Gluten Free Craze

There has been so much more research into diet and it's been broken down to base elements.
Autistics should not have gluten either. My granddaughter is Autistic and my daughter can tell when she has had too much gluten or dairy in her diet, sometimes she sneeks it. But her bahavior will become unpredictable and she is more prone to meltdowns if she gets too much gluten or dairy.

All carbs break down to simple sugar in the body. Carbs are sugar.

I've done 12 years of medical research and have studied endocrine disease. People who cannot tolerate gluten have a metabolic syndrome.

The hormones in your body are the chemical messengers that tell your body how to work. They work in tamdem with your nervous system. These two system are how your body communicates and functions correctly. If you have high or low hormones (cortisol/aldosterone)... you will have problems breaking down and absorbing fats and protiens and grains. Cortisol controls your stomach acid also...low hormones cause low stomach acid, and high hormones cause high stomach acid.

Grains DO contribute to high cortisol. (but it is not the only reason.) High carb(sugar and beer included) diets WILL eventually cause high cortisol and tissue damage syndrome.Usually it takes many years. This syndrome causes low potassium, low magnesium, high sodium in cells, disturbed thyroid function and high cortisol sectretion. Celiacs is just ONE symptom of that problem. The other symptoms of tissue damage syndrome are diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, tachardia, kidney disease, asthma, stroke, osteoporosis, weight gain around tummy, swelling in limbs, neuropathy, migraines, colits/chrones, glaucoma, aspergers, sarcoidosis, reynauds, MS, Lupus, tumors , and many more. "where" the body gets sick and how it manefests depends on genes and the weakest areas of the body. So it isnt diabetes or heart disease that CAUSES celiacs, they are all symptoms of a larger more insidious disease process.

Further, to add to it, people with disrupted stomach acid will also have overgrowth of pathogens like yeast and bacteria, which cause ulcers, and further their food intake problems.

It doesn't help a bit that many of the pesticides that are sprayed on corn and soy (roundup) and the fertilizers used are endocrine disruptors. It is awfully hard to find anything in the store without corn , wheat or soy in it.
Endocrine syndrome is becoming rampant. We are now seeing children who are sick with all kinds of illness. Every family has one! We had nothing like that 50 years ago.

Yes, you can have some healthy grain in moderation. But lot of veggies, fruits, and meats, particularly organ meats, keep the body in better shape and less likey to succumb to tissue damage syndrome. You need to keep the incoming food HIGH in magnesium and potassium. 90% of the food food in the store is dead, sick, anemic food. It cannot sustain life. Sugar is absolute death.

Those of us who do not have endocrine disruption will not have any issues processing any kinds of foods and no food ,chemical or smell allergy.

This is a complicated question, and I'm sure many health professionals will have various answers, not only based on their experience, but on various studies, which are coming hard and fast as we learn more about why gluten is such an issue.

If you believe that we are holistic beings- that our brains are connected to our bodies and what we eat really does have an effect on our
brain chemistry/emotions/hormones/intelligence ( like breastfeeding can impact these, for example,) then it becomes a bit easier to accept and understand how something like gluten proteins can impact our health. There is a gut/brain connection.

In some people (and in children, until I believe the age of 12,) this barrier is open and things can cross it. This can be good and bad. For example, when strep crosses the barrier, it can cause an autoimmune response like rheumatic fever. When antibiotics cross it, they can heal more effectively, etc, etc.

When the gluten protein (and casein can be a problem as well - that is the dairy protein,) it can cause issues with cognitive abilities, or create issues like chronic fatigue/brain fog. If you have true Celiac, you are not only experiencing these symptoms, but the villi in your intestines is compromised, which prohibits your body from absorbing nutrients, which in turn means you are malnourished, have lower bone density, etc. Typically people who have Celiacs have bowel issues, and are either underweight or overweight, but not always. Sometimes they will have mild (or fluctuating) symptoms and then something like a car accident or severe stress will impact the body such that symptoms flare. (They have always been Celiac, just didn't know until the body felt great stress and could no longer cope as well.)

Why now? Why gluten? People have eaten glutinous grains for years, but you really have to dive into that to realize why things are different now. First of all, we treat our grains differently than indigenous societies. "Whole grains" are NOT the be all, end all that they are made out to be. Eating hulls of grains is pretty horrible for your bones and teeth, no matter your sensitivity to gluten or lack thereof. We also neglect to process our grains by fermenting and sprouting they way they should be. Most of the grains we eat are processed chemically with bleach, etc. not to mention pesticides. All of these toxins and inappropriate handling of grains leads to our body reacting as if grains were an invader (and rightly so!)

Another reason is that grains are heavily modified. Our diets are so full of this "super gluten" that has been created through the years (via hybridization, not the laboratory GMO we often hear about now) that our bodies are saying, "enough!" because we are getting LOADS of it each day.

If you look at the food pyramid, telling us to eat more whole grains and lots of them, and the standard American diet... cereal for breakfast, sandwich bread for lunch, pasta and more bread for dinner.... not to mention all of the hidden gluten (gum/candy, body products, lipstick, etc.,) it's easy to see why we are on overload!

I went gluten-free 2 years ago after several doctors suggested it for my daughter (due to her autoimmune issues.) Our entire family went gluten-free so that we could all eat the same things and no one would feel left out of treats, etc. We immediately felt changes that were completely unexpected. My husband's chronic foot pain went away and his sleep apnea completely disappeared. We lost weight (about 30 lbs each the first year) and have kept it off! I was able to take a deep, full breath for the first time EVER (I didn't even know I had breathing problems!!) and my stress decreased significantly. BOTH of my daughter's attention spans improved, as well as their sleep and frequency with which they catch colds/severity, etc. (still not perfect, but drastic difference.) The list goes on and on! I also have NO period cramps after years of suffering, no PMS, and my acne cleared up within about a month.

