Is Wheat Making Us Sick
The truth is, health professionals really dont know. Anyone who claims to have the definitive answer is probably comfortable jumping to conclusions on the basis of some early research. Im not. In the literature, there are dozens of options emerging on our bodys relationship with carbohydrates, the components of grains and how, when times get tough, eating grains might lead to dis-ease. And you know what? Our bodies are not test tubes: each one of us has our own individual prescription for health and happiness. Your best friend might adore meat but you feel better as a vegetarian. You might enjoy feasting on raw nuts while your neighbour has a terrible allergy to them. So why are we so quick to try and create a single, reductionist answer to our ills?
Probably because so many of us are feeling unwell. And we are sick and tired of being sick and tired. The trouble is, once we feel terrible, investigations become a chicken-and-egg scenario: is the food making you sick or is it because some imbalance occurred in your body that now it doesnt handle the food you eat as well? It is incredibly difficult to get to the root cause of many chronic digestive concerns. If you are curious as to whether wheat is to blame, take a look at some of the reasons why wheat may be causing you to feel unwelland why you might falsely be blaming gluten when something else is at the heart of your tummy troubles.
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Is Feeling Tired Normal
Before you dive into a state of worry and start blaming gluten for something entirely normal, let us stop you right there. Feeling exhausted and tired on occasion, or when youve had a long day of work, can be expected. You dont need to blame your body or gluten if its an occasional thing.
The real issue starts when the tiredness youre feeling is chronic, i.e., youve been experiencing it continuously for a while, or recurrent, which is to say that it keeps coming back. Fatigue is a term that goes beyond general drowsiness its when your physical and mental body does not have the motivation and energy to do anything.
In other words, being sleepy does not mean youre experiencing fatigue. One of the top symptoms of gluten intolerance is fatigue. Studies show that nearly 80% of gluten-intolerant individuals, especially celiac patients, experience chronic fatigue.
It is a concerning sign if you suddenly feel tired after eating gluten-based foods. This can indicate that its time to visit a doctor and get yourself checked for celiac disease or non-celiac sensitivity.
Could Gluten Make You Tired
If youve been diagnosed with celiac disease, have a family history of chronic illness, or generally feel awful every time you eat bread or pasta, then yes, Id say gluten is causing your fatigue.
But what about if your only symptom after eating gluten is tiredeness?
Can gluten cause fatigue?
The simplest answer is: maybe.
If you do not have:
- any health issues,
- chronic illness in your family history,
- chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia,
- any symptoms when you eat gluten,
then consuming gluten is likely okay.
Now this is only one end of the spectrum. At the other end are those with celiac disease or severe gluten sensitivities. In these situations, fatigue is almost always a symptom.
For the majority of you, its likely that youll fall somewhere between the two extremes. This is when it becomes a challenge trying to figure out whether or not gluten is causing your fatigue.
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When Should I Call My Doctor
Some symptoms of gluten exposure can be severe. Seek medical attention if you experience diarrhea or vomiting. Dehydration can lead to dangerous electrolyte imbalances.
A note from Cleveland Clinic
Gluten intolerance may make you feel sick after eating gluten. You might get bloated, nauseous or gassy. Gluten intolerance causes a lot of the same symptoms as celiac disease, but its not the same condition. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that leads to damage to the digestive tract. People with gluten intolerance usually find relief from their symptoms by following a gluten-free diet. Gluten-free diets do have some health risks. Its important to work with your healthcare provider and a dietitian to build the right treatment plan for your needs.
How Can You Cope With Gluten
It’s depressing to say that there’s no magic bullet to relieve fatigue once you’ve been “glutened.” Therefore, most recommendations involve common-sense measures you can take to ease your tiredness while your body is recovering:
- Slow down. Clear your schedule to the extent that you can and try to do as little as possible when you can afford it.
- Stay organized. Fatigue plus brain fog can make you careless and forgetful. When suffering from gluten-related tiredness, make lists of things you need to do and then follow those lists. A little structure can help.
