If you are eating burger, pizza or drinking soda, you know that it’s not doing any good to your health. But an ideal 3 meals per day, including upma or paratha for breakfast, BROWN BREAD sandwich for lunch and roti-sabji for dinner sounds healthy. Isn’t it?
Well, cereals including wheat, barley, rye and oats contain a protein called gluten. Wheat and all-purpose flour, the staples of the Indian diet, used in preparing roti, paratha, pizza, pasta, bread, wraps, rolls, and most processed food, encompass gluten as the hidden ingredient.
You may be at risk even if you are asymptomatic for celiac disease.
I want to reveal the truth about gluten and explain its impending dangers. Also help you determine whether or not gluten is a problem for you by following a simple system.
Gluten affects many women, but remains unnoticed due to a lack of information. Every woman has a different degree of gluten sensitivity. For some of us, consuming roti, chapati, pizza, pasta, or whole wheat bread, may just result in mild bloating or constipation, but for few others, it may lead to serious complications, including hormonal imbalance, joint and muscle aches, extreme fatigue, depression and anxiety, and high risk of pregnancy-related complications among many others.
But it doesn’t indicate all women with these symptoms suffer from gluten intolerance.
UNDERSTANDING GLUTEN
Gluten is a protein that is relatively difficult for the body to break down. It is present in wheat and wheat products. It is also present as binder, starch and filler in most processed food. After consumption, it gets adsorbed to the villi in the intestine and reduces the intestines activity to absorb nutrients. Hence, starting off a cascade of autoimmune reactions leading to increase in your sugar levels, thyroid disorders, and infertility.
Gluten is difficult for the body to breakdown, and doesn't get digested completely. When partially digested gluten molecules enter our bloodstream, they can trigger immune reactions causing vague symptoms such as brain fog, inflammation, fatigue, muscle and joint aches. Some people have obvious gut symptoms such as bloating and gas, that are definite signs of gluten intolerance.
SOURCES OF GLUTEN IN FOOD INCLUDE:
All foods with wheat, barley, oats, rye (in almost all packaged food items, read the labels).
All white bread, wheat bread, whole wheat bread, whole grain bread (biscuits, crackers, and bagels included).
All baked goods with processed flours (cupcakes, donuts, brownies, cookies, cakes, pies, etc.).
Pasta, pretzels, pizza, tortillas, pancakes and breakfast cereals.
Is Gluten taking more than giving? SIDE EFFECTS OF GLUTEN:
Estrogen Dominance.We women are more prone to have gluten intolerance than men. Gluten intake causes intestinal inflammation resulting in increased cortisol production. This leads to an insufficient estrogen production and its after effects.
Weight Gain.Abnormal hormonal productivity leads to stubborn weight gain.
Premature Menopause and Infertility. Gluten reduces the body’s capability to produce sex hormones. This causes hormonal imbalance worsening the pre and perimenopausal symptoms. Malnutrition due to malabsorption of nutrients from the intestine, explains the shortened lifespan of fertility in untreated women. One of the various studies on gluten intolerance showed that women who remained gluten-free (those who avoided gluten containing food) for 10 years had a longer period of fertility than their untreated counterparts.
Joint and Muscle Aches. The Centre for Drugs Control (CDC) stated that osteoporosis is a complication of untreated gluten intolerance due to reduced absorption of calcium and magnesium. It causes sensitive teeth as well. Restoration of normal absorption occurs within a few months, but it may take up to 2 years in older adults.
Skin problem Gluten.Gluten Gluten triggers inflammatory reactions under the top layer of the skin resulting in rash, burning, itching, redness and painful blisters.
Are mouth ulcers and cavities your usual concern? Then you may benefit from gluten-free diet.
EFFECTS LAST LONGER THAN YOU THINK
After a couple of days or a couple of weeks, the outward manifestations of the small amount of ingested gluten might disappear. However, latest research studies show that the smallest amount of gluten—quantity as small as ⅛ of your thumbnail—can trigger inflammation and autoimmune reactions lasting for up to 6 months after ingestion in gluten sensitive individuals. (1)
IS ‘GLUTEN-FREE’ THE ONLY WAY?
So far, gluten-free diet appears to be the only answer to celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. A 2 week gluten-free diet can make gluten-sensitive individuals symptom free and allow the intestine to get back in form.
I have long believed that the wheat we are eating today is a low-vibrational food. It drains our energy instead of nourishing us and it is, in a nutshell, a damaging, poisonous food due to genetic hybridisation.
