An acquaintance of mine recently confided in me that she’d been secretly living with horrible stomach cramps, diarrhea, rashes, and brain fog for years and thought she might have celiac disease. She went to her doctor for a blood test but the results came back negative. Her doctor even warned her that going on a gluten free diet could be detrimental to her health.
I tried to explain to her that doing an elimination diet for a short time might help but she snapped at me. “I can’t do that! Dr. ______ told me a gluten free diet could cause vitamin deficiencies!” Apparently, her doctor really frightened her and now, my friend continues to suffer.
Most relatively-healthy individuals aren’t aware of how many conventional medical doctors bully their patients into unnecessary treatments or frighten them out of natural approaches. It happens all the time.
Even Harvard Medical School has the nerve to suggest that a gluten-free diet might be dangerous.
From their website:
“The gluten-free diet also comes with malnutrition risks, since cutting out these products may mean you’re reducing your fiber intake from whole grains, or missing out on vitamins that you’d normally get from fortified foods.”
I’m amazed at how many things are wrong with this sentence. Processed wheat and gluten products are not the only sources of fiber available out there but they are the worst. Dark, leafy greens, beans, nuts, seeds, and gluten free grains such as amaranth, brown rice, millet, and quinoa are all acceptable (and much healthier) fiber sources.
Also, “fortified foods” are terrible for your health. Highly-processed gluten-containing foods are “fortified” with synthetic vitamins created in a laboratory your body doesn’t recognize and can’t absorb properly anyway!
Why Gluten Leads to Malnutrition for Gluten Intolerant People
If your doctor has suggested you will be malnourished from a gluten free diet, he’s either lying or he simply doesn’t understand the basics of nutrition. It’s likely the latter scenario. Most medical doctors are trained to prescribe drugs, not suggest preventative and dietary changes.
Here’s the low-down:
- Highly-processed grains are very difficult to digest
- Gluten grains contain anti-nutrients, which hinder mineral absorption
- Most processed grains are very high in sugar and can cause weight gain
- Grain products are genetically altered or modified with added preservatives and chemicals that cause inflammation
- Gluten grains can create an imbalance in omega-3 fatty acids, which can also result in inflammation
Also, if you’re severely intolerant to gluten, you will have chronic inflammation in your lower digestive tract. This will prevent the absorption of essential nutrients and result in a multitude of nutrient deficiencies, including vitamin D and magnesium, which could result in psychosis.
Modern Wheat May Have Created an Evolutionary Digestive Challenge
Studies have revealed that the introduction of gluten-containing grains, which occurred about 10,000 years ago, created an evolutionary challenge for digestive systems that simply weren’t prepared for the sudden change. Furthermore, modern gluten (gluten produced within the past 100 years or so) contains far more gluten than what your great-great grandparents ate.
It is believed that this fact coupled with the introduction of genetically-modified foods triggering a cascade of gut flora abnormalities has contributed to the modern epidemic of celiac disease and gluten intolerance.
If You Have Symptoms, Stop Eating Gluten
Even if your blood tests have come back negative for celiac disease, you may still have a serious intolerance to this protein. Continuing on with your current diet could cause serious health problems, including colon cancer, down the line.
Do these symptoms sound familiar?
- Abdominal Pain
A feeling of a ‘band’ around your abdomen and lower back is often a sign of gluten intolerance.
- Bloating
If your tummy is often abnormally “big” after a meal, it could indicate allergic reaction and digestive dysfunction.
- Flatulence
Passing wind all the time, especially if it smells bad, could indicate toxic intestines caused by foods fermenting, undigested, in your inflamed gut.
- Chronic Diarrhea
Chronic diarrhea and weight loss often indicated a food allergy.
- Brain Fog
Brain fog, inability to concentrate, and learning difficulties could be indicative of undiagnosed celiac disease.
- Joint Pain
Chronic inflammation is caused by an over-active immune system and may result in chronic joint pain.
- Autoimmune Disease
If you’ve been diagnosed with any type of autoimmune disease, especially ITP or thyroid disease, you may be intolerant to gluten.
- Skin Rashes
Eczema, psoriasis, and even acne could be the result of one or more food allergies.
- Mental Health Symptoms
Depression, anxiety, and even schizophrenia has been linked to untreated gluten intolerance. According to studies, having anti-gliadin IgG antibodies was 2.13 times higher in schizophrenics.
- Extreme Fatigue
When your immune system is working overtime to protect you from the food you’re eating, your energy reserves will always feel low.
- Sinusitis
Chronic inflammation can also result in sinusitis and post nasal drip.
Going on a gluten free diet, even if you do not have celiac disease, will do no harm to your health. As a matter of fact, it may improve your health in ways you never thought of before.
Give up all gluten-containing products for exactly three months. A couple of weeks on a gluten-free diet may reduce symptoms immediately but the toxins need plenty of time to completely clear your system before your body begins the healing process.
If, during this time, you experience a great deal of relief from your symptoms, your body is healing. Gluten was a problem for you despite what your doctor insisted. There’s no need to reintroduce the offending protein unless you want to just to be sure. However, if you’re already feeling better than you have in years, there’s really no reason to put your system through all that.
Autoimmune disease and allergies are very tricky and modern medicine is far behind in treating these conditions effectively. Oftentimes, they offer prescription drugs to mitigate symptoms but this approach often worsens the condition in the long run and does nothing to treat it.
Listen to your body and don’t let your doctor bully you into either doing something or not doing something that could be harmful to your health. Get a second opinion from a naturopathic physician or nutritionist so you can finally return to vibrant health.
*****Recommended Research*****
Should You Trust Your Doctor?
Now in most cases we’d love to believe that our doctor has our best interests at heart. After all, they’ve taken the Hippocratic Oath swearing to protect us.
Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.
Whether it’s ignorance or greed there are several major scams being perpetuated in the health care industry today. Some are minor while others are flat out dangerous and life threatening.
If you’ve been diagnosed with a disease or prescribed a drug you owe it to yourself to check out this letter.
In it I outline the 10 biggest scams in the health care industry today and show you how to protect yourself.
Resources:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/10/13/
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/06/22/gluten-grains-cause-schizophrenia.aspx