- Get some exercise. It seems counterintuitiveexercising when you’re already tired? But a short walk or some yoga can increase your energy level, not decrease it. Don’t overdo it , but even a few minutes of mild physical exertion can help with your fatigue and may help you sleep better.
- Get to bed early. If you also suffer from gluten-induced insomnia, you may feel as if you want to avoid bed, since hitting your pillow may wind up being an exercise in futility. But going to bed early, closing your eyes, and resting does help improve fatigue the next day.
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Signs You’re Gluten Intolerant
More than 55 diseases have been linked to gluten, the protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. It’s estimated that 99% of the people who have either gluten intolerance or celiac disease are never diagnosed.It is also estimated that as much as 15% of the US population is gluten intolerant. Could you be one of them?
Really Evaluate If Its The Right Diet Or Just A Cool Trend
In the big picture are you just being an unintentional jerk by following the latest hipster trend? Are you trying to be cool?
This is the time for a bit of hard truth and that means that you have to see where you fall on this spectrum. Dont be that person that follows the latest diet trend just to be cool or to drop a few pounds neither will work and they are not valid reasons, bro! Its important to understand what gluten intolerance is, what the trend is founded on, what it all means to your diet and health, and therefore decide if its right for you and if you are doing it for the right reasons in the big picture.
The biggest problem with a gluten-free diet is that its not necessarily right for everyone. Though its essential if you have Celiac disease, this is not the case for the vast majority of people who use it. Though it may not necessarily hurt you to follow, it may also be very unnecessary in the end. You want to work at understanding what this trend is all about, how it works, if it affects you personally, what your reasons are for following it, and if you are really just being a trendy snob? Yeah nobody really wants to admit that, but lets get it all out in the open here and now. Nobody wants to be that guy following the health trend just to fit in so lets take a look.
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Surprising Signs You Are Gluten Intolerant
Gluten intolerance is a common problem that remains undetected in most of the cases. In fact, one in seven people suffers from gluten intolerance. Headache, unexplained rashes, weight loss to lethargy are some of the common signs of gluten intolerance. Gluten intolerance restricts you from eating pizzas, croissants or any other form of bread that has gluten- a form of protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. In India, however, many of us are unaware of gluten intolerance leading to a number of health problems. So, in this blog, we discuss some of the signs that may suggest you have gluten intolerance.
Gluten And Autoimmune Disease Fatigue May Be Your Only Symptom
For patients with an autoimmune disease do not use the elimination diet as a diagnostic measure. You may feel no different whether you include or exclude gluten in your diet because there could be many processes occurring beneath the surface. Sometimes you wont be able to feel a physical symptom.
Take, for example, the autoimmune disease Multiple Sclerosis . In a normal immune system, the body creates antibodies to attack foreign invaders such as germs. However, the immune systems of people with MS recognize the protective insulation over the nerves as a foreign invader and create antibodies to attack it.
Gluten can trigger your body to produce antibodies to myelin. Even if you are extremely diligent in your elimination diet, you wont be able to feel your body increasing or decreasing the number of antibodies.
A similar process may be occurring for those with chronic fatigue syndrome. Often, chronic fatigue is caused by a number of different processes. Gluten may be only one of the factors contributing to your fatigue.
If there are multiple factors contributing to your fatigue, going gluten-free may not be enough to experience an increase in your energy. If this describes you, I encourage you to work with a knowledgeable functional medicine practitioner who can guide you through treatment. Dont get discouraged if a gluten-free diet doesnt improve your fatigue!
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Can Gluten Make You Tired
Do you easily get tired during your day, without doing much at all? It happens to the best of us at times. However, in some cases, this simple problem could be an underlying cause of something much worse brewing inside your body.
Gluten-intolerant individuals often question their tiredness and the reasons behind it. After all, it may sound like the usual fatigue, but when it lingers, it can make your everyday routine feel like a burden where all you want to do is crash in your bed. So, is gluten the reason behind this tiredness? Lets find out.
