Day 9- Goodbye Gluten!

Although, I am not Catholic, I have decided to partake in the 46 days of Lent (46 is including Sundays). For 46 days I will give up the yummy and oh-so prevalent GLUTEN! Why, you may ask would I decide to do this to myself just for the fun (or lack there is) of it? Well, one reason is because I have a red spot on my neck that has been coming and going for over 10 years and I would like see if the removal of gluten from my diet would make that spot disappear for good. I also think that by experiencing this deprivation from gluten it will allow me to become more compassionate to those that must be gluten-free for life.

For those of you that think that gluten-free is just the current fad and that people will soon forget about it, let me go into a little bit of detail on this popular protein.

Gluten is a sticky protein that is found in certain grains, such as wheat, rye, barley, spelt, and kamut. It is also found in oats that don't specify "gluten-free." Gluten is used in baked goods, sauces, and dressing and acts like a glue that binds ingredients together. It is most likely included in the list of ingredients of just about every box of processed food that you pick up. Hidden sources of gluten on labels include: soy sauce, food starches, food emulsifiers, food stabilizers, artificial food coloring, malt extract, dextrins, etc.

Most of us are familiar with the condition Celiac disease, which is an autoimmune disease associated with gluten intolerance, but did you know that even if you aren't celiac that you still may need to avoid gluten?

Here are some symptoms that can be associated with gluten intolerance:

• Depression
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Constipation and/or diarrhea
  
• Hives (or the red spot on my neck)
• Brain fog
• Nausea
• Dairy Intolerance
• Sugar Cravings
• Bloating/Inflammation

What can cause all these symptoms?
When the body reacts to a food that it is sensitive to, in this case gluten, it does so by sending out an inflammatory message protein to tag the food particle to be destroyed. The tagged food particle is then attacked by other inflammatory chemicals, like cytokines and leukotrienes. This process in the mean time is creating inflammation in our GI system, which can affect digestion. An affected GI system can mean a leaky gut, which allows food particles to pass through the gut lining and into the blood stream, creating inflammation all over the body. It may be possible that autoimmune conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis are triggered by an unresolved food reaction to gluten.

When I talk to people about gluten sensitivities, the common response that I hear is, "oh, I already know that I am not sensitive to gluten, I don't have any of those issues!" To be honest I am one of those people, but the problem with this response is that our bodies may just be used to all the inflammation that we have been living with on a day to day basis. So how do we know if we are sensitive to gluten or not? There are several ways to find out, you can ask your doctor to run a gluten sensitivity test on you, but depending on the test it may be flawed. Or you can eliminate it from your diet for a period of time, like I am about to do and then reintroduce it and see if you notice any reactions (I'm crossing my fingers that I don't). Also, studies have shown that most people with an autoimmune disease do better when avoiding gluten, especially people with Hashimoto's.

One question that seems to be on everyone's mind is, "why has the prevalence of gluten sensitivity increased so much in the last few years?" It may just be that we are more aware of the effects of gluten on the body, or it could be due to the huge increase of genetically modified foods, the fact that gluten is stored in storage bins for long periods of time causing contamination and toxins, increase in leaky guts, poor nutrition, enzyme insufficiency, just to name a few.

So as I embark on my 46 adventure sans gluten, this is what I have to look forward to. First of all no more beer (this is hard since my husband is a beer rep) and no more grain based alcohols, which includes my favorite, vodka- unless it is potato-based. Sadly, this will be the most difficult part for me when going gluten free, but I will also have to pay more attention to hidden ingredients. I will have to replace my condiments with gluten-free options, since even mustard contains gluten!

I have been creating gluten-free recipes for my company for some time now and during this process I have come across some great gluten-free cooking websites that I would like to share:

• http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/
• http://www.elanaspantry.com/
• http://simplygluten-free.com/
  
• http://www.causeyourespecial.com/
• http://www.gfreecuisine.com/

Well, here I go! Wish me luck!

Pura Vida!

Alica Ryan, NTP