Gluten Hides in Many Forms
This weeks blog will be part 2 of 3 for this months installation of Gluten and it’s wide ranging affects. This may be a review for those of you who have been following my blog since the fall. Gluten has come under fire for a while now with good reason. It’s not the grain that it originally was. It has been hybridized and genetically altered to serve a wide array of purposes and functions. It’s not just a grain anymore, it is an emulsifier, thickener, taste enhancer, and coloring agent, just to name a few.
As I have researched this topic, I am finding more and more why someone would want to limit and/or eliminate modern day Gluten from their diet. At the very least, be aware of where your grain comes from and find alternative sources for gluten products. The obvious sources of Gluten are: wheat, spelt, kamut, oats (not specifically from a gluten free facility due to cross contamination), rye and barley. Some of the hidden sources of Gluten will include: soy sauce, food stabilizers, food starches, food emulsifiers, artificial food colorings, malt extract, malt flavors, malt syrup and dextrins. Some other places that gluten can hide, in plain site, will be anything that has a bread coating, ie., chicken nuggets, breaded fish, onion rings…and the list goes on. As always, read the labels.
For those of you who are not familiar with the widespread issues around gluten/wheat, I will provide some back round. In the book Wheat Belly, William Davis, MD explains how the wheat that we first encountered is much different than the wheat/gluten of today due to hybridization and genetically modified techniques. Changing the genetics of our food will alter how our bodies react to that food and may alter your bodies physiological response. In the beginning of genetic alteration of plants, there wasn’t any testing of the ‘new’ plants. There are current studies indicating potential problems with genetically modified plants. In addition, the modified plants have the potential to accidentally turn on or off genes unrelated to the desired effect creating unexpected characteristics that may not be immediately apparent. Symptoms that might seem totally unrelated to a food sensitivity/allergy may be the silent culprit to many ailments that we encounter today. As we look at the overall state of health in the U.S. and abroad we can see the general decline of health. Diabetes, Arthritis, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Osteoporosis and inflammatory conditions have a common thread in what we eat as well as genetics, which can be altered by the food we eat. Therefore, the bottom line is…..eat as though your life depended on it…because it does.
For those of you that have inquiring minds and continued questions, I would suggest reading the book Wheat Belly by William Davis. You will be fascinated, appalled, frightened and educated at the same time. If that doesn’t satisfy your curiosity then there is the internet, my first suggestion is to go to Pub Med or just Google, ‘Wheat’ or ‘Gluten’ and follow the references for an eye opening experience into modern food processing. I would also suggest that anyone dealing with any autoimmune disease, ie. Type 1 diabetes, Rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s Throiditis, just to name a few, eliminate all gluten grains and possibly all grains, to experience the affect it has on your symptoms and overall health. My recommendations will start becoming redundant because they are the same:
- Eat a plant based diet
- Eat clean organic protein
- Eat high quality fats
- Drink plenty of purified water, 1/2 your body weight in ounces, ie. if you weigh 150 lbs, drink 75 ounces of water
- Exercise/stretch 30-60 minutes 4-6 times per week
- Quiet time, meditation, breathing, yoga, prayer
If you have any additional questions you can contact the friendly staff at Fresh and Natural or contact me directly. Hoping you have a healthy and joyous spring.
Yours in health.
Paul Westby DC, DACBN
763-571-1345
