It’s easy to assume that EVERYONE (who is anyone) has a gluten intolerance or allergy today…But how do you know if YOU should go gluten free?
Going “gluten-free” is all the rage right now—especially here in Austin, where most restaurants have a gluten-free menu; grocery stores have entire aisles dedicated to gluten-free options; and requesting a burger, sans bun, is a norm.
Gluten allergies are real.
In fact, wheat and gluten allergies are one of the most common food allergies, joining the ranks as one of the “great eight” most-allergenic foods (accounting for 90% of ALL allergies), including:
- Eggs
- Nuts (Tree)
- Peanuts (Legumes)
- Milk/Dairy
- Shellfish
- Fish
- Soy(beans)
- And, wheat
While there is no hard stat of the exact number of people with a wheat or gluten (protein in wheat) allergy, it’s estimated 1-percent of the population has celiac disease (an autoimmune condition directly connected to a severe gluten intolerance) and must avoid gluten entirely (with another 1 in about 6 undiagnosed cases).
Big whoop, right?
So what’s the big hype about gluten-free all about then?! One-percent of “officially diagnosed” cases seems like a pretty low number if you ask me.
Two words: Gluten Intolerance, or “Non-celiac gluten sensitivity.”
Unlike food allergies—wherein a direct histamine response to wheat or gluten is INSTANTLY triggered (think: hives, breakouts, closed airways, itching, watery eyes, etc.)—wheat and gluten intolerance is much more silent (and perhaps more threatening to our overall health if it is hidden for a long time).
People with gluten (or wheat) intolerances fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum: They don’t have celiac disease, but they feel much better when they avoid gluten and/or wheat.
Food intolerances can easily slide under the radar, with more “mainstream” or “that’s-just-my-norm” side effects that slowly eat away at you:
- Dark circles under your eyes
- Poor digestion
- IBS
- Seasonal allergies
- Cavities and canker sores
- Unexplained weight loss or gain
- Frequent headaches
- Joint and muscle aches and pains
- ADD/ADHD, or difficulty concentrating
- Anxiety
- Breakouts, acne, skin rashes
- Reproductive problems and infertility
- Low mood
SO DO YOU HAVE A WHEAT OR GLUTEN INTOLERANCE (OR IS IT JUST A GREAT MARKETING SCHEME)?
Every BODY is different and no one can tell you how you feel or what your body does or does not do.
One of the most common questions from people regarding gluten-sensitivity is: “Won’t cutting gluten out just make me more intolerant if or when I do put it back in? (Especially if I am not sure I have it)?”
The answer: Nope.
If you don’t have gluten sensitivity…then your body won’t respond differently.
Just like if you stopped eating apples for a year or two—with no sensitivity issues—then decided to eat an apple again. Your bod would simply say: “Cool. Thanks for this delicious apple!”
Recently I heard a great analogy comparing the issue of gluten and wheat intolerance to dirt on a clean windshield:
If your windshield is full of dirt and there is a little speck of dirt on it, you are not going to notice it (like if you’ve been eating gluten and wheat most of your life)…But say you have a clean windshield and then a speck of dirt gets on there, that speck of dirt becomes very noticeable (say you eliminated gluten for a time, then add it back to see how or if your body reacts).
You have a clean slate for your body to decide.
#foodforthought
GETTING TESTED
If you’re unsure as to whether or not gluten really effects you (I mean it’s got to be marketing right?), it never hurts to get tested—especially if gluten is something you do foresee being part of your diet, or at least wanting it to be part.
Make an appointment with a functional medicine practitioner or nutritionist who understands the various antibodies to look for when it comes to defining gluten intolerance.
Contrary to popular belief, gluten (or “alpha-gliadin”) is NOT the only indicator of gluten sensitivity on a blood test. In addition, gluten is not the only component of wheat that people are intolerant to. Other components to look out for include:
- Beta-gliadin
- Gamma-gliadin
- Omega- gliadin
- Glutenin
- Wheat germ agglutinin
- Gluteomorphin;
- Deamidated gliadin (food emulsifier, gelling agent, sauces, soups, meat products)
Make sure your provider is testing for these as well for accurate results.
It’s also important to note that if you are going to get tested, you must have consumed wheat within 25 to 30 days of the test.
If you’ve already cut out gluten from your diet and then go to get tested, you could end up with a false negative—since there is no gluten in your system to test for in the first place. Consume at least one small serving of wheat or wheat-containing product per day for a minimum of seven days, starting 25 to 30 days before the test to get accurate results.
The Bottom Line:
Regardless of whether or not you are intolerant to wheat and gluten, there is no denying that our country’s version of wheat and gluten products (highly processed) are vastly different than the bread of days of old (or even other countries today)…
And processed foods are one thing we can all agree upon: They don’t do a body good.
I’ll leave you with this….
Get this: A friend of mine with severe gluten intolerance recently traveled to Europe for a 2-week vacation, where she traveled throughout Italy and London, experiencing the culture (and checking it off her bucket list).
On the menu? Bread, pizza, pasta…When in Rome, right?! And the best part of all: No issues whatsoever.
“It was the craziest thing, but the food over there was so fresh and homemade from scratch…and it didn’t bother me at all,” she said.
Apparently, the agriculture and processed food industry practices of America’s wheat is vastly different from that of other countries.
We greatly have toxic herbicides—like “Roundup” (aka: Glyphosate) to thank for that, as explained in this reseach here.
In other words: Our bodies can’t process TOXIC wheat and gluten (regardless of the wheat or gluten, or not).
The Soil Association in July 2015 called for an immediate ban on the use of glyphosate (Round Up) for wheat production purposes, reporting that glyphosate residues are widely found in nonorganic wheat samples and the use of the herbicide on wheat crops has increased 400% in the past two decades…however, not much has changed.
#MoreFoodforThought
When in Rome? Eat the pasta!
On U.S. soil? May not sit well with you.