Gluten Gluttony – My Experience With Going Gluten Free
By: John King
Bread. The staff of life. Or so it was growing up in my house as I am sure it was in many. Toast for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch and more with dinner. Maybe even for a late night snack, more bread or some form of it such as crackers or matzoh. My personal favorite was garlic bread. We never really thought about how much bread or “bread related” products we ate. They were “just there”, convenient, versatile, tasty and made you feel good.
I have always had a sensitive stomach and wasn’t really sure why. I saw various doctors from time to time about my stomach issues, none of which found anything wrong with me. After all was said and done my symptoms were always attributed to Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS. I tried certain medications and diets, none of which really helped. Later in life when it became more mainstream to test for things like Celiac and Crohn’s disease, I had those tests done and they were negative. I had every kind of allergy test known to man, I was a virtual pin cushion. Through better diet I improved my stomach issues but my gut was never just “quite right”. I never felt that I had a problem with any specific food and allergy testing confirmed that. So I ate things in moderation. Things in “moderation”, that’s always the doctor’s advice.
Over the years as I worked with my clients I began to see more and more people with gluten sensitivities. These were not people with Celiac disease or an acute allergy to gluten. They were just people who just felt better when they did not consume gluten. They too had all the tests and were told they had no problem with gluten. They were usually prescribed some kind of medication to alleviate their symptoms and sent on their merry way. This sounded all too familiar and so I took special note as to their progress. What I noticed was that not only did their stomach problems improve but they made improvements in other areas of their health. Unexplained fatigue seemed to disappear. Things like anxiety and depression were reduced, if not completely eliminated. They experienced less inflammation in their bodies and thus had less aches and pains. Chronic headaches disappeared. People with skin problems/rashes noticed a clearing of their symptoms. Clients with diagnosed autoimmune conditions noticed an overall improvement in their well being. And of course the most obvious was their stomach pain, flatulence, bloating, IBS and constipation all went away.
So what is gluten anyway? Gluten (which should be spelled glueten) is a combination of two proteins glutenin and gliadin found in wheat, rye, spelt and barley (wheat having the highest concentration). They are responsible for the sticky consistency of flour when it is mixed with water. They make bread more “spongy” and keeps it from falling apart. If you have ever mixed flour and water together and made the mistake of letting it dry on your utensils you know that it can be used as a “glue” because it hardens like cement! Just imagine what this “cement” does inside your gut. Gluten is just not in bread, it is added to all kinds of foods to make them thicker or to hold them together. It is added to cat and dog chow to bind the ingredients and make them “crunchy”. (This is especially bad for pets as their bodies are not designed to process gluten.) You can even buy high gluten flour to make a doughy spongy bread.
Even after seeing improvements in my clients’ health as the result of eliminating gluten from their lives, I still didn’t believe that gluten could be part of my stomach troubles. It was not for lack of knowledge on the subject but more of a reluctance to give up all those comfort foods I grew up on. No more sandwiches? No more pasta? And worst of all…no more garlic bread! (By the way, nothing could be farther from the truth.) How could I live like that? But after a time, my scientific curiosity got the better of me. I decided to try going gluten free just to see what happened. I wasn’t expecting any particular results, it was just an experiment. I would give my experiment a minimum of two weeks.
Week one was pretty easy, I just gave up all the processed gluten laden foods I enjoyed and replaced them with other forms of carbohydrates. I kept my total calorie intake the same to reduce the number of variables in my experiment. The changes that ensued were subtle and it took about a week before I realized what was happening!
The most noticeable change could be observed on the bathroom scale. Without any change in activity level or reduction in calories I lost six pounds in the first week! That in and of itself was motivating enough to keep the experiment going. During that first week I also felt less bloated and noticed what it was like to have my stomach actually be “empty”. After two weeks my total weight loss was almost ten pounds. I had less gas and I noticed that my overall digestion was vastly improved. I seemed to have more energy and it wasn’t so hard to wake up in the morning. I wanted to keep the experiment going but I was missing bread and pasta. So I decided to add some gluten free bread and pasta to my diet. What I noticed about these products was how easily digestible they were. Normally I would feel full all night after a pasta meal but the gluten free pasta was digested in a couple of hours. Things were just passing through my digestive tract easier and more efficiently. I observed the same thing about gluten free bread. A sandwich on regular bread or a slice of regular pizza would sit with me all afternoon. After switching to gluten free versions, by the next meal I was hungry again.
After several weeks of being strictly gluten free I became accustomed to the changes that occurred within me. I liked the weight loss, improved digestion and heightened energy levels. When changes in the body take place over time, sometimes it’s hard to appreciate the contrast in how we once felt as to how we feel now. I was about to come to this realization in a big way. After about two months of being gluten free I was out to dinner and in a moment of weakness decided to forego being gluten free for the evening. Naturally they brought bread to the table which I ate and thoroughly enjoyed. I had burger on a regular roll which was also delicious. That night I felt overly full and bloated like I was not digesting my meal. During the night I had some acid reflux. But it was not until the next day when I began to appreciate what going gluten free had done for me. The following day I still felt full and had significant sinus congestion and felt achy. I had noticeable brain fog and just felt “droopy”. I did not end up eating anything until later in the day because of the full feeling I had.
That was my light bulb moment. I realized that all this time I had been dealing with a gluten sensitivity that had gone undiagnosed. All the tests I had (and I had them all) failed to detect my sensitivity to gluten. The common philosophy of most gastroenterologists is that if you test negative for Celiac disease and you do not have any immediate violent reaction to gluten, then you are OK with it. Maybe it’s time they rethink their philosophy?
It has been some years since my gluten free experiment. Over time I have determined that I can handle occasional small doses of gluten without any noticeable effects. This makes sense as some food sensitivities will improve if the offending food is removed from the diet for some time. I have not gone back to eating gluten regularly. I save my gluten exposure to those times when there are no other options. However, most restaurants are responding to customer demand and are now offering gluten free bread, pasta and desserts.
Not everyone is allergic or sensitive to gluten. However, I have noticed an increase in gluten sensitivities in my clients. Maybe it’s because of all the genetic modifications being made within our food chain. New evidence is pointing in that direction. The bread we eat today is not the same as your Grandma’s. If you consume gluten containing products on a regular basis and have any kind of chronic health issue, try taking a gluten holiday like I did. Be strict, do it with enthusiasm and with the intention of improving your health. Going gluten free was much easier than I thought it would be and I was and still am a big bread lover. Don’t let your reluctance to let go of comfort foods stand in the way of better health. Give your new gluten free lifestyle a chance to let your body detoxify. A period of two to four weeks should give you an idea of how gluten affects you. If you notice any improvements at all then you are on the right track. It’s common for people to have more than one food sensitivity. If your improvements are not as dramatic as you had hoped, you may be dealing with multiple sensitivities. So don’t let your investigation end with gluten. Food intolerances are among the leading causes of unexplained illness.
At the end of this post I have listed some additional resources regarding Crohn’s disease, gluten and gluten sensitivities should you wish to learn more.
Best in Health,
John