Ready To Be Gluten-Free?

Before you dive headfirst into the gluten-free (GF) world, you need to know the potential hidden trade-offs.

Yes!  Gluten-Free is Great!

• Decreased overall body inflammation

• Better absorption of nutrients

• Potential to heal leaky gut – we want to keep our food in our intestines.

• Decreased symptoms of autoimmunity.  Possible complete remission of some autoimmune disorders.

Gluten-Free Hidden Trade-offs

• Excess use of sugar – especially in baked goods

• Increased use of artificial sweeteners, like sucralose and aspartame (both are linked to cancer). 

• Increased calories – mostly for baked goods that are attempting to replicate traditional recipes using nut flour

• Did I mention excess sugar? 

Take away 

Consuming a diet that is gluten-free is ideal for everyone.  Yes, everyone! Many people will argue that they don’t have the digestion issues that would warrant ridding their diet of gluten.  Gluten does not only cause overt digestion problems, but has been linked to acne, many autoimmune disorders (commonly Crohn’s Disease and IBS), Type 2 Diabetes (another autoimmune disorder), sleep disturbances, thyroid dysfunction (particularly Hashimoto’s), and mood dysregulation.  

Did you know gliadin, a protein within gluten, has been found to mimic the thyroid due to its similar molecular structure?  If you have been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s, you need to know this!

Also, without an intact and properly functioning small intestine, your “happy hormone”, serotonin, is not being produced at full capacity.  Who doesn’t want to be happier?

Do yourself a favor – eliminate gluten in your diet for 30 days.  Take an honest inventory of how you feel, your energy level, your mood, and your digestion.  

I’d be willing to bet you are feeling better before the 30 days are up!

Here’s the deal, though.  You have to be hypervigilant about reading labels.

When you see the front of a package that says proudly, “Gluten Free”, flip that package over and read the nutrition label.  How much sugar has been added?

We have a rule in our house, no more than 6 grams of added sugar.  Yes, there are exceptions to this rule.  We are not that rigid.  But it’s just that – an exception.  It’s a special occasion or vacation.  

Sometimes we have jumped off the wagon (let’s be honest, no one really falls off a wagon with food) and need a hard reset, but we do our best to limit added sugar intake.