Glutton for Gluten

Recently I was attending a class at my church, when a lady mentioned that she had just found out she is gluten intolerant. Another lady piped up right away, “me too.”  Then someone mentioned that her husband is gluten-free, and I chimed in that my daughter is too. In a room of about 20 people, 4 people had someone in their household who is gluten intolerant. Why is gluten such a big deal lately? Everyone is advertising their “gluten-free” products: Corn Chex, Rice Krispies, and specialized products.  I’m showing a few here, although I try to make most of my products from scratch  to save money.

We are becoming more and more aware of how many people simply cannot tolerate gluten, an element of grains such as wheat, rye, and barley. Thus, most of our bread and pasta products are full of gluten, and cannot be tolerated by a growing percentage of our population.

Reasons:

1)–GMOs–Genetically Modified Organisms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_organism

Grain, and other foods have been genetically altered from their natural forms. This makes them difficult to digest, and confusing to our cells. We are not able to glean the same nutrition from foods modified by GMOs verses foods in their natural state. MOST of our food supply in America contains GMOs, including our grains.

2)–Overload! We put wheat in EVERYTHING!! We are gluttons for gluten! Our bodies cannot take the overload of any one food, especially foods that have been altered from their natural forms!

3)–It could be that gluten intolerance has been present for a long time, but the symptoms can be so varied that we are just now identifying the connections.

Common symptoms:

Belly Pain

Diarrhea

Constipation

Gas and bloating

over time, malnutrition

Less Common Symptoms:

Vague Muscular Pain, such as in Fibromyalgia

Inflammatory Diseases such as Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Thyroid Disorders, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Heart Disease, and many more

If you read my post titled “Our Diabetes Story” you will read about my daughter who miraculously has been healed from Type I Diabetes. We think now that an intolerance to gluten may have been the trigger that set off the Diabetes. Since becoming gluten-free Katy states she is feeling better than she has in a long time.

I know someone who has controlled her Rheumatoid Arthritis by eliminating gluten, and is medication free.  I know another who had stopped menstruating. Upon finding she was gluten intolerant and becoming gluten-free, she has resumed her monthly cycle.  It is amazing to me how eating the wrong foods can affect the body in so many varied ways. It’s all tied in to the idea of an ENVIRONMENT OF INFLAMMATION (see post).