Plan For The Withdrawal
Removing gluten cold turkey can produce some unpleasant side effects as your body detoxifies from years of chronic stress and inflammation. According to gluten researcher Aristo Vojdani, removing gluten can cause withdrawal symptoms similar to giving up an addictive drug gluten is broken down into gluteomorphin, an analogue to morphine, which can trigger addictive behavior around eating gluten and can cause drug-like withdrawal symptoms. Give yourself a few days to feel crummy when giving up gluten and reward yourself with some body love like massage, epsom salts baths, listening to relaxing music or simply curling up with a book. Once the body has adjusted to going gluten-free, most people report significant improvements in mood and energy and a reduction in a variety of symptoms including headaches, digestive disorders, joint pain and skin issues.
Eating Gluten May Irritate Your Skin
The widespread inflammation that gluten causes shows up in several different bodily systems, including your biggest organ: your skin.
Among the causes of acne are hormonal fluctuations. When you eat gluten, your body responds to the constant irritation by upping its production of the stress hormone cortisol. Too much cortisol can cause weight gain, poor sleep, and, you guessed it: acne.
What It Means To Be Gluten
While many people think that gluten can be eliminated simply by removing breads from their diet, the truth is that gluten is in many, many processed food products.
Going to a gluten-free lifestyle often means eating much less processed food and cooking from scratch more often. It also makes eating out in restaurants more challenging. In fact, it can be a real shock to go to a gluten-free diet overnight, and weve heard from many readers struggling with this transition.
With this brief overview of gluten-freedom, wed love to hear your stories. If you eat gluten-free, what led you to go gluten-free? How long have you been gluten-free? What has been your experience? How have you found ways to cook and eat gluten-free?
Some Additional Information and Gluten-Free Resources
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Your Digestion Might Take A Hit
More than 90 percent of Americans fall short of meeting the recommended daily amount when it comes to fiber , according to a study in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine. Grain-based foods account for large portion of your daily fiber intake, and choosing only gluten-free foods can limit your choices and substantially slash the amount of fiber you’re consuming.
“Fiber feeds our microbiome,” Dr. Fasano says. Intestinal bacteria feast on fiber and produce a short-chain fatty acid called butyrate. “Butyrate keeps the intestines healthy and functional, so when there’s not enough of it, you’re more susceptible to developing inflammation in the gut, irritable bowel syndrome, stomach cramping, and more,” Dr. Fasano says. So if you’re going gluten-free, be sure to load up on beans, legumes, vegetables, brown rice, and quinoa, which are all good gluten-free fiber sources.
Who Really Has A Food Allergy
Although many people are self-diagnosing coeliac disease, a wheat allergy or gluten intolerance, experts think milder cases of coeliac disease often go undiagnosed.
If you’re experiencing symptoms, it’s important to rule out coeliac disease by being tested, especially if you have a family history of it.
According to the NHS, continuing to eat gluten can lead to serious complications for those with the disease, including osteoporosis, iron-deficiency anaemia, and vitamin B12- and folate-deficiency anaemia.
Less common and more serious complications include some types of cancers. Coeliac UK research finds the average time it takes to be diagnosed is 13 years.
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Can You Go Gluten
People who adopt a gluten-free diet often lose weight, but its usually because they also cut out a lot of processed foods and refined carbohydrates that contain gluten. If you stop eating gluten to lose weight, its important to watch your portion sizes, get regular exercise and eat plenty of whole foods such as fruits, vegetables and lean proteins.
Where To Find More Information
The National Institutes of Health has a Celiac Awareness Campaign at celiac.nih.gov with information and resources.
You can find information on celiac disease, gluten sensitivity, and gluten-free cooking from these organizations:
- Beyond Celiac — www.beyondceliac.org
- Celiac Disease Foundation — celiac.org
There are also a number of books on gluten-free eating. Your best bet is to find one written by a dietitian.
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Not Everyone Needs To Follow This Fad
Although a gluten-free diet may be #trending, that doesn’t mean that it’s the best thing for you unless you, indeed, have a gluten intolerance like celiac disease. In fact, if you don’t have a gluten intolerance or sensitivity, cutting out gluten entirely from your diet may have adverse effects instead of positive ones. ” weight gain, increased hunger, and constipation, as many products marked as gluten-free are void of fiber, contain excess calories, and are overly processed,” Shapiro says. “If you don’t need to eat gluten-free, then you shouldn’t,” Shapiro says.
Lockwood-Beckerman agrees. “Going gluten-free just for gluten-freeâs sake is as much of a trend as fanny packs or those tiny useless sunglasses that everyone seems to be wearing,â she says. âItâs possible youâre losing out on some valuable nutrients.â
Snyder, on the other hand, advocates that everyone should shift to a gluten-free dietâat least for a trial periodâbecause many people have a gluten sensitivity without even knowing it. With a gluten sensitivity, a person can consume a certain amount of gluten before experiencing any side effects, so it’s difficult to test and diagnose, Snyder says.
For all these reasons, it’s important to talk to your doctor before making the decision to stop eating gluten entirely.