All of this to say I didn't hop on the bandwagon to lose weight or anything like that. We aren't diagnosed with Celiac (though I wouldn't be surprised if I and one of my daughters had it, due to our symptoms.) It's not a fad for us or something we take lightly. We don't "cheat" and have been gluten-free for 2 years and plan to NEVER eat gluten for the rest of our lives.

I'm sure for some people it is trendy, but it's also very serious for some. There is NO harm in going gluten-free that I have been able to find (I did pretty significant research before we started the diet.)

Hope this helps. You can google most of these concepts and find relevant material from reliable sources. I didn't include any because I was sure someone would question my sources, so I will leave it up to everyone to do their own research. The one thing I will mention about the soaking/sprouting grains and eating whole grains is the Weston A Price site has a lot about this, or the book Nourishing Traditions.

Clever marketing gimmick to get more $$ from unsuspecting people who live in fear.

It is true that a lot of people have a hard time digesting wheat and certainly gluten, but I am not entirely sure why. I believe that a person needs to pay attention to gas and bloating, as well as energy levels and overall well being in order to determine what foods that their body processes well. To be extreme, to me, is always a bad idea. To eat food in it's natural state and organic, if possible, sounds and feels like good nutrition. Some people do very well with meat, some don't. etc, etc.

Hi S.,

Avoiding gluten helps some in certain situations. I do believe that it is a help to a symptom but does not attack the cause. This is basically the way the medical community handles most things these days. If your immune system is working at it's optimum level you shouldn't have to avoid gluten but it is help in a bad situation. It is soooooo common for your immune system to be out of whack these days because of the synthetic chemicals in our food, our home, our bath and body product and stuff simply floating through the air.

Your immune system CAN get to it's optimum level. Almost anyone's can. Removal of sythetic chemicals is possible and the body can be detoxed as well as the home. I also believe that we can eat pretty much anything as long as it is in moderation, as long as it hasn't been pumped full of steroids, antibiotics, pesticides, and preservatives as well as the processing that you mentioned.

God bless,

If you want to know who I am you can go to my blog at www.squidoo.com/ifyourbabycouldtalk

One of the problems is that it hard to get it in moderation because is in so many things.
Of course sprouted bread and steel cut oatmeal are great choices.

Going gluten free is not healthy unless you have Celiac or an allergy to gluten. Many people do lose weight when they first go gluten free because they have no idea what foods to buy and end up eating less. Once they find replacement foods the weight loss stops. Many gluten free processed products are higher in calories. These foods are often not made with enriched flours so you are not getting the same vitamins. Moderation is the key. Now that being said.....I have Celiac and want to thank all the people who are on the gluten free craze that don't need to be. Because of them there are more foods available for me and more food is clearly labeled gluten free.

There is no substantial evidence to support the gluten free fad. Not for autism, child behavior and the numerous adult issues people seem convinced are cured by it. Take a look at the Mayo Clinic website, Mark Bittman's recent columns. Try a Pubmed search to see if you can find any real evidence. And yes - there are a gazillion anecdotal reports by individuals that do not in any way substitute for evidence.

There was a recent NY Times report about the companies cashing in on this craze. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/magazine/Should-We-All-...

I think this is really what it is all about - marketing to a bunch of people who really want some new nutrition information to cure their autistic child/poorly behaved child/mother with Alzheimers/cancer/whatever horrible fate has befallen them.

I truly believe that we should eat natural nutritional things. Any food item eaten in excessive amounts is unhealthy.

I believe we should use real sugar, real flour, real milk, real butter, etc...I think that if I eat a stick of butter per day then I deserve to have clogged arteries, if I use a 5 lb bag of sugar a week then perhaps I would deserve to have diabetes, same with oil, if I fried everything and then expected to not be fat....you get the idea.

If you research nutrition you will find that there are complex carbohydrates and simple carbohydrates. The complex part is the whole grains, the part that it takes time to break down, so the energy from it lasts a lot longer.

Then the simple carb's are like sugars. They can break down almost instantly. Think quick energy for a runner about to race. They may need something for a quick boost.

A complex carb that is so used up before it is even eaten is pretty easy to digest and use up so it has lost the complex part that makes it a better source of energy for our bodies.

I believe that as time passes we will learn that sugar free additives are the root cause of many of today's health issues, from the flood of food allergies to Autism type illnesses. Not that there are not true cases of it, that's not what I am saying. I believe that, like Saccharin that was found to cause cancer, sugar free additives have not been around long and will come out as not healthy in the long term studies.

I know a friend of mine found that red dye 40 and aspartame were the 2 food additives that drove her step son crazy. When he would have something with either one of them in it he would be hitting his head on the walls, violent, talking in a speed that could not be understood, etc...it is not healthy to eat these foods.

My friend that has insulin resistant diabetes nearly died because her stomach was almost dead. She was wearing an insulin pump and eating minimal food. The doc told her to NEVER use artificial sweeteners again. To use real sugar minimally. She is insulin free now and healthier than ever. She hasn't had water retention, pneumonia, any serious illness in over 2 years now. Since she stopped using artificial sweeteners. Her blood sugars are pretty easily controlled with diet and pill medications. She is an exception perhaps but she is a very good example of what artificial foods can do to a person's body that can get blamed on a health issue.

I don't think gluten free can hurt but I also don't think it's a necessity. Like everything else, the "marketeers" are out to make a buck. Think about the Atkins craze.

I think it is a personal choice