Quick Guide to Gluten-free Diet
Naturally available gluten-free food
Fruits and vegetables
Fresh eggs, meat, poultry
Beans and nuts (unsalted)
Ancient seed grains, including corn, rice (wild and brown), millet, amaranth, quinoa and buckwheat.
Unprocessed oats, like steel cut oats (better soaked overnight in water with a little whey or apple cider vinegar)
Sourdough and other fermented grains
Substitutes for whole purpose flour (maida) and wheat flour - Rice flour, Coconut flour, Bean flour and almond flour.
However, I believe there are 2 critical issues that are often misunderstood in problems that affect the gastrointestinal tract:
1. Gastrointestinal problems are often related to ‘unhealthy’ gut environment.
A healthy gut environment (beneficial bacteria and valuable yeast) determines proper digestion, brain function and improved immunity. Environmental factors, stress, medications, and diet comprised of processed food destroy the healthy microflora in the intestine (gut). This causes imbalance in the intestine and leads to various diseases.
Individuals consuming improperly prepared grains (grains that are not soaked or sprouted properly) develop unhealthy gut environment and end up with gas, bloating, constipation and other digestive problems. I believe, absence of the good or grain-loving bacteria might be the REAL cause behind gluten sensitivity.
Lack of these bacteria makes it difficult to digest the grains and interferes with the absorption of nutrients.
Flours made with these grains can lead to mineral deficiencies, bone loss, early aging, digestive illness, allergies, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and mental illness.
2. Gastrointestinal problems CAN be corrected with a proper diet which feeds the gut microflora, which is why I originally created the TRUHEALING system of health and healing.
I've found -- through research and experience-- that correcting digestion improves immunity. It has a healing effect on all of the organs in your body especially, the entire gastrointestinal tract. An healthy digestive tract leads to a healthier, youthful and a more happier you!
Are you and million other people out there really gluten intolerant or do they simply lack "good or grain loving" microflora that can digest gluten-rich food? Do you lack the digestive enzymes to digest grains? Have you been consuming the wrong ‘healthy’ diet? The TRUHEALING program, hence, helps you find solution to all of your questions.
Our program initially is wheat free, gluten free and sugar-free as well. This diet works effectively in helping your body heal itself from many harmful conditions by eliminating wheat, casein and sugar, the three key injurious substances.
One of the main goals of TRUHEALING program is to remove all the food that harms your body and introduce a system of eating whole, healing food that bring your body back into balance. After approximately 3 to 6 months following our program, many people have reported being able to introduce eliminated foods back into their diet.
Eliminating improperly prepared grains, either partially or completely from their diet, helped people resolve many digestive problems. It can relieve you from the probable symptoms, but fails to heal your digestive system. Unfortunately, while doing this you miss on all of the benefits of healthy whole grains. Whole grains, are a source of vitamin B, minerals, fiber, protein and serotonin (the feel good hormone that calms and helps you sleep). Grains also act as prebiotics (dietary fibre for the growth of healthy microflora).
Following the TRUHEALING program is an excellent way to introduce grain-loving bacteria into your body and heal your digestion.
Here are TRUHEALING 5 key steps to heal your gastrointestinal tract and therefore, your digestion:
Focus on healing and re-establishing your inner ecosystem by following the TRUHEALING diet.
Remove processed refined sugar . Natural sweeteners like honey, jaggery and stevia are OK.
Remove difficult to digest proteins like gluten in grains, casein in pasteurised dairy - eventually, once your digestion heals, you may be able to add them back into your diet, which might take 3 to 6 months depending on each individual.
We recommend the gluten-free grain-like seeds, amaranth, buckwheat, quinoa and millet in the initial stage of our program.
Above should be consumed after soaking, sprouting or fermenting them before cooking.
Cleansing or DETOX: follow our program and automatically eliminate dangerous pathogenic bacteria, viruses, toxins, parasites and yeast.
Add fermented food and drinks - fermented food, like cultured vegetables and probiotic drinks are excellent for increasing the digestibility of food, repopulating your intestine with healthy microflora. It also helps you control your cravings for sweet and processed food and increase the absorption of nutrients.
So now you see–a piece of bread might not be that wholesome after all! Follow the advice I’ve shared with you today, to find out if gluten may be the hidden cause of all your health issues. By simply eliminating this insidious substance from your diet, you will be introduced to achieve a vibrant health, sustaining for a lifetime.
They say you are what you eat. But I say…. you are what you digest!!
Wish you happy and healthy eating!