much more. But for now, I want to show you how easy it can be to go gluten-free, what to look for and how to do it. Here’s my Simple 5 Step Approach to Going Gluten-Free and getting your body and mind back!
Step #1 – Purge the pantry. The first step is getting rid of any gluten in your house. That means your kid’s food too. Chances are if you shouldn’t eat, then they shouldn’t either and their little bodies will greatly benefit from starting out life without so much inflammation. Here is what to consider when reading the labels on what’s in your pantry AND FRIDGE:
And here is a list of some foods you may not even realize contain Gluten:
Step #2 – It’s time to re-stock! Head to the store and re-stock your fridge and pantry with some glorious new foods. By crowding out the old with these amazing whole foods, you will be hard-pressed to even miss the old inflammatory foods.
A few of my favorites that I always have on hand: potatoes of any kind, white rice, carrots, black eyed peas, coconut flour to make pancakes and biscuits with, eggs, blueberries, jicama with salsa for dipping, avocados, and nitrate-free bacon! Oh, and don’t forget the dark chocolate!
Step #3 – Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Tell the people you live with, the folks you work with, and your friends and neighbors what you’re doing. Ask them to help you stay on track and to hold you accountable. People are less apt to sabotage you and more apt to help you when they understand why you are doing something and why you need their support. Then keep control of your surroundings. When invited to a family dinner, ask if you can bring a veggie tray with guacamole for dipping. When going out to eat, ask the waiter for the “gluten-free” menu or gluten-free options they have. Most restaurants are very accommodating for this now. If all else fails, ask for some sort of grilled meat or sautéed veggie over a big salad or alongside a baked potato with butter.
Step #4 – Be consistent. Plan to prep some of your foods for the week on a Sunday afternoon. Plan ahead and know the menu of where you are going, or bring a dish to a party that you know you can eat. Avoid BLT’s (Bites, Licks, and Tastes). Even just one bite of your husband’s sub sandwich, or one french frye can set you back. Think about it this way: The doctor tells you “You are allergic to cats, so get rid of all your cats…” You have 10 cats, and you go home and get rid of 9 of them but keep the one that is your favorite. It would stand to reason that you would never be completely free from the allergy, or feel any better until you completely rid yourself of what’s causing the allergy, even if it’s just a little bit. Stick with gluten-free for at least 4 weeks to truly see the best results in the shortest amount of time.
Step #5 – It’s Just for Now, It’s not forever. The body is designed to heal, but only if we set up the proper environment to do so in. That means we take that 4 week time to eliminate all the inflammatory foods and see how good we can feel. Then after we have created some initial healing, your body will be in a healthier position to withstand the OCCASIONAL gluten-rich meal. Your body can handle “once in awhile’s” but it can’t handle “all the time’s”. Yes you can still have a cookie someday, and yes you can still have a slice of your favorite pizza, but lets heal the damage that the body has undergone from those “all the time’s” and then prepare it to be able to withstand the “once in a while’s”. It’s about making an effort for the “beneficial foods” to outweigh the “not-so-beneficial foods”. And be patient, it could take longer than four weeks for certain individuals, but you give me four weeks of consistent real effort of going gluten-free, and I can almost guarantee you that you most likely won’t even desire to go back to gluten whatsoever. For it’s when you feel how good your body can function apart from it, that you won’t want any food to stand in your way anymore.
Want more help on this? Set up a Nutrition Therapy Consultation with me where I can build a personalized and customized gluten-free plan to fit your lifestyle and your food likes. In person or over the phone, I can help you achieve a healthier lifestyle with real results. For more information, feel free to call me. 417-230-0554
Written by: Jodelle Fitzwater, Certified Nutrition Coach and Food Psychology Coach
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