Gluten-Free Diet

Gluten is the protein found in wheat, rye, spelt, kamut, and barley. Gluten is getting a lot of attention because of the rising incidence of gluten intolerance, an inflammatory reaction originating in the digestive tract that has the potential to cause myriad health problems.

Gluten sensitivity can result in mal-absorption in the digestive tract by destroying the villi on the lining of the small intestine, inhibiting one’s ability to adequately absorb nutrients. This leads to chronic nutritional deficiencies and uncomfortable intestinal symptoms such as bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, fatigue, depression, mood issues, and anxiety. There also may be neurological symptoms such as shooting pain or numbness or tingling of the arms and legs, and mal-absorption of calcium that can cause muscle cramping and tension, skin rashes, and eventually osteoporosis. Migraine headaches are another potential symptom.

People have differing degrees of gluten sensitivity. If it is mild, you may only become a little puffy or bloated after eating foods containing gluten, whereas those with extreme gluten sensitivity could wind up with significant digestive problems from eating only a small amount of gluten-containing foods. The larger issue is that no matter where you fall on the spectrum, every time you consume gluten, your digestive tract becomes inflamed, inhibiting nutrient absorption and driving your stress hormones out of balance. The answer is a gluten-free (and possibly grain-free) diet.

Although not everyone is gluten intolerant, everyone benefits from a gluten-free diet, because it reduces inflammation in the digestive tract and forces us to eat less of the processed, refined foods that contain gluten, and more unprocessed foods such as organic vegetables, quality proteins, fats, and healthy carbohydrates.