Lack Of Essential Vitamins And Nutrients
While there are definitely unhealthy foods that contain gluten, there are also healthy foods that give your body the nutrients it needs to function properly. Similar to the effects of lack of fiber, going gluten free without a legitimate cause can result in vitamin and nutrient deficiencies. In the US, many grains are fortified or enriched to contain large, added amounts of nutrients. Foods with gluten in them can be a great source of:
- Vitamin B:
People with celiac disease are often tested for nutritional deficiencies when first diagnosed, as many are deficient in key vitamins and minerals due to decreased absorption in the gut. Many take a gluten free multivitamin or individual vitamins to try and make up for this deficit. These people also need to be very diligent about finding alternative ways to get the much-needed vitamins and nutrients, like searching for fortified gluten-free alternatives.Switching to a gluten free diet by choice means that dieters also need to be mindful of what they eat. This makes it more difficult to maintain a balanced diet, which may lead to completely unnecessary added stress in the grocery store aisles for not much benefit. In addition, research has shown that people on a gluten-free diet have increased levels of heavy metals in their blood and urine – possibly due to the increased consumption of rice in gluten-free foods.
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More Things I Want To Mention:
Even if you dont have Celiac Disease, you can still be gluten intolerant. I had no idea about that. Until I did.
Three years ago, my love and I felt the call to bring through a baby into the world.And so we tried, and I thought we were pregnant, but then my periods came.And Id always had this feeling that something bigger was up with my fertility Id always had very irregular periods.
Heres the thing that changed me:
I started seeing this vision that my uterus was being coated with a mucus from gluten that was making it difficult for me to fall and stay pregnant.
The vision was SO clear and SO strong, I could feel it in my body. I knew without a doubt that it was true for me.
So I gave up gluten pretty much instantly.
And instantly, so many lingering health problems stopped for me especially the one where I went to sleep with a bellyache every night. And I just felt SO much better. It was totally revolutionary. I kept saying to my love
This is what its like to be normal!!! This is what its like to not feel awful!
And other things just SHIFTED. My face started shifting. I wasnt as sore or bloated or felt puffy anymore.And then I got pregnant, and in the time thats followed, excess weight just kinda fell of me like an old skin off a snake.And I thought
WELL holy duck. THAT was easy. All that weight was just gluten stuck to me!
Earlier this year I visited a naturopath, and she asked WHY I became gluten free.
So I trot out the usual story
Whats more,
Top 10 Tips For A Gluten
Worried you have a gluten-intolerance? Already living with coeliac disease? If you’re gluten-free these top tips from Coeliac UK will help make the everyday a little easier…
Coeliac disease is a lifelong, serious autoimmune disease caused by the immune system reacting to gluten a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. The only treatment for the condition is a strict gluten-free diet for life.
For those newly diagnosed with the condition, the prospect of a strict gluten-free diet may seem daunting at first but armed with the right knowledge, the gluten-free diet can be relatively easy to adapt to. Here are Coeliac UKs top 10 tips for everyday eating
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How Gluten Causes Trouble
People with celiac disease cant tolerate gluten, not even small amounts. Just 50 milligrams of the proteinabout the amount in one small croutonis enough to cause trouble. In people with celiac disease, gluten in the bloodstream triggers an immune response that damages the lining of the small intestine. This can interfere with the absorption of nutrients from food, cause a host of symptoms, and lead to other problems like osteoporosis, infertility, nerve damage, and seizures.
A related condition called gluten sensitivity or non-celiac gluten sensitivity can generate symptoms similar to celiac disease but without the intestinal damage.
Not long ago, celiac disease was diagnosed by a process of elimination. Today it can be identified with a blood test for the presence of antibodies against a protein called tissue transglutaminase. A biopsy of the intestine confirms the diagnosis.
The Top 6 Tips On How To Go Gluten Free
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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.
Know What Common Foods Have Gluten
What foods cant you eat when you give up gluten? There are some very obvious foods that have gluten like bagels, breads, crackers, cakes, pies, and other baked goods but there are also some you might not think of. Soups often have flour in them as a thickening agent. Other common foods that have gluten are sauces, marinades, lunch meat, pasta sauces, rice mixes and French fries. Wait, you thought French fries were just potatoes? A popular chain, fast food restaurant has 19 ingredients in their fries and thats before they go in the fryer.
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Tell Your Family And Friends
Its important to tell your family, friends, and even selected co-workers about your gluten-free diet. One reason to tell your family is that celiac disease runs in families. If you have the condition, your relatives might also have it but not realize it. There is genetic testing available. Also, by telling your friends and relatives about your celiac disease, youll be giving them a chance to rise to the occasion and help you stay safely gluten-free. As hard as it can be to follow a gluten-free diet, it is almost impossible to do it in secret.
Stop Avoiding Eating Out
It’s possible to dine out with celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, even if you’re particularly sensitive or if you have other foods that you also avoid. Obviously, you’ll need to take precautions, even if you’re dining at a restaurant with a gluten-free menu. It will take some extra work , and I strongly recommend talking with the chef first. But you shouldn’t give up on going out to eat just because you can’t eat gluten.
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Get Ready For Blood Sugar Spikes
If you didnt know that many of the gluten free flours are incredibly high glycemic, now you do. Even brown rice flour is high glycemic, so do not be fooled into thinking that somehow its healthier than white rice flour. Both are equally problematic.
And guess what predominates the bulk of gluten free bread? Yep, high glycemic gluten free flours such as rice , corn, potato and tapioca which are typically found somewhere in the first five ingredients.
If an ingredient contains the word starch , thats a surefire indicator of a high glycemic ingredient.
Why care about this? Blood sugar spikes arent good for your body and can do a total number on your hormone system. If you dont believe me, check out any number of podcasts Ive done with experts such as Dr. David Perlmutter, JJ Virgin, Dr. Datis Kharrazian, or Dr. Kelly Brogan who have all said that gluten free products like bread are undoubtedly bad for hormonal balance.
list of great store-bought gluten free bread
And what might surprise you most is that gluten free bread is
