Unless you’ve been living under a rock or on another planet, you’ve heard about this damaging wheat protein. There is a reason that it’s been the subject of so much talk lately…..
Gluten is damaging.
MOST are slightly allergic to this protein without even realizing it. The problem with gluten allergies are people think it’s a black and white issue. They think they’re either allergic to it or they’re not. But that’s not the case. There are, of course, many shades of grey when comes to gluten sensitivity. Celiac’s disease is on the extreme side of the sensitivity spectrum. Celiacs sufferes can’t even eat off of a plate that’s had a piece of bread on it. Then you have different levels of allergy going towards the more benign end of the scale. This means different things to different people. Gluten issues can manifest themselves in many, many different ways. Typically people attribute these problems to something other than their diet.
Here are some of the most common issues caused by gluten sensitivity:
Unexplained stomach issues
Bloating/ gas
Headaches
Brain fog
Poor mood/ anxiety
Allergies
Skin issues such as dermatitis or eczema
And that’s just to name a few.
Why does gluten have this effect? One word……
INFLAMMATION!
Gluten in its natural form is a large protein located inside of the wheat seed, which is the seed of the wheat grass. It’s something we would NEVER have eaten naturally had someone not figured out that if you collected a whole bunch of these seeds, dried them out, smashed them up, you would have flour. Add water, and now you have bread. That’s it. I can’t tell you how that was ever figured out, but I can tell you it’s changed the course of human history.
Without large scale grain agriculture, civilizations never would have happened. People wouldn’t have been able to specialize, and we would have remained hunter/gatherers forever.
Aside from this, there are no other good qualities to this seed.
The problems arise due to the size of the gluten protein…..it’s big…really big. Big enough that some of it slips through the intestinal wall causing an immune reaction in the human body. Big foreign proteins floating around your blood stream aren’t taken too kindly by your immune system and white blood cells.
This immune reaction is what causes system wide inflammation and the problems associated with gluten ingestion. In order to avoid this, your best course of action is to simply NOT eat it.
A lot of people are going to have a lot of problems with this one. No more pizza, bread, crackers, etc. Aside from the obvious, which this isn’t stuff you should be eating anyway, there are good gluten free options for these if you just can’t give them up.
How do you know the extent of your gluten sensitivity?
Well, on this new program you’re not going to be eating any gluten….it’s just not part of the plan. If you want to know how sensitive you are, just have a slice of bread or pasta after about a month or so of not eating any of it. You’ll see very quickly what it does to your system.
Some people get absolutely slammed. Tired, brain fog, stomach problems. Others will get allergy symptoms such as a stuffy nose, sneezing, etc. Some people will just get horrible gas.
I can tell you this….once you do without for a good month, you’re not going to want to eat it on a regular basis again.
By leaving this one grain out of your diet, you WILL notice a difference in yourself in as little as a weeks time. Most people notice an increased sense of mental clarity and more energy among other positives. Other people notice that lifelong allergies simply disappear.
Amazing things can happen when you stop aggravating your immune system over and over again. You’ll realize how many problems you were causing by what you were putting past your lips.
When it comes to gluten……it’s out.
Now that you know what you should be leaving out of your diet, I’m going to let you know EVERYTHING that you should be including. These additions will help take your nutrition to the next level…