What's the go with gluten?

“Go on…Eat more gluten!” Those words have NEVER come out of my mouth. Sorry 😉

Gluten is a protein found in grains including wheat, barley and rye, so it is usually found in bread, pasta, spelt, most cakes, muffins, pastries, cereals, etc. There’s also a number of hidden sources of gluten in packaged foods, sauces, cosmetics, vitamins and medication.

If you’re at optimal health and feeling amazing, you can possibly tolerate some gluten in your diet (especially when grains are soaked, sprouted or fermented).

But if you’re not feeling your best or feeling ‘off’, and you have deficiencies, inflammation or chronic disease(s), there’s a good chance you aren’t tolerating and responding well to gluten right now.

While full-blown coeliac disease affects 1% of the population, it’s believed that non-coeliac gluten sensitivity affects up to 30% of the population. It’s one of the most common and problematic food intolerances.

A review paper in The New England Journal of Medicine found that 55 diseases are known to be caused by gluten, including IBS, cancer, heart disease, migraines, most autoimmune diseases, thyroid dysfunction including Hashimoto’s disease, epilepsy, autism and more.

Gluten sensitivity causes immune dysfunction and creates inflammation throughout the body. Gluten can cause an increase in zonulin, an enzyme which controls intestinal permeability. Essentially, you want to keep undigested foods in the gut, so when intestinal permeability occurs it enables undigested proteins like gluten to ‘leak’ through the gut wall into the bloodstream, which drives an immune response and inflammation. Therefore in order to address symptoms and treat the cause(s), removing gluten for a short-period of time must be considered.

Now, I’m not a fan of eliminating food groups or following elimination diets long term (this can create nutritional gaps, deficiencies and even allow you to develop new food intolerances).

But I am a fan of removing gluten for some people for a SHORT period of time to help them manage their symptoms, while addressing other causes.

I’ve never had a patient tell me they feel worse when removing gluten. It’s always the opposite 💃

Speak to your health practitioner before changing your diet and work out what foods + nutrition are right for you.

If you’d like 1:1 nutrition and naturopathy support you can DM me or book an appointment via the link in my profile