Hormonal Imbalance And Adrenal Fatigue
Hormone imbalance can manifest itself as irregular menstrual cycles, weight gain or loss, hot flashes, low energy levels, erratic sleep patterns and more. In discussing gluten sensitivity and female hormones, Dr. Daniel Kalish D.C states that a strong relationship has been established in medical literature between gluten sensitivity and the hormones progesterone and estrogen. Additionally, most of my patients with gluten sensitivity have an adrenal hormone imbalance, and this becomes exacerbated for patients during menopause
Dr. Kalish notes that hes observed serious problems often begin to reveal themselves when women with gluten sensitivity reach peri-menopause. As their ovarian output of sex hormones drops, the resulting hormone imbalance is worsened by over consumption of gluten. The adrenal glands respond to the stress of unstable blood sugar and gastrointestinal tract inflammation caused by gluten by increasing cortisol. This causes increased body fat, fatigue and unstable moods.
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Could Gluten Affect Sleep Directly
Currently, it hasn’t been proven whether gluten ingestion plays a direct role in sleep problems for people with celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. Dr. Rodney Ford, a New Zealand pediatrician and author of The Gluten Syndrome, hypothesizes that gluten in your diet affects your brain and other neurological tissue directly, causing these symptoms, but there’s no research showing that to be true.
Plenty of people suffer from problems getting to sleep, frequent awakenings, poor-quality sleep and nightmares within six to 12 hours of ingesting gluten accidentally . In fact, if I awaken from a night of poor sleep, it’s frequently followed by my cascade of glutening symptoms, indicating I’ve ingested gluten.
Therefore, if you’ve noticed a strong correlation between poor sleep and known gluten cross-contamination, you’re far from alone. But if that’s the case , what can you do to improve your sleep?
Get rid of as much gluten as you can. Some people find they react to the very low levels of gluten found in gluten-free-labeled foods. You may need to drop most or all processed foods from your diet and stick with only whole, unprocessed foods to see a difference.
Follow the advice to create a better sleep environment for yourself. Follow guidelines for getting a better night’s sleep, including ditching the in-bedroom TV, computer, and cell phone, plus avoiding naps.
Your Energy Levels Will Spike
Digestion requires a lot of energy, and it takes even more of a toll when your body is trying to process something it can’t. After going gluten-free, you’ll be putting less of a strain on your gut, and there’s a good chance your energy levels will benefit. Put the burst to good use: Here are our favorite gluten-free recipes.
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Summary: The Pros And Cons Of A Gluten
As with anything else, there are pros and cons to this diet you should also talk to your doctor before you try it. He may find that its completely unnecessary for you, in which case you should find a new health trend to follow. If however you feel that your symptoms are too much to ignore, you want to understand all of the pros and cons to this decision and way of life. Here are just a few to help you in evaluating if this is necessary, how beneficial it can be, how difficult it can be, and if it is truly necessary for you to follow.
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Something Significant Is Happening If Its Legit
With true Celiac disease, gluten and the improper digestion of it can cause many problems within the body. It can eventually damage the lining of the small intestine. It can wreak havoc on the immune system and therefore cause problems in the short term. If left undiagnosed and untreated, Celiac disease and the symptoms may interfere with the bodys ability to absorb important nutrients from the foods that you eat. This is a cause and effect and it can become worse over time if you dont get the proper diagnosis and help.
Lets be real though most of us arent suffering from these symptoms, nor do we suffer from Celiac disease. Many of us got on this diet to lose some weight or because it sounded like the hottest new health trend. It was interesting! A gluten-free diet may result in weight loss, but thats not the sole purpose of it. The reality is that avoiding gluten may help somebody with Celiac disease to eat comfortably in the here and now. It may also help to prevent further complications in the future.
So if you are focusing on a gluten-free diet just to lose weight, then stop it already! If you are doing it because it helps to eliminate pain and discomfort such as bloating, excess gas, diarrhea and constipation, and even nausea and vomiting them you are likely doing this for the right reasons and may have a legitimate health condition here.
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